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How did you celebrate your 25th birthday (if you’re that old)?. Cake? Party hats? Overdoing it at a pub night? Well, TfL is commemorating 25 years of service with a glow-up, giving eight of its services a fresh new makeover.
A new purple-blue design will wrap TfL buses, DLR trains, Jubilee line trains, trams and IFS Cloud Cable Car cabins. As well as featuring a new colour, the new design will depict a timeline of London’s transport network achievements over the last quarter-century, including the launch of the Oyster card in 2003 and the opening of the Elizabeth line in 2022.
In a first for TfL, the distinctive new designs will be in place on a number of vehicles across all types of London transport. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Elizabeth line, IFS Cloud Cable Car, London Overground, London Trams and London Underground, as well as on one of London’s more than 2,000 zero-emission buses and a taxi, will boast the designs, while a special 25th anniversary roundel will also feature on Santander Cycles bikes.
Commenting on the designs, London’s Transport Commissioner Andy Lord said: ‘We’re excited to launch these special designs across a number of our services for the first time to mark the occasion, whilst also looking ahead to the next 25 years and all the improvements we have in the pipelines, such as those to make our network as accessible and inclusive as possible.’
Deputy Mayor for Transport Seb Dance called the 25th anniversary ‘a great opportunity to reflect on just how much our transport network has evolved and transformed in recent years, serving millions of Londoners and visitors to our city each and every day’.
He added:, ‘We’re committed to doing all we can to invest in and improve our network further, so it is fit for future generations and the next 25 years.’
And the next 25 years are set to be big for TfL. In the pipeline for London’s transport network is a £2.9 billion investment programme to modernise the Piccadilly line, proposals to extend the Bakerloo line in southeast London and new Docklands Light Railway trains, which enter service next year.
The anniversary celebrations don’t stop at the redesign. TfL has organised an anniversary poster series highlighting its major achievements, and has hosted and planned a series of events, competitions and opportunities for the public to get involved. These include an upcoming ‘then and now’ photography exhibition and a poster design competition at the London Transport Museum, and a call-out for people to share their favourite memories from the network since 2000. Find out more about that call-out here.
The specially designed transport skins will stay on the TfL network until at least the end of the year, so you’ve got plenty of time to catch them in action.
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