How often do London’s tube seats get cleaned?

Getting a seat on a packed tube might feel like a small miracle – but spend too much time thinking about the last time that seat was thoroughly cleaned and the joy might start to wear off. Each seat has seen so much, so many spills and so many bums… it gets you wondering: how often are they actually cleaned?

We’ve done some digging and found out how and when the thrones of the Underground get washed, and turns out not all tube lines are equal in the matter. The frequency and methodology of cleaning tube seats varies from line to line, and a Freedom of Information (FOI) request last year revealed the juicy details.

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How often are tube seats cleaned?

According to TfL’s most recent data, here’s how often each train is deep-cleaned on the tube. 

• Piccadilly line carriages are only thoroughly cleaned every 43 days
• Bakerloo, Central, Northern and Victoria line trains all get properly scrubbed up once every 25-28 days
• The Jubilee line receives a deep clean, on average, every 18 days

But there are different levels of clean on the tube. While the above refers to ‘deep cleans’, TfL also cleans tube carriages on a daily basis, as well as embarks on mini cleans and external cleans. Here’s when those cleans are scheduled to take place, and what they entail. 

• Daily pre service checks take place where obvious messes need to be cleared up
• Mini cleans are every three days, mostly involving touch point cleaning.
• Deep cleans are supposed to take place every 21 days. However, not every line is seen to that regularly, as revealed above.
• External train washes are every three days(ish) at an ‘external train wash facility (basically a train-sized car wash).

How is each tube line cleaned?

The Waterloo and City, Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines aren't just vacuumed but instead get a deep clean with a ‘foam cleaning chemical’. The Bakerloo cleaning team gets through two trains a week, whilst the other lines manage to tackle four. 

The Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern line seats get vacuumed every as part of their deep clean but seats are also removed and sent away to be ‘shampooed’.

Hammersmith, Circle, Metropolitan and District line riders are the unluckiest of the bunch as these lines’ seats only deep-cleaning option (besides regular vacuuming and wiping) is replacement. These seats don't get any sort of bath: if the grub and grime gets too much for the hoover to tackle the seats are chucked and shiny new ones get put in place. 

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