Diageo is to sponsors free travel on the London Underground, buses, Tramlink, DLR and London railway until last trains, plus Lothian bus services in Edinburgh, on New Year’s Eve
According to Transport for London (TFI) and Diageo, which is sponsoring the get-home-safely inititive for the second year, over the course of the evening:
- Tube train doors will open and close around 64,000 times between 11.45pm and 4.30am;
- More than 19,000 bus stops will be visited by nearly 8,000 buses;
- Buses will collectively clock up at least 40,000 miles on the capital’s roads to get everyone home after the party;
- The transport network’s 400 escalators will cover a total of 39,000 miles during the night – equivalent to lapping the world one and a half times!
- A total of 561,496 miles will be travelled to get around 2.5 million peoplehome;
- From its highest point (147m above sea level, the Metropolitan line near Amersham) to its deepest section (32m deep on Jubilee line through central London), travellers on the Tube will rise and fall by almost 180m – that’s almost two football pitches
People in London will benefit from free travel on services from 11.45pm on New Year’s Eve until 04.30am on New Year’s Day. Tube, DLR, Tramlink and bus services will run all night and free travel will also apply to London overground trains running until last train times.
Diageo will advertise across the TfL network to remind everyone to celebrate responsibly and get home safely, not only on New Year’s Eve but throughout the festive season.
Tube travellers at central London stations will also receive oyster card holders featuring top tips from Drinkaware for a great night out in the run-up to Christmas.
Andrew Cowan, country director for Diageo GB, said: “This is a time for great celebrations, especially after what has been a tremendous year for Great Britain. As always we want to remind everyone that the best celebrations are those that are enjoyed responsibly.
“Getting home safely is the conclusion to a great night out, and we hope our campaign this year will encourage everyone, on New Year’s Eve and throughout the festive period, not to let good times go bad by drinking too much.”
Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at TfL said: “We are delighted to enter our second year of sponsorship with Diageo to ensure those celebrating the end of what has been a fantastic year for the capital and seeing in the new one can get home safely. We do advise passengers to check before they travel and be aware that some buses may be on diversion due to road closures.”
This year for the first time Diageo will also be sponsoring free travel in Edinburgh for the Hogmanay celebrations. The world renowned Hogmanay event will host 80,000 partygoers, 20,000 of whom will be able to travel home free of charge on Lothian bus services.
