For anyone who’s ever wondered why it costs so much money to use public transport in London, here’s the answer: almost 3 million people are allowed to travel at a discount or free charge every day.
Heat Street has obtained new figures under the Freedom of Information Act showing that TfL kisses goodbye to hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue every year under various schemes.
According to TfL’s own figures 2,711,484 currently travel either free of charge or at a discount.
Some of these are unarguably legitimate. For example, 8,092 war veterans travel for nothing, while 42,371 police also receive free travel.
Others are highly questionable: 1,000 ‘elite’ athletes also travel free of charge anywhere on the network. Through a deal with the British Olympic Association, they are issued with a ticket worth £3,380 per year, no questions asked.
At the same time, key workers like midwives and nurses are entitled to no such perk.
TfL estimates these discounts and subsidies cost £279 million per year.
The greatest rip-off is surely the fact that 38,000 free “nominee” travel passes are given to relatives, spouses, friends and flatmates of TfL staff. Each pass is worth almost £3,500 a year, depriving TfL of about £130 million of revenue.
Combined with the discount regime, these free “nominee” passes give a grand total in lost revenue of £409 million every year.
Sadiq Khan’s spokesman did not respond when Heat Street asked him what he thinks about ‘nominee’ passes.
There is no doubt scrapping this ludicrous scheme would upset TfL workers.
Presumably Khan isn’t man enough to pick this fight.
