Taxis set to keep access through Bank Junction

Black cabs are set to keep weekday access through Bank Junction after a test reopening found mixed results on safety, public transport and accessibility.

The junction was largely closed to traffic in 2017 on weekdays between 07:00 and 19:00 after a cyclist died there and more than 100 people were injured.

City of London Corporation members voted to try lifting some restrictions, and allowed taxis to travel between Poultry and Cornhill from July 2025.

City officers have recommended taxis continue using the route when the trial ends in January 2027.

A report due to go before the Corporation's planning and transportation committee found advantages and drawbacks to the scheme, with campaigners and taxi drivers interpreting the findings differently.

Simon Munk from the London Cycling Campaign said the junction "was incredibly dangerous" before the changes nearly 10 years ago - not just for those cycling, but also for those walking and wheeling - "and despite that, the taxi industry opposed the original scheme".

Munk said allowing more vehicles through the junction would worsen road safety and accused the corporation of going against its transport strategy.

But Paul Brennan, chairman of the London Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA), welcomed the recommendation, saying licensed taxis "were not the problem" when it comes to road safety, pointing out that none of the recorded collisions during the trial involved a taxi.

Between 2022 and 2024 there were nearly six non-fatal casualties a year at the junction.

Figures from the first eight months after taxis were allowed back suggest an annual rate of about nine.

Officers noted, however, that the comparison was influenced by an unusually low collision rate in 2023.

They also said no recorded collision involved a taxi and only two took place on the east-west route used by cabs.

Officers concluded the evidence did not provide a "wholly positive or negative assessment" of the scheme and recommended it continue.

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