TfL misses targets but gives big bonuses
Staff at Transport for London were paid more than £3.5 million in bonuses last year despite missing key targets to improve the Tube and buses.
Almost 900 employees received an average £4,000 in performance-related pay-outs with transport commissioner Peter Hendy getting £115,000.
Overall, almost five per cent of the TfL workforce took home extra cash in 2006-7 while passenger satisfaction levels plummeted.
The figures, revealed by Mayor Ken Livingstone in a written answer to the London Assembly, come after a record three billion journeys a year on buses and the Tube. But delays on the Underground-have risen - largely due to the network's £20 billion modernisation - and the buses provided a poor service.
TfL's own "operational and performance report" admitted: "The combination of increased passenger numbers with the network-wide improvement and upgrade work means some measures of reliability, such as those on the Underground, did not meet their targets for 2006/7."
The news comes as the Mayor is expected to announce inflation-busting bus and Tube fare and season ticket increases next year.
The number of TfL staff receiving salaries of £100,000 or more has shot up by almost 50 per cent in a year with some 112 officials taking home a sixfigure sum in 2006-7, compared with 76 in the previous 12-month period.
More than 1,400 employees earned at least £50,000, pushing the total TfL wage bill to £880 million.
None of the employees receiving a bonus has been named, except for Mr Hendy. who has a £320,000 salary as head of TfL. His predecessor, Bob Kiley, earned more than £1 million in bonuses in his five years as transport adviser.
The revelation comes after Andrew Lezala, head of the failed Tube firm Metronet, received a £500,000 pay-off at the taxpayers' expense. Geoff Pope, Lib-Dem transport spokesman on the London Assembly, said: "Last week it was Metronet, this week it's TfL bosses who are grinning after being awarded over £3.5 million in bonuses.
"You could be mistaken for thinking working on London's transport system recompenses poor performance.
"But a TfL spokesman said: "TfL has to attract and retain the best transport experts in the world. That requires paying the global rate for the job."
