One in three Londoners say cost of public transport puts them off, while over half would support higher road taxes to make it better

• Global survey of over 8,000 commuters shows Londoners most likely to use public transport to commute
• High ticket prices put 1 in 3 (37%) off – highest of all the cities surveyed
  
• More than half of Londoners would support increased road taxes to fund better-connected public transport
  

High ticket prices deter one in three Londoners from traveling by public transport, but commuters here are still more likely to travel to work by bus or train than counterparts around the world, a global survey of travel trends reveals today.

Londoners buck a trend seen in capital cities around the world, where most commuters drive to work, the data show.

Hitachi Rail, the train and smart mobility company, commissioned pollsters at Savanta ComRes to gauge attitudes to public transport in cities around the world.

Residents in eight cities including London, Paris and Washington DC were asked about their commutes. Commuters in most cities drive to work but Londoners bucked the trend with only 38% reporting commuting by car and 27% saying they never drove in the city.

Almost half of all Londoners say that they use the capital’s iconic buses to commute, the highest percentage of bus use in any city surveyed, whilst 35% travel by train and 20% by Tube services.

There were signs of tension possibly being driven by the cost of living crisis however, with more than 1 in 3 (37%) Londoners citing the cost of public transport as a factor which discourages them from using it. Over half (54%) of Londoners surveyed even said they would be likely to support increased road charges in order to fund a better-connected public transport system.

The data came alongside a new report from Hitachi Rail which looks at how their smart mobility technology could revolutionise transport in cities around the world. The cutting-edge tech known as the Lumada Mobility Suite has already been deployed in the Italian cities of Genoa and Trentino – bringing features like real time information on crowding and hands-free smart ticketing connecting different systems including train, bus, Tube, e-bikes and car parks.

The majority of Londoners said that they would be more likely to use a better-connected public transport system.

Ludmil Neykov, Chief Digital Officer at Hitachi Rail, said:

“Mass adoption of public transport for journeys currently made by car is vital if the world’s global cities are to meet sustainability targets and improve air quality.

“Hitachi’s pioneering smart mobility technology holds the key to innovations which can help provide a cheaper and better-connected public transport system for Londoners. Hitachi is already leading the way in delivering this technology to cities around the world, and we hope to bring it to the UK in the near future.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• The fieldwork for the survey was conducted by Savanta ComRes in August 2022 and included 1009 respondents from London
• A link to Hitachi Rail’s report on smart mobility can be found here Smart Mobility: Enhancing Public Transport | Hitachi Rail | Hitachi Rail
  
• The 8 cities surveyed were London, Paris, Turin, Dusseldorf, Washington DC, Toronto, Bangkok and Dubai

Better-Connected: About Hitachi’s Lumada Intelligent Mobility Management suite

Lumada Intelligent Mobility Management is Hitachi’s new suite of smart mobility solutions for cities, transport operators and passengers.

The suite represents Hitachi Rail’s 360º vision for smarter mobility, incorporating solutions across three key areas:

- smart ticketing (including 360Pass)

- flow management for people and vehicles; and

- electrified mobility solutions

Using the suite’s 360Motion platform, a real time analytics tool that creates a digital twin of a city’s entire transportation network, operators can connect, scale and optimise any combination of these services. As a flexible platform, 360Motion can integrate technology from any existing provider, or draw from the range of solutions within the wider Hitachi group.

By offering ‘as a service’ business models to customers, Hitachi Rail aims to make it easier than ever for cities, operators and passengers to accelerate the transformation to more sustainable transportation.

For more information, please visit: Smart Mobility | Hitachi Rail and to download the report, please visit: Smart Mobility: Enhancing Public Transport | Hitachi Rail | Hitachi Rail