Free public transport for every Londoner has been suggested by community activists as a way “to open up the city”.
The campaign group Fare Free London (FFL) believes that free transport - already available to children under 11 and Londoners over 60 via the 60+ Oyster or Freedom Pass - should be extended to all ages.
Simon Pirani, 68, a Greenwich-based campaigner, said: “We’re not just pulling some mad idea out of nowhere. There are a lot of places, particularly Brazil, where this works.
“We’re not asking for utopia, we’re asking for a new funding model.”
Charging for public transport “closes the city off, whereas we would like to open the city up to the people that live there,” he said.
Mr Pirani told The Standard he met an elderly transport user who said: “The day I got my Freedom Pass was like a day of liberation for me.”
The group wants the feeling to be shared by all who live in London.
It believes it could be done by levying higher taxes on the “fossil fuel industry” and other big business, and re-allocating existing budgets.
It wants TfL to launch a consultation into the feasibility of free public transport for all Londoners, and plan to lobby members of the London Assembly to bring their suggestions into the “political sphere.”
Transport for London receives about £4.4bn a year from fares - income that helps to pay for the cost of running the London Underground, London Overground and Elizabeth line and which subsidises the bus network.
The group had a “positive” meeting with Claire Hamilton, head of transport policy for the Greater London Authority, on April 30.
The meeting was organised after the group wrote to Seb Dance, London’s deputy mayor for transport, in January, calling for “a major shift in the way that public transport in London is funded”.
The group have a survey open until the summer to research how public transport fares impact Londoners’ lives, focusing on the experiences of those on a low-income.
The intervention comes after London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan increased Tube fares by 4.6 per cent on March 2 - though bus fares were frozen at £1.75.
Glasgow became the first city in Scotland to trial free public transport for residents aged between 22 and 59 after the city council agreed to spend £225,000 offering concessionary travel to 1,000 residents as part of its budget for the upcoming year.
This was launched off the back of a study commissioned by the council last March, which mirrors the demands of FFL.
Other cities with public transport concessions include Tallinn in Estonia, Montpellier in France, and Stockholm in Sweden.
The mayor of Sao Paolo in Brazil has previously announced his wish to introduce “fare-free public transport” but this has been restricted to free bus travel on Sundays and public holidays.
FFL has attracted support by several unions, including the RMT’s London Transport Regional Council.
FFL was established in February 2024 by a group who had campaigned against the construction of the Silvertown Tunnel, which opened in April this year.
Mr Pirani said the group “would be the first to argue for free transport across the UK,” but focused on London as its members are based in the capital.
Last month it lobbied outside City Hall on April 25 as part of the Citizens UK campaign for free public transport for asylum seekers, which TfL has pledged to “better support.”
A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq said he was “continually looking into new innovative ways to keep London transport as affordable as possible”.
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