The government has agreed an emergency £1.6bn bailout for Transport for London (TfL) that will see fares rise by 1 per cent above inflation from January.
Khan said the deal would fund TfL for the next four and half months. “I want to be completely honest and upfront with Londoners – this is not the deal I wanted,” Khan said. “But it was the only deal the Government put on the table and I had no choice but to accept it to keep the Tubes and buses running.”
The government expects TfL to restore a full London Underground service as soon as possible. Free travel will be temporarily suspended for older people with freedom passes at peak times as part of the deal, and the government have agreed to conduct a review of the transport body’s finances.
“We are running as many services as humanly possible given the number of staff off sick, shielding or self-isolating,” Khan said. “As staff are returning to work we are increasing services as fast as possible to get back to 100 per cent. From Monday we aim to run around 85 per cent of buses, 75 per cent of Tubes, restore the Circle line and reopen some of the 37 closed stations.”
The January fare rise will be the first increase in four years.
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment