Fares on London transport have risen by up to more than £300 since current Mayor Sadiq Khan came to power pledging a freeze. New fare increases today mean passengers are paying up to £317 more a year compared with 2016.
Despite Mr Khan’s election pledge that “Londoners won’t pay a penny more for their travel” in 2020, passengers have seen an average 12% increase in fares since he became Mayor of London.
The partial freeze only covered individual journeys, so anyone using weekly, monthly and annual travel cards has still seen annual rises.
So the reality for a nurse commuting in to St Bartholomew’s Hospital from West Drayton in Zone 6 has been a fare increase of £317.40 since 2016.
Sian Berry, London Mayor candidate and Green Party co-leader, said:
“As costs continue to rise it’s clear the next Mayor needs to go back to the drawing board on how to ensure affordable public transport, which is an essential part of tackling the climate emergency.
“If I were Mayor of London, I would oversee a radical overhaul of the transport system to flatten out fares across the city and ensure people like our hard-working nurses can afford to get to work.”
Caroline Russell, leader of the City Hall Greens and transport spokeswoman, called for a more coherent approach to unlock London’s trains and buses and unclog Londoners’ lungs.
She said: “London needs a joined up approach if we are to tackle the climate crisis by allowing people to ditch their cars and use public transport.
“Greens in City Hall will take a fresh look at what Londoners need in order to get around the city, by unlocking green public transport for everybody, even if they are on a low income.
“Creating an efficient, environmentally-friendly system will in turn unclog Londoners’ lungs from the polluting vehicles currently jamming up our roads.”
The Centre for London report Fair access: Towards a transport system for everyone has recently backed the principle of Sian Berry’s call for a review of fares:
Analysis conducted by Caroline Russell, and updated today with the final confirmed fares, examined the cost of travelcards and weekly caps based on fares in 2016 to 2020. Based on 46 weekly travelcards over a year this means increases for everyone who commutes regularly.
|
Weekly travelcard |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
Increase |
Increase for 46 weeks |
|
Z1-2 |
£32.40 |
£33.00 |
£34.10 |
£35.10 |
£36.10 |
+ £3.70 |
+£170.20
|
|
Z1-3 |
£38.00 |
£38.70 |
£40.00 |
£41.20 |
£42.40 |
+ £4.40 |
+£202.40
|
|
Z1-4 |
£46.50 |
£47.30 |
£49.00 |
£50.50 |
£51.90 |
+ £5.40
|
+£252.90 |
|
Z1-5 |
£55.20 |
£56.20 |
£58.20 |
£60.00 |
£61.70 |
+ £6.50 |
+£299.00 |
|
Z1-6 |
£59.10 |
£60.20 |
£62.30 |
£64.20 |
£66.00 |
+ £6.90 |
+£317.40 |