TfL funded until 31 March 2024

Transport for London (TfL) is now funded until 31 March 2024.

The announcement follows weeks of negotiations, according to TfL Commissioner, Andy Byford.

Andy said: “This agreement, which was hard won, means that we can now get on with the job of supporting London’s recovery from the pandemic – to the benefit of the whole country. There is no UK recovery without a London recovery, and no London recovery without a properly funded transport network.

“The agreement with Government means that across the funding period, TfL expects to receive further base funding of around £1.2bn from Government until March 2024 and gives TfL ongoing revenue support should passenger numbers not recover at the rate budgeted, which is crucial at this time of ongoing economic uncertainty. It helps us avoid large-scale cuts to services, and means that we will commit £3.6bn to capital investment over the period, with around £200m of new capital funding from Government beyond previously budgeted sources like business rates, which were devolved to the Mayor in 2017. The agreement also allows us to increase our asset renewal programme to help ensure our network remains reliable, and means we can restore our Healthy Streets programme, making our roads safer, and more attractive for those walking and cycling.

“The support offered by Government left an unfunded gap in our budget, which we have been working hard to identify how we will fill. This work has made good progress and we are confident that we will achieve an outcome that allows us to balance our budget and maintain our minimum cash balance. We will need to progress with our plans to further modernise our organisation and make ourselves even more efficient, and we will still face a series of tough choices in the future, but London will move away from the managed decline of the transport network. We are grateful for the support of both the Mayor and the Government as we now set out to continue serving the capital and investing in safe and reliable services for the millions of people who need them.”

Commenting on the funding, Peter Bradley, MD at the UK Coach Operators Association, said: “We welcome that there is now a funding package in place between the Government and TfL for the continued provision of public transport and transport facilities in London for the next 18 months or so. Although there is no specific funding for the coach industry as part of this agreement, coach operators will benefit from some of the proposed improvement to roads and junctions. The UKCOA, together with other coach trade bodies, will continue to lobby TfL for enhanced coach facilities, including those for set down/pick up and parking.”

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