The London passenger transport sector has played a significant role in influencing a shift away from the car.  34% of daily journeys in London use passenger transport.  Consequently London has the largest regional sector workforce, employing approximately 177,000 in around 3,000 companies.  A third of all passenger transport jobs in England are in London. 

26% of the London passenger transport workforce is female, who are mainly in the aviation industry.  30% of the workforce are from ethnic minority groups.

The largest number of employees are in the bus and coach industry, followed by the aviation industry.  65% of the aviation industry workforce is based in the South East and London.  The number of bus and rail passengers has steadily increased since 1999.  London is the highest issuer of hackney and private hire licenses in England.

Key statistics:

• 57% of the workforce have an NVQ Level 2 or higher, 11% have no qualifications
• 34% of companies have employment vacancies, of which 27% are hard-to-fill
• around 3% of total vacancies in London are in the passenger transport sector
• 1 in 10 companies report retention difficulties
• companies report an average turnover rate of 22%
• 13% report skills gaps
• skills gaps are reported for customer handling, oral communication and problem solving skills
• 30% of companies provide training for their employees
• 27% of companies found that there was a lack of funding available for training
• 16% found that there was a lack of suitable courses in the local area

Priorities for the region include:

• transport improvements, including extension  and increased capacity of light rail system
• improved London City airport links
• Heathrow airport extensions and improvements
• extension of congestion charge

For more detailed passenger transport priorities in the region go to the GoSkills London Regional fact sheet (2006).

Source:  GoSkills regional fact sheet 2006, GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a and GoSkills Priority issues for passenger transport sector (SSA III) 2007

For more regional data see: