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Black taxis look set to retain Bank Junction access permanently after City of London recommendation
Black taxis look set to retain access through Bank Junction in the City of London after council officers recommended making the current experimental traffic arrangements permanent.
The City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee will consider the recommendation on Tuesday 10 November 2026, ahead of the Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) expiring in January 2027.
The proposals would allow licensed taxis to continue travelling east and west between Poultry and Cornhill from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday. Private hire vehicles would remain excluded from the route during restricted hours.
The recommendation follows a trial introduced on 28 July 2025, which restored an important east-west connection for London’s black cab trade. The route allows drivers to cross Bank Junction without using longer alternative routes through surrounding streets.
Officers have recommended retaining the arrangement following an assessment of taxi availability, road safety, bus journey times, pedestrian movements and public consultation responses.
The public consultation, which ran between January and May 2026, attracted 3,939 responses. Of those, 88% supported allowing taxis to travel east and west through Bank, while 9% opposed the change.
Support was particularly strong among taxi drivers and passengers, with 99% of responding drivers and 100% of responding taxi passengers backing the arrangement. Taxi drivers and passengers accounted for almost 80% of all responses.
Among people who primarily walked through the area, 68% supported the change. However, 72% of responding cyclists opposed allowing taxis through the junction.
Monitoring also found an increase in the number of taxis available for hire around Bank itself. During an average weekday between 7am and 7pm, the number of available-for-hire taxi movements recorded on Poultry, Cornhill and Princes Street rose from 548 in June 2025 to 878 in June 2026, an increase of approximately 60%.
Total taxi movements across those three locations increased from 1,063 to 1,952 over the same period. The figures represent recorded vehicle movements rather than individual taxis, meaning the same cab could have been counted more than once.
However, officers found that the increase largely reflected taxis switching from surrounding roads rather than additional vehicles circulating in the Square Mile.
Taxi movements across nine other monitoring locations fell by 31%, from 8,165 to 5,651. The report suggests that drivers have redistributed their journeys away from parallel routes, particularly Cannon Street and Gresham Street, to take advantage of the shorter route through Bank.
The report also examined collision data. During the first eight months of available monitoring, six collisions resulted in six casualties, four of which were classified as serious.
This produced an annualised casualty rate of nine, compared with a three-year baseline average of 5.67. However, none of the recorded collisions involved a taxi, and only two occurred on the affected east-west corridor.
Officers said the limited and partly unverified data was insufficient to establish whether the experimental arrangements had contributed to the increase.
There were also some negative impacts on bus journey times. Eastbound services along the Cheapside and Cornhill corridor exceeded Transport for London’s acceptable variation threshold, although nearby construction and development works were also identified as contributing factors.
Pedestrian waiting times remained broadly unchanged, while traffic volumes stayed within the applicable cycling levels of service. Officers nevertheless acknowledged concerns about increased traffic and the experience of people cycling through the junction.
The London Cycling Campaign submitted a formal objection to the experimental order, arguing that additional motor traffic conflicts with the City’s wider transport objectives and could undermine cycling safety and the quality of public space. That objection remains unresolved following discussions with the Corporation in September 2026.
The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), meanwhile, submitted a response supporting the trial. Accessibility emerged as a major reason for supporting permanent taxi access. Consultation respondents highlighted the benefits for disabled passengers and people with mobility difficulties, including more direct journeys, reduced travel costs and improved access to destinations.
An independent Equality Impact Assessment found that the arrangement could benefit some taxi-dependent passengers, while potentially affecting the comfort and perceived safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
The report states: “The available evidence does not provide a wholly positive or negative assessment of the experiment.”
Nevertheless, officers have recommended making the arrangement permanent, citing the Corporation’s original decision to pursue the trial, substantial public support, increased taxi availability at Bank and the absence of firm evidence of significant adverse impacts.
The report says: “Officers therefore recommend proceeding with Option 1, that the ETO be made permanent, based on the direction of the Court of Common Councill in 2024 in deciding to move ahead with an ETO, the significant support expressed through the public consultation, an increase on taxi availability through Bank and with no clear evidence indicating significant negative impacts.”
If approved, the current permitted movements would remain unchanged. Black taxis would be allowed to travel straight across the junction between Poultry and Cornhill, but additional turning movements would not be permitted.
The Corporation would also continue monitoring collisions, bus performance, pedestrian waiting times and the experiences of people walking and cycling, with further measures considered if adverse effects become apparent.
The report reveals that approximately £860,000 has been spent on reviewing, implementing and monitoring the experimental arrangements. Around £325,000 of the identified budget remains unspent.
The alternative option would be to reinstate the previous restrictions when the experimental order expires on 28 January 2027. Officers have advised against that approach.
A final decision has yet to be taken, but the recommendation represents a significant step towards securing permanent access for London’s licensed black taxis through one of the capital’s most important financial district junctions.
