Transport for London (TfL) is encouraging customers to offer their seat to customers who need it on public transport, and be mindful of non-visible health conditions, as it showcases its new priority seating design, with greater colour contrast.
Marking its seventh annual Priority Seating Week, TfL is encouraging people to look up and be aware of their surroundings on public transport, in case someone is in greater need of a seat. Some customers who need to sit down may not always have a ‘Please offer me a seat’ badge, Sunflower lanyard or similar.
Public announcements will play on buses, DLR, Elizabeth line, London Overground and London Underground networks and a ‘Travel Kind – Please offer your seat’ poster will be displayed across the network. ‘Please offer me a seat badges’ will be handed out on the DLR and London Overground, with ‘Here to help’ stalls on the Elizabeth line. Information about Priority Seating Week will also be shared in customer emails and on social media, marked with #TfLTravelKind.
To ensure that customers can identify a priority seat more easily, all new priority seats introduced from now on across the TfL network will include the words ‘This is a priority seat.’ This matches the appearance of ‘Please offer me a seat’ badges and the Government’s Blue Badge scheme and aligns with the priority seating design already in place on the Jubilee line.
TfL has offered a first look of the new design for the Elizabeth line, which has started to be introduced on the service. As well as the new ‘This is a priority seat’ words, the design retains the same distinct striped pattern that customers have come to associate with the line, but with a blue colour scheme rather than purple to help people, especially those with visual impairments, differentiate between the two types of seat. Customers will see the new priority seating design strategy on new DLR and Piccadilly trains, as well as on refurbished Central and Waterloo & City line trains.
TfL Image – Priority seat signage
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Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said: “Making the public transport network accessible for all is a top priority for the Mayor, and Londoners can play their part by staying aware of those around them and offering their seat to someone who may need it.
“TfL’s striking new seat design will make priority seating easier to spot, and act as a reminder for everyone to consider their fellow passengers.
“Not all disabilities are visible so, as TfL launches Priority Seating Week, we’re asking all Londoners to keep this in mind, and offer their seat to those who may need it more than them.”
