The Metropolis

THE SCOOP: Route Plastered, Bus passengers pay more than their share for transit

Adam Bienkov | Tuesday 1 June, 2010 22:03

Complaining about public transport is one of London’s great pastimes. Be it delays on the Tube, crushes on the buses or our narrow and congested streets, there are few hobbies more satisfying than moaning about getting around.

While recent surveys have shown public transport has hugely improved since the Mayoralty was set up ten years ago, that may all soon change.
City Hall’s Annual London Survey claims that satisfaction with public transport has doubled since 2003 with more Londoners rating our public transport as the “best thing about living in London.”

Since the Mayoralty was set up, bus subsidies have soared by many hundreds of percent and billions have been poured into new lines, routes and schemes.
Most of this has been paid for by central government. But with the new coalition already cutting back, there are signs that these days of satisfaction may soon be coming to an end.

Elected two years ago, Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson is giving us an early taste of this new austerity, scrapping or scaling back a host of planned projects, and hiking fares across the board.

While the previous Mayor Ken Livingstone concentrated huge resources on the bus network, Johnson has made sure that bus passengers pay far more of their share. So while the cost of travelcards has been kept down, bus fares have seen massive hikes.

In just two years the cost of a single Oyster bus fare has risen by a third, with larger increases set to come. And with commuters now saying they use the buses more than any other form of public transport, these fares are having an effect on morale.

In the latest Annual Survey, Londoners now rate cheaper fares as the aspect of public transport “most in need of improvement.”

The city’s drivers are also getting increasingly restless. Despite the congestion charge forcing thousands out of the centre, an endless series of roadworks have left large parts of the city gridlocked.

In the past five years, the number of people dissatisfied with the roads has more than doubled, with drivers rating it as the least satisfactory part of London’s transport network.

This combination of higher fares, and slower roads is a difficult one for the Mayor to deal with, yet in the past week he has taken a step which could make both situations worse.

By announcing his intention to scrap the Western extension of the Congestion Charge, he has given up £50-£70 million of fare-cutting revenue and accepted that an estimated 30,000 extra vehicles will soon enter the zone.

And on the same day that Johnson gave up one of his major sources of income, the new coalition government announced that it would take an extra £108 million out of TFL’s budget every year.

Johnson has taken some steps to counter this. The “rephasing” of traffic lights, roadwork permits and the introduction of Oyster cards on National Rail should go some way to stemming our complaints about the cost and speed of getting around.
But with the coalition government looking for ever more ways to squeeze blood out of London’s stone, it looks like we will have plenty of opportunity to enjoy our favourite pastime in the years to come.

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