Appendix 1

Alison Moore AM Chair, London Assembly Transport Committee City Hall The Queen’s Walk Date: 4 March 2021 London SE1 2AA By email: [email protected]

Dear Alison,

Thank you for your letter of 17 February about the delivery of a number of capital projects and programmes listed in the 2016 (TfL) Business Plan. As you note, TfL has provided periodic updates to the Assembly on the vast majority of these projects over the last five years so I have asked TfL to provide brief summaries of each of the schemes you list in your letter.

TfL officers would be pleased to provide your Committee with further information on particular projects where you require more detail, should it be of interest.

Between 2016 and 2020 TfL’s investment programme has enabled significant progress to be made in delivering the aims of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS). TfL has been successful in driving modal shift facilitated by high quality public transport and improving walking and cycling facilities. By reducing traffic dominance and encouraging people to walk, cycle and use public transport, TfL has been able to help Londoners lead more active, healthy lives and create a city that works for all its residents. The number of trips made by walking, cycling or public transport rose from 51 per cent in 2000 to 63 per cent just before the pandemic - mostly due to enhanced services and an improved customer experience.

There is no delivery body quite like TfL, whose budget and scope far exceeds any comparable organisation in the UK, and which has one of the largest capital investment programmes in Europe. Major transport infrastructure, by its very nature, is long-term which takes time to deliver and, especially given the complexities associated with major construction work in London, is not without risk to schedule. But this should not mean that TfL shies away from ambitious delivery timetables: the economic, health and social outcomes of delivering the objectives of the MTS are as important now as ever before.

The Committee is well acquainted with the financial challenges TfL has needed to respond to in recent years: before the pandemic, it had not received Central Government grant support towards its operating costs since April 2018, and was receiving around 40 per cent less overall funding than in 2010/11. Adjusting to this new financial reality over the last few years, with no certainty of future capital funding, combined with a subdued national economy and the delay to the opening of the Elizabeth line has required TfL over the years to adjust its plans.

City Hall, London, SE1 2AA - london.gov.uk - [email protected] - 020 7983 4000

The pandemic, as well as brutally exposing the vulnerability of TfL’s current funding model, has also had an unprecedented impact on TfL’s projects and programmes. In March 2020, TfL brought all construction projects, including , to a temporary Safe Stop unless they needed to continue for operational safety reasons. Not only was this decision taken to ensure the safety of construction and project teams, but also to further reduce the number of people travelling on the public transport network. This was the right thing to do but, as outlined below, has impacted the schedule of some projects.

Elizabeth line The 2016 Business Plan anticipated the Elizabeth line being open fully in 2019. As you know, we have confirmed a financing package for the final phase of the Crossrail project. This means work on the railway is continuing at pace.

Crossrail announced in August 2020 that it expected the Elizabeth line to open through central London between Paddington and Abbey Wood in the first half of 2022.

Following the opening of the central section, full services across the Elizabeth line from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east will be introduced as soon as possible. The introduction of full services will most probably be aligned with the National Rail timetable change.

The delays to the project are well documented, but for ease I have summarised below. As you know, since 2018 the Crossrail Chief Executive, Mark Wild, has provided the Assembly Transport Committee with written monthly updates on the project, and he will continue to do so.

Crossrail Limited announced that the central section was planned to open in autumn 2019 and not December 2018. The revised schedule was 31 August 2018 needed to complete the final infrastructure and extensive testing required to ensure the Elizabeth line opened as a safe and reliable railway. New Chief Executive of Crossrail, Mark Wild, confirmed that having reviewed the work still required to complete the project, an autumn 2019 10 December 2018 opening date could no longer be committed to at this stage, and his team was working on a robust and deliverable schedule. Due to the complexity of the remaining work, Crossrail Ltd identified a six- 25 April 2019 month window for delivery of the central section, from October 2020 to March 2021. Crossrail Ltd announced that it planned to open the central section 10 January 2020 between Paddington and Abbey Wood in summer 2021 and full line service by mid-2022. Crossrail Ltd indicated the opening of central section in summer 2021 ‘is not achievable’ and that further work was required on a detailed recovery plan and to fully assess the financial implications. The delays to the 23 July 2020 programme were attributed to productivity issues on the routeway, a revised stations completion and handover plan, and the impact of COVID- 19. Crossrail Ltd confirmed the central section would be ready to open in first 21 August 2020 half of 2022 and Trial Running would commence at the earliest opportunity in 2021.

