Great Western Coffee Shop

I'm suspect this news won't go down well in the shires. Or the other metropolitan areas.

I'm not sure how it is any different to the effective subsidy given to the rest of the rail network, or regional bus services, or many other aspects of public service which are deemed essential but which have suddenly seen a massive shortfall in income, increase in costs or both. And Shapps appears to have played it tough on the grounds that if fares hadn't been frozen there would have been a bit more money in the kitty (actually it would probably have been spent on some of the enhancement projects that the Mayor has had to defer or cancel), so £500m is only a loan.

Fares to increase and free travel for children axed as Transport for London agree £1.6 BILLION bailout

London's congestion charge to rise 30% next month after huge TfL bailout

Government’s TfL power grab is the wrong direction of travel

Having lost control of its capital, a besieged national government has decided to invade. The pretext is Transport for London’s desperate need for money, the motive is to suppress Sadiq Khan. Strings attached to the £1.6 billion rescue package – of which £505 million is a loan – include fares increases beyond the modest and selective ones Sadiq Khan signalled in mid-March, an insistence (apparently) that the Mayor’s preferred “stay at home” advice be replaced at Tube stations by the Prime Minister’s wartime motto “stay alert”, and government officials joining TfL’s board.

A paragraph from TfL’s note to the stock exchange defines the new regime in coded terms: “During the period in which the Funding Package is being provided to TfL, appropriate governance and oversight arrangements will be put in place, allowing the parties to work closely together.” You will adopt our values. You will speak our language. We ask the questions. We give the orders around here.

Forgive the exaggeration for effect, but also be under no illusions about what’s happened here. ....[continues] ...

It would seem I am not the only one asking - Dave Hill from On London (https://www.onlondon.co.uk/dave-hill-governments-tfl-power-grab-is-the-wrong-direction-of-travel/)

From Rail Advent (https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2020/05/fares-to-increase-and-free-travel-for-children-axed-as-transport-for-london-agree-1-6-billion-bailout.html)


From Sky News (https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-londons-congestion-charge-to-rise-30-next-month-after-huge-tfl-bailout-11988726)


In answer to the question about all the extra costs on Transport for London - "Ooze gonna pay for it?", then answer seems to be "the travelling public" to a very great extent.

Free travel for children and generous extension of senior bus passes were a good socialist idea, and making the loan conditional on those schemes being pulled back seems (on the face of it) a great capitalist way to turn the balance back.   Or have I missed something?

Do you have an alternative suggestion  to bailing TfL out Graham?

Was it a socialist idea? Back in the day of the GLC changing every election between Conservaive and Labour by giving pensioners more and more. In fact by the time I retired from LU keeping my retired staff pass, the Freedom Pass for pensioners was available on more services. Boris even got in on the act by introducing a 60-65 pass when the women's pension age began to rise.

Where I am now the bus pass is what it says not before 9.30 although during the lockdown the time restriction has been lifted but there are less buses and nowhere to go.

I've started a discussion.  

Whether fare rises, congestion charge rises, and removal of concessions is the best way forward is to a very great extent a political choice - for London as it will be for the rest of the country. Historically, UK public transport has been far more funded from the fare box and far less by general taxation than elsewhere in Europe, and there's a school of thought that suggests the UK ratios should move to towards the European ratio to encourage the use of public transport rather than private cars. That for the good of relieving congestion, clean air and climate change - helped by an increase in passenger numbers not leading to a proportional increase in operating costs which will help drive the cost per journey down - sort of "quantity discount".

There is going to be a need to encourage people back to public transport ... it would be a missed opportunity if that was seriously spiked by price rises, with (ironically) public transport becoming the poor man's transport.

That's a "No" then!  :)

The RMT trade union has accused the government of opening the door to privatising the tube after it was revealed that a review of Transport for London’s finances would consider “alternative operating models”.

According to the the terms of reference published on Monday, the review – imposed as part of a £1.6bn Covid-19 bailout package for London – will explore “whether there are any opportunities that alternative operating models could bring over the longer term, including consideration of structures and governance”.

Transport for London (TfL) and the Government are in talks regarding funding for the future of the city's public transport system - and there could be some consequences that hit many Londoners in the pocket.

Sky News has learnt that the price of a new bailout for TfL could be an extension of London's congestion charge zone, plus the removal of remaining free travel entitlements for children and pensioners.

The coronavirus pandemic has left TfL in dire straits with lost revenues across all transport networks due to vast drops in passenger numbers.

