The Department for Transport (DFT) does not routinely hold transport statistics on a parliamentary constituency basis. The Department provides Transport for London (TfL) with a block grant to fund transport delivery in London. This grant has more than doubled in the last nine years, rising to almost £3 billion in 2009-10. Drawing on these and other resources, the Mayor is responsible for publishing and, through TfL, implementing a transport strategy for London, while the boroughs are required to publish local implementation plans which set out how they will contribute to the Mayor's strategy.
The additional funding that has been made available has helped deliver 1,089 million passenger journeys on the tube in 2008-9, the highest ever. London Underground's scheduled service is now its largest ever, and in 2008-09 96.4 per cent. was run, the best annual result for 14 years.
Bus services in London have also improved. 2,247 million passenger journeys were made in 2008-09 and patronage grew by almost 47 per cent. between 1997-98 and 2007-08.
Rail routes serving Hackney, North and Stoke Newington have also improved. Served by National Express East Anglia, this franchise has seen punctuality increase from 85 per cent. to 91 per cent. since 2004, over 450 carriages have been refurbished and many stations have been upgraded.
On the roads, national targets to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured by 40 per cent. and reduce the number of “slight” casualties by 10 per cent. (compared to the period 1994-98) by 2010 were largely exceeded by TfL by 2004, leading to TfL setting themselves new targets of 50 per cent. and 25 per cent. respectively.
There have also been improvements to cycling across London. In May 2010 TfL will launch its cycle hire scheme and construction of the cycle superhighways is now under way; one route will run from Tottenham to the City through Hackney. TfL report that cycling now accounts for 2 per cent. of trips in London compared to 1.2 per cent. in 2000, and between 2000-01 and 2007-08 TfL's automatic cycle counters reported an increase in cyclists of 91 per cent.