Signalling upgrade on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines (Four Lines Modernisation) These four lines are among some of the oldest sections of the Underground network, with parts dating back to 1863. Together they make up 40 per cent of the Tube network, with around a million passenger journeys each day, pre-pandemic. The 2016 Business Plan anticipated the upgrade would be completed by 2022, adding an extra 33 per cent capacity.

Two sections of signalling have already been introduced as part of the Four Lines Modernisation (“4LM”) programme. On 18 March 2019, the first section of signalling was introduced between Hammersmith and Latimer Road. On 2 September 2019, operation of the new signalling system was extended from Latimer Road to Euston Square on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines and from there to Finchley Road on the Metropolitan line, and between Paddington and Edgware Road on the District and Circle lines. The next new signalling area, which was due to go live in July 2020, was delayed following the outbreak of the pandemic, and the subsequent 12-week Safe Stop of construction work.

Due to both pre-COVID-19 project challenges relating to our 4LM software and the direct impact of COVID-19, the timetable changes bringing improved service frequency as set out when the project was authorised by the TfL Board in July 2015 are at risk. An update on these discussions will be provided at a future Programmes and Investment Committee meeting. The schedule review will also accommodate the reliability proving period required between the respective Signal Migration Areas (SMAs) going live, and will take into account the new event calendar for London once restrictions have been eased and the availability of closures can be planned.

New trains and signalling on the Piccadilly line The 2016 Business Plan anticipated that re-signalling work would start in 2020, with new trains arriving from 2023, with the first train in passenger service in 2024. It remains TfL’s intention to press ahead with the essential replacement of the signalling on the Piccadilly line as soon as funding can be confirmed. However, as set out in the 2018 Business Plan, TfL has been unable to commit to such large-scale investment without capital funding from the Government. TfL will continue to make the case to Government for this essential investment.

In 2018, Limited (a subsidiary of Transport for London) signed a contract with Siemens Mobility Limited to design and build 94 new generation Tube trains to replace the existing 1970s fleet. As explained to the Assembly in December, there has been a small impact on the trains programme due to COVID-19 and the forecast date for the new trains arriving is now 2024 rather than late 2023, with the first train in passenger service in 2025. TfL will continue to work with Siemens to deliver the new trains into passenger service as soon as possible.

More capacity on the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines The 2016 Business Plan anticipated that more capacity would be provided on the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines across the five-year period of the Plan.

The final stage of the Victoria line improvements was delivered in 2019. The Victoria line now operates with 36 trains per hour in the peak periods.

The 2016 Business Plan anticipated that upgrades to the Jubilee line would be complete in 2020, and the in 2023. While some signalling upgrades have been completed, further service frequency improvement through additional trains (and the associated signalling) was paused in 2017. After careful consideration to balance investment priorities across the network, the decision was taken not to proceed with the procurement of additional trains.

This decision was made at a time when TfL was adjusting to the removal of the central Government investment grant and at a time when passenger demand was reducing slightly. TfL rightly decided to ensure that its investments were targeted towards delivering the greatest improvements, such as replacing the Piccadilly line trains which date back to the 1970s and are much closer to the end of their design life.

The Jubilee and Northern lines had substantial investment through new signalling and the additional trains were intended to deliver a second stage of incremental service improvements. However, it was recognised that the Jubilee and Northern lines are two of the Underground’s already upgraded - and therefore higher frequency - lines. There was also confidence that further modest capacity enhancements could be achieved on these lines within the constraints of the existing signalling systems and fleet sizes.

Whilst further optimisation work is now taking place on the Northern line, similar additional works on the Jubilee line were paused last year due to the funding pressures and reduced passenger demand brought on by the pandemic. There will be a review in 2022/23 to assess if it can go ahead. This work, if approved, would deliver the benefits to increase capacity across the Jubilee line by up to two trains per hour.

