Tuesday 03 May 2016 9:33 am

Now Zac Goldsmith’s campaign claims it’s as quick to commute to Venice than it is to reach Bromley on the train

By: Emma Haslett

It may be the final few days of London's mayoral election, but things are continuing to heat up – after Zac Goldsmith's campaign made some pretty strong claims about the capital's commute times.

The Conservative candidate's campaign has crunched the number and discovered it takes as long for some of the capital's commuters to reach its outer boroughs – the likes of Enfield, Hillingdon and Croydon – as it does to fly to rather more exotic locations.

The team worked out it takes the same length of time to travel from Soho to stations such as Bullsmore and Harefield as it does to fly from London City airport to Amsterdam and Edinburgh 

Read more: Morning Wire mayoral hustings – listen to the full, unedited debate

As most of London's voters are now aware, Khan has made a promise to freeze transport fares for four years one of the central tenets of his campaign.

But which Khan has said the promise would cost £450bn, Goldsmith's side (and, to be fair, Transport for London) has insisted the promise would cost £1.9bn.

At Morning Wire's mayoral hustings, held last month, Khan called TfL "good but flabby". 

"You will not pay a penny more [in transport costs] in 2020 than you do now," he said.

But today Goldsmith's campaign warned freezing costs will mean crucial upgrades to the TfL network won't take place.

"London's transport system is at a critical point. We either invest and upgrade the network… or London grinds to a halt."

Meanwhile, business group London First has said both candidates "have been more than a little vague" over how they will plug what it has dubbed "TfL's substantial unfunded investment needs". 

– Still undecided? Read Morning Wire's interview with Zac Goldsmith, then look at how Sadiq Khan fared