In a written answer to LibDem Assembly Member Mike Tuffrey, Mayor Boris Johnson confirmed that the total amount of bonuses paid to TfL staff was £17.2 million, up from £10.6 million in the previous year.
However, the most recent figures include bonuses for staff at Metronet, the failed Tube PPP contractor which had to be bailed out by TfL. When bonuses for former Metronet staff are excluded the bonuses payments increased by just 10% to £11.81.
Publication of the figures comes just weeks after Johnson announced fares would increase from next January.
Condemning the level of bonuses Tuffrey said: “With TfL facing a black hole in finances a bonus bill of such magnitude is totally unjustified. Boris’s bonus bonanza is a slap in the face to hard up Londoners who are now facing reduced bus services and a massive hike in fares.”
According to the figures 23,638 employees received a bonus for the year 2008/9. 1,038 senior managers were awarded £5,341,140, a decrease of £458,357 on the previous year.
More than 13,000 awards were given under the London Underground Customer Satisfaction Awards scheme with recipients paid £500 per person, up from £250 per person in 2007/8. The increase is due to “Customer Satisfaction Survey improvements”.
Responding to Tuffrey’s comments a spokesperson for the Mayor said: “In line with the current economic realities the Mayor has demanded far better value from TfL. The overall increase in bonuses on current figures is due to the transfer to TfL of thousands of former Metronet staff and ramping up of work on Crossrail. Since the Mayor took control of TfL the pay of senior staff has been frozen and their performance payments cut. His demand for greater efficiencies has been met by a doubling of TfL’s savings to over £5bn in the next nine years.”
