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Today (April 28) London marked the opening of the city’s 93rd step-free tube stop. The latest London Underground station to get accessibility upgrades was Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly line, which now boasts street-to-platform access for the first time.
Knightsbridge’s improvements are the result of a new station entrance on Hopper’s Court, which was the result of TfL working with Knightsbridge Estate and developer Chelsfield. The new entrance features three new lifts, each with capacity for 17 people.
And that isn’t all. The new entrance also increases capacity at the station and makes use of parts of the station that haven’t been open to the public in 100 years. The building above the station has been redeveloped, with architectural features of the façade being restored.
Now anyone can get to Knightsbridge and all its attractions – Harrods, Harvey Nicks, fancy schmancy Kensington shops, Hyde Park – step-free. TfL says Knightsbridge has nearly 13 million passenger journeys a year.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan described the Knightsbridge upgrade as ‘important’, while TfL’s chief capital officer Stuart Harvey says it ‘will benefit millions of our customers every year’.
There is still, of course, a long way to go before London is a truly accessible city. Mayor Sadiq has a goal of making 50 percent of tube stations accessible, and with Knightsbridge’s upgrade just over a third (34 percent) of London’s 272 tube stations are now step-free.
You can read more about which 10 tube stops are currently in the ‘design’ and ‘feasibility’ stages of being made step-free here and find out more about efforts to make Leyton – the tube stop serving London’s coolest neighbourhood in 2024 – step-free by 2027.
London travel disruption this week: full list of TfL tube and train closures for April 28-May 1.
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