2002-03-07 Byers welcomes the SRA & ORR agreement on working together (Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions)

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date 21 October 2003
source Greater London Authority
type Press release

[also see TfL's latest Business Plan in our Report library]

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley today set out London’s case for an additional £900m a year for 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 for London’s transport. The funding will be used to continue to improve London’s transport system and to start to deliver the major projects needed to add the extra capacity necessary to accommodate the city’s growth and prosperity.

London is the most rapidly growing city in Europe. Over the last three years the number of passengers using the bus network has increased by more than one million a day. At the same time, London has become the first major city in Europe to reduce congestion in the central area with the world’s biggest congestion charging scheme, introduced on time and to budget.

Maintaining the improvement in the capacity and quality of the capital’s transport system is vital to:

maintain London’s position as one of the world’s great financial centres and sustain its role as the UK’s most dynamic region;
accommodate population growth projected to add 700,000 more residents – equivalent to three new boroughs – and 640,000 new jobs by 2016;
expand the capacity of the transport system to accommodate the estimated increase in daily journeys from 10 million to 12 million by 2016;
provide the new transport links necessary to access the new housing and employment developments which must accompany rising population;
Speaking at City Hall, Ken Livingstone said: ‘London is the international gateway to the UK economy and has the highest productivity of any region of the country. The whole country’s productivity is intimately bound up with London’s success. London’s international competitiveness is threatened by a prolonged failure to invest sufficiently in transport, housing, policing and infrastructure to sustain the city’s growth.

‘The Government has been working with the Greater London Authority to address this investment backlog. Over the last three years Transport for London has shown that every penny allocated to transport in London is used efficiently and cost effectively. Today we are setting out precisely the investment that will be needed over the next three years to get the most out of the existing transport network and to expand the system to accommodate the city’s growth.

‘That will require an increase in the transport grant to London of the order of £900 million for each year covered by the next Spending Review. As London makes a net contribution of the order of £10-20 billion a year to the national exchequer, that is a reasonable investment to help sustain London’s ability to aid the entire UK economy.’

Bob Kiley said: ‘London’s travelling public have seen improvements in the last couple of years but we all know that our network is stretched at the best of times. The Government recognised the importance of London’s transport in SR2000 and we have delivered real improvements with that additional money. I expect that Government will demonstrate its commitment to London through continued funding of London’s transport network.

‘London is the only part of the UK to have actually delivered any of the Government’s transport policies, increasing bus use by almost 20 per cent and cutting congestion. Our investment has seen impressive results but without further funding this success cannot continue. London badly needs extra capacity and we have a number of major projects planned, including the Thames Gateway Bridge, West London Transit scheme and expansion of the DLR. Without Government funding, these schemes will not be built.

‘‘If the Government continues with current levels of funding TfL should deliver the existing volume of services in 2004/5 but the following year buses, trams, trains, roads and Tube services will rapidly become more congested and less reliable as demand increases.’

TfL needs an additional £900m a year for 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08, an increase of around 19 per cent on current resources, in order to accommodate the predicted population, housing and economic growth and keep London at the heart of the financial world. The benefit to passengers of this modest additional funding is:

the go-ahead for major projects and enhancements to cater for London’s growth - e.g. Thames Gateway Bridge, DLR extensions to Stratford, Woolwich and Barking Reach, four light transit schemes and further bus network expansion
assets returned to and kept in a state of good repair and steps taken to meet increases in demand – e.g. longer trains and platforms at DLR stations, LU station capacity schemes, funding for improvements to National Rail, and further increases in bus frequency
projects to enhance service quality and reliability - eg, installation of a new and accurate real-time ‘Countdown’ information system and a programme of bus lanes and other priority improvements.
Notes to editors

1. The Treasury will make a decision in summer 2004 on funding for Department for Transport as part of its SR2004 process. The Department for Transport will decide its allocation to Transport for London in autumn 2004.

2. The number of people using London’s bus network every weekday has increased from 4.2m in 2000 to 5.4m in 2003.

3. TfL’s indicative grant for the next years are:

£m 2003/4 2004/5 2005/6
TfL (note 1) 1,338 1,154 1,000
LUL (note 2) 984 1,019 1,104

Note 1. The TfL figures include “one-off” DLR set aside funding brought forward to 2003/4. If this is excluded, the figures would be £1235m, £1205m, and £1052m.

Note 2. The LUL grant figure for 2003/04 excludes an additional £34m for Wembley Park and JLE Canary Wharf, and £200m of unutilised provision from 2002/03

For further information please call the Mayor’s Press Office on 020 7983 4070 or Transport for London Press Office on 020 7941 4141.

For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.

Railhub Archive ::: 2003-10-21 GLA-001