Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden, has attacked year-on-year increases in transport fares under Mayor Boris Johnson that have made it harder for Camden residents to make work pay.

Speaking on Monday, the first day most travellers had to pay the new higher fares, Mr Dismore said:

“Commuters from most tube stations in Camden have had to pay an extra £1,891 since Boris Johnson became Mayor of London because of his year-on-year fare increases. For a monthly bus pass the extra fares have added up to £2,070.

“London’s public transport fares are the most expensive in Europe. Added to housing costs, they are part of the reason real wages are falling.

“A Conservative Mayor who claims he wants to make work pay should have stopped these increases instead of wasting money on vanity projects like the Emirates cable car.”

Mr Dismore is campaigning in support of Labour Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan’s policy to freeze London transport fares for four years if elected, and to introduce a ‘Hopper’ bus ticket to allow as many bus changes as needed within an hour for £1.50.

Mr Dismore said:

“It would have been perfectly possible for Boris Johnson to keep fares down with better management of Transport for London, for example by clamping down on fare evasion which costs us £61m a year.”

Labour’s long-term plan to make savings within TfL and generate additional revenue to fund a fares freeze while continuing to invest in new buses, tube upgrades and cycling schemes, would save money by:

• Ending Boris Johnson’s habit of using Londoners’ money to fund expensive vanity projects – ending any further public funding for the Emirates Cable Car which costs over £5 million a year to run and freezing further purchases of the ‘new Routemaster’ buses.
• Merging engineering functions within TfL – experts claim this alone will save enough to fund a four-year fares freeze.
• Major efficiency savings within TfL – cutting duplication and waste and reducing the overuse of consultants and agency staff. TfL spent £383 million on consultants and agency staff last year – that number should be cut in half.
• Clamping down on fare evasion which cost Londoners £61 million last year.

The plan would generate more money and new income streams by:

 

• Creating a bidding team in TfL to exploit TfL’s global reputation as a premier transport authority, bidding to run tubes trains and buses in other cities both home and abroad.
• Putting 600 acres of TfL land to better use. Retaining ownership but building the truly affordable homes Londoners need and generating a future revenue stream.