Increases in public transport fares that take effect on Sunday (2 March) will hit the capital’s low-income households hardest, the Fare Free London campaign warned today.

Tube and rail fares will rise by 4.6% on average – above the rate of inflation. “The government has forced the Mayor’s hand by making future transport funding conditional on these fare increases. Instead of endless fare increases, the solution is a drastic shift in the way the system is paid for,” Pearl Ahrens of Fare Free London said.

“Instead of putting the burden on low-income households, we should move in the opposite direction – towards a zero-fares system such as is used successfully in Luxembourg, in several French cities, and in more than 100 municipalities in Brazil.”

Public transport in London relies more heavily on fare income than in other global cities such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

Unlike fares, which act as a regressive tax, there are fairer ways of paying for public transport that have been tried and tested, such as land value capture or payroll taxes, at city level, or a shake-up of transportation taxes at national level.

Fare-free transport would also help shift London away from a car-heavy transport system, and would tackle air pollution (from which low-income families suffer worst) and greenhouse gas emissions.

Londoners working in poorly-paying jobs will be disproportionately hit by Sunday’s fare increases. A single peak-time ride from zone 4 to central London rises to £4.60 (up from £4.40). From zone 6 it will be £5.80 (up from £5.60).

The one-day Pay As You Go Cap, the most cost-effective way for many Londoners to travel, rises to £12.80 for zones 1-4 (up from £12.30) and to £15.60 for zones 1-6. A Day
Travelcard for zones 1-6 will now cost £23.60.

“London has the highest poverty level of any UK region – at 25%”, Pearl Ahrens said. “That’s 2.2 million people. Although housing costs are the biggest burden on household
expenditure, transport is the second largest cost category.”

Fare Free London was set up last year to advocate free public transport in the capital. The Independent Workers union of Great Britain, and the UK’s oldest doctors’ union Doctors in
Unite, have joined the RMT London transport regional council, and other community and campaign groups, to support it.

□ Press enquiries to info@farefreelondon.org.

Read the full press release in PDF here.