Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham, condemns Mayor Boris Johnson’s fare hikes for Londoners in the middle of a recession.

Last week Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced that London’s bus fares would rise by an average of 12.7% from January 2010 while tube fares would rise by an average of 3.9%.

Single tube trips in zone one will increase by 20p to £1.80 and Oyster pay-as-you-go fares on buses will rise by 20p to £1.20. The cost of a seven-day bus pass would rise by £2.80 to £16.60.

Johnson has cited the recession and the policies of former Mayor Ken Livingstone as the reasons for the fare increases.

Commenting on the fare hikes, Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham said:

“It is completely unacceptable for Boris to levy increases of up to 20% in the middle of a recession.

“Boris’ excuses are red herrings – these increases could have been avoided by abandoning his plans to subsidise well off polluters at the expense of the rest of us.

“Boris should reverse his decision to scrap the £25 charge on mass polluting gas guzzlers, like Chelsea tractors, and he should retain the western extension of the congestion charge zone, instead of walloping hard working people in Streatham and the rest of London with these fare hikes.”

Umunna, Livingstone and others are urging local people to register their
anger at the rises by emailing the Mayor at mayor {at} london.gov(.)uk.