Photo by Grace Shaw
By Grace Shaw
This weekend TfL hiked up their prices, leaving many Londoners worried and angered at the prospect of extortionate travel tickets.
Travel fares increased on 5 March by an average of 5.9 percent; this change has come only a year after a previous 5 percent increase.
Glenn Odei, 48, TfL worker said: “Tube fares keep increasing and it is hard for people to get around without worrying. Some people aren’t making enough money to get to work to make their money. I can imagine it is going to be tough for a lot of people especially because it is already such a hard time.
“People are struggling without increasing fares because of the cost of living crisis, I do wonder how they will cope now.”
Most adult pay-as-you-go fares will increase between 10p and 30p on the Tube, London Overground, Elizabeth Line and the DLR.
Adult peak pay-as-you-go journey fares in Zone 1 has increased to £2.80 and off-peak is £2.70. A pay-as-you-go fare in a single zone outside of Zone 1 is now £1.80.
When the March increases were announced in January, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I froze TfL fares for five years from 2016 to make transport more affordable for millions of Londoners. But my hands have been tied since the pandemic by the strict conditions set by the government in the recent emergency funding agreement for TfL, which means fares have to be increase in London by the same amount as National Rail fares – 5.9 per cent.
“This is a challenging time for our city, with a government that is not fully funding our public services, but I’m determined to step up so that we can continue building a greener, safer and fairer London for everyone.”
In conjunction with the fare price increases, TfL workers have also been on strike which is still an ongoing issue. Tube strikes have been disruptive because work places have had to shut due to a lack of workers, commuters are forced to rearrange plans and many have lost income.
Cecile Cadieux, 26, commuter in the Holloway area said: “I understand that the TfL [workers] need to do their strikes…it is all a mess.”
Commuters hope this ‘mess’ will be cleared up soon.
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