Now Sky News is reporting that government ministers have told TfL, that it will have to "introduce the reforms if it is to secure a bailout package ahead of a funding deadline in the coming days."

The Government has agreed to extend its financial support of Transport for London (TfL) for two weeks while negotiations on a new bailout continue.

Ministers are demanding that London's congestion charge zone is extended and free travel entitlements for children and older people are downgraded in return for what would reportedly be a ?1 billion package.

Earlier today, Sadiq Khan was accused of 'playing games' after claiming that ministers are demanding he extends the congestion zone to get a ?1billion bailout.

The London mayor faced fury over suggestions that the government had made the move a condition of the latest extraordinary cash injection to keep Transport for London from grinding to a halt, amid fears that could happen as early as this weekend. 

After the latest agreement, Deputy mayor of London Heidi Alexander said there remain 'differences to resolve' between both sides, and expressed hope that 'cooler heads can prevail over the next 14 days'.

She told a meeting of TfL's finance committee: 'Neither the mayor or I can see how it would be right to charge people ?15 to drive a mile from Wandsworth to Clapham, or from Catford to Lewisham, from October next year if the congestion charge was to be extended out to the North and South Circular.

'That is in effect what the Government have said to us that they want.

'We can't see why we should take free travel away from under 18s or over 60s when lots of people in London are actually facing some genuine hardship over the coming months.'

From My  London (https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/free-london-underground-bus-travel-19115250)


The Mail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8847025/London-Tube-train-bus-staff-told-prepare-total-SHUTDOWN.html) goes further ...

Time is running out for a decision on TfL funding, with the deadline now barely 48 hours away for the Government to decide what it will require the Mayor to do in return for further financial support. Passenger revenues appear to be in danger of slumping again in response to new Tier 2 restrictions.

In return for help, the Government wants TfL to move ahead with developing driverless trains, increasing fares and the congestion charge, and reducing travel concessions.

Transport for London (TfL) has secured a ?1.8bn government bailout, to keep Tube and bus services running until March 2021.

The funding will ensure TfL can address its financial shortfall due to the loss of passengers as a result of Covid-19.

The exact amount of money involved is subject to passenger revenue in the coming months.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the deal was "not ideal" but the government said it was "proof of our commitment".

Mr Khan said he fought hard against the "very worst" proposals, adding: "The only reason TfL needs government support is because its fares income has almost dried up since March."

Without a bailout the network would be forced to issue a Section 114 order, the equivalent of bankruptcy for a public company.

Discussions on longer-term sustainable funding continue, TfL said.

Both sides are declaring an element of victory in a negotiation that went down to the wire.

The mayor is pleased he has seen off an extension to the congestion charging zone but - and this is crucial - the government is pleased concessions for over 60s and under 18s will have to be paid for in the future by City Hall.

That could mean an increase in council tax. And don't forget fares will now be going up in January by inflation plus 1%.

"The mayor has pledged that national taxpayers will not pay for benefits for Londoners that they do not get themselves elsewhere in the country."

I was under the impression that on many underground lines the trains were already automatic and the driver was there only to take over in an emergency and to provide a reassuring presence to the public.

I think that's just on the Victoria line.

Work to introduce driverless tube trains has been demanded by ministers as part of an emergency funding agreement for Transport for London, with the government injecting just over £1bn to help the capital recover from the pandemic.

TfL will be obliged to produce business cases for driverless trains on the Piccadilly and Waterloo and City lines in return for the latest funding, which also comes with a requirement to make £300m of annual cuts and slash pensions.

Unions threatened strikes over the attacks on pensions, as well as the moves towards taking drivers from tube lines. The driver would be replaced by an onboard attendant under government proposals, following the model of operation of the Docklands Light Railway, part of the TfL network in east London.

The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said it was “a disgraceful stitch-up of a deal and it will be resisted by our members whether it comes from Whitehall or City Hall through London-wide industrial action if necessary”. He said driverless trains were “unwanted, unaffordable and unsafe”.

[Sadiq] Khan [Mayor of London] said he had “seen off the worst of the conditions the government wanted to impose on London, which would not only have required huge cuts to transport services equivalent to cancelling one in five bus routes or closing a tube line, but would have hampered London’s economic recovery as well as the national recovery”.

He added: “I want to be honest with Londoners: this is not the deal we wanted.”

From The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/01/tfl-cash-boost-made-dependent-on-driverless-tube-trains)


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Interesting figure, but the Waterloo & City is rather unique in terms of its operation.  Are there figures for any of the more traditional tube lines?