• Commentary: Rise will fix Ken's TfL black hole
• Comment: Ken’s toxic fares legacy
• Oyster plan to improve river travel for 2012
• Tories 'will not be able to cut taxes'

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This is a joke, how can boris justify the 6% increase. Start with scrapping the free travel charge for under 16 years old, this plan doesnt make sense and costing hard working employees to fork out millions on this plan, not fair at all.

- Angry Londoner, expensive london,

"Kids travel free because they can't actually earn a salary"
Lindsay, dear - maybe you would like the rest of us to pay for their ipods, mobile phones and expensive trainers too.

- Valerie, Houston Texas

well well... here we go again. i can't understand the ratio of rise in living cost and rise in the minimum pay rate. they increase house hold bills, traveling costs, inshort everything which is essential for living. can they also increase the minimum pay rate as people who realy are strugling with the both ends meet can still be able to float.

- Madni, Barking. London

What short memories you all have! Can you not remember the massive increases in public transport under Ken? Without an oyster card (only good thing Ken ever did for London) fares for a Zone 1 tube ticket went up from 90p to £4.00, and bus tickets went up from £1.00 to £2.00, even with an oyster card Tube tickets went up to £1.50. Good riddance to Ken is what I say!

- Gm, London, England

I wish you spoilt Londoner's would cease moaning about the bad and costly transport in the Capital,hear in 19th century Bristol we have THE most expensive bus fare's (First Bus)in the world.

- Colin, Bristol

Whether you agree with Boris or not, do you really think Red Ken would have froze fares for long if he had been re-elected? They would have gone up next year anyway, maybe by even more. His track record for election promises was nothing to write home about.

- Mike Stern, london

Silliest thing London ever done not voting for Livingstone, we would have had 500 emission free buses in 2 years on Londons roads under ken.

- C May, bromley

Many Boris supporters fail to grasp the fact that Boris has created the Black hole in the TFL budget. The Black Holes in this case are about future income and expenditure not the present state of affairs, so by cancelling planned income generators as £25 4x4 levy ,The Venezuelan Oil Dead (which provided cheap oil for Buses and the Poor) and the Western CC Extension Boris has created a shortfall. Boris be accountable and not a coward by blaming Ken.

- Patrick, Clapham ,London

Red Ken should never have been in charge - now we can see why he could not be trusted! London Transport has become the most expensive and at the same time the most unreliable in the modern world. I hope Boris will not raise the prices too high though.

- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London

I won't mind if the tube was any good, but year after year the fares go up and year after year the service gets worse. Shame there's no other alternative... Our underground system is the oldest in the world..... and runs like it too.
Roll on 2012, what a balls up that gonna be!

- Rob, London

Get your facts right about the eighties. Thatcher promised painless tax cuts without cutting services and then when she put the country into a home-made recession caused by high interest rates and increased unemployment from one to three million, her Chancellor put Taxes up including VAT which was doubled under her Government. I hope that Baby George, our next Chancellor has a good knowledge of Tory history. Incidentally after the ThatcherEconomic Miracle of 1987 she managed a second recession in the early nineties which she coudn't blame Labour for. Then we had her beloved Poll Tax.

- Arthur Dent, Chiswick

Maybe Boris shouldn't have cancelled the deal with Venezuala for subsidised fuel or cancelled the £25 pollution charge and paid Porsche £600K for cancelling it. And also maybe he should shelve his plans to replace Bendy Buses which will cost £120 Million, more than the shortfall he claims to need to fill. Its not like he ever gets a tube or a bus anyway. Whatever Ken's faults were(and he had many), at least he used the public transport system. Boris might get away with blaming Ken this time but he can only do it for so long....

- Dave, South-East London

And Ken was wonderful? I think Pa Royle's favourite phrase comes to mind here. Ken was only in it for himself, as you would expect from a man that was never in for anything unless there was something in for him.

- Rob, Ealing

Yes that will pay for the Chelsea Tractor abolished increase Ken had planned Boris will look after his own.

- Lavish, London

Oil from Venezuela is cheap because, basically, it's crap. There are very few refineries outside of the USA that can refine it because it's so 'sour'.

