About Us
London Transport Museum – Background
Links to useful Information:
https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/about
https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/about/governance
London Transport Museum is the World’s leading museum of urban transport and an award-winning day out. We explore the powerful link between transport and the growth of London, its culture and society since 1800. By sharing this story of innovation, ingenuity, creativity and design, we ignite curiosity about the world around us and how to shape its future.
Our collection is Designated Outstanding by Arts Council England. It includes more than 500,000 objects, from locomotives which powered the world’s first underground railway, to one of the most important collections of 20th century poster art.
As a heritage and education charity, we fire imaginations. Our creative spirit underpins everything we do. Every year, we work with thousands of young people, business partners and industry decision-makers to influence London’s future.
We reach more than 100,000 school children a year through our programmes, igniting curiosity among tomorrow’s engineers, designers, scientists and arts enthusiasts. We want to close the skills gap, redress gender imbalance and create opportunities for the city’s underrepresented and disadvantaged communities. Alongside this, our thought leadership initiatives, business link-ups and public programmes tackle topics such as smart cities and green innovation – issues that matter to London.
Our popular Hidden London tours explore ‘forgotten’ parts of the Tube network and take people behind the scenes at some of London’s busiest stations. In 2023 our shop was lauded as one of the best museum shops in the world.
In 2023/24, London Transport Museum welcomed its highest ever visitor numbers, with more than 427,000 people visiting its Covent Garden site to discover the story of London’s transport history and heritage. Not only was this a record achievement for the museum, but we have bucked the trend in the sector, 10% ahead of the sector as reported by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA).
We have continued to flourish creatively. In October, the Museum also opened its brand-new Global Poster Gallery. Set over two floors, this permanent gallery is dedicated to the display of the Museum’s internationally significant collection of 20th century graphic art and design. The gallery is sponsored by Global, the media and entertainment group and its inaugural exhibition, How to Make a Poster, is on display until 2025. The Museum celebrated 160 years of London Underground with a year-long programme of public events, campaigns and product launches linked to the anniversary. This included family activities, a poster series in partnership with four prominent London cultural attractions, a Hidden London virtual tour, a Tube 160 product range collaboration with Wallace Sewell, a Depot Open Days event, the launch of a brand-new Hidden London tour of Baker Street station and a sold-out Tube 160 ‘birthday’ heritage rail event. The first exhibition of the new Photography Gallery, titled ‘Echoes of the Blitz: underground shelters in London and Ukraine’ opened to visitors on 1 March.
The Museum delivers lasting, positive social change through its work with children and young people. In 2023/24, the Museum engaged:
- More than 30,000 children, young people and their parents, teachers, families and guardians through its family and schools programming. This includes self-guided visits to the Museum, to employability programmes that get young people excited about sustainability and pursuing STEM careers, particularly in transport and engineering.
- More than 107,000 students through its delivery of the TfL Travel for Life Citizens programme, which educates young people about active, safe and responsible travel on public transport. These activities are delivered by the Museum as part of TfL Travel for Life.
- Additionally, a further 19,776 young people were engaged through the Project Guardian programme, which is delivered to Year 9 students about unwanted sexual attention on the public transport network.
