‘The first lockdown caused Transport for London’s fare revenue to drop by 90 per cent’

• EARLIER this week we saw the campaigning efforts of City Hall, charities, business leaders and Londoners pay off.

As part of a last-minute emergency funding deal with Transport for London, the government dropped the worst of its proposed conditions, including the removal of travel concessions for under-18s and older people and the extension of the congestion charge zone to the North and South Circular roads.

However the government still fell far short of providing the long-term and sustainable financial package that TfL asked for. This is despite the fact the first lockdown caused their fare revenue to drop by 90 per cent.

During the recent negotiations the government commissioned KPMG to deliver a review of TfL’s finances. So far this has been kept hidden, even from the TfL commissioner himself.

If ministers are intent upon interfering in how the transport system in our capital should be run, they need to be transparent with Londoners and publish the findings of the report as soon as possible.

What we do know is that before the Covid-19 outbreak, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had reduced the operating deficit at TfL that he had inherited from Boris Johnson by 71 per cent while boosting TfL’s cash balance by 13 per cent.

ANDREW DISMORE AM
Labour Member for Barnet & Camden