London’s lockdown eases with car-free zones

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced plans to transform parts of central London into one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city in the world.

Alongside Transport for London, Khan said the move would enable safe social distancing on public transport in the capital as lockdown restrictions are eased, and will help support increased walking and cycling and improve the city’s air quality.

The plans will create more space for social distancing when walking and cycling, ensuring that the people who have no choice but to return to work in central London can do so as safely as possible, but can also do so while walking or cycling.

As such, some streets will be converted to walking and cycling only, with others restricted to all traffic apart from buses, as part of the Mayor’s latest bold Streetspace measures.

TfL is working closely with those boroughs who are keen to do more to bring in changes to their roads in the coming days and weeks. In the past week alone, TfL has added around 5,000 square metres of extra space on footpaths across London, giving people space to safely walk and queue for local shops while maintaining social distancing.

TfL has also confirmed that the Congestion Charge and Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be reintroduced on Monday 18 May. These schemes reduce congestion and pollution and help tackle the climate emergency, and the Low Emission Zone, which discourages the use of the dirtiest lorries and large vans, will also be reintroduced at the same time. As a temporary measure, it is proposed that the Congestion Charge will increase to £15 next month and the hours of operation extended as part of a package of temporary changes.

Traffic levels on TfL roads fell by as much as 60 per cent and harmful nitrogen dioxide was down by around 50 per cent on some of London’s busiest roads as a result of coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

Khan said: “Covid-19 poses the biggest challenge to London’s public transport network in TfL’s history. It will take a monumental effort from all Londoners to maintain safe social distancing on public transport as lockdown restrictions are gradually eased. That means we have to keep the number of people using public transport as low as possible. And we can’t see journeys formerly taken on public transport replaced with car usage because our roads would immediately become unusably blocked and toxic air pollution would soar.

“I ask that Londoners do not use public transport unless it is absolutely unavoidable – it must be a last resort. If you can work from home you should  continue to do so. We should all spend more of our leisure time in our local areas too.”