Tonight:
9°c
TfL misses targets but gives big bonuses
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent29.10.07
Staff at Transport for London were paid more than £3.5 million in bonuses last year despite missing key targets to improve the Tube and buses.
Almost 900 employees received an average £4,000 in performance-related pay-outs with transport commissioner Peter Hendy getting £115,000.
Overall, almost five per cent of the TfL workforce took home extra cash in 2006-7 while passenger satisfaction levels plummeted.
The figures, revealed by Mayor Ken Livingstone in a written answer to the London Assembly, come after a record three billion journeys a year on buses and the Tube. But delays on the Underground-have risen - largely due to the network's £20 billion modernisation - and the buses provided a poor service.
TfL's own "operational and performance report" admitted: "The combination of increased passenger numbers with the network-wide improvement and upgrade work means some measures of reliability, such as those on the Underground, did not meet their targets for 2006/7."
The news comes as the Mayor is expected to announce inflation-busting bus and Tube fare and season ticket increases next year.
The number of TfL staff receiving salaries of £100,000 or more has shot up by almost 50 per cent in a year with some 112 officials taking home a sixfigure sum in 2006-7, compared with 76 in the previous 12-month period.
More than 1,400 employees earned at least £50,000, pushing the total TfL wage bill to £880 million.
None of the employees receiving a bonus has been named, except for Mr Hendy. who has a £320,000 salary as head of TfL. His predecessor, Bob Kiley, earned more than £1 million in bonuses in his five years as transport adviser.
The revelation comes after Andrew Lezala, head of the failed Tube firm Metronet, received a £500,000 pay-off at the taxpayers' expense. Geoff Pope, Lib-Dem transport spokesman on the London Assembly, said: "Last week it was Metronet, this week it's TfL bosses who are grinning after being awarded over £3.5 million in bonuses.
"You could be mistaken for thinking working on London's transport system recompenses poor performance.
"But a TfL spokesman said: "TfL has to attract and retain the best transport experts in the world. That requires paying the global rate for the job."
Reader views (2)
Just who is it that authorises these payments?
- Lezl, London, UK
No problem with paying the rate for a job done properly, but it seems to me we have lost the plot on what a bonus is. A bonus should be a reward for a job well done, not just a salary top up that save on the NI and pension contributions.
- Paul, London
