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Boris scraps free rail on New Year's Eve to help plug £5bn budget hole
Martin Robinson17 Dec 2009
Tens of thousands of people will have to pay to travel home from central London by rail this New Year's Eve because transport bosses have scrapped the running of free trains.
Londoners have enjoyed free travel on buses, Tube, trams and trains on the night of 31 December since the scheme was introduced in 2003.
But Mayor Boris Johnson has ditched the rail part of the scheme after claiming the £100,000 saving is needed to help plug a £5 billion transport funding gap.
Critics immediately attacked the move, claiming those in the suburbs or without Tube connections are being treated unfairly by being forced to pay a full fare. Buses, Tubes, trams, and the DLR will remain free between 11.45pm on New Year's Eve until 4.30am on New Year's Day. About 750,000 people are expected to crowd onto the banks of the Thames near the London Eye and stand in areas such as Trafalgar Square to see in the New Year.
Many would then expect to take advantage of free trains through the night from stations including Charing Cross, Victoria, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and Paddington.
Previous mayor Ken Livingstone brought in the free travel, saying at least 400,000 revellers each year would travel free in the early hours of New Year's Day, and many of those would use rail services.
But Mr Johnson said: "National Rail services will be operating but passengers will have to pay to travel on them, although the cost of a day return ticket to London will be only marginally above the cost of an outward-only single. This is contrary to previous years when TfL has subsidised them and travel was free.
"Given the wider economic situation, TfL is committed to finding £5 billion in savings by 2017, and this is just one of the measures which will help achieve that aim."
The Association of Train Operating Companies said that, despite the removal of subsidy, their members would still be running trains more often and later from many mainline stations to the suburbs.
The association also confirmed that regular fares would stay in place and that people would be fined if they were without a valid ticket.
This year, Mr Johnson has also decided to make savings on the New Year fireworks display.
The display has been reduced from 10 minutes to seven and a half minutes, costing £325,000 instead of the £500,000 of last year.
City Hall is also considering moving it to the Olympic Park in east London because security would be cheaper than in the centre of the capital.
A TfL spokesperson said: “Travel on the Tube, London Buses, London Overground, DLR and trams will, as usual, be free this New Year's Eve from just before midnight until 4.30 am.
"TfL is not in a position to pay for free travel on National Rail services this year. The Train Operating Companies have advised TfL they are unable to provide rail services either.”
Reader views (25)
Just think the £300,000 scheme to extend his bike hire scheme to outer london could have funded 3 years free travel on mainline services on new years eve!!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 14/01/2010 12:00
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Most of the services Boris cancells and suspend are in South London. His only concern is his friends in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea
- Grant, London, 23/12/2009 13:24
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Am surprised no one has mentioned that this will have a greater impact on South London than North London which will still enjoy free transport due to it larger network of Underground and at present Overground lines.
Well with millions being wasted on replacing 7 year old buses for dogma and with route 149 now announced to loose its artics it shows how Tories just waste other peoples money while expecting other people to fund inheritence tax cuts for themselves.
So the new Oyster ticket on mainlines stations is advertised as "one Ticket for one London" well thats except for New Years night!!!
Perhaps everyone should boycott Cenral London this year and see how businesses maon about lost trade. Anyway it was these business people who wanted Boris so let them suffer the consequences.
One simple question - why has london got to save £5 billion pounds on transport budget?
Boris spurts this out without justifying where it comes from and why £5 billion if this is the cut a Cameron Government would make then say so as so far their has not been an election and so spending should be based on the present governments figure!!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 18/12/2009 14:09
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scrap freedom pass for kids
- Terry Sullivan, morden england, 18/12/2009 08:52
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Boris has lost the mayor Election 2012.
- Andrew, London, 17/12/2009 21:54
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You can hardly call "from 2003" tradition. I cannot see any reason people are being overtime to work the trains etc, and none of the people using them are expected to pay. The fact is, if it gets too busy on the platforms or too abusive, then the ticket inspectors will probably open the gates anyway.
- Nick, Kingston, 17/12/2009 16:56
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Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that in previous years the "free" New Year's Eve travel on the underground was sponsored by Nat West (i.e. RBS) - if so then, little wonder not so this year!
- Bernard Lockett, Folkestone, Kent., 17/12/2009 15:50
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Fair enough I think.Anyone stupid enough to want to travel on the Tube on New Years Eve deserves all they get.
- Steve, London, 17/12/2009 15:12
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Marianne, SW France/London
Firstly, you should learn to spell.
Secondly, why on earth should TfL pay for rail services. As someone said, now lets see the goodwill of the train companies.
or perhaps Marianne, you would like to fund the train fares of all the people living on your street who will go to London .... no ? I thought not ......
- Not Marianne, London, 17/12/2009 14:57
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I thought that a booze manufacturer usually funds this and gets oodles of free publicity on their product.
