October 17, 2009
London transport gets pricy
It seemed to be national news today that the London mayor, Boris Johnson, has announced sharp rises in bus and tube fares and the congestion charge to help plug a multimillion-pound hole in transport funding in the capital. Why? Most of us don’t live or work in London – so we couldn’t care less.
Apparently London bus fares would rise by an average of 12.7% from January 2010 while tube fares would rise by an average of 3.9%. But at the same time the ludicrous congestion charge is going up even more.
Unions and commuter groups reacted angrily to the plans which included a delay to some improvement projects.
The daily congestion charge for vehicles entering central London would rise by £2 to £10, but drivers who used a new automatic payment system would be charged £9.
Transport for London (TfL) said Johnson was still “minded” to scrap the western extension to the congestion charge zone and would make a final decision next spring.
Oyster pay-as-you-go fares on buses would rise by 20p to £1.20 while a single underground trip in zone one would jump by 20p to £1.80. The cost of a seven-day bus pass would rise from £13.80 to £16.60.
Johnson said he was asking Londoners “to accept this difficult decision” to safeguard the investment in London’s future.
The announcement comes at a time when there is a £1.7bn funding gap in TfL’s finances over the next three years, with £900m of this due to the recession.
“Nobody wants to make an announcement like this, especially when Londoners are feeling the effects of the recession,” Johnson said.
He sought to blame the rises on the recession and his predecessor, Ken Livingstone.
“The mistakes of the past and the current economic climate have conspired to present us with a huge challenge.”
Johnson said he had been persuaded of the need for fare rises only after ensuring that every efficiency possible – at least a £5bn saving – was being made at TfL.
Justifying the increase in an article in the Evening Standard, Johnson wrote: “We are coping with the colossal costs of the failure of Metronet and the disastrous PPP, and we are dealing with the costs of years of irresponsible politically motivated jiggery-pokery in setting fares”.
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