Red Ken vows to cut London transport fares if elected

[John Ashworth]

Ken Livingstone vows to cut London transport fares if elected next year

Labour candidate says his plans for 5% cut and a fare freeze in 2013 will save Londoners hundreds of pounds a year

Hélène Mulholland, political reporter
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 September 2011 19.50 BST

Ken Livingstone has pledged to save Londoners "hundreds of pounds" a year by cutting bus, train and tube fares by 5% if he wins the mayoral election next year.

The Labour candidate pitched his plan during a month in which Londoners learned that public transport fares in London would rise by an average of 7% next January. This represents the fourth above-inflation annual increase since Boris Johnson was elected mayor in 2008.

Livingstone promised a 5% cut in fares in the autumn of 2012, a fare freeze in 2013, and no increases above RPI inflation from January 2014. He said the money for his cuts would come from a £728m operating surplus in Transport for London's (TfL) finances.

However, city hall hit back, saying that the figures did not "stack up", and insisted that the Tory mayor's fares policy was designed to fund the upgrade, extension and improvement of London's transport network.

Livingstone intends to make fares a key battleground next May as he seeks to turn the tables on Johnson and wrest back the mayoralty, which he lost to the Tory in 2008.

In a speech to the Labour party conference on Sunday, Livingstone sought to cast himself as the champion of "ordinary Londoners", in contrast to a Conservative mayor interested in the "privileged few".

Outlining his plans by text to supporters on Monday lunchtime, Livingstone said his fares package would save Londoners, on average, about £800 over four years.

"Fares must be cut – on transport grounds to make the system more attractive, but also on economic grounds to put ordinary Londoners first by putting money back in the pockets that will boost the London economy," he said.

"I'm drawing a line in the sand – Boris Johnson will hit you with a painful fare increase this coming January, but if I am elected the fares will be cut. There could be no clearer choice. The cost of travelling by buses, tubes, trams and trains in the capital will fall in 2012, and it will not rise by more than inflation after that," he added.

Johnson, who chairs the TfL board, confirmed earlier this month that next year's fare increase would be in line with TfL's business plan assumption of fares increasing by two percentage points above the retail price index of the preceding July – which was 5% this year.

Johnson defended the approach as a "moderate policy, designed to ensure that we have the investment that we need in London's transport infrastructure".

Responding to Livingstone's plans, a spokesman for the mayor said: "The figures do not stack up. Every penny of TfL's budget is accounted for to pay for the upgrade of the capital's transport system and it would be impossible to absorb the loss of revenue he suggests without a huge and damaging impact on TfL's investment programme."

The spokesman drew on Livingstone's two mayoral terms to add: "The previous mayor approved an unsustainable pre-election freeze that left TfL with a serious financial headache. However, the current administration has pursued a stable and predictable fares policy of RPI+2 to pay for record levels of transport investment and protect essential frontline services."

The Lib Dems, who are fielding Brian Paddick as their candidate next May, waded in to round on both Johnson's and Livingstone's track records on fares.

Lib Dem assembly member Mike Tuffrey said: "Boris Johnson has seriously hiked up fares and has hit low-income Londoners especially hard by his 55% rise in bus fares and his failure to address Oyster overcharging. However, Ken Livingstone's record on fares was far from perfect. He has a track record of hiking up fares between elections and then holding them down in an election year.

Tuffrey added: "Londoners would be wise to look at his real record and not be taken up in by rash promises he makes at a Labour party conference. Ken Livingstone should also recognise that reserves can only be spent once. Cutting fares without cutting running costs as well would eventually bankrupt Transport for London.

"More than anything we need a real drive to reduce the costs of London Underground's upgrade programme to ensure a fair deal for passengers."