Yes indeed – I know first-hand just how many complaints this generated to the GLA.

The kneejerk response from Boris was to link it to necessary investment and point out that the Freedom Pass and free travel for under-16s means that the young and the elderly were being looked after.

I think this response actually hands Labour our stategy on a plate:

1) We point out that if fare rises are necessitated by previous under-inevestment in London transport, then the cuts aganda is effectively guaranteeing constant fare rises for decades to come.

2) We link it to the “squeezed middle”. The assumption that that only those at the extremes of the age spectrum are the only ones affected by fare rises just shows how little has changed since. Thatcher said in 1986 that “A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure”. 25 years on, Conservatives are still no friends of the ordinary commuter.

London has about the cheapest fares anywhere in Britain. Yesterday I went from Trafalgar Square to Norwood on the number 3 for £1.30. Last week I went from a provincial town centre to a street about 7 or 8 stops away for £2. No contest.

I realise it won’t be much of a vote-winner in a London-wide election to say to Londoners “This is just whinging”, but, well, this is just whinging.

I’m surprised this hasn’t picked up by the mainstream London press.

Maybe because 5p sounds like a small number.

The Scoop quotes a TFL spokesman saying that this is perfectly normal, routine practice. Unless they’re lying I’d guess that the reason why the London Press didn’t report it is because it’s not really “news”.

And if it has been normal practice for a while presumably it was being done when Ken was mayor too. Which might undermine it’s usefulness as a stick for beating Boris with.

“Right now the main focus of Ken Livingstone’s campaign seems to be campaigning against the cuts”

He can campain against many things but it seems to me it’s his character that mainly lets him down, that droopy sad face, that whinging voice, he just seems like a man from a time gone by.
I don’t go a bundle on Boris but he has that something people like, he’s fun & that’s what London needs as well as some good policies.

Labour, to my mind, aren’t doing themselves any favours with Ken & he is going to lose for the reasons I say above, not so much his policies.

“London has about the cheapest fares anywhere in Britain. Yesterday I went from Trafalgar Square to Norwood on the number 3 for £1.30. Last week I went from a provincial town centre to a street about 7 or 8 stops away for £2. No contest.”

True, bus fares are much better value in London than outside (£.5.50 return from Oxford to Witney! yuck).

The issue with London fares, for me, is mainly that a large number of people have to commute from Zones 4-9 into Zones 1 and 2.

You could take the bus from Cockfosters to Oxford Circus, but that would take 2 hours and cost £4.80. (Four buses). Or you could take the Tube (very quick, 35 mins) and pay £4.10 on-peak, £2.70 off-peak.

Of course, there is also the argument that just because public transport fares are higher (in most cases, as expounded) outside London doesn’t mean London fares are good value for money.

I suggest that people outside London who think London bus fares are good value campain for buses to be regulated like in London.

to Londoners “This is just whinging”, but, well, this is just whinging.

I really hope Boris follows that line of response

Maybe because 5p sounds like a small number.

Its now the lead story on BBC London.
http://twitter.com/#!/jane__bradley/status/73730631636500481

Great piece, Sunny. Ken’s campaign against higher fares has going strong since January: http://www.progressivelondon.org.uk/20100104307/news/as-some-fares-soar-by-20-ken-livingstone-proposes-fares-cut.html and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12108578

Don’t forget to sign the petition against Boris’s above inflation-rate fares on Ken’s web site here: http://kenlivingstone-live.tangentlabs.co.uk/unfare

Coincidentally, a poll commissioned by London’s Mayor found that public concern over transport costs is now sky high. An opportunity for Ken?

The same poll found that Boris’s satisfaction numbers were going ….UP.

Besides, most Londoners have now caught on to the fact that though the nominal Zone 1 tube fare may be a whopping £4.00, it’s only £1.90 if you use an Oyster Card.

So, no big deal really.

The same poll found that Boris’s satisfaction numbers were going ….UP.

Yes, but from a very low figure. His figure is at 26%. Ken was 36% in 2007.

It’s a classic Tory move – increase fares so fewer people use them, decrease investment because of this, then slash services on the grounds that “not enough people were using them”.

As a non-Londoner I agree that London has some of the best-priced public transport in the country, but for v good reason (and Manchester does still have free buses!) because of the sheer amount of workers in the surrounding areas that need public transport to travel into London – driving is out of the question for millions.

Agree with OP that Ken should use this stick to beat Boris with, but he will also need to have more firm ideas than merely “cheaper fares” – enticing as that would be.

