Tube fares are set to rise by 5.8% as the government and Sadiq Khan have made a deal for Londoners to pay their “contribution” for new transport infrastructure.
The Transport Secretary Heide Alexander said she had a “grown up” discussion with Khan over the increase of Tube fares.
Khan said he had no choice but to go ahead with the government’s terms as part of Rachel Reeves spending review in June.
Following the Chancellor’s spending review this requires Transport for London (TfL) to raise fares by the rate of inflation and 1% a year until 2030.
The Mayor of London said increasing fares to make £2.2 billion of funds for transport projects is “fair” and not “unreasonable.”
Alexander was asked about the fares increase, she told LBC Radio, “The Mayor of London has yet to confirm what his fares increase will actually be.
“Decisions about Tube fares and bus fares in London are the devolved responsibility of the Mayor of London.
“We did have a discussion with him when we were going through the Spending Review.
“When we discussed the Spending Review and we gave London £2.2 billion of capital investment which is going to enable investment in things like new [Piccadilly] line trains, new DLR trains.
“We are also progressing the extension of the DLR to Thamesmead.
“We agreed with the Mayor that the assumption was that that £2.2 billion of investment, which is the largest single capital settlement in the last decade for Transport for London, that we would be assuming an RPI plus one (percentage point) fares increase so that London is also making a contribution to that new investment.
“The Mayor and I had a grown-up conversation about the £2 billion of investment in the capital’s transport infrastructure.”
