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Post by rj131 on Mar 16, 2020 11:49:06 GMT
I’m surprised no one has talked about this. Haven’t found any discussion on this anywhere. www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/i-ll-end-freeze-on-tube-fares-if-i-m-elected-again-admits-sadiq-khan-a4386516.html*If re-elected* (<- couldn’t fit that bit in the thread title due to the limit on the number of characters) Sadiq Khan will end the freeze on tube fares, however the £1.50 bus fare will remain until 2025. First impressions alone tells me this seems like very bad news for the bus network. If patronage will carry on falling like the way it has done with fares remaining at £1.50 the bus network will get completely strangled. I was at least expecting him to say there will be a rise in the cost of the bus fare upon re-election, but that raised fare will then remain in place until 2025. Keeping the bus hopper though is definitely wise, can you imagine scrapping that after all the cuts that have happened, using the hopper as his get-out clause because there’s no financial penalty for changing.  |
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Post by lundnah on Mar 16, 2020 12:15:30 GMT
Fares on all TfL services pay for all TfL services.
So a fare freeze on the buses won't specifically harm the bus network.
It might even raise funds if more passengers continue to travel.
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Post by southlondonbus on Mar 16, 2020 14:55:21 GMT
I was surprised aswell. Mixture of happy and concerned with it. It could have risen to £1.60 for the next 5 years maybe and bought in some more revenue but at the same time with 40% of bus passengers not having to pay, why should the fare payers have to pay more. I do think thou more cuts will come. Some justified some not so like the Newham Changes.
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Post by Dillon95 on Mar 16, 2020 20:26:35 GMT
I'd rather pay a bit more and not have cuts to services myself.
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Post by rj131 on Mar 16, 2020 22:20:53 GMT
I'd rather pay a bit more and not have cuts to services myself. Same here tbh. I’d rather see it rise to £2 or even £2.50 and if I was safe in the knowledge that that would be the frozen fare for five years, and it meant my local routes would stay easy to use and reliable then I’d happily pay it.  |
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Post by vjaska on Mar 16, 2020 22:26:08 GMT
I'd rather pay a bit more and not have cuts to services myself. Same here tbh. I’d rather see it rise to £2 or even £2.50 and if I was safe in the knowledge that that would be the frozen fare for five years, and it meant my local routes would stay easy to use and reliable then I’d happily pay it. £1.60-£1.70 seems a more proportional rise than £2-£2.50 which could have the opposite effect but do agree I’d take a small rise for no cuts as personally nearly all the cuts have been totally unnecessary and detrimental to the long term health of the bus network. |
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Post by southlondonbus on Mar 16, 2020 22:40:53 GMT
Blimey £2- £2.50. That's almost how much people expect to pay for a train/tube journey. I think £1.70 is a max fare.
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Post by rj131 on Mar 17, 2020 7:13:35 GMT
Same here tbh. I’d rather see it rise to £2 or even £2.50 and if I was safe in the knowledge that that would be the frozen fare for five years, and it meant my local routes would stay easy to use and reliable then I’d happily pay it. £1.60-£1.70 seems a more proportional rise than £2-£2.50 which could have the opposite effect but do agree I’d take a small rise for no cuts as personally nearly all the cuts have been totally unnecessary and detrimental to the long term health of the bus network. Blimey £2- £2.50. That's almost how much people expect to pay for a train/tube journey. I think £1.70 is a max fare. Okay lol maybe £2-£2.50 is a tad steep but I was thinking in terms of ‘future-proofing’ the fare, so it didn’t become unsustainable towards the end of the term. One advantage the £1.50 the fare freeze may have though is that it could give routes like the 197 a specific advantage over the Overground. The Overground fare to Croydon would rise every year above £1.50 but the 197 would stay put. Not sure how many more people in reality would sacrifice a faster journey just to pay the same price to get somewhere but it’s just a thought, especially how slow the 197 has become now because of the endless 20mph zones. |
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Post by greenboy on Mar 17, 2020 7:44:18 GMT
£1.60-£1.70 seems a more proportional rise than £2-£2.50 which could have the opposite effect but do agree I’d take a small rise for no cuts as personally nearly all the cuts have been totally unnecessary and detrimental to the long term health of the bus network. Blimey £2- £2.50. That's almost how much people expect to pay for a train/tube journey. I think £1.70 is a max fare. Okay lol maybe £2-£2.50 is a tad steep but I was thinking in terms of ‘future-proofing’ the fare, so it didn’t become unsustainable towards the end of the term. One advantage the £1.50 the fare freeze may have though is that it could give routes like the 197 a specific advantage over the Overground. The Overground fare to Croydon would rise every year above £1.50 but the 197 would stay put. Not sure how many more people in reality would sacrifice a faster journey just to pay the same price to get somewhere but it’s just a thought, especially how slow the 197 has become now because of the endless 20mph zones. Surely any significant fares increase is just going to put more people off bus travel and in the long term result in even more cuts? The 197 has clearly lost a lot of custom to LO with 7 stations in close proximity to the route and TfL will no doubt see that as a success although it must put a question mark over the long term viability of the 197. I don't think 20mph limits make much difference, buses rarely get above that anyway and spend too much time dawdling at bus stops as with many other routes. |
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Post by Frenzie on Mar 17, 2020 20:28:45 GMT
Okay lol maybe £2-£2.50 is a tad steep but I was thinking in terms of ‘future-proofing’ the fare, so it didn’t become unsustainable towards the end of the term. One advantage the £1.50 the fare freeze may have though is that it could give routes like the 197 a specific advantage over the Overground. The Overground fare to Croydon would rise every year above £1.50 but the 197 would stay put. Not sure how many more people in reality would sacrifice a faster journey just to pay the same price to get somewhere but it’s just a thought, especially how slow the 197 has become now because of the endless 20mph zones. Surely any significant fares increase is just going to put more people off bus travel and in the long term result in even more cuts? The 197 has clearly lost a lot of custom to LO with 7 stations in close proximity to the route and TfL will no doubt see that as a success although it must put a question mark over the long term viability of the 197. I don't think 20mph limits make much difference, buses rarely get above that anyway and spend too much time dawdling at bus stops as with many other routes. Take a trip on any route in south west London and see how many drivers exceed the 20 mph limit (not that I’m saying it’s a bad thing) in these ridiculous zones the council in richmond have introduced. If they started to obey the speed limits the service would collapse. I don’t think you realise how slow 20 mph is. I agree with you about the LO. |
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Post by rif153 on Mar 18, 2020 19:11:10 GMT
Same here tbh. I’d rather see it rise to £2 or even £2.50 and if I was safe in the knowledge that that would be the frozen fare for five years, and it meant my local routes would stay easy to use and reliable then I’d happily pay it. £1.60-£1.70 seems a more proportional rise than £2-£2.50 which could have the opposite effect but do agree I’d take a small rise for no cuts as personally nearly all the cuts have been totally unnecessary and detrimental to the long term health of the bus network. I agree. I think a fare rise is a necesarry evil so a smaller fare rise to around £1.60 or so won't drive too many people away, nowhere near as many as a fare of over £2 would, but will still ensure revenue comes in. |
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