How expensive is it to travel in London?

TfL has reported that households in London spend six times more on public transport than do households in the rest of the UK

How has the recession affected public transport use?

Despite the recession, use of public transport actually continued to increase whilst car journeys decreased

How is TfL proposing to meet these cuts?

We are waiting to hear what TfL will do but here are some suggestions that they have already made.

How many people use public transport in London?

Each year in London there are a staggering 2 billion bus journeys, 1 billion underground journeys and 800 million journeys on National Rail networks.

If the use of public transport continued to grow, why have the fares been increased?

Despite better than expected performance, Transport for London is continuing with its plan to increase fares each year until 2017-8 by a formula of RPI + 2%

Is public transport being used more?

Since 1991/2, there has been a 72% increase in bus passengers and a 38% increase in underground users.

Is travel in London different to the rest of the United Kingdom?

4 in 10 households in London do not have access to a car whilst public transport accounts for a third of all trips.

What effect does mayor Boris Johnson’s decision to increase fares have on what passengers will pay?
  • Mayor Boris Johnson decided that from January 2011 fares on London’s Tubes, buses, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and trams should increase by an average of RPI plus 2%. The RPI figure used is July 2010’s (4.8%) which represents an average 6.8% fare increase across TfL services and Oyster pay as you go .
  • Overall, the bus fare changes have increased fares for the 67% of bus users who pay them by 6.8% on average and yield about £59m in additional revenue per annum;
What effect has the ConDem government’s comprehensive spending review had on fares on public transport?

Fares on trains will rise on average by 6.2% but for many the increase will be substantially higher at a time of increased household costs and frozen pay.  

What effects has the ConDem government’s comprehensive spending review had on transport for London and the services that it offers?

The government has decided to cut £2.17 billion over four years from the support it gives to TfL, which is additional to the £5 billion that the Mayor, Boris Johnson, has already decided to cut.