Boris Johnson’s 20% Fare Hikes – Not The Best Welcome Back-To-Work

Anyone who purchased a travel ticket today will have been struck by the steep rise in fares. These were introduced by Mayor Boris Johnson on Saturday, January 2nd and follow on from 6% fare increases in 2009. Saturday’s fare rises include:

• A single bus or tram journey by Oyster UP 20% to £1.20
• A weekly oyster bus pass UP 20% to £16.60
• Seven-day Travelcard over 2 zones excluding zone one rises from £16.60 to £19.00
• Monthly bus pass UP by £10.80 - 20 per cent – from £53 to £63.80
• Six-zone peak single Tube fare by Oyster UP 10.5% to £4.20
• A five-zone off-peak single Tube fare (outside zone 1) UP 18.2% to £1.30
• Most Oyster pay-as-you-go Tube fares UP by 20p per trip
• On buses and trams the daily price cap will increase from £3.30 to £3.90
• Overall tube fares will rise 3.9% and overall bus fares UP by 12.7%.

People using their Oyster card to travel on the bus service have been hit particularly badly, with the price of a single bus journey going up by one third since Boris Johnson was elected in May 2008.

On 28th October, the Labour Opposition urged H&F Council's Conservative Administration to join us in opposing the fare hikes - much as we have local cross-party support on a range of issues, including being against the third runway at Heathrow. H&F Conservatives unanimously refused to do this - I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, given their own record of stealth taxes.