Location Transport

london transport price hikes: are they justified?

if so, then in what way are they justified? and if not why not? i already have a oyster card and despite these increases, the thing is i don't make that many journeys anyway and plus £1 per travel is a small price to pay, considering it will cost £2- that's right £2 quid- without an oyster card for a single journey on the bus for example. likewise a single journey in zone 1 on the tube will rise up to £4. and not forgetting also that free travel for under 16s, especially on london's buses still stands and alas, they are exempt from paying for their travel. i understand that the staff are underpaid as it is, and the system is supposed to improve but cannot london transport give them what they want, just so to prevent them from striking and to stop increasing the fares every year? do you use public transport, either in london or elsewhere and if elsewhere, how does it compare? what do you make of these increases, as proposed by ken livingstone and tfl?

Public Comments

1. public transport is way overpriced no wonder it is also underutilised
2. every year the price goes up and not much changes, the buses still stink of defacation and vomit and are always late. The trains are always dirty and disgusting and cancelled. That's Ken for you though! it's like having Delboy Trotter running London.
3. I dopn't live/work in London, but such a thing isn't unheard of in my part of the world (up north). They hike the price of running a car and make parking a nightmare to shoehorn people onto unrelaible and overcrouded buses and trains, or so they'll tell you, yet they keep bumpig up the price of puplic transport too! There's no way it's justified, particularly so when they've made car use such a nightmare already.
4. the reason cash fares are so much higher is because ken wants to get rid of cash and wants everyoen to have oyster or buy travelcards, and plans for next year is that all buses will go cash free.. so if u pay then u will have to use a roadside machine, the drivers will no longer be able to accept money. and all buses will go IBus instead of those silly countdown things that arent very accurate, all buses will have sat nav and will be able to be tracked much better and also the IBus will be able to inform u of any traffic problems etc... as for free travel for under 16's, i dont get it.. trust me the kids all get on now to go 1 or 2 stops.. and then on the other hand ken is running all these programs and schemes cos our kids are becoming obese... hypercritical?!?! if kids get free travel why dont ALL pensioners???
5. no, the price isnt justified. The Govt. are setting up london transport to be privatised. for the "social good" no longer exists in UK PLC
6. In reply to an5200, there is no such thing as London Transport. There is an organisation called 'Transport for London' that is under the wing of the Mayor. They franchise out bus services. All buses were privatised years ago. The underground is partially privatised already under a barking mad 'Public Private Partnership' scheme which everybody except Gordon Brown thinks is a lousy idea. And no, the fare rises aren't justified, but until everybody accepts that life in London would be completey unsustainable without public transport then the users have to shoulder much of the cost.