London Tube and bus fares set to rise

The cost of travelling by bus and Tube in London is set to increase next year under plans announced today.

London's Mayor Ken Livingstone said a single Tube journey will cost £3 instead of the current £2 while a single bus journey will increase from the current £1.20 to £1.50.

The mayor announced that the cost of buying pre-paid tickets is to fall.

The so-called Oyster fares will be cut in central London from £1.70 to £1.50, which will be half the cash fare.

On the buses, a cash single will increase from £1.20 to £1.50 in January, while an Oyster fare will be frozen at £1 in the morning peak and 80p at other times.

Mr Livingstone said the aim was to encourage more passengers to use the Oyster cards rather than cash in an attempt to speed up journeys.

"This proposed fares package focuses on halving the number of cash journeys made in 2006 to speed up journeys and improve the efficiency of the network.

"The simple message is that you don't have to pay the new cash fares - switch to Oyster and pay as you go and you will save money as well as time.

"I believe Londoners are astute enough to choose the best value fare for their journey."

Mr Livingstone told a news conference at City Hall the increased fares would raise an estimated £80 million when the change takes place in January.

He stressed that the aim was to persuade tens of thousands of people to buy pre-paid tickets rather than queue to buy one with cash. Almost 50% of Tube journeys and 40% by bus are made using the Oyster cards, but most of these are season tickets.

Mr Livingstone said: "Too many people are paying cash, causing long queues at stations and on buses.

"Our objective is to move people away from paying cash, speeding up the whole system."

Mr Livingstone conceded that the new single Tube fare of £3 would probably be the most expensive in the world but he pointed out that people could travel more cheaply if they bought the pre-paid card.

The Mayor said it was "bizarre" anyone should still buy a ticket with cash and it would be "more inexplicable" if that continued after January.

He said the new fares would be the second of three previously announced increases, with another increase due in 2007.

Roger Evans, Conservative chairman of the London Assembly Transport Committee, said: "How can the Mayor expect people to leave their cars at home when bus and Tube tickets are spiralling out of control?

"Ken Livingstone obviously has not added up his sums correctly. He needs to boost his coffers through the already fed-up and frustrated commuter. London has the most expensive transport system in the world.

"If the Mayor wants people to use public transport the whole network must be both efficient and affordable."

The Liberal Democrats said the new fares appeared to "clobber" tourists and those who could not use the Oyster card because train companies running services into the capital refused to accept them.

The party's transport spokesman on the London Assembly, Geoff Pope, said: "With businesses in London already suffering from a downturn in trade, the clobbering of tourists in central London will come as a particularly hard kick in the teeth.

"There is a danger that with all that has happened in the capital in the last few months, this will end up being the final straw as people go elsewhere to shop and be tourists."

The Mayor's office said later that the changes will raise an estimated £80 million on bus fares and £50 million on the Tube.

The train drivers' union Aslef said it had no principled objection to London Underground making efforts to improve efficiency by relying more on Oyster cards.

But officials said that any savings on station staff should be used to increase security arrangements and any financial gains used to improve safety standards.

The union said it will demand its share of productivity improvements in coming pay talks.

"London's rail workers are increasingly productive in an environment that is often more challenging," said National Organiser Andy Reed.

"We expect their dedication and professionalism to be reflected in this year's pay round."

The Forum of Private Business said the fare rises were a "desperately short sighted" move when London was suffering a retail slump.

Spokeswoman Victoria Carson accused the Mayor of undermining business confidence with this latest move, coming just days after the westwards extension of the Congestion Charge was announced.

"This is the worse possible news at the worst possible time. We cannot escape the reality that since the bombings and the 60% hike in the C-Charge in July, we saw the number of passengers on the tube plummet by 300,000 a day, and we have witnessed retail sales in central London falling significantly.

"The Mayor seems determined to kill off London business by putting up the cost of visiting the capital by tube, bus or car."