The first Night Tube services had a successful launch overnight as tens of thousands of passengers travelled on the Central and Victoria lines.
In all, 50,000 customer journeys were completed using the new Night Tube service, which will support thousands of jobs and boost the Capital’s 24-hour economy.
One of the busiest stations was Oxford Circus which saw 6,500 people tapping in, while Stratford station saw 4,250 customers tapping out.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan launched the new service in the early hours of the morning when he travelled from Brixton on the first Victoria Line Night Tube.
Sadiq Khan said: ‘It’s wonderful that so many thousands of Londoners were able to benefit from a faster and simpler journey home overnight. The Night Tube is going to provide a huge boost to our capital and very clearly demonstrates that London is open. It was a real pleasure for me to see first-hand how workers and those who had been out enjoying everything our city has to offer could take advantage of this fantastic new service.’
Mark Wild, London Underground’s Managing Director, said: ‘Night Tube got off to a superb start last night with thousands of people making use of the new services. I was out on the network myself last night seeing our staff and British Transport Police officers helping customers travel around the Capital safely.’
Night Tube will help Londoners get to work or home at night quickly safely and affordably, and will particularly benefit people working shifts early in the morning or late at night.
Night Tube services will cut late-night journey times by an average of 20 minutes, and in some cases by more than hour.
Tube demand has soared over recent years, with passenger numbers on Friday and Saturday nights up by around 70% since 2000, while demand for travel on night buses has risen by over 170% in the same period. Passenger data shows that more than 50% of people using night buses are going to or returning from work – many of whom will benefit directly from the Night Tube.
The Night Tube is expected to support around 2,000 permanent jobs in London’s night-time economy, which will be boosted by around £77m a year. Over 500 of these jobs have been created directly through the operation of the service, with new part-time drivers, station staff, maintenance workers and service control staff employed and new BTP officers put on the network
