Early 2026: New laws concerning London's pedicabs (commonly known as rickshaws) could be in place as soon as early 2026. These include regulated fares, ID badges for drivers, and doing away with amplified audio systems (sorry, ABBA fans).
2 January: Not a buoyant start to the year for London's motorists, as the standard Congestion Charge for driving in London rises from £15 to £18. Those with electric vehicles are no longer exempt from the shake-down either — though they will receive a hefty discount.
12 January-late May: The Northern line Bank branch between Camden Town and Kennington will be closed from 10pm Mondays to Thursdays for essential track replacement. Normal service will continue running Fridays to Sundays.
1 February: West Midlands Trains, which operates from Euston station, falls under public ownership. This is part of sweeping nationalisation, which affects various other operators, noted later on in this article.
March: That time of the year which makes London's commuters grind their teeth in grim anticipation: Tube and rail fares within London will rise by a huge 5.8%. Bus and tram fares are yet to be confirmed, although hopefully won't rise as much.
Spring 2026: Cutty Sark DLR station reopens, flaunting its four new state-of-the-art, energy efficient escalators.
Also spring 2026: Two tunnel boring machines will begin chewing away at the London clay to create the Euston tunnel, which will eventually convey HS2 services between Euston and Old Oak Common.
And also spring 2026: UK tech firm Wayve are due to start trialling self-driving Ubers on London streets. Look twice before crossing the road.
Spring/summer 2026: Look who's quack... Since being retired in 2017, an amphibious 'duck tour' experience is due to return to London's streets/river — with all-new electric vehicles, under the moniker Big Duck Tours. No definitive date yet, but we have it on good authority they'll likely arrive in the spring/summer.
31 May: Thameslink trains falls under public ownership. Will this spell fewer delays and cancellations? Probably not.
July/August 2026: Could Oxford Street be pedestrianised — or at least pedestrianised in part — by the summer? According to some of Sadiq Kahn's officials — yes. It's thought that buses, taxis and even cyclists could be banned from the stretch between Selfridges and IKEA by July or August. If this comes to pass, it'll be a huge green tick against the legacy of the current Mayor of London.
"The second half of 2026": That, TfL tells us, is when we can now expect the long-awaited Siemens Mobility Ltd, Piccadilly line trains, originally touted to run by 2024.
13 September: A spate of Northern line Tube station birthdays! Clapham South, Colliers Wood, Morden, South Wimbledon, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway all celebrate their centenaries on this day. TfL hopefully has something in the works to mark the occasion. You'll find us in the Holden pub opposite Colliers Wood station — raising a glass to the pub's namesake, and the architect of all the above splendid stations.
6 December: Balham Tube station — once the victim of a devastating bomb blast — isn't far behind the others in celebrating its 100th birthday.
End of 2026: This is when the last of the old DLR trains should be retired from service, making way for the 54 brand new ones. At time of writing, however, the initial handful of said brand new trains have been pulled from service, due to iffy brakes.
Sometime in 2026: Two more strands of the ever-expanding Superloop are due to be added this year: the SL11 (running between Greenwich and Abbey Wood) is touted for early 2026, with the SL12 (running between Rainham and Gants Hill) expected to join later on in the year.
Also sometime in 2026: Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railways — which both operate in London — fall under public ownership in 2026 — although we're not sure precisely when.
And also sometime in 2026: It's 100 years since Montague B Black offered up his famous image of the capital of the future, titled London 2026 AD this is all in the air. In it, a golden sky buzzes with planes, gyrocopters and airships, nimbly picking their way between the classically-styled skyscrapers. A century on, and most of London's skyscrapers are nowhere near as graceful, although, thank goodness, the ether is largely void of the thrum of private aircraft, save the occasional helicopter darting out of Battersea.
