LUWORLD

The Government has offered lfl £1.6 billion extra funding, but with a list of strings attached.

Coronavirus politicised in London.

TRANSPORT for London estimates its loss of income throughout 2020 could be as high as £4 billion.

A large part of that is currently due to the coronavirus lockdown, with only a fraction of the normal passenger levels meaning fare income is way below expected. But there are other factors too, such as the expensive replacement 'Routemaster' buses and the Santander Cycle scheme, while the over-budget Crossrail project might not now be complete until 2022 - meaning more than three years of lost planned income.

Having lost its operating grant in 2018, TfL cut back considerably and managed to reduce its operational deficit by 71 % prior to lockdown in arch. But since then, and no longer able to balance its budget, TfL had to approach central government and ask for an additional £2 billion in funding to maintain services through to the autumn.

STRINGS

The Government decided not to give all of the money requested, but instead offered a £1.1 billion grant and £500 million loan running to October 2020. The offer also came with various strings attached, including: suspension of free travel to under-18s; banning Freedom

Pass and 60+ card holders during peak hours; restoration of the congestion charge with a future price hike; a commitment to operating full services across the Underground network, apart from Night Tube; a commitment to increase fares from January 2021 by inflation+ 1% (as per the current TfL plan); and Government representatives be allowed to attend

Tfl's board, and committee meetings.

The mayoral election that was due to take place in London this year has been put back to 2021 due to coronavirus, but it seems certain that transport will be a key topic of debate in the hustings - not least the power tussle between current mayor Sadiq Khan and the Government now led by his predecessor Boris Johnson.