Tube fares should rise to help fund transport schemes that have been delayed or shelved, Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey said today.
He would increase fares in line with the Transport for London budget plan — the RPI rate of inflation plus one per cent from 2021 — if elected in May. At current rates, this would add 3.2 per cent a year to fares.
Sadiq Khan’s four-year partial fares freeze has deprived TfL of an estimated £640 million in income.
Mr Bailey, in an interview with the Standard’s podcast The Leader, said: “I want to be upfront ... fares will have to go up a little bit.”
London Assembly research found that 15 TfL schemes were behind schedule and three were shelved due to a lack of funds.
Mr Bailey said he wanted more step-free stations, to extend the Bakerloo and Metropolitan lines and DLR. Such projects would open up new areas for housing, he said.
“If you are sat there now thinking I don’t want my fares to go up, neither do I - I have to pay them as well,” he said.
“What you do want to go down is your rent. What you do want to change is your ability to buy. Those things are only going to happen if we can travel to different parts of London.”
He said the “big ticket item” was the £41bn Crossrail 2 north-south scheme, which is currently in limbo awaiting funding.
“Crossrail 1 is so far behind, and so far over budget, people are talking that we won’t be able to finance Crossrail 2,” he said. “That would be a disaster.”
Listen to today's episode of The Leader:
