Skip to main content

Up to 120 London underground stations to get free wi-fi this year

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has confirmed that a contract has been awarded to Virgin Media to provide public access wi-fi at up to 120 underground station platforms at zero cost to the fare or taxpayer. The new service will launch as a free, unlimited service for all tube passengers this summer and will continue to offer free live Transport for London (TfL) travel information via a new online portal after this period. Virgin Media, in partnership with London Underground, will initially introduce wi-
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has confirmed that a contract has been awarded to 4142 Virgin Media to provide public access wi-fi at up to 120 underground station platforms at zero cost to the fare or taxpayer. The new service will launch as a free, unlimited service for all tube passengers this summer and will continue to offer free live 1466 Transport for London (TfL) travel information via a new online portal after this period.

Virgin Media, in partnership with London Underground, will initially introduce wi-fi at over 80 stations.  By the end of 2012, up to 120 Tube stations, many of them deep-level, will be connected.

From June 2012, all tube passengers will be able to connect to the internet at stations for free, enabling millions of commuters and visitors to access websites and online destinations, check their emails and social media from their mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other connected devices. Following this period, wi-fi at tube stations will be made available as part of Virgin Media’s broadband and mobile subscriptions and all tube passengers will be able to stay up-to-date with travel information thanks to the free online portal. Full Internet access via wi-fi will become available via Pay-As-You-Go and other commercial models.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Q-Free calls on traffic signal companies to stop ‘stifling innovation’
    November 15, 2019
    Q-Free is challenging all traffic signal companies to release their management information bases (MIB) to speed up innovation and reduce agency costs.
  • EdgeVis removes bandwidth barriers to mobile streamed video
    October 26, 2017
    A new generation of video compression can lower transmission costs of data and make streaming from mobile and body-worn cameras a reality, as Colin Sowman discovers. Bandwidth limitations have long been the bottleneck restricting the expanded use of video streaming for ITS, monitoring and surveillance purposes. Recent years have seen this countered to some degree by the introduction of ‘edge processing’ whereby ANPR, incident detection and other image processing is moved into (or close to) the camera, so
  • Singapore aims for cashless public transport by 2020
    August 11, 2017
    Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and TransitLink are working towards a fully cashless vision for public transport by 2020, as part of their Smart Nation efforts. LTA and TransitLink are to launch a series of initiatives where commuters will no longer use cash to pay for rides or to top up stored-value cards. A key part of this is account-based ticketing, which LTA has been piloting with Mastercard since March 2017. This provides commuters with the convenience of tapping in and out with contactless
  • Real-time bus arrivals delivered via scan code
    March 6, 2013
    Quick Response codes, or QR codes, are being introduced on a trial basis at some local bus stops in Shanghai to allow passengers to check the whereabouts of buses and the expected arrival time of the next bus. Passengers can obtain real-time information on buses by scanning the QR code using their smartphones, allowing them to adjust commuting plans. The service was first launched in Shanghai during late 2012. Almost 90 bus routes serving Pudong New Area can be checked using a smartphone application. People