Major Station Upgrades The Tottenham Court Road station upgrade was successfully delivered in 2017. The upgraded Bond Street station opened in November 2017, having been expected to be completed that year at the time of the 2016 Business Plan. Victoria station upgrade was successfully delivered in 2019, scheduled for 2018 at the time of the 2016 Business Plan. The 2016 Business Plan anticipated work would be completed at Bank by 2021.

Challenges were identified during early enabling works: specifically, the need to divert unforeseen utilities and an archaeological find in that area has led to project delays. The pandemic has also caused some delay in the programme. The Bank station capacity upgrade is now on track to deliver full benefits by late 2022 with earlier benefits of a new southbound platform, new concourses and new escalators being brought into use in mid-2022.

Prior to COVID-19, both the Camden Town and Holborn station capacity upgrades were unfunded. Then in 2016, TfL said plans would begin towards the end of the Business Plan period to upgrade these stations. The 2018 Business Plan stated that, given TfL has no certainty of capital funding beyond 2020, it would be making the case to Government for capital support to enable these critical projects. That position remains unchanged, although the situation has become even more challenging given the financial impact of the pandemic.

Further major programmes to improve accessibility at other Tube stations Before May 2016, there were 125 step free stations on the Tube and London Overground networks. Since May 2016, 25 TfL stations have become step-free: 13 Tube stations; 3 London Overground stations; and 9 TfL Rail stations. There are now more than 200 step-free stations across the TfL network, including all DLR stations and Tram stops.

81 stations are now step-free on the Tube network, with Amersham the latest station to open in February 2021. The accessibility programme will deliver step-free access at a further six stations and, in addition, , , Knightsbridge, Whitechapel and Ealing Broadway will also be completed as planned. There will be a total of 92 fully step-free stations on the Tube network by the end of next year.

Planned step-free access schemes at Burnt Oak, Northolt and Hanger Lane have been paused given funding uncertainties and at the current time, funding has not been identified for the six stations which had been due to be made step free by 2024 - Boston Manor, North Ealing, Park Royal, Rickmansworth, Ruislip and Snaresbrook.

TfL remains committed to improving transport in London by making it more accessible, safer and reliable. However, the pandemic has had a huge impact on TfL’s finances, and it is clear we cannot afford to progress all schemes that were planned without external funding. Step-free access is vital in supporting our customers with mobility needs, and the Mayor has been clear that he wants to ensure funding for such schemes is prioritised wherever possible. We will continue to make this case to Government during funding negotiations.

Silvertown Tunnel The 2016 Business Plan anticipated the Silvertown Tunnel opening in the early 2020s. The Development Consent Order decision by the Secretary of State took considerably longer than expected and also required TfL to undertake a further air quality assessment to confirm the scheme has an overall positive impact on air quality. Additional time was also taken in 2019 to allow for additional ground condition surveys to be undertaken so bidders’ proposals could be informed by robust information. The tunnel is now scheduled to open in 2025.

Barking Riverside Extension The 2016 Business Plan anticipated train services starting in late 2021. In 2020 unchartered utilities were discovered on site. This led to utilities needing to be diverted and some piers needing to be redesigned. Coupled with delays due to the Safe Stop in 2020, it is now estimated that services will commence in 2022, subject to agreeing a new set of Network Rail Infrastructure Possessions.

New trains for the DLR and London Overground to increase capacity The 2016 Business Plan anticipated new DLR trains in 2022. New DLR trains are now scheduled to be operating from 2024 and will replace the oldest trains on the DLR network. When introduced, the new trains will improve reliability. They will feature walk-through carriages, display real-time travel information and include air-conditioning and mobile charging points. The DLR fleet renewal contract award was delayed until 2019 to ensure there was sufficient confidence of affordability through the Business Plan to proceed with the order. COVID-19 also added a delay.

