Light rail subsidies ‘vital’
DISCUSSIONS between Transport for London and the Government over longer term funding continued into late February after again failing to reach an agreement.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that TfL had been offered a fourth extraordinary funding settlement, and the latest one-week extension to the current arrangement had been given to allow Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to consider the terms.
Mr Shapps said TfL had received over £4.5 billion of extraordinary funding since the start of the pandemic. Although Tube ridership improved during the first few weeks of 2022, in early February it was still just 59% of pre-pandemic levels.
TfL says it must achieve a capital funding settlement that runs for at least three years which ensures “London’s transport network can remain reliable and efficient” and support the capital’s economic recovery.
Beyond London
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester’s Transport Committee has urged ministers to continue emergency subsidies for public transport into the next financial year, saying it requires around £40 million for Metrolink, which in mid-February saw passenger levels of around 65% of pre-pandemic numbers. A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesman said engineering work had been reprioritized to concentrate on safety-critical projects such as track renewals.
On February 2, a £4.1 million increase was agreed to council levy payments for Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive and Metro operator Nexus. A report to the North East Joint Transport Committee, which oversees Nexus policy and funding, explained that the alternative would be service cuts. South Yorkshire Combined Authority said
planned infrastructure work on the Sheffield Supertram system is still set to continue, while Edinburgh Trams indicated it was too early to say how the pandemic would have an impact on its plans, as did West Midlands Combined Authority which operates West Midlands Metro.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which runs the Glasgow Subway, is also seeking reassurances regarding support for the year ahead. In November, the then Scottish Transport Minister Graeme Dey announced £2.2 million in emergency funding for light rail to run until the end of March. However, following a “stay at home as much as possible” message from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after the emergence of the Omicron variant, Subway passenger numbers fell from around 70% of pre-pandemic levels to around 50%.