Lib Dems launch their even “Fairer Fares” policy

In the week that 2012 fare rises came into effect (described by one Tory wonk as “a fucking PR disaster”) The Liberal Democrats have responded with their own answer to Labour’s Fair Deal campaign. Fairer fares.

We should be on the look out for the Greens coming out with a Fairest Fares launch and the Tory Unfare Fairs pledge.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for:

• a new One Hour bus ticket – so people can change buses without paying extra
• Early Bird fares – so it’s cheaper to travel before the morning rush hour
• Part-time Travelcards – for people who don’t need to travel every weekday
• Re-zoning of stations where the current zone boundaries aren’t sensible
• Outer London Travelcards – for people who don’t travel into the centre of town

Which, apart from the slightly weird part-time travel cards, all sounds very constructive.

Early Bird fares in particular would help low waged workers, like cleaners and postal workers, who tend to have travel to work very early in the day and would especially benefit from such a scheme.

Caroline Pidgeon, the leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group said: “Once again we start the year with another painful fare package from Boris Johnson. For the fourth year in a row he has racked up fares by far more than the rate of inflation. His latest rises will simply add to the financial problems of many Londoners – especially those on low incomes.

She continued that “Shamefully bus fares have been hiked up the most by Boris Johnson despite buses being most heavily used by low income Londoners. It is now time for a new approach to fares. We need to end the scandal of Oyster overcharging, and introduce targeted measures to specifically help Londoners on the lowest incomes. A one-hour bus ticket and cheaper early bird fares would make a huge difference to the pockets and purses of London’s lowest paid workers who have been hit so hard by Boris Johnson’s excessive fare rises.”

However, Brian Paddick, the Liberal  Democrat Mayoral candidate focused on Labour’s idea of reducing fares saying that “Londoners are fed up with Boris & Ken’s phony war over fares, and hearing promises that don’t stack up financially.”

While the Liberal Democrats and Tories may have a shared agenda of reducing state spending it is a sad fact that London’s public transport system is simply too expensive for most Londoners and fares are excessive when compared to other major cities around the world.

Labour argue that the money is there to reduce fares in the TfL budget which “consistently has a surplus on its operating budget and last year this was £729m. This operating surplus grows every year. This is an excess in the budget, over and above the projected budget.”

The Greens would seem to agree with Green Party Mayoral candidate, Jenny Jones, saying that  “These rises show the Mayor’s inexperience in balancing the books for Londoners. It’s not only about money, it’s also our quality of life. He’s hurting everyone, but mostly the low paid who already struggle to pay the high cost of public transport to get to work. The rises also mean that using cars becomes more viable and that’s worse for air pollution, congestion, and road danger.”

These disagreements apart it’s to be welcomed that at least three of the four London Assembly parties are taking the issue of excessive fares seriously and are trying to come up with constructive solutions.