'Commuters to pay' for £150m Games giveaway

Free 1-9 zone travelcards, worth £18.50 each, will be given to millions of Olympic and Paralympic spectators, including overseas visitors and sponsors, to travel to events in London.

Transport for London will provide the tickets to Olympics chiefs at a huge discount. This, it says, is to take account of a windfall from a forecast 30 per cent rise in Tube, bus and rail use by visitors on days they are not attending events at the Games.

However, according to TfL's own forecasts, there will be an equivalent fall in use by London commuters.

TfL is under pressure to explain why it has not offered a similar discount for other major sport events.

Transport bosses deny Londoners will be left to foot the bill for the free travel, a key element of the 2012 bid pledge to run a car-free Games.

But local government expert Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics, said: "The lack of openness is pretty scandalous. If farepayers are subsidising the Olympics, it would only be fair to know by how much. Other sports events could presumably now make a case for free travel."

TfL will sell the travelcards to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) with undisclosed discounts in recognition of the "windfall" and infrastructure improvements. TfL admitted it was essentially double-counting some expenditure.

The cash value of the travelcard deal is up to £150 million, there are an estimated eight million tickets for events in London. TfL said the value of journeys taken would be less as most spectators will not travel in all nine zones.

TfL commissioner Peter Hendy said: "The value of travel the ODA gets is offset by an improvement in demand caused by the Olympics. The taxpayers of London don't suffer but on the other hand you don't get a windfall gain."

A TfL spokeswoman added: "Spectator travel has been paid for by the ODA through its investment in improvements to the transport network which will provide additional capacity for the Games and beyond. The ODA will also reach an agreement with TfL on what they will pay towards extra operating costs during the Games."

TfL said the Games were on a different scale from events such as the Grand Depart of the Tour de France and the giveaway would speed passenger flows.A further 70,000 free travelcards will be given to Games volunteers in a scheme paid for by organiser Locog.