Mind who’s standing: give up your seat week on the Tube

A CAMPAIGN to remind Londoners to check whether fellow bus or Tube passengers need their seat was launched today.

Transport for London said the continued return to public transport meant that travellers who are less able to stand were struggling to find a seat.

Before the Easter holidays, weekday journeys had reached 65 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on the Tube and 82 per cent on the buses.

TfL’s “priority seating week” poster and social media campaign reminds passengers to be mindful of the needs of their fellow travellers.

This coincides with the fifth anniversary of the launch of its “Please offer me a seat” badge, which have been given to almost 100,000 disabled people and others with “invisible” conditions.

Mark Evers, TfL’s chief customer officer, said: “We hope that during priority seating week even more people will benefit from using the badges, and that ever yone travelling will be reminded that not all conditions are visible and will give their seat to someone who needs it more than they do.”

Amanda Jacobs, who has musculoskeletal conditions, said some passengers did not feel “brave enough” to ask others to give up their seat.

“The badge is so important to me, because when somebody looks up, sees I need to sit down and offers me their seat, I can relax and not worry about being injured and unable to live a full life for several months,” she said.

London has the lowest infection rates of any English region, according to the Office for National Statistics. It estimates that in the week ending April 16 5.3 per cent of Londoners would have tested positive for Covid, down from almost eight per cent on March 26.