All of the new, state of the art four-car electric trains have now been operating on the London Overground network on the Gospel Oak to Barking line, Watford Junction to Euston route and routes into London Liverpool Street. In the 2016 Business Plan, it had been anticipated that the new trains would start arriving in December 2017. The first trains arrived in May 2019 following issues with software development, resulting in them being delivered late. The new trains have walk-through carriages, air-conditioning, USB charging points, free Wi-Fi, live information screens and more wheelchair spaces. Customers also now benefit from more frequent services on the Richmond - Clapham Junction - Stratford and Watford Junction to Euston routes.

The transformation of Oxford Street for pedestrians The original joint TfL/Westminster City Council project to remove traffic from Oxford Street was unilaterally rejected by Westminster City Council after two public consultations and millions of pounds of investment. Westminster City Council are currently working on some temporary improvements for pedestrians to Oxford Street ahead of the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, but these will not deliver the same benefits as the rejected joint scheme. Nonetheless, TfL are

working with Westminster City Council to facilitate this work, including any required changes to traffic signals. No final timescale is available.

A large portfolio of smaller projects to encourage more walking and cycling and greater use of public transport. This includes progressing a pedestrian and cycle bridge between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf In the 2016 Business Plan, TfL proposed to progress a new pedestrian and cycle crossing between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf. The bridge would have been the largest of its kind in the world and the engineering complexity and TfL’s funding constraints made it unaffordable. A ferry alternative had been developed, but due to the catastrophic impact of coronavirus on TfL’s finances, it has been necessary to pause work on this as well. The longer-term future of the project will be considered once TfL’s longer-term funding position is clearer.

The Healthy Streets programme delivers a large collection of TfL-led and borough-delivered projects every year that contributes to Vision Zero targets, modal shift and wider MTS objectives. Delivery has been strong every year (2020/21 was impacted by the pandemic, but delivery of the temporary schemes responding to public health was strong). Healthy Streets funding has delivered major improvements at 41 junctions across the Capital with the poorest safety record for vulnerable road users; more than tripled than the amount of protected cycle space in London; and supported boroughs deliver long-term schemes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport through the Liveable Neighbourhoods programme.

Crossrail 2 The 2016 Business Plan set out the Mayor’s commitment to the delivery of by 2033. In his letter of 31 October 2020 setting out TfL’s emergency funding settlement, the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps MP, set out that one condition of the package was that in relation to Crossrail 2, TfL “prioritises safeguarding activity and brings an orderly end to consultancy work as soon as possible.”

As such, work on progressing Crossrail 2 towards a Hybrid Bill has been paused. The project team have already spent several months ‘making good’ the scheme (finishing key pieces of work and digitising all records) ahead of it being paused, and this work is now almost complete. We will work to help the Secretary of State refresh the safeguarding directions in order to safeguard the scheme’s route from future developments. We will also continue to work with stakeholders with developments affected by our safeguarding so that we can protect the route until such time as we can gain powers and start construction.

Given the lack of funding for the scheme at the current time, TfL is not in a position to confirm when Hybrid Bill work can restart. The benefits Crossrail 2 would deliver will still be needed to support the growth of London, and TfL has clearly demonstrated the case for the scheme. The project has been put in good order, ready to be restarted when the time is right.

Bakerloo Line Extension The 2016 Business Plan committed TfL to begin consultation on a . At the end of 2020, TfL published the Consultation Report and Response to Issues Raised Report for the Bakerloo Line Extension following consultation. Completion of the project is subject to future funding – although this would not be before the mid-2030s.

Considerable work has been undertaken on the scheme development on route alignment and to protect the future route. On 1 March 2021, the Secretary of State issued directions to safeguard the land required to build the extension, a significant milestone for the project.

A large number of housing and development projects to support the Mayor’s ambitious housing agenda The 2016 Business Plan set out how TfL was working to build 10,000 homes on 300 acres of its own land, as well as provide new workspaces and offices. TfL’s ambitious housing programme will provide more than 10,000 homes across more than 50 sites, with 50 per cent affordable housing across all sites brought to the market since May 2016.

