The requirement to wear a face mask on the Tube and bus is to be formally ditched – but Londoners will be “strongly recommended” to continue covering up as a courtesy to fellow passengers.
Transport for London on Wednesday confirmed that, from Thursday, it would no longer be a “condition of carriage” that face masks be worn on its services, to tie in with wider lifting of restrictions as part of Boris Johnson’s “living with covid” plan.
But TfL will “strongly recommend” that mask wearing continues – in line with advice being given to passengers using national rail services.
TfL decided to drop its condition of carriage on face coverings after considering data showing that Covid infection rates have fallen consistently since the start of the year.
The latest rates are due to be published on Wednesday afternoon but London last week had the highest infection rates in England, with 5.3 per cent of the city’s population likely to test positive for Covid in the week to February 12, according to the Office for National Statistics.
However, more than 98 per cent of adults in England have Covid antibodies that will help protect them against serious illness, the ONS said.
Lilli Matson, TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer, said: “We have seen increasing numbers of customers return to our network as they begin to return to offices and workplaces, as well as to bars, theatres, restaurants and other cultural venues.
“Following the Government’s decision to lift coronavirus restrictions and the falling infection rates in London, we will be removing the condition of carriage that requires customers to wear face coverings from February 24, but will continue to strongly recommend that customers and staff wear them as they are proven to reduce the risk of transmission and we know they provide confidence to people using public transport.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan regards face masks as a “simple, effective measure that give Londoners confidence to travel”.
He said: “I urge passengers to be considerate of their fellow Londoners and continue to wear a face covering where appropriate unless exempt.”
TfL also strongly encourages the continued use of face coverings in taxis and private hire vehicles by both drivers and passengers.
The number of passengers using the Tube last week was about 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with between 2.2m and 2.5m journeys a day, though numbers will have been suppressed by the school half-term holidays.
There were about 4.5m bus journeys a day last week – 75 per cent of normal.
The legal requirement to wear a mask on public transport had been axed by the Government when its “Plan B” rules were lifted on January 27.
Since then, TfL staff and British Transport Police have had no power to issue £200 fines for non-compliance and the number of passengers wearing masks has fallen to about 50 per cent.
Face masks were mandatory in the first year of the pandemic but were first ditched nationally by the Government last July – only to be reintroduced from November 30 as omicron ripped through the country.
Between the end of November and January 6, TfL enforcement officers stopped more than 43,000 passengers who were not wearing a mask.
Of these, 2,195 were prevented from travelling, 906 people were thrown off a bus or Tube and 1,575 received a fixed penalty notice.
On Tuesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he would continue to wear a face mask on the Tube.
“For now, although the infection levels have been falling significantly, week after week, I think where infection levels are at the moment, if I was on the London Tube, for example, and it was packed, I would wear a face mask,” he said.
TfL regarded mask-wearing as a vital part of keeping its workforce safe. A total of 105 TfL staff and contractors have died with Covid since the start of the pandemic.
Experts said it was important not to behave as if the pandemic had ended and called for a gradual lifting of restrictions.
Dr Jyotsna Vohra, director of policy at the Royal Society for Public Health, said: “To completely drop indoor mask wearing especially in crowded settings – a cheap and simple measure – is a missed opportunity to demonstrate consideration and inclusivity towards vulnerable groups.”
