Sadiq Khan heaps more misery on Londoners battling cost of living crisis with plan to hike TfL fares by nearly 6% and increase council tax bills by £38.55 a year to fund more PCSOs
- Passengers will face paying £2.80 for a zone 1 peak ticket – a rise of 12 per cent
- Bus fares will rise by 10p to £1.75, while weekly bus and tram pass will hit £24.70
- Planning to increase his share of council tax bills for band D property by £38.55
Sadiq Khan today heaped more misery on Londoners by revealing proposals to hike Transport for London fares by nearly six percent from March and hike council tax bills by £38.55 a year to fund more PCSOs.
The plan means the weekly cap for using buses and trams in the capital is set to increase by £1.40 to £24.70. Tube passengers will see the weekly cap for travel in zones one and three rise by £3 to £48.
Passengers will now face paying £2.80 for a zone 1 peak ticket – a rise of 12 per cent – and £2.70 off-peak. Most other single fares will rise by 10. Bus fares will rise by 10p to £1.75, while a weekly bus and tram pass will hit £24.70 – an increase of £1.40.
Sadiq Khan today announced plans to hit Londoners with rises to public transport fares and council tax
Tube:
Zone 1 peak – up 30p (12%) to £2.80
Zone 1 off-peak – up 20p to £2.70
Most single fares – up 10p
Buses:
Up 10p to £1.75
Daily cap up 30p to £5.25
7-day bus and tram pass up £1.40 to £24.70
Travelcards:
Daily cap on Tube or rail travel in zones 1 to 4 up by 70p to £11.70
Weekly zones 1 to 6 travelcard up by £4 to £74.50
The average increase of 5.9 per cent across all modes of transport will kick in from March 5 – and mirrors the cap set by the Department for Transport (DfT) for regulated rail fare rises in England from the same date.
Abigail Wood, chief executive of charity Age UK London, said: ‘We are devastated that the voices of older Londoners have been ignored.
‘Affordable transport is a lifeline, not a luxury, and this cut penalises them with no choice about when and how they travel.
‘Age UK London is deeply concerned this comes at the worst possible time as the cost-of-living crisis worsens and more and more older Londoners are plunged into poverty.
‘One in four older Londoners live in poverty – the highest level in the country – and London has some of the highest living costs in the world.
‘This is the wrong decision at the worst possible time.’
Meanwhile, Mr Khan also set out plans to increase council tax to fund an extra 500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), representing a 50% rise in the number of officers.
He is planning to increase his share of council tax bills for the average band D property by £38.55 a year from April, including £15 for investment in policing.
Tube passengers will see the weekly cap for travel in zones one and three rise by £3 to £48
Addressing the fare rises, Mr Khan said: ‘I froze TfL fares for five years from 2016 to make transport more affordable for millions of Londoners.
‘But my hands have been tied since the pandemic by the strict conditions set by the Government in the recent emergency funding agreement for TfL, which means fares have to be increased in London by the same amount as national rail fares – 5.9%.
‘This is a challenging time for our city, with a Government that is not fully funding our public services, but I’m determined to step up so that we can continue building a greener, safer and fairer London for everyone.’
Mr Khan also announced that the suspension of free travel before 9am on weekdays for people aged 60 and over will be permanent.
The plan means the weekly cap for using buses and trams in the capital is set to increase by £1.40 to £24.70
The benefit was withdrawn in June 2020 as part of a coronavirus funding agreement between TfL and the Government.
Peter Fortune, deputy leader of the Greater London Authority Conservatives, said: ‘London is now facing a major cost of Khan crisis.
‘Sadiq Khan’s council tax will have risen 57 per cent since he was elected, as he hits Londoners with another big increase in fares.’
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