Work has already started on more than 1,500 homes – over half of which will be affordable. Planning committee approval has now been secured for a further 6,650 homes and TfL is awaiting planning committee decisions on almost 1,250 that have already been submitted. Across the programme, TfL is hitting its target to ensure 50 per cent of its homes are genuinely affordable.

However, the pandemic had a major impact on house building across London, and the resulting delays to the planning process and funding constraints has meant that TfL will not reach its target of starting on the sites to deliver 10,000 homes by March 2021. TfL remains fully committed to delivering its housing programme as soon as possible.

Increase the proportion of fully step-free stations to more than 40 per cent by 2021/22 TfL’s 2016 Business Plan had planned for more than 40 per cent of Underground stations to have step-free access to all platforms by the end of 2021/22. Due to TfL’s funding constraints and the lack of certainty around future capital funding from the Government, some projects have had to be adapted. By the end of 2022 we now expect to have 92 stations step-free, compared to 81 stations today. This represents about 34 per cent of the Tube network – an increase of nearly 10 per cent since May 2016.

Northern Line Extension The 2016 Business Plan anticipated the Northern Line Extension opening in 2020. At the end of 2018, TfL announced that the target opening date for the extension was under review. The change in TfL’s targeted opening was driven by the need to adapt the construction programme as the designs for both Battersea Power Station’s development and the Tube station underneath it evolved. TfL has worked collaboratively with the developer at Battersea Power Station to ensure the smooth delivery of both of these momentous projects which will transform Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea.

Excellent progress has been made and a revised opening timescale of Autumn 2021 has been stable for the last two years, despite a Safe Stop on site due to COVID-19 in 2020. In December 2020, as part of our test running requirements, a Northern line passenger train entered the new 3.2km tunnels at for the first time, travelling through the newly constructed step- plate junction that connects the existing Northern line tunnels to the extension. The trains then continued to Nine Elms Tube station before arriving at the extension’s second new station at Battersea Power Station. They then turned around using the new crossover junction to complete the journey back to Kennington.

Work to finish the extension, which remains scheduled for completion in autumn this year, is now focused on completing necessary signalling software upgrades and the fit-out of the two new stations which will be the first to be added to the Northern line since the extension to Morden in 1926.

The revised delivery date of the Northern Line Extension from 2020 will not have a material impact on revenues due to the gradual build-up of demand on the extension, given the line will serve an area that is transforming over a number of years.

Reduce energy use and carbon footprint TfL is one of the single biggest purchasers of energy in London and it is important that it leads the way on green energy. TfL has made good progress in devising and agreeing its strategy to transition to renewable energy via Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to enable the goal of running a zero-carbon railway by 2030. During 2021, TfL will go to market for 20 per cent of its electricity supply to be sourced directly from renewable energy.

The first of these contracts has a target supply date of March 2022 and the second during the financial year 2023/24. Together, these contracts will represent a major step towards meeting the ambition for TfL-controlled rail services to be zero carbon by 2030. In addition, TfL and the GLA are working together to understand the potential benefits of and mechanisms for procuring renewable energy across the GLA group.

Reducing air pollution from the bus fleet TfL’s 2016 Business Plan set out how it would clean up its bus fleet as well as introduce 12 Low Emission Bus Zones and expand the Euro VI bus retrofit programme in order to support the introduction of the ULEZ in 2019.

Since April 2019, all double deck buses operating in the central London ULEZ meet Euro VI emissions and are hybrid. All single deck buses are zero-emission.

12 Low Emission Bus Zones were delivered between 2017 and 2019 - around one year earlier than planned - with all TfL scheduled bus routes operating along these corridors meeting Euro VI emission standards. Between 2017 and 2020, around 4,000 mid-life buses were retrofitted with NOx abatement technology to meet the latest Euro VI emission standards - helping to reduce NOx and PM. This means that all buses in London’s core fleet are now Euro VI or better.

Review and enhance bus station facilities TfL committed to reviewing and enhancing facilities over the 2016 Business Plan period. So far TfL has delivered new bus driver toilets at 60 locations since 2018, renewed five bus driver welfare facilities in the past year, as well as installing COVID-19 mitigations at 40 locations (e.g. enlarged welfare facilities, improved ventilation).

