Green Party

Fare rises for public transport are not only bad for Londoner's pockets, they also damage the environment as more people take to their cars. That is why the London Mayor's fare rises of 4% on the Underground and 13% on the buses have to be examined very closely.

The fare increase raises around a £125m, but Transport for London own estimates are that the Mayor's cancellation of the western extension of the congestion charge will lose them £50m to £70m in revenue. The Mayor's decision to cancel the extra congestion charge for gas guzzlers means another £30m lost. The bulk of the fare rise therefore appears to be a straight forward switch from car drivers paying, to public transport users paying.

Loading the bulk of the increases onto bus users also discriminates against the less well off. The only thing that bus users get in return for paying extra is a big cut in bus services and the wasteful policy of replacing perfectly good bendy buses with a lot of smaller ones.

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Kirsten Forkert
Posts: 1

fare increases
Reply #1 on : Sat January 02, 2010, 20:45:48

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Dear Darren,

this is pretty upsetting, particularly at a time when people are losing their jobs and finances are under pressure, and as you mention it just encourages people to drive (and emit more carbon dioxide).

TFL's financing needs to be exposed and why commuters are being asked to pay for failed PPPs and over £14m in consultancy fees. You've mentioned the decision to scrap the western congestion charge extension and the extra charge for guzzlers. If the Tories want to shed their image as a bunch of climate sceptics, this won't help, no matter how many silly photo-ops of Boris on a bike we see in the press.

Are the Greens going to be involved in campaigning against the fare increases? There needs to be a very public and visible campaign to make any difference.

Kirsten Forkert
(Deptford)