When Boris included half price discounts on bus and tram travel for income support claimants in the new public transport fares package at the start of the year, it confirmed that he was becoming harder to accuse of Thatcher-ish nastiness. When in April he extended the concessions to those on Job Seekers' Allowance and the new Employment and Support Allowance (which has replaced Incapacity Benefit) such critics were confounded further.
But figures obtained from Mayor Johnson by the leader of the Assembly's Lib Dems Mike Tuffrey suggest that take up of the half-price scheme has been poor. He raised the issue at the last MQT, saying that the stats suggest that somewhere between 116,500 and 1666,000 Londoners who qualify for the discount haven't applied for it. They certainly show (in an appendix I've studied but can't yet find online) that in some boroughs as few as three percent of those in the JSA category are enjoying the advantage of half-price travel. Those below four percent include Bromley, Redbridge, Havering, Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London - intriguingly, all Tory strongholds.
What's the problem? Tuffrey suspects that the offer isn't being sold as well as it should be. Last month he was assured that ample application forms and leaflets had been distributed to Job Centres Pluses, but is now pressing for a commitment by Boris that he'll increase publicity for the schemes. I wonder what his answer will be.