The programme was affected by the two-year pause in asset renewals during 2018/19 and 2019/20, but this is an ongoing programme of new facilities where required, together with refurbishment of existing facilities.

Bus priority measures The 2016 Business Plan set out how, by 2021/22, bus priority investment would provide the infrastructure needed for a high quality, reliable public transport network that sustains a growing city. The Bus Priority programme is a rolling annualised programme, delivering significant journey time savings for passengers every year through new infrastructure and hundreds of traffic signal timing reviews. In 2020, TfL began a trial of 24/7 bus lanes on 80km of Red Routes, under a temporary traffic order, to help protect bus speeds and encourage people to use bus services as part of London's green recovery.

Bus speeds and patronage continue to be impacted by a variety of factors, including the growth in "on demand" private hire vehicles, disruption to the network during construction works, and congestion. It is more important than ever that we continue with measures to make bus journey times quicker and more reliable for our passengers.

Dingwall Road Loop addition to the tramway The new section of tramway was envisaged to open in 2021 in the 2016 Business Plan. In light of the revised Westfield planning permission which provided no direct funding for the project, and new opportunities at East Croydon arising from Network Rail’s upgrade proposals for the rail station, the Dingwall Road Loop project was paused. TfL is in the process of updating the tram network strategy which will set out our long-term plan to improve network reliability and service provision, reflecting the changing development plans in the area.

Cycle Superhighways programme The 2016 Business Plan set out plans to complete phase 2 of the North-South Cycle Superhighway and new Cycle Superhighways 4, 9 and 11, as well as phase 2 of the East-West route (subject to consultation and approval).

Phase 2 of the North-South Cycle Superhighway is complete. Cycle Superhighway 4 - now known as Cycleway 4 - is under construction and due for completion by spring 2021. Cycle Superhighway 9 - now known as Cycleway 9 - is under construction and the east section is due to be completed by early summer 2021. Phase 2 of the East-West Cycle Superhighway is complete.

TfL was due to start construction at Swiss Cottage, the first section of Cycle Superhighway 11 (CS11), in July 2018 but was prevented from doing so by legal action brought by Westminster City Council. The Court found against TfL on the basis that they had not fully considered that Westminster City Council may continue to object to sections of CS11 due to be constructed on its highway. TfL applied for permission to appeal the Court’s decision, but permission was refused. However, it is clear that Swiss Cottage needs to be made safer and TfL will work with Camden Council on plans for this area in order to transform this intimidating, traffic-dominated and outdated junction.

Vauxhall Cross In 2016, TfL anticipated that work would commence in 2018 to provide a new bus station at Vauxhall and remove the one-way road system making it safer and easier to interchange, walk or cycle. This complex project has numerous interfaces and has been subject to a number of delays, and as a result construction is now planned to start in 2023.

The key programme changes relate to:

• Elongated design and consultation; • The need to coordinate the plans with developers and secure land for the scheme; and • Work on the scheme was paused in April 2020 as a result of the pandemic, but was re- started in November 2020 when Government financial support for the remainder of 2020/21 was confirmed.

Wandsworth Gyratory In the 2016 Business Plan, TfL anticipated work starting on the scheme in 2018. Following a redesign of the scheme and stakeholder engagement, and subject to securing Major Road Network funding from the DfT and necessary consents, construction is planned to start in early 2023.

A23/A232 Fiveways Croydon TfL’s 2016 Business Plan indicated that construction could start in early 2019. In July 2020, TfL’s Board endorsed pausing the project; with growth and development plans in the area changing, TfL is in discussions with the borough about future plans.

Old Street roundabout The 2016 Business Plan said that construction was due to start in 2017. Construction started in March 2019. During the detailed design phase in 2018-19, the project had to accommodate a number of new requirements which required significant redesign of a number of the key integrated elements in order to satisfy stakeholders such as the London Fire Brigade and the London Borough of Islington. The time needed to redesign these elements and the additional complexity of the new construction methodology has extended the delivery phase. Construction is currently due to complete in Autumn 2022.