- Paul, London

I'm no fan of Boris but there's no doubt that Ken was doing some very cynical things with budgets for TfL last year. Perhaps the people who are complaining about these rises would like to explain how they would propose to cover the funding shortfall? Increased Mayor's precept? Cut other services?

- Paul, London

Nice to know that all those blue rinse voters in the tory outer London doughnut will now have to pay more to get to work, but that is why they voted for Boris!

Just a case of same old tories with their same wasteful ways. As for blaming Ken well Boris you cancelled the oil deal and had to find £7 million and cancelled the proposed £25 charge and now you want to waste hundreds of millions replacing artic buses that are good enough for another 20 years service at no cost to TFL.

You even want to replace them on the 2 red arrow services which demonstrates how you put dogmatism before common sense and shows how much of a waster you really are given the present fleet can continue at no cost to fare payers!

Why don't you get on your bike Boris and go back to Henley because us real Londoners don't want WorZel Gummage as mayor. We preferred our 'Cuddely Red Ken' who fought for lower fares when he was the GLC leader but tory Bromley fought against him in the courts and demonstrated the true face of the tory party, one which you have now shown as still applicable.

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

I am really angry. I am just earning £8.00/hour.
I think this is the last year I can afford to stay in my own country I am seriously considering moving abroad. The underground in London is the most expensive in Europe!
Trains across the Uk provide an expensive and slow service. The whole transport system in the UK should be reviewed. Also it is dangerous to cycle across London. There are not enough cycling lanes across the capital just a lot of fat cats managers eating our money for crap privately owned companies.There I said it!

- Mar, London - Uk

All this talk of cheap oil from Venezuela!
Cast your minds back - it was to subsidize free travel for the UNEMPLOYED!
What selective memories you people all have - it was never to fill in an £84 million black hole.

- Mike, London

What do you want him to do...drive London into further financial disaster. Blame Red Ken - not Boris

- Linzi, Largo, USA

Lisa, dear - kids travel for free because they can't actually earn a salary in order to buy tickets. Do you want to get rid of old people's travel privileges as well? Funny how it's socially acceptable to insult children (who can't fight back) but not the elderly, or any other group. Try getting up in the morning and smiling rather than being bitter and resentful - you might even like it.

- Lindsay, London

And how much increase will tube driver be getting their pay?

- Tim, london se1

I'm sure Boris ran on a ticket that promised better value for taxpayers money, but so far all we have got is Mayoral trips to the Olympics, a competition to design a new Routemaster and a continued increase in knife crime.A taste of what Dave's new world will be like.

- Arthur Dent, Chiswick

How dare Boris raise fares. I have to travel around London with a toddler in a pushchair on a regular basis. There are almost never any lifts or ramps in any of the stations, and I nearly always have to pick the buggy up and carry it in order to get to and from the tube, sometimes up three or four flights at once. God knows how wheelchair users cope. This state of affairs is an absolute disgrace in the 21st century. I don't see any of the money from fare increases being spent on accessibility and I challenge London Underground to prove me wrong on this.

- Lindsay, London

More great news!

Workers as usual will have to fork out to travel like kettle.
Why is that all children travel free? Why not charge them proportionally to their family income instead, so that lower income worker do not have to cover for the cost while high earning parents benefit?

- Lisa, London

We've been here before. The whole country suffered much the same situation at the start of the 'eighties, when years of damage had to be repaired. Guess who got the blame?

Well, actually, most people were intelligent enough not to fall into the easy trap. The blame here really does rest with Livingstone, as the records clearly show.

As always with Lefties, they will use any amount of public money in pursuance of their personal and party agendas (as we now all know with respect to the national situation), and it is those who follow who end up picking up the pieces and putting it all back together again.

The Labour trolls here are of course very well aware of all this, but still think there are enough dimwits around to be taken in by their comments.

They are wrong.

- John Ward, Chatham, Kent

For those who seem to support Ken Livingstone could you please explain to me why, with all this cheap oil and the huge influx of cash from the Congestion charge why the cost of my annual bus pass has increased by around 40% in the last few years?

