TfL unveils new look for priority seating as it launches seventh annual Priority Seating Week

Transport for London (TfL) is encouraging customers to offer their seat to customers who need it on public transport, and be mindful of non-visible health conditions, as it showcases its new priority seating design, with greater colour contrast.

Marking its seventh annual Priority Seating Week, TfL is encouraging people to look up and be aware of their surroundings on public transport, in case someone is in greater need of a seat. Some customers who need to sit down may not always have a ‘Please offer me a seat’ badge, Sunflower lanyard or similar.

Public announcements will play on buses, DLR, Elizabeth line, London Overground and London Underground networks and a ‘Travel Kind – Please offer your seat’ poster will be displayed across the network. ‘Please offer me a seat badges’ will be handed out on the DLR and London Overground, with ‘Here to help’ stalls on the Elizabeth line. Information about Priority Seating Week will also be shared in customer emails and on social media, marked with #TfLTravelKind.

To ensure that customers can identify a priority seat more easily, all new priority seats introduced from now on across the TfL network will include the words ‘This is a priority seat.’ This matches the appearance of ‘Please offer me a seat’ badges and the Government’s Blue Badge scheme and aligns with the priority seating design already in place on the Jubilee line.

TfL has offered a first look of the new design for the Elizabeth line, which has started to be introduced on the service. As well as the new ‘This is a priority seat’ words, the design retains the same distinct striped pattern that customers have come to associate with the line, but with a blue colour scheme rather than purple to help people, especially those with visual impairments, differentiate between the two types of seat. Customers will see the new priority seating design strategy on new DLR and Piccadilly trains, as well as on refurbished Central and Waterloo & City line trains.

Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said: “Making the public transport network accessible for all is a top priority for the Mayor, and Londoners can play their part by staying aware of those around them and offering their seat to someone who may need it.

“TfL’s striking new seat design will make priority seating easier to spot, and act as a reminder for everyone to consider their fellow passengers.

"Not all disabilities are visible so, as TfL launches Priority Seating Week, we're asking all Londoners to keep this in mind, and offer their seat to those who may need it more than them."

Mark Evers, TfL’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “It’s so important that people with disabilities and health conditions lead full lives, and public transport plays a vital role in this. Our new seat design will make it much more obvious to customers which seats on our services are priority seats, making it easier both for people who need a seat and for those who can offer one. Disabilities and health conditions can affect absolutely anyone, and might not be apparent to others, especially in a busy environment. We know that Londoners are compassionate and understanding towards others, and we’re reminding all those who can offer a seat to look up and keep an eye out for people who might need it more.”

Allison Peter, Deputy Chair of TfL’s independent Disability Advisory Group (IDAG), said: "Priority seats are essential for many disabled people, including those with non-visible conditions, as well as older people. They play a vital role in enabling people to travel with confidence and stay connected in London.

“At IDAG, we are delighted to see Priority Seating Week return this year. It serves as an important reminder that these seats only fulfil their purpose with support from passengers. By making small, thoughtful adjustments in our behaviour, we can create significant positive impacts on others' lives. By looking up, offering our seat, and being mindful of non-visible disabilities, we can help to make public transport more accessible and inclusive."

Michael Roberts, CEO of London TravelWatch, said: “Priority seats are a necessity to many people, so anything that reminds passengers to give up their seat to someone who might need it more is very welcome. This new design is unique and eye-catching, and we look forward to seeing it rolled out to more trains across the network.”

Kate Brackley, Learning Disability Advisor at the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), said: “I think priority seating is so important to people with learning disabilities and we fully support TfL in promoting the importance of this. We would like to be the same as everyone else, to be able to have a seat that is accessible on transport, we don’t want feel stressed if there is no seat available for us, we have every right to have one so that we can feel safe.”

Previous TfL research looked at how likely people are to get a priority seat if they need one and showed that many of those who need a seat do get one. It also revealed that although many customers are doing the right thing and offering their seat, it is not always clear when someone needs a priority seat and people are not always paying attention to their surroundings to notice if there is someone in need of a seat.

More than 152,000 ‘Please offer me a seat’ badges have been issued since 2017, and while initially the badges could only be sent to addresses in London and the south east, last year the scheme expanded to allow badges to be sent to any address in the UK.

A broad range of disabilities and conditions can mean someone might need a seat on public transport. Some conditions may not be obvious to others and those with non-visible conditions are less likely to get a seat. Non-visible conditions include chronic pain, respiratory conditions and diabetes, as well as learning disabilities, autism, other forms of neurodivergence and mental health conditions. A survey by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), commissioned by TfL, found that 71.9 per cent of respondents said that busy services are the hardest part of using public transport.

With 13.2 per cent of Londoners identifying as disabled, it is vital that the London transport network is as fair, accessible and inclusive as possible, and TfL is committed to delivering the more than 80 commitments in its customer inclusion plan Equity in Motion. Priority seats are available across buses, Tubes, trains and trams for anyone who needs one, along with free ‘Please offer me a seat’ badges to help people let fellow passengers know they need a seat.

TfL is also taking other steps to make the transport network as accessible as possible. Today, Knightsbridge Underground station in central London becomes the 93^rd station on the Tube network to offer step-free access, bringing TfL closer to the Mayor’s ambitious goal of making 50 per cent of Tube stations step-free. A new accessible toilet also opened last week at White Hart Lane station on the London Overground’s Weaver line, with another opening shortly at Seven Sisters London Overground station, while Amersham, Clapton and Morden were confirmed as the next stations on the TfL network to get new accessible toilet facilities.

This year TfL celebrates 25 years since it started transforming the capital's transport network, supporting jobs, homes and economic growth, and connecting Londoners to education, employment and leisure. The launch of priority seating in 2008, following the introduction of the ‘Baby on board’ badge in 2006 and ‘Please offer me a seat badges’ in 2017, are some of the many milestones from the past 25 years.