Waterloo The 2016 Business Plan set out plans to pedestrian crossings and cycle links, as well as upgrades to the bus station and stops. Subject to funding, construction is currently planned to start in 2021. Construction has been delayed as a result of the pandemic.

King’s Cross / Euston Road The 2016 Business Plan outlined work to improve the area for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as TfL’s intention to carry out a feasibility study to remove the King’s Cross gyratory. After successfully delivering the safety improvements at Dukes Road/Euston Road in July 2020, the TfL Board endorsed a change of scope of the project. TfL will now complete key safety improvements as part of smaller, targeted scheme. The creation last year of a temporary protected cycle lane on Euston Road is making it easier for people to walk and cycle.

Victoria Terminus Place The Victoria Terminus Place project was deprioritised during the 2017 Business Planning rounds. In addition to a lack of overall funding, the business case was compromised by a potential overlap with works on the Victoria Station Upgrade project, and the potential for improvements to be removed if the site was utilised for Crossrail 2.

Many of the aspirations of the Victoria Terminus Place now form part of a new project, Future Victoria. This is a joint TfL, Westminster City Council, Network Rail and Victoria Business Improvement District project which is considering opportunities to redevelop the station and surrounding area. For TfL, this includes improving the interchange, active travel facilities and options for Terminus Place. The project is at the early stages with an emerging masterplan for the area, with potential delivery over the next twenty years.

Bromley-by-Bow The 2016 Business Plan proposed enhancements to transport links and the public realm. In July 2020, the TfL Board endorsed pausing the Bromley-by-Bow and Marshgate Lane changes pending clarity on development plans for the site.

Stratford town centre As set out in the 2016 Business Plan, TfL worked with the London Borough of Newham on major improvements to Stratford, including new facilities for cycling, better access to buses and public realm enhancements. The project successfully completed in 2018.

Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) The 2016 Business Plan said TfL was consulting on introducing the ULEZ in 2019. The ULEZ was successfully introduced in central London in April 2019 ahead of the original planned launch in September 2020. The Ultra Low Emission Zone Expansion project will expand the existing central ULEZ up to the North and South Circular roads and is due to launch in October 2021.

Santander Cycles The 2016 Business Plan set out TfL’s plans to introduce an upgraded bike in 2018 and to integrate the scheme more fully with other services. The upgraded bike was rolled out from 2018, and is continuing at a rate of at least 500 per year. The upgraded bike responds to key customer feedback such as bike weight, suitability for a broader range of heights and easier maintenance. The uptake of the bikes is reflected in it now being hired more often than the original bikes.

Cycle Hire as a customer proposition is now incorporated into a number of customer interfaces (Journey Planner as an example). The development of the mobile app with improved route- finding and rewards badges has resulted in its increased usage.

Additional efficiencies have been the increased use of hubs and overnight storage at mainline stations and central end point destinations along with improved cycle rebalancing software. These efficiencies were reflected in contract efficiencies with our contractor Serco.

Not all infrastructure has been renewed over the Business Plan period as was suggested in the 2016 Business Plan, as a review of asset condition revealed that some assets can be used for longer (beyond their design life). Infrastructure is planned for renewal as assets fail over the coming 5-10 years.

Woolwich Ferry The 2016 Business Plan set out TfL’s intention to purchase new vessels that would improve reliability and reduce operation and maintenance costs. The two new hybrid vessels, Ben Woollacott and Dame Vera Lynn, entered service in 2019. On 1 January 2021, TfL took over ferry operations. As part of TfL’s ongoing commitment to the service, it is investing in a programme of capital resilience and renewal schemes.

Dial-a-Ride The 2016 Business Plan set out plans to introduce ULEZ-compliant vehicles ahead of the launch of the zone. Phase 1 was delivered as planned, prior to the launch of ULEZ in April 2019. Phase 2 is due to be delivered before the ULEZ Expansion go-live in October 2021, with completion expected by the end of March. Though the pandemic has caused some interruptions in manufacturing, the project will be completed ahead of schedule and well in advance of the ULEZ Expansion launch.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Heidi Alexander Deputy Mayor for Transport