TfL’s fare hike will hurt London’s competitiveness, City groups warn
Campaigners have warned that TfL’s fare increase could hurt London’s competitiveness as mayor Sadiq Khan said his hands were tied by the government’s bailout deal.
Khan announced yesterday that bus and tube fares will go up by just shy of six per cent, in line with what ministers announced for rail in mid-December.
The hike was one of the main conditions of the government’s long-term funding deal, which will keep TfL running until the spring of 2024.
Adam Tyndall, programme director for transport at BusinessLDN, said the hike was “deeply concerning for Londoners” and could hurt the capital.
“Increasing fares goes against the tide of progressive cities making public transport cheaper and more accessible to expand ridership, boost their economies and tackle the climate emergency,” he said.
“Without a similar plan, London is at risk of falling further behind international counterparts.”
While James Watkins, head of policy public impact at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said it was disappointing that Londoners would bear the brunt “for the failure by the Government and the Greater London Authority to agree to a strategy and a long term funding solution.”
Tyndall and Watkins’s words were echoed by Claire Harding, research director at the Centre for London, who said the increase will push people away from using public transport.
“To support our economic recovery, and to get to net zero carbon we need to be getting more people onto public transport across the city, not pricing them off it,” she added.
Under the new legislation, daily travel caps and hopper fares – which allow Londoners to take multiple buses within the space of an hour without having to pay extra – will increase too.
This will in turn hurt some of the most vulnerable people in the capital, who rely especially on buses as the cheapest form of transport.
The mayor, who was also forced to hike his share of the council tax by just under 10 per cent, laid the blame at Whitehall’s feet for not properly funding TfL’s post-pandemic recovery.
“This is a challenging time for our city, with a government that is not fully funding our public services, but I’m determined to step up so that we can continue building a greener, safer and fairer London for everyone,” Khan said yesterday.
Announced in late August after months of strenuous negotiations between City Hall and government ministers, the agreement rests on TfL receiving a £1.2bn base funding.
This is on top of the £3.6bn capital funding already put forward by ministers.
But in return the government has demanded TfL double its revenues from £500m to £1bn per year.
TfL’s chief technology officer Shashi Verma told members of the London Assembly on Tuesday that increasing fares was always preferable to cutting services, as cuts usually lead to a greater decrease in demand.