Khan’s Friday off-peak fares trial is said to have a “negligible” impact.

The mayor launched his off-peak Friday trial earlier this year to draw people back into central London, local democracy reporter Noah Vickers reports.

Sadiq Khan has come under fire after figures appeared to show his £24m scheme to encourage Londoners to return to the office on Friday – and boost the capital’s economy – had a “negligible” impact.

The mayor launched his ‘off-peak Friday’ process earlier this year to draw people back into central London by scrapping peak-hour Tube and rail fares at the end of each working week.

The increase in Londoners working from home – especially since the pandemic – has made Fridays in the city center quieter than they were before Covid.

The scheme ran on Fridays for a period of 13 weeks, starting on 8 March and ending on 31 May.

The trial has been advertised to Londoners on the tube network, with several discount offers at restaurants and attractions also promoted to tie in with the scheme.

But ridership figures show the scheme appears to have led to just a three per cent rise in ridership.

Around 40.6 million London Underground journeys were made on Fridays during the trial period – excluding Good Friday, when all fares were off-peak anyway because it was a bank holiday.

The number of travelers on the same set of Fridays in 2023 was only slightly lower at around 39.4 million journeys – again excluding Good Friday.

The figures, available on the Transport for London (TfL) website, cover Tube journeys only and do not include journeys on the Elizabeth Line, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and London National Rail services, all of which are also part of the trial .

TfL said in its financial report earlier this month that total journeys across all its services were up just over 6% on last year, meaning Friday’s 3% rise on the Tube could have happened in mostly without trying.

National rail strikes also appear to have reduced passenger levels on two of the relevant Fridays in 2023.

Keith Prince, the mayor’s Conservative transport spokesman, said: “The mayor’s latest TfL experiment was nothing more than an expensive election bribe. Off-peak Fridays will cost the taxpayer around £24 million, despite having a negligible impact on passenger numbers.

“While we all want the tube to be as cheap as possible, the £24m that Sadiq Khan ‘spent’ on Rush Friday could have been better used to fund new low-emission buses zero or to help solve problems at the Central. The line or procurement was in desperate need of new rolling stock on the Croydon tram network.”

A TfL spokeswoman said in response: “We are continuing to assess the impact of our off-peak pay-as-you-go trial on Tube and rail services on a Friday, which ended on 31 May 2024.

“This review will take into account a range of issues, including assessing changes to both morning peak ridership and overall daily traffic, as well as the impact on businesses in London.”

TfL points out that the publicly available figures only show the total number of passengers each day, making it less useful for assessing any specific increases in journeys during the peak-hour periods covered by the study. The authority also notes that ridership is always variable around public holidays, Easter and school holidays in April and May.

The £24m funding to support the process was “used to make up the gap in revenue shortfall” created by the scheme, the town hall said at the time of its signing. City Hall sources have previously dismissed suggestions that the mayor “scooped out” money to spend ahead of his re-election bid, calling the allegation “complete nonsense”.

A date has not yet been publicly set for when TfL will publish its own comprehensive assessment of the impact of the process.

Speaking at the State of London Debate last week, the mayor said: “The run-up to the election has slowed things down a bit, but hopefully in the next couple of months, we’ll have the results of the debate. pinnacle attempt.”

Khan also said that increased traffic to workplaces and businesses on Fridays is a problem facing cities around the world and that the results of the London trial will be closely watched by politicians and transport officials around the globe.

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