News from Krupesh Hirani: Urgent call for fair TfL deal

Urgent calls for fair TfL deal as latest deadline looms amid Government funding fiasco

A fair and long-term Government funding package is the only way to end Transport for London’s (TfL) financial uncertainty once and for all, local London Assembly Member, Krupesh Hirani AM has urged. Repeated failures from Ministers to offer a credible deal has left London in limbo. If one isn’t agreed by this Friday’s deadline (24^th June), Londoners could face crippling cuts to services, gridlocked roads and crumbling infrastructure.

On Friday (24^th June), the latest Department for Transport short-term emergency settlement runs out. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and TfL Commissioner, Andy Byford, have warned that the lack of a multi-year funding agreement will force London’s transport network into a ‘managed decline’ scenario with infrastructure projects scrapped and job cuts. This would come alongside tube services being cut by 9% and bus services reduced by 18%.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Mayor had reduced TfL’s operating budget by 71% and increased its cash reserves by 13%, since coming into office in 2016. When the pandemic struck in March 2020, there was a 97% reduction in passenger numbers on the London Underground and 86% drop in bus ridership in the capital. These levels have failed to fully recover, having a significant impact on TfL’s fares income.

Documents, released by TfL ahead of a board meeting in February warned that a £1.5bn financial blackhole could leave commuters facing widespread travel disruption.

The tube is at risk of multi-day closures and new signalling for the Piccadilly Line has been put on hold. Interim safety measures are in place on 45 road structures with major renewal interventions required on major roads, tunnels and bridges across the capital to avoid significant network closures.

TfL’s ‘Healthy Streets’ budget to encourage safe cycling and walking is also facing cuts of around £500m, while the Direct Vision scheme to protect road users from lorries has stalled due to lack of funds.

Planned transport infrastructure which supports building much-needed new homes and creates jobs has ground to a halt as London’s transport network awaits a fair funding deal from Ministers.

From 2018, the Government took away a £700 million annual operating grant from TfL, making it disproportionately reliant on fares income and one of the only major transport authorities in the world not to receive one.

With passenger journeys across the network at 77% of pre-pandemic levels TfL needs £900 million of support to get to April 2023, at which point operations would become financially sustainable, according to the TfL Financial Committee.

The current temporary financial package provided to TfL by the Government runs out on Friday. This is underpinned by a range of conditions, including the requirement for TfL to save up to £800 million over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years and raise between £500m and £1 billion of additional revenue per year from 2023.

Local London Assembly Member, Krupesh Hirani AM, said:

“The Government is stringing London along with a series of insufficient and unsustainable short-term sticking plaster funding packages.

“The only way to avoid potentially catastrophic cuts to tube and bus services and transport infrastructure projects is if the Government urgently provides TfL with a fair and long-term funding deal.

“Any further delay from Ministers puts London’s, and the whole country’s, economic recovery at great risk.”