A six point plan to cut waste and help keep fares down

The GLA Conservatives are proposing a costed six point plan for Transport For London (TfL) in response to today’s forthcoming Department of Transport (DfT) funding announcement.

Richard Tracey, Transport spokesman for the GLA Conservatives, said:

“We have put together a comprehensive package of proposals which will help TfL cut waste, save hundreds of millions of pounds, make it a leaner organisation and reduce its dependence on the whims of Central Government.

“At time when budgets are tight, our proposals – accelerating driverless trains, introducing Tube sponsorship, sorting out gold plated pensions, reforming strike laws and introducing flexible ticketing – will ultimately ensure that transport bosses can continue their vital infrastructure upgrades, bear down on fares for Londoners and keep the Capital moving.”

 
 

Download the Six Point Plan: Click Here

 

The Six Point Plan

1. Immediately freeze the hiring and training of new Tube drivers for the Jubilee, Victoria and Central lines
   • Accelerating the introduction of driverless trains will help to bear down on the annual £141 million tube driver wage bill
2. Introduce Tube sponsorship
   • A package of sponsorship deals across London’s public transport could raise the £136 million¹ required to completely freeze passenger fares for a year – leaving a zone 1-6 travelcard holder an estimated £90² better off
   • Passenger fares could be capped at inflation for the next three years if TfL could raise £204 million³ through sponsorship
3. Push the DfT to ban Tube strikes and replace them with a compulsory mediation process involving an independent judge
   • The average London Underground strike costs the London economy £48 million a day, the 30 strikes that have taken place over a six year period (2005-2011) have cost over £1.4billion
   • Tube strikes went ahead with an average of just 39% of the ‘yes vote’ over this period with some successful ballots having a vote as low as 20%
4. Bring TfL’s gold plated pension pot in line with the public sector average
   • TfL staff pensions have cost the taxpayer £1.6 billion in employer contributions over the last seven years (2004-2011)
   • Currently, the fund is in deficit, so including deficit payments, the employer is contributing over six times the amount of employees. Staff are contributing 5% and regular employer contributions have hit 31%
   • TfL would have saved £144 million in 2011 alone if they had made contributions in line with the average that local government employers typically pay
5. Scrap free travel for partners, friends and lodgers of TfL staff
   • Our estimates say that in excess of £17 million per year could be saved by cutting this benefit
6. Introduce flexible Travelcards and annual rebates to help commuters make substantial savings
   • Incentivising home working will help to reduce overcrowding on our public transport
   • If a rebate was set at somewhere between £5 and £7 per day, a commuter who worked from home for 50 of those days could expect to receive a rebate of between £250 and £350

 
Notes

• The GLA Conservatives’ six point plan can be downloaded at: glaconservatives.co.uk/6pp
• Richard Tracey is Conservative London Assembly Member for Wandsworth and Merton and Transport spokesman for the GLA Conservatives