@ 11

His figure is at 26%.

Nope.

His figure is at 32%. Highest since the day he took office.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13539861

@13

I’m gonna guess that was a typo on Sunny’s part, “His figure was at 26%” makes more sense.

S.Pill,

Probably just Sunny not being up-to-date – you have to admit he tends only to update statistics he likes (mind you, I think we all do this…).

Hardly a winning point for Ken, given how much they went up under him (before he cynically cut them again right before the mayoral elections).

@ 16

You’re right, Tyler. But let’s do nothing to deter Ken from following the Sunny Kundal playbook in this coming election, eh?

His figure is at 32%. Highest since the day he took office.

Actually you’re right. I was only counting the ‘fairly satisfied’. The BBC has added that to the 6% of ‘very satisfied’.

Sure, its Boris Johnson’s highest figure to date. but by comparison, Ken Livingstone was 44% in 2007.

So nice attempt at spinning flowerpower. I’m always amused by Boris sycophants.

@Workman Fred

If you’re voting based on ‘droopy faces’ – then you are certainly a living example of why people should have to prove they are worthy of voting.

In fact the reason you give is the same reason so many people voted fro Boris in the first place (because they recognised him off the telly) – and although Londoners haven’t felt the full consequences of Boris’s term in office yet – I hope they will learn a harsh lesson that ex-tv ‘personalities’ do not make good leaders.

I mean look at Arnold Schwarzenegger – or Ronald Reagan.

You wait until the people find out that there is a lag in running London – the last 3 years of near 0 investment (even before the cuts) will be coming down the road at you sometime in 2012.

How do they get away with it? – because voters are looking at droopy faces.

@16 Tyler.

Read that in the Boris manifesto did you?

Well if you knew what you were talking about then you might be worth something, but like most parrots you merely repeat what you heard.

Ken raised fares to pay for transport upgrades on the tube and to allow disabled access on many stations.

What upgrades has Boris begun with the fare rises he’s made?

The bus and tube fares have been raised to pay for the snots of London to have their congestion charge zone removed….and guess what sucker – that’s right, fares will have to rise again to pay for ALL THE EU FINES we’re going to receive in the post for polluting our city.

You see most of us don’t mind paying more – if we get something in return. However you cannot name a single transport project Boris has started in his tenure – the only projects that were completed were one’s already started by Ken (like the East London line extension)

Maybe it’s time to engaged with the truth for once – you might find it refreshing you stooge.

“If you’re voting based on ‘droopy faces’ – then you are certainly a living example of why people should have to prove they are worthy of voting”

Firstly, I didn’t say I voted that way did I? But if you think people don’t then you know nothing about human nature. Those who swing vote don’t always go on policies, maybe that’s sad but I believe very true, so you either want their vote based on how they see people or you don’t!

I remember seeing an interview with two Black American ladies at the election in America, in a hairdressers, repeated quite a lot that day you may have seen it, what did they say?
They had no idea about Obamas policies but wanted to vote for him because they wanted a black president, should they have to prove the are worthy of voting?!

Your living in a dream world if you think people don’t judge people on looks ;O)

As a non-Londoner I agree that London has some of the best-priced public transport in the country, but for v good reason (and Manchester does still have free buses!) …

Agree with OP that Ken should use this stick to beat Boris with, but he will also need to have more firm ideas than merely “cheaper fares” – enticing as that would be.

It would be great to see Ken’s proposal for how public transport in London should be paid for and who by.

@2: “London has about the cheapest fares anywhere in Britain. Yesterday I went from Trafalgar Square to Norwood on the number 3 for £1.30. Last week I went from a provincial town centre to a street about 7 or 8 stops away for £2. No contest.”

According to this BBCTV Newsnight report, outside London 76% drive to work whereas as it is only 11% in central London:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7368326.stm

@Parasite #2:

“London has about the cheapest fares anywhere in Britain. Yesterday I went from Trafalgar Square to Norwood on the number 3 for £1.30.”

A journey of about 8 miles taking an hour. Going on to South Norwood Clock Tower would have cost you another £2.60 at best, taken another 45 minutes at least, and a direct journey of only another 2 miles

Trafalgar Square to Northumberland Avenue, on the other hand, a journey of less than a third of a mile, taking 3 minutes, would also cost £1.30.

Flat fares produce anomalies – and London traffic makes long bus journeys marathons.

