TfL ponders bus cuts to meet potential funding shortfall

Transport bosses have drawn up contingency plans to reduce services on at least 200 bus routes to cope with any “significant” reduction in funding.

The plans will be discussed at a meeting of Transport for London’s Finance and Policy Committee later this month.

A report to the committee makes clear the plans would only be invoked if TfL suffered “further significant reductions in funding”.

Earlier this year Chancellor George Osborne slashed London’s transport funding by 8.5% but claimed that “efficiency savings” had been identified by TfL which would enable it to work within the reduced settlement.

City Hall is currently in negotiations with Ministers over the capital’s funding for the forthcoming financial year.

The Finance and Policy Committee report says “cuts which would result in inadequate capacity are undesirable and are not being brought forward as this would be in conflict with the [Mayor’s Transport Strategy] in respect of supporting growth and ensuring people have good access to employment and education. “

Instead TfL says 200 routes could “have their mid-day, evening, and Sunday services reduced by one bus per hour” which would generate annual savings of £25m.

Withdrawing 15 night bus routes would generate further savings of around £5m per year.

The contingency plans also include a proposal for the “complete withdrawal” of the 15 least used outer-suburban routes in order to save £4m per year.

Overall the cuts would slash bus capacity by “around 10 per cent” while “passenger journeys would fall by around five per cent.”

The report stresses there would need to be “statutory consultation with the boroughs, London TravelWatch and other stakeholders” before the plans could be implemented.

The target date of financial year 2016/17 would coincide with the next City Hall elections in May 2016 and make the cuts politically difficult to deliver.

The TfL Finance and Policy Committee meets 9.30am, Wednesday 27 November 2013 at Meeting Rooms 1 and 2, Ground Floor, Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NJ. The meeting is open to the public.