- Mark, South-East London

Get a motorbike. No more delays, sweaty armpits, crowded trains. It’s easy, quick, affordable and no congestion charge.
It costs me £7 quid a week to fill up my bike. I was paying £27 a week for a travel card. You do the sums!

- Brenden, Wimbledon

A clueless mayor who is only now beginning to realise what it takes to run a transport system and keep costs reasonable. Its no use blaming everything on Ken Livingstone, Boris. He managed to keep the system running for years without excuses like that. Time to deliver what you promised. Or...as many of us already suspected, have you no idea how much it really costs. Next thing on your agenda no doubt will be cutting the bus service.

- Frank, London

I'm amazed nobody's picked up on the 24 hour freedom pass. Do the elderly and disabled need to travel before 10? I would imagine in the vast majority of cases, only if they are working - in which case they should pay the same fares as the rest of us have to.

Why should we allow more free passengers on our transport during already congested hours? Aside from anything else, this will actually reduce the rush hour revenue (from those freedom pass holders who currently have to pay) and therefore exacerbate this 'black hole'

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, London

"I'm determined to deliver value for money for London's fare payers and taxpayers and that will mean some tough choices. But let no one be in any doubt, we're investing billions to improve transport in London, prepare for 2012 and deliver Crossrail"
Its not value for money now the whole damn service is crap and now they want us to pay more for it - this is really taking the piss, I had faith in Boris but now he is no better than his enemy new Labour !

- Michael, London

When travelling on public transport in London, it is common to hear people discussing quite openly that they do not pay fares when travelling. Would it be beyond the wit of Boris to take measures to "invite" these people to make a contribution, ticket inspectors perhaps?

If he wants a couple more cost saving ideas, how about scrapping Oyster Cards (a classic case of technology for technology's sake) and ditching Crossrail (a nifty way of getting the people of London to subsidise the transport of the people of Reading and Slough).

- James Thornley, Surbiton

People should realise that you can't have things for free - at some point we've all got to pay for it. Ken spent more money than he had in order to stay in power and now Boris is responsibly dealing with it. Who knows what the state if the economy nationally is going to be like with Gordon Brown doing exactly the same on a much larger scale. For those of you who are saying 'I told you so' you're being ridiculous. Boris isn't trying to rip Londoners off, he is doing the right thing in balancing the books. Better that we all have to pay slightly more than we exploit people in Venezuala for their cheap oil. Keep going Boris - you're doing a great job.

- Louise, Camberwell, London

"Outrage" is the only word to describe my reaction. My daily commute by tube (on Oyster PAYG) will go up from £4.00 to £4.40 - a 10% increase.

It's nice to see where Boris's priorities lie - remove the £25 congestion charge for band 'H' vehicles, and remove the congestion charge for the Western Zone - both of which cross-subsidise the public transport network, and affect only a couple of tens of thousands of people, and whack up tube fares - affecting millions.

So much for the report the other week stating that he was concerned about climate change. He's promoting private vehicle use and discouraging public transport use.

Pinning the blame in Ken Livingstone is a low blow - the real reason that these raises are needed is because the cross-subsidy generated by the congestion charge will fall because BORIS has removed the £25 Band H congestion charge, and is proposing to remove the western area charge.

All that he seems to be interested in is supporting London's privileged. We should have known better.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, London

Everyone get real. Fares always go up. An increase of 6% is about the level of inflation. Overheads have gone up. Boris is doing an excellent job. Do you think it would have been any lower under Ken, fares would have increased even more now the election is out of the way. Who are you kidding.
The Venezuelan oil was only used to reduce fares for income support persons. The increased congestion charge would have brought in a pittance so get real.
Also remember Boris has only been in for 4 months.
Now give him 4 years and if the situation is the same then criticise him.But so far an excellent start.