“Last week I went from a provincial town centre to a street about 7 or 8 stops away for £2. No contest.”

Which provincial town centre? How far away was “7 or 8 stops”? Was it a flat rate fare? How long did it take?

@ 20 Winston

Time to rip your little argument to shreds.

Ken raised fares, many times over, but most of that money went straight into employee paypackets, making tube drivers some of the best paid civil servants in the country. Just so happens though that those said same tube drivers are heavily unionised and belong to a union which has helped fund Ken’s election campaigns.

Where the money for tube upgrades actually came from was PPI, and when metronet went bankrupt, a government bailout – basically the taxpayer.

More station upgrades, specifically disabled access to platforms, have happened under Boris than in Ken’s whole tenure.

The western extension to the congestion charge was put in place by Ken against local wishes, both residents and businesses. It was removed *democratically* by those said same locals. That all said though, it was implemented purely out of spite, and was actually costing more moeny to run than it was making in revenues – mostly because of the discounts people recieve to the C-charge if they lived in the zone, and it was damaging local business. This, incidentally, is why Ken began furiously backpedalling and trying to then add a C02 limit to the rebate.

The EU has no power to fine the UK or any other country on “polluting our city”.

Transport projects….like the bikes? Or the new routemasters? What transport projects did Ken bring, other than the C-charge? Oh yes, the disastrous bendy busses….

As for being a stooge? Pot calling kettle black methinks.

@Tyler – a few points of order.

1) “Ken raised fares, many times over, but most of that money went straight into employee paypackets, making tube drivers some of the best paid civil servants in the country. Just so happens though that those said same tube drivers are heavily unionised and belong to a union which has helped fund Ken’s election campaigns.”

This is pure Daily Mail prattle – do you have ANY evidence for this – or is it that a step too far? While you’re on the subject of baseless evidence – what happened to the pre-election furour about Lee Jasper and the LDC – police invetigate did they? – found nothing did they? didn’t stop the standard publishing pages of ‘scandal’ though did it?
Show me where ken gave fare rise to unions please.

2) “More station upgrades, specifically disabled access to platforms, have happened under Boris than in Ken’s whole tenure.”

Actually Boris FINISHED projects that Ken STARTED – if you knew anything about transport projects you would know most of them are conceived by the previous administration it takes so long to get started.

…and that’s not all Boris has taken credit for…

http://www.boriswatch.co.uk/2010/04/09/cameron-makes-false-claim-about-london-living-wage-being-introduced-by-boris-johnson/

…and what about the things he DIDN’T do? – like the air-conditioning on the tube, the new (waste of money and still not seen) Routemaster. The desperation to get rid of the bendy buses (before realising the cost made no sense) – or perhaps the fact he’s met with Kelly Brook more than he’s met with the tube unions (who ultimately are key to running London transport – unless of course you’re going to have a go – ha ha ha ha )

“The western extension to the congestion charge was put in place by Ken against local wishes, both residents and businesses. It was removed *democratically* by those said same locals.”

Against locals wishes? – I think not, I think you’ll find the loud ra ra crowd of Chelsea were unhappy that their liberty was interefered with – so I say let them sit in traffic outside Westfield all day and moan about the state of it all – and pay for the fines – be my guest.

“That all said though, it was implemented purely out of spite, and was actually costing more moeny to run than it was making in revenues – mostly because of the discounts people recieve to the C-charge if they lived in the zone, and it was damaging local business. This, incidentally, is why Ken began furiously backpedalling and trying to then add a C02 limit to the rebate.”

EU fines – Go and look them up because we’ll be paying them soon. Thanks to Boris and the Chelsea witches of course!

“The EU has no power to fine the UK or any other country on “polluting our city”.”

facts? – here are some
http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/news/national-news/122182-london-faces-%C3%82300m-fine-after-pollution-triggers-smog-alert.html

…and some more…
http://www.muradqureshi.com/index.php?id=76&tx_ttnewstt_news=698&tx_ttnewsbackPid=133&cHash=74824bdcaae626848f273992b5e7ca95

“Transport projects….like the bikes? Or the new routemasters? What transport projects did Ken bring, other than the C-charge? Oh yes, the disastrous bendy busses….”

The bikes were originally brought up under livingstone – but of course Boris claimed all credit for them later (he’s good at that)

http://www.libdemvoice.org/londons-bike-hire-scheme-20713.html

I think Sir you are quite gullible – Ken isn’t whiter than white but he’s a damn sight more honest that Boris!