Principal strategy planner – surface transport, Transport for London (TfL)

TfL recently created a ‘Walk the Tube’ map, showing how long it takes to walk from one station to another. Why?
We wanted to encourage more Londoners to walk part of their daily journeys by highlighting how close many stations in central London are to each other – thereby both improving people’s health and reducing Tube congestion.

Our 2014 Transport Health Action Plan – which sets out how TfL helps improve the health of Londoners – found that only around 25 per cent of adults in London get all the physical activity they need from walking and cycling as part of their everyday travel. However, as many as 60 per cent could be achieving 150 minutes a week just by adding a little more walking into their daily travel. We therefore identified ways to encourage more people to walk and cycle, and the idea for the Walking Tube map was developed.

What’s been the feedback so far?
Feedback from our customers through social media and emails has been very positive and we’re seeing people download the map from our website. It’s too early to say whether the map is encouraging more people to walk, but this is something we’ll monitor in our research.

How are you promoting it?
We’re going to trial putting the Walking Tube map on digital screens at Paddington Tube station, which is a busy commuter and visitor station, and we’re producing printed versions of the map for our Visitor Centres. This is in addition to the standard maps already in place at all Tube and mainline rail stations to help people find walking routes in the local area.

Londoners already do thousands of steps on their daily commute. What more can be achieved with the map?
Our research shows that Londoners already do a lot of walking, and half of all the walking they do is as part of public transport trips, but there are lots more short trips that could be done on foot.

We hope the map will encourage more Londoners and visitors to think twice before they jump on the Tube, and to consider whether it might be just as quick and easy – not to mention better for their health – to walk their trip.

How can health clubs get involved?
They can do a lot to encourage staff and members to build more activity into their daily routines, by providing information on public transport alternatives to using the car. For example, provide walking and cycling route maps and apps – and even incentivise members to travel actively, by giving small rewards for arriving by foot, bicycle or public transport.