Thousands of outer London commuters will receive refunds on travel costs after mayor Boris Johnson made a U-turn on daily fare caps.
Mr Johnson has confirmed monthly refunds will be handed to outer London travellers who exceed former off-peak fare limits twice or more in a week or at least eight times in a four-week period. The move comes just two months after fare reforms removed the limit on daily off-peak fares for zones four to six.
However opponents warned only around 15% of passengers affected by the loss of pay as you go limits would be helped by this policy reversal.
Those travelling outside of 6:30am to 9:30am and 4pm to 7pm will now see a daily cap of £8.00 for zones one to four and £8.80 for zones one to five and six.
Mr Johnson said: ‘I’ve delivered on my commitment to address the needs of flexible and part-time workers, with significant fare cuts for hundreds of thousands of hardworking Londoners. This reduction was funded through revisions made to the fare package elsewhere and having assessed the full impact of these changes, I have asked Transport for London to make changes to the daily off peak caps which mean that all Londoners benefit.
‘A relatively small group of passengers in outer London who were disproportionally affected will be automatically refunded. I believe this decision is in the interests of fairness and one which recognises the need to support all part-time workers, a vital part of our great city’s economy.’
Yet Labour London Assembly member, Val Shawcross, branded the mayor ‘staggeringly out of touch’ for leaving ‘thousands of outer London commuters facing massive fare hikes’.
‘What Londoners need from the mayor and his colleagues is a real solution not a political fig leaf which comes nowhere near resolving the problem Boris has created. Instead what they have been left with is a bafflingly complex system of refunds, which will only benefit a tiny proportion of travellers,’ she added.
Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Caroline Pidgeon, said the mayor’s ‘incompetence’ had ‘cost outer London commuters dearly, with thousands having endured double digit fare rises since January’.
‘While it’s welcome the Mayor has now listened to the London Assembly and sought to lessen the impact on part-time workers, his compensation scheme will still leave many outer Londoners having to bear the cost of his mistaken fares package. It’s time the mayor held his hands up, admitted his mistake and fully reversed his withdrawal of off-peak caps.’
