| Mayor’s fare increases will hurt Tooting residents |
| Monday, 09 January 2012 14:26 |
 As thousands of local residents returned to work this week, Sadiq Khan MP has hit out at a fourth year of above inflation fare increases from Mayor Boris Johnson, as new research shows that fares in London are now costing over a quarter of minimum wage take home pay.The new fares, introduced on 3rd January, will again hit Tooting residents increasing the cost of day to day activities like getting to school and work, doing the shopping or visiting the doctors at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.
Under this current Mayor the cost of a single bus ticket has risen by a massive 50% since 2008, whilst the price of a monthly zone 1-2 Travelcard is up 21% costing £230.40 per year more, and the price of a zones 1-6 Travelcard is up 20%.
New figures from the House of Commons library show that this means an office manager in central London earning £25,600 living in zone 1 or 2 would have to work for three weeks and three days before the cost of their travel was covered. A cleaner on the minimum wage (£11,730) would have to spend 27 per cent of their take home pay in order to pay for a weekly zones 1-6 Travelcard.
A newly qualified nurse working in inner London (£25,411) and living in Zone 4 would have to have to work for 5 weeks and a day before they'd paid for their travel, whilst a shop assistant earning the London Living Wage (£16,013) would have to spend 21 per cent of their take home pay to be able to afford to pay for a weekly zones 1-6 travelcard.
Tooting MP and former Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said: “The Mayor of London should be putting Londoners first, not squeezing public transport users and pushing prices up for many of the poorest people in London who rely on bus services.
“Four years in a row of inflation busting fares rises is taking its toll on Tooting residents, who are struggling to make ends meet.
“This is the wrong time to be taking money out of people’s pockets – the Mayor should be helping the London economy, this will damage it further."
1. Boris Johnson’s fare increases for 2012: http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/MD918%20fare%20revision%20Jan%202012%20(signed)%20PDF.pdf
2. Ken Livingstone has pledged to cut fares by 7% and reduce the price of a single bus journey from £1.35 to £1.20 as part of his ‘Fare Deal’. More information: http://www.kenlivingstone.com/kens-1000-fares-pledge---ill-wipe-out-januarys-fare-rise-next-ye
3. Research commissioned from the House of Commons library shows:
• A cleaner on the minimum wage (£11,730) would have to pay 27% of their take home pay in order to pay for a weekly zones 1-6 travelcard. That would mean that they would have to work for more than 14 weeks of the year just to be able to pay for their travel. If they only took the bus they would still have to work for 5 weeks and a day just to meet their transport costs.
• A newly qualified nurse working at St George’s (£25,411) and living in Zone 4 would have to pay 10% of their take home pay - and have to work for 5 weeks and a day before they'd paid for their travel.
• A shop assistant earning the London Living Wage (£16,013) would have to pay 21% of their take home pay to be able to afford to pay for a weekly zones 1-6 travelcard. That would mean that they would have to work for almost 11 weeks of the year just to be able to pay for their travel.
• An office manager in central London (£25,600) living in zone 1 or 2 would have to work for 3 weeks and 3 days before the cost of their travel was covered.
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