How long will it be until every station on the London Underground is wheelchair accessible? Spoiler alert: I’ll be 110 years old!
Last week I filmed with Channel 4 News looking at accessibility of London Underground stations and how I use wheelchair skills to get around what is a largely inaccessible network.
While we were filming, I started to wonder how (in)accessible the 272 stations on the underground are and when we can expect a fully accessible network. I decided to do a bit of research on how quickly stations were being made accessible and here is what I found…
Number of stations accessible from the street to the platform from 1995 to 2024 based on available data:
🚇1995: 25 stations
🚇2005: 44 stations
🚇2012: 63 stations
🚇2024: 92 stations
During the last 29 years, access has increased at a rate of 2.3 stations per year.
There are a total of 272 stations on the network with 180 of these still lacking accessibility. Continuing at a rate of 2.3 stations per year it will take more than 78 years for London Underground to be made accessible.
That means in 2096 when I am 110 years old I will have full access to the network!
These numbers include stations that are accessible from the street to the platform and may have a height difference from the platform onto the train so assistance could still be required limiting independent travel.
Only 60 stations of the 272 stations (22%) are fully accessible from the street onto the train and even of these not all lines at the stations are fully accessible.
Until then we’ll have to find our own way of getting round on public transport.
I’m lucky that I have the wheelchair skills to navigate more of the network than meets accessibility requirements and something I had to practise on my daily commute when I worked in East London.
Having these skills does not take away from the fact this is a ridiculous situation in which we aren’t offered an equitable transport system that everyone can access, leaving many people unable to enjoy moving around the city as easily as most passengers.