- Jimbob, Kensington, 17/12/2009 14:51
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I always understood that NYE travel was free because it cost less to give up the revenue than the cost of assaults on staff and damage to property caused by trying to enforce fare collection on hordes of drunken revellers.
- Roy, England, 17/12/2009 14:20
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Will Boris take part blame for any increase in the death toll due to drink driving?
No thought not.
Money before lives - typical Tory.
- Angela Y, London, 17/12/2009 14:09
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He could afford to pay for it from his "salary" for his once a week column for the Telegraph. £250,000 a year for writing piffle? Hands up who could do that for £150,000? Well there's the £100,000 saved.
- Derek, London, UK, 17/12/2009 13:57
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Yet again Londoners always want everything done for them for nothing. They ought to try living in the real world outside the capital where if you want something you have to pay for it.
- Patrick, Dalston, 17/12/2009 13:40
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Why on earth should taxpayers subsidise those who want to travel on new year's eve? Let's get a bit of reality back in the public finances debate. The whole of government has massively overspent over the last 10 years and now big cutbacks have to be made. It's inevitable, so don't blame the people who are going to have to make hard - perhaps brutal - decisions. They didn't cause the situation but they are having to clear up the mess. Get used to it.
- Rupert Rg, Brighton, East Sussex, 17/12/2009 13:30
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Well it isn't "free" anyway as it's paid for by London council tax payers. Given the amount most people will pay for a night out on NYE this really is irrelevant. Who cares? let's focus on something important
- Tj, London, 17/12/2009 11:32
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Boris failed to secure sponsorship for last year's New Year's Eve travel - that must have cost Londoners considerably more than the £100,000 he's trying to save this year.
The fireworks display has also been cut from 10 minutes to 7.5 minutes - maybe tourists will decide to go elsewhere.
- Helen, West London, 17/12/2009 11:27
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Nick, London is right. Boris can't be blamed for this. The Train Operating Companies only ran a free service because it was being paid for by someone else. Now watch their "goodwill" disappear when there is no money on the table. The interest of the shareholders must come first you know.
Anyway, if you go to Waterloo after 10p.m on most nights you'll probably find the ticket barriers wide open and un-manned.
- Mark H, London England, 17/12/2009 11:26
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A sign of things to come under the Tories. If you think Brown has squeezed us, it'll be nothing compared to what Cameron and co will do. They, of course, will blame the previous government, distracting us from the fact that the wealthy and their non dom backers will get all the tax breaks. Boris wastes millions replacing bendy buses but scraps free travel which costs a mere fraction of his vanity project. Cameron prioritizes inheritance tax reforms that benefits only a few. Same old Tories!
- Veritas Noire, Purley, 17/12/2009 10:42
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Boris, you need to go look up the word "goodwill" sometime soon. The reality is that 95% of the people who use "free travel" on new year's eve already have a blasted season ticket (and hugely overpriced at that for the privilege of being allowed to stand ....)
Frankly, you're a disappointment. You don't know the market and you have zero negociating skills.
- Marianne, SW France/London, 17/12/2009 10:35
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I am not a Boris supporter by any means, but why are people blaming him for not funding a free rail service on New Year's Eve?
You should be having a go at the Train companies who are seemingly more interested in their shareholders and profits than Transport for London - whose services will be free- in this instance.
- Nick, London, 17/12/2009 10:34
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Two things that would have funded this:
a) not spending £1m doubling the service on the X26 bus, which turned out to have a cost/benefit ratio of under 1 - this has led to the abandonment of the 'orbital buses' idea. However, they can't now reduce the service for political reasons (i.e. it'll look bad), so the £1m is now an annual extra cost.
b) not removing bendy buses from the 38, which costs £2.4m per year because bendy buses are more efficient to operate.
Taken together those would have paid for free rail travel at NYE for a couple of decades even allowing for inflation, but these are recurring costs, not one-off ones. It's no wonder the bus fares are going up with this sort of mismanagement and poor policymaking.
- Tom, London, UK, 17/12/2009 10:26
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Boris is getting us out of this mess made by Ken Livingstone quickly and all credit to him, excellent work as always. If people aren't willing to pay their way in this city then don't visit.
- Paul, London, 17/12/2009 10:10
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Nit picking Bo-Jo. £100k is a drop in the ocean, and I'm sure that London bars etc will now lose much, much more.
- Paul, London, 17/12/2009 10:05
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I never use public transport on NYE so it won't bother me, but thousands of people will so please keep the free travel on NYE for everyone.
Perhaps cutting down on management at TFL would help save money instead.
As for moving the celebrations to stratford for cost reasons, NO NO NO for Gods sake, people want the tradition of Trafalgar Square and Central London to celebrate.
Why do these idiots keep tinkering with tradition.
- P Staker, London, W8, 17/12/2009 10:00
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