Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control is limited. The public transport network, administered by Transport for London (TfL), is the most extensive in the world, but faces congestion and reliability issues, which a large investment programme is attempting to address, including £7 billion (€10 billion) of improvements planned for the Olympics . London has recently been awarded the city for best public transport.

Rail

The centrepiece of the public transport network is the London Underground , the oldest and largest metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The Metro system was home to the world's first underground electric line, the City & South London Railway , which began service in 1890. Nearly 1 billion journeys are made each year on the London Underground system.The Underground serves the central area and most suburbs to the north of the Thames, whilst those to the south are served by an extensive suburban rail network. Commuter and intercity railways generally do not cross the city, instead running into fourteen terminal stations scattered around its historic centre. The London bus network caters for most local journeys and carries even more passengers than the Underground. These internationally recognised buses are the trademark of London transport along-side black cabs and the underground.

• Metro systems by annual passenger ridership , London ranks 7th in the world, with 976 million passengers per year.

Air

London is an international transport hub, with five sizeable airports and a cross-channel rail service. Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic; such traffic is also handled at Gatwick , whilst Stansted and Luton cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. London City , the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers. Eurostar trains link London Waterloo station with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium.

Biggin Hill is often counted as London's sixth airport. However, this is not an international airport and handles mainly chartered aircraft.

• By annual passenger air traffic (2002 census), London ranks 1st in the world, with around 133,599,000 passengers using London Heathrow Airport , London Gatwick Airport , London Stansted Airport , London Luton Airport and London City Airport in the year 2005.

Road

Although the vast majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, travel in outer London is car-dominated. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs) and an orbital motorway (the M25 , outside the built-up area) circuit the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes — but very few motorways penetrate into inner London . A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan ) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly cancelled in the early 1970s due to vociferous objections from the population and the huge costs. In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £8 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of central London. Motorists who are residents in the defined zone can also buy a season pass which is renewed monthly.