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Boris Fares Bombshell
Londoners going back to work after Christmas were greeted with a New Year girft from Mayor Boris Johnson: huge public transport fare rises.
Labour Assembly Members were out in force to protest against the huge rises which will hit the worst off hardest.
"A great deal of Londoners are suffering financially and this is yet another burden for them" Val Shawcross, Labour
Low-paid Londoners are hardest hit by Boris's eye-watering fare rises. An average couple who both rely on buses to get to work face shelling out £263 a year extra.
What Boris's fare rises mean for you
- A single bus journey by Oyster UP 20% to £1.20 (up from 90p before Boris became Mayor)
- A weekly Oyster bus pass UP 20% to £16.60
- Six-zone peak single Tube fare by Oyster UP 10.5% to £4.20
- Five-zone off-peak single Tube fare (outside zone 1) UP 18.2% to £1.30
- Most Oyster pay-as-you-go journeys UP by 20p per trip
- Overall Tube fares will rise almost 4% and bus fares by almost 13%
These are fare rises made out of choice. Boris Johnson's transport decisions are costing Londoners dear and he is asking public transport users to pay the price.
Boris's costly mistakes
- Halving the size of the congestion zone
COST: £70 million a year in lost income
- Cancelling the higher congestion charge for gas guzzlers
COST: £50 million a year in lost income
- Replacing bendy buses with lower capacity single and double deckers
COST: £28 million extra a year
While hard-working Londoners bare the brunt of Boris's fare rises, Transport for London paid out a staggering £17,244,651 in staff bonuses. And while Boris Johnson rejected transport workers' claims for a 5% wage increase as "wildly unrealistic, his own salary went up from £137,579 to £143,911...or 5%.
Val Shawcross, Labour's Assembly transport spokesperson, told BBC London: "We know that those who use the bus to get around tend to be on lower incomes. At this time as the country is struggling with recession, slapping massive fare increases on people is outrageous. A great deal of Londoners are suffering financially and this is yet another burden for them."
Unite the Union interview commuters about Boris's fare rises
Boris broken promises and Tory cuts
Labour Assembly Members joined women's groups and local campaigners in calling on the Mayor to keep his promise on funding new Rape Crisis Centres.
Boris Johnson's manifesto promised he would fund four Rape Crisis Centres to the tune of £2.23 million, to be paid for by cutting City Hall press officers. In emotive terms, Johnson wrote:
"Official figures show that over Ken Livingstone’s two terms in City Hall, rape in London has increased....We would provide funding for [Rape Crisis] centres by cutting the number of GLA spin doctors.
A reduction of [the Mayor's media and marketing team] by 20% would yield the £744,000 which would fund our commitment to dramatically increasing access to support services for rape victims. Quite simply, we believe that it is more important to fund Rape Crisis Centres than press officers."
In reality, Boris Johnson has more press officers working for him than his predecessor managed over seven years and has cut the amount promised for Rape Crisis Centres by over £1 million.
Labour's Val Shawcross said: "While of course any moves to improve and increase the support for rape victims is welcome, the funding announced today does not come close to what Boris promised during his election campaign. He said he would provide over £2 million and until he does that it just looks like he's betraying those he made promises to when he wanted their vote"
Watch BBC London's report on the cuts to Rape Crisis Centre funding here
Passengers say "bring back our bendies"
Passengers on the first route to have bendy buses replaced by smaller single deckers have spoken of their frustration, according to the London Paper.
In an article and follow-up letters, passengers using the 507 had this to say:
Andrew Cooper, 39, of Westminster, said: "There are hardly any seats. I’m not sure why they got rid of the bendy."
Maureen Pullen, 48, of Winchester, said: "The bendy buses’ three doors allowed people to board much faster and brought down journey times."
Sine Msomi, 26, from Dulwich, said: "The bendy buses were a great way of getting around." And Agnes Macharia, 32, of Peckham, said she was "sad to see them go"
The next routes to have bendy buses replaced with conventional buses with less seats and space and longer boarding times will be the 521 and 38. Bendy buses are set to go on these routes in the next few months.
What do you think? Do you use a route operating bendy buses? Do you want to see them replaced with single deckers? Please get in touch and let us know here
Labour slam Johnson's short-term transport plans
Labour on the London Assembly have criticised Boris Johnson's transport plans as "short term" and "lacking in vision or new ideas".
Responding to the consultation on the Mayor's 'transport strategy statement of intent', Labour's transport lead, Val Shawcross, said:
"London faces significant challenges over the next twenty years: population growth, climate change, and uncertainties about economic sectors on which London has previously relied. But these challenges should also present opportunities. The Mayor should be doing everything in his power to turn the threat of climate change into opportunities for new jobs, to ensure population growth results in economic growth and to enable all Londoners to share in the city's success.
"If we fail to respond to these challenges and take advantage of the opportunities they provide, London will soon lose its place as a premier world city. London’s transport is already seriously overcrowded and congested in many areas; air quality is lethally poor and CO2 emissions are rising. If the Mayor fails to reduce our dependence on the private car, to plan for major increases in the capacity of our public transport system and to find ways to manage travel demand then London’s future will be at risk."
The response, submitted by Val Shawcross on behalf of Labour members of the Assembly:
- Calls for the reinstatement of six transport projects scrapped by the Mayor, including the Thames Gateway Bridge, the DLR extension to Dagenham and the Cross River Tram, and for work on further improvements to London's transport network
- Argues that the Mayor is failing to ensure that London's transport supports regeneration - seriously undermining his plans for growth in business and housing
- Describes the Mayor's record on improving transport for outer London as "lamentable", listing abandoned transport projects and broken promises on overground Oyster pre-pay and overcrowding
- Warns of a "climate crisis" if the Mayor continues to neglect the environment in his transport policies. The environment is placed 5th out of six Mayoral priorities.
- Criticises the failure to acknowledge, or willingness to ignore, the fatal effects on Londoners' health of the city's poor air quality, which causes around 3,000 premature deaths a year
- Laments the Mayor's failure to set any targets for getting people out of their cars and onto public transport or to consider walking or cycling
- Attacks the Mayor's lack of commitment to ensuring that London's Tube and bus network is accessible to all. The Mayor's strategy only commits him to providing step-free access at 29% of stations by 2017 - letting down older people, parents with young children and disabled passengers
- Accuses the Mayor of putting the polluter before the pedestrian in his "transport hierarchy"
In the submission, Val Shawcross calls for:
- Sustainable growth and regeneration, reducing deprivation and social inequality
- A vast reduction in car journeys and investment in cleaner technology for public transport in order to tackle climate change
- A more accessible transport system for all Londoners
- Improvements to road safety and safety across London's transport network
Read Val's full response here.
