Transport and environment facts

• commuters in London take an average of 43 minutes to get to work. The average work journey time for commuters elsewhere in Great Britain is 23 minutes (1)
  
  
• 67.3 million passengers used Heathrow airport last year, representing 45 per cent of all air passengers in the UK (2)
  
  
• London's busiest station in rush hour is Waterloo, with 46,000 people entering the station during the three hour morning peak. The capital's busiest station overall is Kings Cross St Pancras with 77.5 million passengers a year (3)
  
  
• more than one million older and disabled Londoners hold a Freedom Pass, which gives them access to free travel on the capital's buses, trains, tubes and trams (4)
  
  
• one in four Londoners say that litter is one of the worst things about living in the capital (5)
  
  
• Londoners currently use an estimated 1.6 billion plastic and throw away shopping bags a year, with fewer than one in 200 being recycled (6)
  
  
• London boroughs are supporting moves to make the capital the first city in the UK to ban throw away shopping bags through the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bag) bill (7)
  
  
• despite recent improvements, London continues to have the worst air pollution levels of any city in the UK and among the worst in Europe (8)
  

Sources

(1) Focus on London 2007, table 7.3 ONS/GLA
(2) BAA facts and figures 2007
(3) Investment and performance figures, Transport for London
(4) Transport and Environment Services for London annual report 2006/07
(5) London Councils' survey of Londoners 2007/08
(6) London Councils press release 'London takes a lead on banning throw away shopping bags' 13 November 2007
(7) ibid
(8) London Health Commission, Health in London, 2006/07 review of trends