London Underground statistics

Learn about the best way to zip around London.

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Georgia-Rose Johnson
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The Tube is the underground network serving thousands of Londoners and tourists every day. Much like the circuit board which inspired its design, the Tube is responsible for transporting the buzz of the city through its various lines. With the Tube linking 270 stations all over London, the capital’s transport system is extremely efficient and can deliver you from one side of central London to the other in under 30 minutes.
Not only does the Underground serve people though, half a million mice actually call it home. For more fun facts and to find out more about delays, crimes, fare prices and individual stations, read on.

Quick facts

  • With only 45% of the network running below London’s streets, the majority of the Tube is not actually underground.
  • Every year, about 1.3 billion journeys are made on the Tube.
  • The fastest line is the Metropolitan, with trains moving at speeds of over 60mph.
  • With 10 platforms, Baker Street is the station with the most platforms.

11.5 days

are spent on average by Londoners on the Tube every year.

33.4 degrees Celsius

was the highest temperature recorded on the Tube in 2019.

Underground fare prices over time

The income for TfL from the London Underground has risen steadily over the past eight years. It has reached its peak at £2.77 billion this year, up by 5% from the previous year. As well as the ease of payment and fast links, initiatives like fare freezes may have encouraged people to travel more on the London Underground.

Year Fare revenue
2010/11 £1.76bn
2011/12 £1.98bn
2012/13 £2.12bn
2013/14 £2.29bn
2014/15 £2.41bn
2015/16 £2.56bn
2016/17 £2.71bn
2017/18 £2.63bn
2018/19 £2.77bn

The busiest Tube stations

How busy an Underground station is is reported based on the number of passenger entries and exits in a year. With King’s Cross St Pancras linking six Underground lines, it’s no surprise that this station has the most people traveling through it each year, with 97.9 million people. Closely following is Waterloo station, with 91.3 million visitors every year. While these two top stations are likely to have a lot of people travelling via the Tube due to train departures, Oxford Circus at third place serves only three Underground lines.

Station Number of entries and exits
King's Cross St. Pancras 97.9mill
Waterloo 91.3mill
Oxford Circus 84.1mill
Victoria 79.4mill
London Bridge 69.1mill
Liverpool Street 67.7mill
Stratford 62mill
Bank & Monument 61.8mill
Canary Wharf 50.9mill
Paddington 48.8mill
Euston 43.1mill
Tottenham Court Road 41.3mill
Picadilly Circus 40.8mill
Green Park 39.3mill
Bond Street 38.8mill

What annoys Londoners most on the Tube?

People were asked to report how irritating they found each of the things below. A common activity most people found very annoying is having to listen to other people’s music on the Tube. While 6 in 10 (59%) reported to hating hearing other people’s music, only 5% fewer said they were annoyed when people did not give up their seat for pregnant or elderly people.

Annoyance % of people who reported this to be very annoying
Being able to hear other people's music 59%
Other people not giving up their seat for pregnant or old people 55%
People eating smelly food 38%
People manspreading 37%
People not taking their backpack off on a crowded tube 31%

Crime on the Tube

Crime rate

In the final quarter of 2018/19, there were 14.2 crimes per 1 million passenger journeys. This is equivalent to a crime being committed in every 70,423 journeys. This is up by 16% from the Q3 data and represents the time period with the most crimes since 2015/16. The number of crimes at the Q1 2015/16 time was 6.9, around half (49%) the number of crimes committed now.

Quarter Crimes per million passenger journeys
Q1 2015/16 6.9
Q2 2015/16 7
Q3 2015/16 7.7
Q4 2015/16 8.5
Q1 2016/17 6.9
Q2 2016/17 7.5
Q3 2016/17 8.5
Q4 2016/17 8.3
Q1 2017/18 8.8
Q2 2017/18 9.2
Q3 2017/18 10.7
Q4 2017/18 11
Q1 2018/19 10.1
Q2 2018/19 10.2
Q3 2018/19 12.2
Q4 2018/19 14.2

Type of crime

The most common crime on the Underground was theft of passenger property, with 3,758 reported cases in 2016/17 and 6,823 in 2018/19. Following this, violence against a person had 3,292 cases in 2018/19, around half the number (48%) of cases compared to the most common crime. With over a thousand cases each for the year, serious public order offences and sexual offences were also common crimes.

Types of crime 2018/19 2016/17
Theft of passenger property 6,823 3,758
Violence against a passenger 3,292 2,201
Serious public order offences 2,390 1,170
Sexual offences 1,206 996
Criminal damage 895 958
Motor vehicle offences 452 408
Drugs 363 242
Robbery 209 89
Theft or railway property 209 151
Other 138 67
Fraud 116 131
Line of route 44 65

Sources

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
matt.mckenna@finder.com@MichHutchison/in/matthewmckenna2

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