Commuters are losing time and, for many, access as London’s bus network slows, a decline that increases costs and puts service levels at risk. On one of the capital’s busiest routes, the 22, average speed in 2025 was just under 6mph, 16% below its pace a decade earlier. A journalist’s June trip on that line recorded the vehicle stationary for 40 of 108 minutes, underscoring how delays extend journey times in practice.
Other corridors show the same pattern. The 207 to White City averaged 7.4mph in 2025, down 14% from 2015. The 243, which carried 9.8 million passengers in 2025, is 5% slower than it was ten years earlier. Across Greater London, 578 of 700 routes ran more slowly in 2025 than they did in 2015, reflecting a widespread deterioration rather than isolated failures.
The systemwide average speed for 2025-26 was 9.18mph, the weakest recorded since comparable data began in 2013-14, a fall of 4.8% over that span. Analysts say elements of this slowdown are visible both before and after the pandemic, rather than being confined to the Covid period. The mayor, Sadiq Khan, has made reliability a central concern, saying, "We’re really concerned about bus usage. One of the reasons, when you speak to commuters, is a lack of reliability. And why is it they lack reliability? Because of bus speed."
That slowdown has measurable effects on demand and costs. Transport modelling cited by the city shows a 10% cut in speed typically produces about a 6% drop in passenger demand. Slower services also require extra vehicles and staff to run the same timetable, driving up operating expenses. The Confederation of Passenger Transport estimates that if buses ran 10% faster, fares revenue could rise by an extra £70m a year while operating costs would fall by £214m.
Ridership has already fallen sharply. Passenger journeys across London have declined by more than 300 million a year, roughly 16% since 2013, even as the capital’s population increased by almost a million. High-frequency corridors are also less dependable, with actual passenger waits now 22% longer than scheduled, up from 18% in 2018. Economist Alexander Jan notes that scheduled journeys are substantially longer than they were 50 years ago.
The network’s scale has contracted as well. Average annual vehicle kilometres dropped from about 487m km a year in 2010-19 to roughly 460m km across the last three years. Annual boardings that once topped 2 billion before 2019 fell to 1.8 billion in 2024. Industry voices warn of "a vicious circle of decline," where falling speeds push riders away, prompting service cuts that further weaken the system.
The pattern is not unique to London; similar slowdowns have been observed in other large European cities, raising policy questions about road space, funding and transport priorities. If average speeds are not restored, London risks reducing service provision just as buses remain the most affordable central London option for many households, deepening the loss of access for those who can least afford it.
