At the start of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Priority Seating Week, new research has revealed that around one in four passengers feels awkward about offering their seat to someone who might need it more. A survey of 1,000 customers also found that almost a third of passengers only believe that they should offer their seat if they are in a ‘priority seat’.

TfL’s Priority Seating Week aims to address these issues by raising awareness of how to make travelling easier for everyone, particularly those who may be in need of a seat. From this week, customers will also start to notice brand new designs on the fabric covering priority seats on the Jubilee line. Seats that feature six different messages, including ‘please offer this seat’ and ‘someone may need this seat more’, will be introduced across the whole Jubilee line over the coming months.

Posters featuring staff will be running across the network and video clips with customers talking about their journeys will be shared on social media. These will be encouraging people to look up and offer their seat to someone who may need it more, whether they are in a priority seat or not. The week will also highlight some of the initiatives that TfL has in place to make travelling easier for everyone.

Priority Seating Week also marks the second year anniversary of the free ‘Please Offer Me a Seat’ badge. Specially designed to make travelling easier for people with a range of conditions that make it difficult to stand, more than 44,000 badges have been issued to disabled customers and those with invisible conditions since it was launched in 2017.  The badge has since been adopted by a number of travel networks in the UK and across the world including Greater Anglia Trains and the New York Transport Authority.  

TfL has worked with a wide range of charities on the campaign, including Transport for All, Anxiety UK and Meniere’s Society.

Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said: “It’s vital that we make our transport network accessible to all Londoners and visitors, so I’m really pleased that distinctive new priority seats are being rolled out on the Jubilee line. I hope that they will build on the success of our ‘Please Offer Me a Seat’ badges to encourage even more people to offer their seat to those who need them.”