It’s Sadiq again

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter May 2024

So Sadiq Khan has won an unprecedented third term as Mayor of London. But what can we expect from him in the next four years? His major transport pledge is to freeze TfL fares for five years (or at least the four years of his term). But he is also planning and to set up a London Bus Company gradually to take into public ownership all bus operations when existing franchises expire and proposing a ring of ten new Superloop routes.

He hopes to extend contactless payment facilities at stations outside London, and to press the government to allow TfL to take over more National Rail routes and increase funding for the rebuilding of Hammersmith Bridge.

He also concentrates on his achievements to date. These include the hopper fare, Superloop, a five fold expansion of cycle lanes and a rapid greening of London’s bus fleet. He could also mention the Northern line extension to Battersea Power Station and the Overground extension to Barking Riverside.

There is no mention of the vital improvements which he is certainly advocating although work on them depends wholly on government money, particularly the refurbishment of Central line trains, Piccadilly line signalling and the extension and reequipping of the Bakerloo line.

If any of the other candidates had won things would begin to look very different. Susan Hall for the Conservatives (and the motorists) promised to cancel ULEZ ‘on day one’ and to abolish 20mph limits on main roads. Howard Cox for Reform promised much the same although he would like to abolish all 20mph zones.

Zoe Garbett for the Greens, on the other hand, wanted to reduce public transport fares and introduce pay-by-mile road user charging – a necessary measure although Sadiq is understandably cautious about proposing it.  She wants to work towards a car free central London.

Rob Blackie for the Liberal Democrats regrets the cuts in bus mileage and the slow progress in making stations accessible. He wanted to focus on improving public transport in outer London and allow retrospective application to an expanded ULEZ scrappage fund. He is also in favour of pedestrianising Oxford Street.