Nominee passes now costing TfL over £33million a year

– Travel perk grants free travelcards for flatmates of TfL staff
– Mayor urged to give firefighters free travel instead at a fraction of the cost

A perk that grants free travel to the flatmates of TfL staff now costs London taxpayers over £33million a year in lost revenue, research shows.

London Assembly member Keith Prince wants the Mayor to scrap the ‘ridiculous and unnecessary’ bonus and instead offer firefighters free travel at a fraction of the cost.

TfL currently allows staff to hand out free travelcards to friends, lodgers, family members or anyone else living at their address(1) at a cost of £33.3million(2) a year.

Firefighters could instead be given free travel at an estimated £19.8million in total for the next four years(2), providing a worthwhile perk for lifesaving public servants and saving the taxpayer some 113.2million by 2020.

London Assembly member Keith Prince said:

“It seems ludicrous that the taxpayer has to foot a bill of over £33million a year just so TfL staff can hand out free travelcards to their mates.

“It would be hard enough to justify this perk under normal circumstances, but at a time when the Mayor is seeking to save more than £640million from within TfL because of his disastrous fares freeze it really takes the biscuit.

“The Mayor needs to scrap this ridiculous and unnecessary perk immediately. By doing so he could save TfL and the taxpayer millions in vital revenue and still have money left over to provide our firefighters with a valuable thank you for their work.”

Notes
1. Presently, staff working for TfL are entitled to nominate someone living in their property, whether a family member, friend or lodger to receive free travel on the buses, tube and DLR. This perk is not part of the employee contract and could be rescinded by transport bosses at any time.
2. Full costings below
3. It has been assumed that two journeys are made per operational firefighter every working day, at the average cost of £3.60 per journey (detailed in the linked report). This equates to 1,376,144 journeys per annum and £4,954,118 per annum in costs. Thus, providing free travel to all operational firefighters in line with the police would cost £19,816,472 up to and including 2020. – https://glaconservatives.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Free-Ride.pdf
4. Keith Prince is the GLA Conservatives’ transport spokesman

 

Calculations:

Number of Bus Operator Nominee Passes	20,591
Cost of Zone 1-3 Travelcard	£1,548
Total Cost	£31,874,868
50% of Cost	£15,937,434
Number of TfL Nominee Passes	22,517
Cost of Zone 1-3 Travelcard	£1,548
Total Cost	£34,856,316
50% of Cost	£17,428,158
Total combined cost	£33,365,592

 

There are 22,517 TfL Nominee Passes and 20,591 Bus Operator Nominee Passes.

In 2015/16, this is the journey data breakdown as expressed as ‘journeys’.

 

TfL Nominee Passes

2015/16	April	318,770	366,209	1,170	686,149
	May	323,312	376,428	1,324	701,064
	June	354,618	393,098	1,652	749,368
	July	345,019	389,437	1,503	735,959
	August	301,551	342,482	1,310	645,343
	September	358,932	389,742	1,614	750,288
	October	386,016	400,057	1,730	787,803
	November	379,696	382,119	1,598	763,413
	December	349,950	362,299	1,293	713,542
	January	362,190	368,751	1,314	732,255
	February	369,207	366,615	1,338	737,160
	March	373,313	382,037	1,342	756,692
	TOTAL	4,222,574	4,519,274	17,188	8,759,036

 

Bus Operator Nominee Passes

2015/16	April	236,232	676,736	3,899	916,867
	May	243,489	699,538	4,304	947,331
	June	264,491	737,452	4,508	1,006,451
	July	251,041	725,572	4,240	980,853
	August	216,539	605,407	3,837	825,783
	September	257,509	702,522	4,302	964,333
	October	268,895	689,718	4,283	962,896
	November	256,189	646,745	4,394	907,328
	December	242,632	622,388	4,531	869,551
	January	240,350	605,747	4,160	850,257
	February	230,836	559,379	3,727	793,942
	March	240,019	605,344	3,757	849,120
	TOTAL	2,948,222	7,876,548	49,942	10,874,712