With Londoners being advised to avoid much of central London tonight if they haven’t got a ticket for the Mayor’s firework display, it helps to be in the know about which transport services you CAN use – so here’s our comprehensive guide to travel on New Years Eve.
Don’t forget – even if you have managed to secure a ticket for the fireworks, you need to arrive by 9.30pm for viewing North of the river, and by 10.30pm for South of the river.
ROADS
Roads will begin closing at 2pm today, with most routes in central London shut by 8pm. The roads that are closed for the fireworks display should re-open by 6am – but if they are part of the New Years Day parade they will stay shut from 4am.
You can find a map of the parade here, and a map of the fireworks road closures here.
From 14:00: – Westminster Bridge will be closed in both directions – Victoria Embankment closed in both directions from Southwark Bridge to Bridge Street – Parliament Square, Whitehall and Millbank from Parliament Square to Lambeth Bridge, and Victoria Street from Parliament Square to Buckingham Gate will also be closed – The Northbound bus lane on Waterloo Bridge will close – expect slow moving traffic
From 17:00: – Closures around Chichley Street and Belvedere Road on the South Side of the Thames
From 20:00: – From Vauxhall Bridge Road in the west of London to London Bridge in the east of central London – From Oxford Street in the north to Elephant and Castle south of the river From 22:00: – Roads around St. Paul’s, Mansion House and Monument in the City of London will be closed – Additional roads to the east at Tower Hill may also need to be closed
TUBE
Some services are partially closed tonight on the District Line and Piccadilly line, and the Waterloo and City line will shut at 02.40.
Many central London stations will close this evening for crowd control, including Blackfriars, Westminster and Southwark. Victoria and Waterloo stations are open but expected to be extremely busy.
TfL has a full list of the closures and timings here.
BUSES
Make sure you check if your bus route is affected by the road closures, if so it is likely to be diverted .
If it is, you can still catch a bus from one of these hubs:
– Lambeth North – for buses towards South East, South and South West London – Holborn Station – for buses towards North East and East London – Oxford Circus – for buses towards East, West and North West London – Goodge Street- for buses towards North and North East London – Green Park – for buses towards West and South West London – Victoria – for buses towards South, South West and North West London
BUT Victoria will be shut from 23.00 for crowd control until it is safe to re-open. Get more info on your bus route here.
FREE TRAVEL
TfL will be providing free travel from 23.45 tonight until 04.30 tomorrow morning on the bus, Tube, tram, DLR and London Overground.
But make sure to check all closures and diversions before you try to travel.
