£1.8bn bailout
Latest funding deal to keep capital‘s public transport running was agreed with just 14 minutes to spare.
NEW Transport Commissioner for London Andy Byford agreed a funding deal to keep the capital’s trains, Tubes, trams and buses running with just 14 minutes to spare.
Byford told the RIA annual conference that the contract was signed at 2346 on the night before the previous government support ran out.
“It has certainly been the most surreal introduction to any job that I have ever done,” he said. (He only took over the job in early July.)
“My last few weeks have been dominated by a funding deal with Government. We have achieved that for the six months to the end of March. It was gruelling and exhausting. We didn’t expect a blank cheque and there are conditions. I think it is a fair deal.”
The funding arrangement was described by the Government as a “bailout”. Transport for London will receive £1.8 billion, mostly as direct grant. The temporarily increased £15 a day congestion charge will be retained, and City Hall said council tax bills would have to rise next April.
The Underground is running 95% of services, while 85% of the Overground timetable is being maintained. TfL Rail, which operates Elizabeth Line trains, is at 100%, with Docklands Light Railway on 84%. Just before the second lockdown, overall passenger numbers had recovered to 32% of pre-pandemic levels.
Byford said: “We have to get beyond these six-month deals. We have to get TfL onto a stable footing. My pitch is for a five-year deal.”
He confirmed that resignalling the Victoria Line would go ahead, along with electrification of Britain’s biggest bus fleet.
He also revealed that he had demanded full control of Crossrail during his job interview. The project had been led by a separate board but is now under his direct command.
Crossrail’s central section is due to open in the first half of 2022, with the full system complete a year later.
He told the RIA conference: “I am saying that now it is under my control, and I am accountable, there will be no further slippage and no requirement for public money over what was already identified. I aim to do better than that. So, watch this space.”
Byford also confirmed that Crossrail 2 has been “mothballed”, adding that the proposed extension of the Bakerloo Line “falls into a similar category”.
“There is a business case. We want to do them. But if it is a choice, with finite funding, between those and pressing issues like renewing the Piccadilly Line fleet and resignalling - I have put that back in the list… Crossrail 2 is mothballed. It is safeguarded, it is absolutely not cancelled.”
Byford warned against taking short-term decisions to save money on the capital’s infrastructure.
“Yes, there will be a hiatus,” he said. “There will be a softening in ridership, and we may not get back to the ridership we once had.
“But will the population of London really stagnate or decline? To cut the tap off now and not push on with infrastructure development will play into the hands of London’s global competitors. My strong advice is not to go that way.
“We have modelled different employment scenarios. I think some of the old traditional commuting is going to change. City centre use will evolve - a lot of offices may be converted into residential. But this is one of the two ‘World Cities’ - along with New York, where my previous job was. If you turn off the tap, in 20 years you will regret it.”
Network Rail Chairman Sir
Peter Hendy CBE was Transport Commissioner under both previous London Mayors (Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson). He said: “I’ve read the settlement. I don’t think it is generous. You have to remember the Mayor is from an opposing political party and you have to remember he has had a fares freeze for four years.
“Andy sent me a text saying he thought he could live with it. It will be tough to take another £160 million out of the organisation, because [Byford’s predecessor]
Mike Brown took out a huge amount. But if Andy thinks he can do it, we should leave him to get on with it. A long negotiation about funding every few months is the last thing you want when you are deeply involved in managing such a difficult organisation with so many challenges.”
See page 14 for more on this story.
A full interview with Transport Commissioner for London Andy Byford will appear in RAIL 919.