Tag archive for ‘Fares’
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More bus strikes confirmed for next week
I’ve blogged before on industrial relations problems across the bus network. Boris Johnson has been explicitly criticised by trade unionists who see fares about to rise but their pay frozen, whilst revenue from the congestion charge will be reduced when the western extension is abolished. Johnson has blocked millions of pounds of potential revenue by axing the £25 c-charge on gas guzzlers.
Steve Hart, the regional secretary of the Unite union, has previously argued that his union believes Londoners are suffering [...] -
Gas guzzling drivers versus bus users – protecting the few, not the many
It’s not just nationally where the question of whose interests the Conservatives would govern in is posed. In London we are already seeing the impact on ordinary Londoners of an administration committed to defending the interests of the gas guzzling few against the needs of the public transport-using many.
Sir Simon Milton – Boris Johnson’s chief of staff – told viewers of the London segment of the Politics Show today that one of the principal reasons for scrapping the planned £25 [...] -
PQT – 66 per cent against c-charge western extension removal
As Dave Hill reports, Conservative Assembly member Roger Evans has blogged about this week’s PQT in Brixton. Information flowed thick and fast from Brixton on the night via Twitter, including informative tweets by the Liberal Democrat head of office at City Hall Nick Carthew.
In answer to the question “Do you support the removal of the Western Extension?”, 66 per cent responded “no” and 34 per cent responded “yes”. Roger Evans concludes that “as the WEZ doesn’t cover Brixton, all this really [...] -
Should some fares be cut?
Despite the fact that there is a clear alternative path to hitting fare payers, such as retaining the western extension of the congestion charge, introducing a CO2 charge on gas guzzlers, and abandoning wasteful policies like the removal of bendy buses, it is Londoners who are going to be forced to pay for Boris Johnson’s misleadership of London.
Over the next few weeks those who support public transport and want to keep it affordable will need to press the case for [...] -
FT – fare increase is biggest in TfL’s history
This coming January’s high fares package, announced yesterday, is “the biggest real-terms fares increases in [TfL's] history,” says the Financial Times.
This is relevant because Boris Johnson, spinning wildly, tried to argue that Ken Livingstone had raised the fares more.
But the FT’s report shows that Johnson’s increases are the biggest yet.
“The London mayor’s transport organisation is to impose the biggest real-terms fares increases in its history as it seeks to plug what it claims is a £1.7bn “black hole” in its [...] -
Blaming Ken won’t work, as Londoners get the measure of Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has tried to spin his way out of the fare increase by continuing to blame Ken Livingstone.
I think this tactic is likely to be increasingly ineffective as people start to make their own judgements about Boris Johnson based on their own experience.
But as this question has been introduced by Johnson, I’ve reproduced Ken’s statement on today’s above-inflation fare increase below.
Ken Livingstone said:
“With overall bus fare increases of 12.7%, more than 12 times the rate of inflation, and overall [...] -
Suddenly he’s not so funny
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Boris Johnson’s vicious attack on public transport users
More on this later, but the Standard has the detail of the above-inflation fare increase. It is a vicious attack.
A seven-day bus pass will rise an eye-watering 20 per cent from £13.80 to £16.60. Most Oyster pay-as-you-go Tube fares will rise 20p per trip. That would put a single Oyster bus fare at £1.20, up from 90p when Ken Livingstone was mayor. Overall, bus fares will rise by 12.7 per cent and Tube fares by 3.9 per cent. Yet CPI [...] -
How the mayor’s own actions increase pressure on the fare-payer
During the mayoral election it was predicted that fares would rise higher and faster under a Tory mayor than they would under Ken Livingstone.
All the indications are that there will be an announcement of a public transport fare increase tomorrow. We will have to see exactly what is announced tomorrow but the signs are not good for fare-payers.
Last year alone Johnson whacked up fares by six per cent overall, and in the case of a single Oyster bus journey by [...] -
Boris’s transport policy breaks down
One minute it’s off, then it’s on, then … well, what exactly? Boris Johnson’s administration was rocked by the Evening Standard’s report – based on comments from the mayor’s own transport adviser – that Johnson may abandon his plan to axe the western extension of the congestion charge zone.
Rumours have been circulating for days that the mayor’s team was being forced to think the unthinkable: to abandon its policy of getting rid of the western extension.
Then the Standard’s Katharine Barney [...]