- Mark, London england

Thought Ken would get the blame for these fare rises, after all he has been blamed for everything that has gone wrong since Johnson took over the reins. When is Bozo going to take responsibility fot his actions. Did Johnson consult anyone before cancelling the deal with Venezuela? No, and the poorest people of London are paying for this right wing dogmatic decision. I hope the London media brigade hold him to account for this spiteful act and stop treating his monthly press conferences as some kind of pantomime show.

- James Hennessy, london england

This is crazy, people are being forced to pay more for
a substandard bus/tube services. No fault of Boris, Ken's fault totally and he didn't take responsibility for this£84 million pound Black Hole whatever that is?!
He has just handed the problem he created in the first
place on to Boris.
Boris should get him to solve this problem himself, rather than handing his problem to Boris seeing he
doesn't have much control over the situation!
Why should thousands of commuters pay more to fill
Ken's £84 million black hole!

- Ross Anderson, Ross, London, Uk

Boris Johnson couldn't give two hoots for Londoners, all these decisions are coming from his so call advisors namely Kulveer Bloody Ranger. How on earth can he stand back and allow his advisors to make such recommendations when at this present time, every penny counts is beyond belief!

- Raminder Bhalla, Northolt

So let’s get this right, Boris scraps revenue generators such as the proposed extension to the CC zone and increasing the CC charge on gas guzzling 4x4’s; the scraping of which will benefit the richer in London society. Then claims there are gaps in the budget necessitating a rise in the cost of public transport, predominately used by the poorest in London society.. Well done Boris.. No one should be surprised by this, that’s what you will continue to get with this Mayor...pandering to the rich whilst penalising the poorest...

- Ade, London

What a lot of nonsense your nonsense! Buses receive a Billion pounds of Council tax payers money to reward Bus Companies to run empty buses...they earn more money that way. Bendy buses are full of fare evaders...more power to Boris for trying to get them to run efficiently. Bus Drivers standards are the lowest they've ever been...pay them properly and teach them to drive. And more power to Gilligan!

- Mark, london

If you think that picking up the pieces after Ken the loony is bad then wait till you have to pick up after the Big Broon Jobbie's rubbish Government.

- Ayliff Mcnab, Spain

Henrick from Belgravia sounds like he works in blundering Boris's policy department...

- Charlie, Soho, London

Henrick - I work very hard, I have an excellent salary and I own a car but I wouldn't be able to spend 3 hours a day driving the 7 miles from my home to my central London office. And where would everyone park if we did all drive into Central London - perhaps we could turn Kensington Gardens into a multi storey car park? Your comment is just ridiculous.

- Caroline, London

Boris' true agenda is out now! Blame it all on "Red Ken"
Nice one Steve, no one has questioned why Boris scrapped a great deal with Venezuela!
Typical!
More to come from the "right mayor", watch this space.
For my fellow Londoners who voted for Boris, told you so!

- London For Obama, London

Well done Boris, give yourself a pat on the back! Do you honestly think by raising fares it is going to make you a popular person? What with rising fuel,food prices how are people going to cope!

In response to Henrick in Belgravia, are you forgetting that there is a congestion charge in London and also sky high prices to park! It doesn't matter how hard you work, employers are laying off staff and won't pay for overtime. Get with the programme!

- Triffid Queen, Somewhere at a desk in London

Exactly what was predicted if Boris was elected. As a typical Tory he just doesn't value public transport or public anything else for that matter. The transport union should take action in the form of opening the barriers and letting people travel free.

- Anna, London SE9

What about university students? Are we not among the lowest earning, most dependent on public transport? Don't we deserve a discount too?

- Students, London

It wasn't all waste under Ken. For example, he bought cheap oil from Venezuela.

- John, London

"If people worked a bit harder they could maybe afford a car and wouldn't need to worry about taking public transport."

And exactly where in Central London would all these ex-public transport users park their cars?

What planet are you on Henrick of Belgravia.

- Gary M, London

Bus price increases hit the poorest Londoners hardest and a 10% rise is unacceptable. His idiotic and dogmatic decision to cancel a deal with Venezuela over oil and obsession with a hugely expensive routemaster is stretching Londoners purse strings.

- David, London

Stand by for Gillighan's piece blaming it all on Ken. Pass the buck Boris!

