Boris: Why I’m right to raise bus and Tube fares

BORIS Johnson hit out at critics of his London bus and Underground fare rises when he inspected work on the East London Line extension today. The Mayor dropped by the new Shoreditch High Street station to see the last phase of work before the �1 billion extension opens on May 23

By Johnny McDevitt

BORIS Johnson hit out at critics of his London bus and Underground fare rises when he inspected work on the East London Line extension today.

The London Mayor dropped by the new Shoreditch High Street station, on the site of the former Bishopsgate goods depot, to see the last phase of work before the �1 billion extension opens on May 23.

“The fare increases are smaller than those brought in by the previous Labour mayor in 2005 and 2006,” Boris told the East London Advertiser.

“We need schemes lines like this to help bring jobs and growth to parts of the East End that haven’t experienced it in the way that they ought to have done.

“That’s why our approach to managing Transport for London finances of is completely right.”

The fare hype means bus passengers using Oyster cards pay 20 per cent more this week, from �1 to �1.20, while tube passengers are paying around four per cent more.

The mayor was feeling the backlash from politicians at City Hall as well as from passenger groups.

John Biggs, London Assembly member for the City and East London, said: “The Mayor has chosen to penalise Londoners who rely on public transport to get around.”

Transport For All, a pressure group for the disabled and pensioners, called for rises to be reversed.

Its director, Faryal Velmi, said: “For many on a low-income or unemployed, the rises are a huge blow. I would urge the mayor to think again.”

The East London Line is being extended north from Whitechapel to Dalston, with new stops at Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton and Haggerston. At the other end, it is being stretched southward from New Cross Gate to Crystal Palace and West Croydon.