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Transport to, from and within the CAZ
The Economic Future of the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) Phase 1: Office use trends and the CAZ ecosystem Report to the Greater London Authority (GLA)
COVID-19 may encourage modal shift towards cycling and other active modes
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Fewer white-collar workers will impact differently on different modes of transport. Because of rail and underground’s popularity with those in the service industries, these stand to lose out most, and government will have to choose as to whether it wants to make policy interventions to protect and enhance future rail use. Cars and buses are likely to be more robust, as we have seen during the COVID-19 period (DfT, 2021), and if conventions on social distancing remain, overcoming the negative image of busy public transport stigma is a key risk to more people accessing the CAZ, both for work and leisure. The trends towards less frequent commuting risks a secondary impact on travel to the CAZ, as the reduction in popularity of full-time season tickets will lead to an increase in the marginal cost of travel to the CAZ, especially if they not catered for with new, part-time travel card for TfL and national rail services. Significant improvements are continuing to be made to cycling routes and pedestrian infrastructure to encourage use of active travel modes, which the CAZ is well-placed to benefit from, given its dependency on inner London flows for both work and leisure. These distances are more able to be covered by cycling, or emerging modes such as e-scooters, which begin trials in London in spring 2021. During COVID-19, there has been a move from cycle commuting to leisure journeys (Tfl, 2020b). Cycle flows are seasonal in nature, and more work is needed to embed these habits among the workforce, on a year-round basis. A continued aversion to ‘last mile’ journeys by public transport is unfortunate in many ways, but it will help encourage more cycling and walking in the CAZ. Investing in these modes, and encouraging their use for journeys of a few miles or more, will have benefits not only for air quality, but also mental and physical wellbeing. Nevertheless, the role of active travel in a city with London’s geography may only ever be small but significant part of the story, as the chart on p35 suggests, much of the heavy lifting of transport to and from the centre, is done by other modes.
TfL, National Rail and cycle route Network (TfL network incl. underground, overground, DLR, Tramlink and TfL Rail, National Network to 2015)
The Economic Future of the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) Phase 1: Office use trends and the CAZ ecosystem Report to the Greater London Authority (GLA)
III. The Impact of COVID-19
The Economic Future of the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) Phase 1: Office use trends and the CAZ ecosystem Report to the Greater London Authority (GLA)
6. COVID-19 has been incredibly damaging and requires urgent action
