Missing the office commute? Check out TfL’s transport-themed Zoom backgrounds

Hey London – missing your commute? Now you can recreate it on Zoom using a selection of Transport for London (TfL) themed backgrounds. 

The backgrounds are available via the TfL website and can be used on Zoom and several other video conferencing apps. Choices include the ‘background collection’, the ‘vintage collection’ and the ‘sit in collection’.

The latter turns your background into the interior of a bus or DLR train, as if you were on your morning commute.

Related: Zoom’s security controversies triggered a sharp fall in use

Take a look at one of the example backgrounds below. Using it will see your webcam footage super-imposed onto this background, rather than showing the room you’re in at home.

So, if your bedroom is a bit untidy and you don’t want to show it off on a work call, then why not pretend to be on a train instead?

Honestly, this one has got us scratching out heads. What exactly is TfL trying to achieve by offering these backgrounds? It’s hard to say.

The backgrounds (as you can see above), do include the message: “Stay home. Don’t travel. Save lives.” Currently, that is of course a useful message to be spreading, but presumably that part of the frame won’t actually be visible when these backgrounds are in use.

Related: How to turn your FaceTime and Zoom video chats into a podcast

If you’re looking for something a little different, the ‘vintage collection’ offers images from the history of public transport in London.

Or, if you want to give the person you’re meeting a bit of a fright, try this entry from the ‘background collection’ – it looks a bit like you’re both going to be run over by a train.

What better way to keep co-workers on their toes during a meeting? Thanks TfL.