Boris Johnson's New Year hangover for the capital

A taste of a coming Cameron government, cheaper for SUV drivers, higher fares for those who use public transport....yes the Tories will fuck over those who reduce CO2 emissions and then laugh.



Boris Johnson's New Year hangover for the capital - "Mayor hits
Londoners in the pocket with fares rise"

Tomorrow's above-inflation fare increase in London - which will see
the price of a single bus journey on Oyster go up by a massive eleven
per cent - has provoked strong criticism today from a cross party
group. "At a time of financial crisis the Mayor should be helping
Londoners by holding down fares and investing in key public services
like transport - he is doing the opposite, hitting ordinary Londoners
in the pocket," said MP Jon Cruddas, former Mayor of London Ken
Livingstone, Assembly members Len Duvall, Jenny Jones, Darren Johnson,
and Val Shawcross, and Steve Hart (regional secretary of transport
union Unite) in a joint statement.

They called for the fare increase to be reversed and criticised the
loss of millions of pounds of income for Transport for London since
Boris Johnson became mayor which could have been used to avoid the
painful rise. Although Boris Johnson has claimed he is cutting costs
to Londoners by freezing the council tax, this will be more than
cancelled out for hundreds of thousands of Londoners hit by tomorrow's
fare increase.

In their statement the cross-party group said:

"The Mayor of London plans to raise fares by six per cent, with some
increasing far more: the price of a single bus journey on Oyster will
go up by 11 per cent, to £1.

"Yet at the same time the Mayor has cancelled investment to improve
the city's transport system, and is throwing away millions of pounds
by cancelling measures like the planned £25-a-day charge on the
worst-polluting cars, such as Chelsea Tractors, in central London and
taking one of the richest parts of London, Kensington and Chelsea, out
of the Congestion Charging Zone.

"At a time of financial crisis the Mayor should be helping Londoners
by holding down fares and investing in key public services like
transport: he is doing the opposite, hitting ordinary Londoners in the
pocket.

"We demand that this January's above-inflation fare increase be cancelled."
Signed: Ken Livingstone; Jon Cruddas MP; Len Duvall AM; Darren Johnson
AM; Jenny Jones AM; Val Shawcross AM; Steve Hart (Regional Secretary,
Unite).

ENDS
Notes to editors
* The Mayor has announced a six per cent fare increase overall, with
other fares rising considerably more. A single bus journey on Oyster
will rise by eleven per cent from 90p to £1.
* The Mayor's New Year fares hike will come into force this Friday
(2nd January) with most Londoners affected on the first full working
day after the New Year break on Monday 5th January.
* Last year Boris Johnson announced that work on future transport
links such as
extensions to the DLR and the Croydon Tramlink were being shelved.
* The cost to London of cancelling the £25 charge on gas guzzlers has
cost London up to £50million a year
* TfL's own figures show that the removal of the Western Extension of
the congestion charge will cost £50-70 million a year in lost revenue

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