As London Underground’s service is being dismantled, the travelling public are about to be asked to pay for the privilege.
TfL has indicated fares will rise by seven per cent in January 2011, two per cent above inflation.
The GLA have asked TfL to justify the price hike when the recession has not hit passenger numbers as badly as expected and the poorest were nearly priced out of public transport last January, when bus fares rose by 12.7%.
The final increase is expected in September. We will see again that the Tory in charge of our transport system has no respect for the idea of providing a public service, just as the Tory government is attacking the concept of public services across society.
The GLA has highlighted that funding is increasingly coming from passengers, rather than the government. In 2009, for every £1 put in by central government, passengers paid 99p; by 2017 passenger input will increase to £1.29. A passenger-funded service with no respect for passengers!
This also indicates a political dimension to the current dispute: we need to be fighting for decent public funding and democratic control of transport. This is the best guarantee of an affordable service that meets public need, where our jobs will be secure.
