You may remember that back in July, the Mayor of London began his plans to scrap London’s ever-so convenient one-day travelcards in a bid to raise an extra £40 million a year for the transport network. You may also remember that a lot of people weren’t particularly delighted with this prospect – and that’s putting it lightly.
Mayor Sadiq Khan was met with an overwhelming outcry from local authorities and transport campaigners, who urged him to reconsider. The loss of the one-day travelcards (that allow unlimited journeys on London trains, tubes, and buses) could have increased fares by up to 16%, and would have made journeys within the capital a whole lot more complicated for its visitors.
Well, here’s some wonderful news for Londoners, tourists and everyone in between; TfL have finally reached an agreement with train operators and have confirmed that those handy little travelcards are going absolutely nowhere (for now, at least). The tickets are used more than 14 million times a year and are an invaluable way of attracting visitors to the transport network and reducing car usage in the capital city.
Unfortunately it’s not all good news, though. As the travelcards cost TfL £40m a year in lost fares, the one-day travelcards will be increasing in price to cover those costs. The exact price increase has not yet been confirmed, but the tickets will supposedly only be going up by a ‘small amount’. Here’s hoping, hey?
A source close to the Mayor said: “Agreement has now been reached by all sides to keep the daily Travelcard. There’s been a lot of back and forth between TfL, Rail Delivery Group and Government in recent weeks and a good compromise has been found. TfL were effectively £40m out of pocket every year, funding passengers outside London at a time when their budgets remain under huge pressure. The agreement provides a fairer deal for TfL and Londoners.”
Norman Baker, from the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Since we launched our campaign to save the Travelcard, hundreds of people have got in touch to tell us how much they value it, including families with children, teens travelling with youth groups, people with disabilities, people struggling with the cost of living, and people who don’t use contactless or mobile payments. They will breathe a sigh of relief today.”