‘In some ways TfL was set up to fail in the event of a pandemic by government’

• IT was shocking to hear last week that ministers still hadn’t sat down with Transport for London to start negotiations on the next emergency funding settlement, when the deadline is Saturday December 11.

When Covid-19 hit, passenger numbers on the tube plummeted by 97 per cent and on the buses by 86 per cent. These numbers have struggled to fully recover and hit TfL’s fares revenue hard.

In some ways TfL was set up to fail in the event of a pandemic by government as its £700million annual operating grant was removed from 2018.

This cut was agreed in advance by Boris Johnson during his tenure at City Hall and has led to TfL becoming unique among transport authorities across the world as it is disproportionately reliant on fares to keep services running.

Private rail operators have faced similar problems with passenger numbers and the government has handed them £10.4billion in financial support, with no-strings attached, since the start of the pandemic.

On the other hand TfL has only received three short-term, sticking-plaster, emergency funding deals with punitive conditions slapped on.

The situation is extremely serious and without help TfL faces financial disaster. To avoid significant cuts to tube and bus services the government must urgently come to the table with TfL to provide a funding deal.

ANNE CLARKE AM
Labour Assembly Member for Barnet & Camden