How we can make transport fares fairer

Everyone in London knows that our tickets are horribly expensive. But we also know that it’s impossible to simply cut ticket prices across the board unless we make huge cuts to transport investment.

So here are five simple Lib Dem ideas that could make life better for hard working Londoners.

1. A One Hour Bus Ticket

We would introduce a one hour bus ticket so that passengers would no longer be charged more than once if they have to change buses on route to their destination. By allowing people to change buses when it was a faster way to get to their destination it would also save them time, and effectively create capacity on the bus network.

2. Early Bird Fares

Rewarding commuters who start their journeys before the morning rush hour would reduce the number of passengers on peak services in the mornings, and would also benefit shift workers who are often on moderate incomes. My friend who works on the tube maintenance, or my cousin who is a postman, shouldn’t be charged peak fares as they come home from work at 6:30am.

3. Part-time travel cards

Currently part-time workers, or those who only wish to travel into London afew times a week, are penalised by having to buy either weekly or monthly travelcards or using high cost day travelcards. Introducing special rates forthose who do not travel so frequently would help moderate earning part timeworkers in particular. Many parents, who with the costs of childcare, struggle to make work pay, would benefit from this policy.

4. Rezoning stations

Some stations are clearly not in the right zones, costing local people too much to travel. Where zone boundaries don’t make sense, we are campaigning for particular stations such as Kennington to be rezoned.

5. Outer London travel cards

Many travellers in Outer London were outraged when the old Zones 2-6 oneday travelcard was removed. Bringing it back would be fairer for London residents who don’t travel all the way into Zone 1. For instance most friends who work in schools and hospitals in Lambeth and Southwark have no need for an expensive Zone 1 travelcard, but are forced to buy one.