Still no long-term funding deal for Transport for London

UK: Transport for London’s current extraordinary funding agreement with the Department for Transport has been extended to July 13.

The extension was announced in the late afternoon of June 24, hours before the agreement in place since February 26 was about to expire; this was the fourth package of government support agreed since the coronavirus pandemic caused a collapse in ridership at TfL, which is more heavily dependent on fares revenue than comparable operators around the world.

The extension came amidst increasingly acrimonious rival announcements about TfL’s future from Conservative Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps and Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Responses

Following confirmation of the extension, a Transport for London spokesperson said ‘it is essential London receives the sustained long-term government funding that is vital for the coming years if a period of managed decline of London’s transport network is to be avoided. We have worked hard to progress all conditions placed on TfL, and continue to believe that we have met them all.’

Shapps tweeted ‘to reach a long-term settlement that is fair to taxpayers, we must have all required info from TfL and the Mayor, which we have repeatedly asked for. TfL has asked for an extension to do this, which we have today granted.’

Khan said ’with the long-term capital funding deal London desperately needs still not forthcoming, TfL has been left with no choice but to begin imminent preparations for a managed decline scenario which will mean further cuts to services.

‘Time is running out and that is why I am once again urging the government to meet with me so that we can finally agree a sustainable, long-term funding deal that will protect not only London’s economic recovery, but that of the whole country.’

Manuel Cortes, General Secretary of the TSSA union, called the extension ‘negligent and disgraceful’, saying it was causing ‘deliberate damage’ to London ‘and the chances of a wider economic recovery from Covid’.

Railway Industry Association Chief Executive Darren Caplan said ‘today’s extension marks the 11th stop-gap funding settlement between the government and TfL in just over two years’, and ’the longer this cycle of short-termism goes on, the harder it will be to affordably maintain and build the capital’s transport system, and support not just London’s economy into the future, but also the wider UK’s.’