20.01.17
Khan accused of lying over failure to extend TfL fares freeze to travelcards
London mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of reneging on his pre-election pledge of a TfL-wide fares freeze after it was revealed that it would have been possible for him to freeze the price of travelcards.
A leaked document acquired by the MayorWatch blog via a FoI request showed that TfL provided costings for freezing all of its fares, only a few days after Khan was elected to City Hall.
When announcing the four-year freeze, Khan claimed that he was unable to freeze fares such as travelcards and daily caps on Oyster payments as these partially covered fares controlled by the DfT.
Greater London Authority (GLA) members have now asked him to apologise to Londoners for lying, calling his approach to the situation “shameless”.
“From the minute it emerged the mayor’s fares freeze would fall well short of what he’d promised, he has consistently claimed he could do no more,” said Keith Prince, transport spokesman for the GLA’s Conservative group.
“He has repeatedly insisted he cannot freeze all fares and was adamant that he received no fares advice from Transport for London. The uncovering of this document proves what many of us have suspected for a long time – that he was simply not telling the truth.”
The figures in the document revealed that the costs to TfL of including the travelcards in the fare freeze “would be an additional £660m over five years”, amounting to £132m per year.
However, the document also estimates that travelcards, daily caps and national rail fares will increase by Retail Price Inflation (RPI) in line with government policy and the current agreement between TfL and TOCs.
A City Hall spokesperson said that the mayor had “fully delivered” on his pledge to freeze all TfL fares and continues to urge government to do the same for rail fares they are responsible for in London.
“Both the mayor and TfL are also making the case for more suburban rail services to be transferred to TfL as quickly as possible,” she added. “This would mean that more Londoners would benefit, and help ensure that London gets a world-class rail service."
However, transport secretary Chris Grayling has ruled out suburban rail devolution to TfL for the time being, saying that the mayor’s plans offered no extra capacity for passengers but a “whole lot of unfunded, uncosted promises” and involved a “substantial top-down reorganisation”.
(Image c. Yui Mok PA Wire)
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