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Local Transport News! £3.6bn London transport funding deal agreed

Overground train at Sydenham Station

Cuts to most services avoided but problems remain

A new agreement lasting until the 31 March 2024 will secure current services on the Overground, tube, DLR and tram services. That’s the good news on the last-minute deal agreed between the London Mayor and the Department of Transport in the last 24 hours.

But the agreement contains many far-reaching and radical alterations to our local transport system. These include a commitment to “press forward on a joint programme on the implementation of driverless trains on the London Underground”. The Mayor had also committed to submit proposals to reform pensions by the end of September – a certain point of conflict with rail unions.

And the deal is not without further downsides:

  • Local train agreements with other operators (such as Southern and South Eastern trains) have yet to be thrashed out. What will happen, for example, to the “loop line” services running between London Bridge and Victoria? These are valuable cross London links for many in our area and without them services to and from London Bridge remain at only two trains per hour.
  • Securing the funding means bus services will be saved – but they will still have to be cut by 4% .
  • Travel concessions (such as free travel for all Londoners aged under 18 and 60-65, excluding statutory entitlements to get children to and from school) will not be met by government funding. TfL has to meet the costs of these additional benefits.
  • There is a £740m funding gap in TfL’s finances. It will take more than tinkering with existing projects to balance the books without further cuts.
  • Next year’s fare rise will be considerable given soaring inflation – and this rise will have to be met by TfL. How will the travelling public react to such huge fare rises?