Lewisham councillor and Chair of the London Assembly, Darren Johnson, will be aiming to freeze bus fares when he seeks to amend the Mayor’s draft budget which is published today (11th December). The £75m the Mayor is raising from the 12% bus fare increase will instead come mostly from motorists, with the reinstatement of the £25 emissions charge on gas guzzlers and retaining the western extension of the congestion charge.
Responding to the London Mayor’s draft budget for 2010/11, Darren Johnson said:
"The Mayor’s draft budget will mean less money raised from car drivers, whilst public transport users are paying more. I want to see the Mayor protecting the poorest Londoners by freezing bus fares and making those who pollute more, pay more. The Mayor claims that he will have to increase bus fares whilst cutting bus services in order to fill a financial black hole, but a large part the deficit is paying for vanity projects like scrapping bendy buses and dropping charges designed to discourage polluting cars."
"I also want to see the Mayor going much further in cutting the enormous amount of waste in the police budget, especially staff overtime, non operational cars and drivers and money spent on flights and hotels. This would release extra funds for vital work to cut carbon emissions across London."