London Mayor slams UK government over transport funding

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called the UK government’s demand that Transport for London (TfL) increase fares and expand the congestion charge zone “ill-advised and draconian”.

The Mayor also accused Boris Johnson of “lying to parliament” over the UK Prime Minister’s claim that TfL was “effectively bankrupt” even before the start of the pandemic.

The extraordinary exchange comes as TfL seeks a £5.7 billion (US$7.5 billion) package to keep services running for the next 18 months, after passenger numbers and revenues plummeted by up to 90 percent in the aftermath of the March lockdown.

Speaking on Twitter, Khan said: “The PM has lied to the House of Commons. Before Covid-19 I was fixing his mess at TfL- reducing the deficit by 71 percent since 2016. Covid-19 is the sole cause of TfL’s challenges. The PM wants to increase fares, the [congestion] charge and taxes and end free travel for children and older Londoners.”

On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that ministers told the Mayor the government would take direct control of TfL unless he accepts the new measures.

In May, TfL was granted £1.6 billion in emergency funding by the government to keep services running, and on Friday a last-minute extension of that bailout was secured to cover another two weeks.

The Mayor has warned that train and bus services will be cut if further funding is not secured, saying he is prepared to trigger “section 114” – a process for public authorities that is the equivalent of a company being declared insolvent.

Funding issues pre-Covid-19

While TfL’s finances have been hit hard over the past six months, the operator was already running a deficit of £968 million pre-Covid-19.

The Mayor has emphasised that since he took over office from Johnson in 2016, TfL’s deficit has been reduced and was heading in the right direction pre-Covid-19.

In December, influential UK think tank Centre for London called for a major overhaul of the capital’s public transport fare and zonal structures, saying the current fare freeze – which has kept single and pay-as-you-go fares across the city’s transit network at the same rate for the past four years – needs to be re-evaluated to benefit residents in poorer, outlying areas.

It is estimated the Mayor’s policy of freezing Tube fares has cost the body at least £640 million in lost fare revenue, but it has also been hit by the removal of a central grant from the government, which since 2018 has cut an average of £700 million per year from its operating budget.