- David, london uk

Henrik you should be in stand up, made me laugh out loud while I was skiving at work!

- Jason, london

Get rid of free travel for kids. I don't see why I should have to pay for other people's children to travel on public transport.

- Lisa, London

Henrick in Belgravia (natch), I'm sure you'd be one of the first to complain if people switched en masse from public transport to cars and gridlocked London.

- Roy, England

Isn't this just filling a hole made by pulling the plug on the Venezuela oil deal?

- Bill, London

Henrick, the majority of people in London do work hard (like myself), do have cars but unlike yourself leave them at home as its not practical to drive during the rush hour

- Gary Kirby, london

Londoners are beginning to learn the high cost of Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson promised to save Londoners money but instead, after just a few months in office, he is pushing up fares above inflation to pay for his own incredible waste of Londoners’ money.

Boris Johnson has lost between £30 and £50 million a year by abandoning the £25 a-day charge on the worst gas guzzlers in the congestion charging zone, he has scrapped the cheap oil deal with Venezuela, costing London £16 million a year, and he may throw away a lot more by abandoning the extension of the congestion charge to Kensington and Chelsea.

This situation is likely to get worse. Experts agree that his pledge to bring in a new ‘routemaster’ bus would cost over £100 million a year.

Londoners are now having to pay through the nose for Boris Johnson’s wrong policy decisions and waste.”

- Kevin Sumner, London

A fare rise was inevitable regardless who is the mayor, its unavoidable and no mayor on earth can ever cut fares in this day and age, the good old days of cheap fares IS OVER, this is the price we pay for the prize freeze we had over the years and add the high fuel cost, the new routemaster project, the possibility of getting rid off the Bendy Buses, the disaterous Metronet collapse, the East London Line extension, the Crossrail project and continues investments in various existing transport services which explains the reason for rise in fares and after all its not cheap is it?

Boris should do himself a favour and stop blaming Ken about the past and get the hell on with his job. After all he wanted to clean ken's mess and he got his wish.

- George, Brixton, London

I told you to be careful what you wished for because you might get it! Now, right on cue, Boris and the Tory press, are blaming Ken. But we knew they would, didn't we? Ken is right, withdrawing the gas-guzzlers' charge, and probably doing away with the Western congestion charge to accommodate the Tory voters who elected him, has left Boris short of money. Who pays, the long-suffering Londoners. I seem to remember it was Boris who made irresponsible promises before the election, not Ken. 4 months in, and the chickens are coming home to roost!

- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa. Spain

If people worked a bit harder they could maybe afford a car and wouldn't need to worry about taking public transport.

- Henrick, Belgravia, London

How much of this is paying for the ridiculously generous pay and perks the unions have blackmailed TFL for?

- Mark, London

"Londoners are beginning to learn the high cost of Boris Johnson. He promised to save them money: instead, after just a few months in office, he is pushing up fares above inflation to pay for his own incredible waste."

Red Ken is still in denial. Nothing was his fault. He was never wrong. Always right. Just as he was when he said the polls would be discredited for putting Boris ahead. He burdened London & the nation with the costs of the Olympics on a lie just to regenerate his voting heartlands.

You carry on Ken because London will remember the liar and hypocrite you really are.

- M Spanner, Ilford

We all suffer for Ken's (Gordon Brown style) immoral and irresponsible bribe to the electorate. Ken will be all right, his tubby pal Hugo will look after him.

- Jacko, London.

Surely the better way would have been to make TFL run more efficiently rather than plugging a funding hole by increasing fares? I would be surprised if in a £7 billion! budget no substantial savings can be made. Boris, if you need help please let me know and I will be happy to accept a job.

- Carsten Haferkamp, London

Happy now? This is what you wanted, right? Ken doesn't sound too bad now, does it?!?

- Marco, Notting Hill

No mention of the cheap oil deal for Londoners the new Mayor scrapped as soon as he gained office I notice.

- Steve, Sidcup, UK.

True Blue Boris. Private transport before Public. Make the less well of pay more. Where are the Routemasters?

- Mick, London, England

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