The Commissioner of Transport for London has management responsibility for Transport for London (TfL) and hence for the transport system throughout the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and Greater London in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

, who also chairs the Board. The Commissioner reports to the board and leads a management team with individual functional responsibilities. The Commissioner is therefore the most senior transport official in the capital.

History

In 2000, Transport for London (TfL) was created as part of the Greater London Authority, gaining many of its functions from its predecessor,

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

. The Commissioner post was initially held from 2001, by

Bob Kiley Robert R. Kiley (September 16, 1935 – August 9, 2016) was an American public transit planner and supervisor, with a reputation of being able to save transit systems experiencing serious problems. From 2001 to 2006 he was the initial Commissio ...

. His CV included the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, CEO of the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

, deputy mayor of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Chairman and CEO of the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and CEO of the

New York City Partnership The Partnership for New York City, formerly called the New York City Partnership, is a nonprofit membership organization consisting of a select group of nearly three hundred CEOs ("Partners") from New York City's top corporate, investment and entre ...

. He was credited as being the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of the revival of Boston and New York's ailing public transport systems in the 1970s and 1980s respectively. Kiley announced his resignation in late 2005, and was replaced in February 2006 by

Peter Hendy Peter Gerard Hendy, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill (born 19 March 1953) is a British transport executive and politician. He is the current chairman of Network Rail and was formerly the Commissioner of Transport for London. Education Hendy was ...

, previously TfL's Director of Surface Transport. In July 2015, Hendy left to become chairman of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and was replaced on an interim basis by Mike Brown. Brown was appointed as the new Commissioner in September 2015. In October 2019, TfL announced that Mike Brown would be leaving his role as Commissioner in May 2020 to chair the Delivery Authority for the restoration of the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

. In May 2020,

Andy Byford Andy Byford (born 1965) is a British transport executive who has held several management-level positions in transport authorities around the world, such as the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authori ...

, former president of the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

(NYCTA) and former CEO of the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

was announced as the new Commissioner by the TfL Board. Following the opening of the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel ...

, Byford resigned as commissioner in September 2022, citing a desire to return to the U.S. and spend more time with his family. Byford left the position in October 2022, replaced on an interim basis by Andy Lord (the Chief Operating Officer of London Underground).

List of Commissioners of Transport

# Robert R. Kiley (2001–2006) # Sir Peter Hendy (2006–2015) # Mike Brown (2015–2020) #

(2020–2022)

References

Local government in London Transport for London {{UK-gov-stub

History

List of Commissioners of Transport

See also

References