It looks like the Mayor is ramping up for the Mayoral elections next May.
Today he has announced a cut in bus fares for Oyster users from £1 to 90p. It seems a bit strange that he should be announcing this cut in June. Last year he announced rises on 11th September (see previous posting). I guess that the Mayor will use the three months between now and when he traditionally announces inflation busting fare rises to re-announce this cut many times over. No doubt we will hear much more about this cut from September to next May as well.
We will hear less about how the cut will be paid for. Bus costs are soaring so I haven’t got the foggiest how it will be paid for. Bus costs are due to rise by 8.2% this year (see previous posting).
Obviously the Mayor fails to mention that off peak fares went up from 80p to £1 last year and this year they will go back down to 90p so they will still be 12.5% higher after the so-called cut.
Phil Taylor 
2 replies on “Election bribe?”
The Mayor’s crappy little trick has worked. The BBC London news bulletin after the Ten O’Clock News just covered this story uncritically with pictures of the Mayor talking about how London stores were booming but not explaining where the money was coming from.
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[…] predicted back on June 18th (see previous posting) when the Mayor announced a partial bus fare cut he is using the summer to electioneer. The August […]
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