Boris bike charges to double in inflation-busting travel fares hike

- Charge doubles to £90 for annual Boris bike subscription- Above inflation increase across Tube, bus, DLR and overground- TfL says bike price increase needed to 'make future improvements'
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Pippa Crerar16 November 2012

London's biggest cycling organisation has hit out at the Mayor's announcement that fares for Boris bikes will be doubled.

London Cycling Campaign, which has 12,000 members and claims to be the largest urban cycling group in the world, said people would simply turn to second-hand bikes as they will be the cheaper option.

The surprise news that Boris Bike charges will double from £1 to £2 a day, £5 to £10 a week, and £45 to £90 a year is also certain to anger regular users.

Boris Johnson outlined further above-inflation increases averaging 4.2 per cent for the Tube, buses, DLR and overland rail from January.

Mike Cavenett, of London Cycling Campaign, said that doubling fares to £90 a year would "discourage people from cycling" in London.

He said: "Second hand bikes can be bought for as little as £50 to £100. It is possible people will turn away from Boris bikes altogether as a result of the fares hike.

"The announcement is disappointing as I don't think the Boris bike scheme is at capacity.

"The bikes also help keep Londoners off tubes and trains.

Mr Cavenett said the sheer number of people coming to London over the next decade meant having an affordable bike scheme was crucial.

He said: "A million more people will come to London over the next decade and we need to be able to move them around.

"We are discouraging people from cycling."

TfL said the increase — the first since the cycle hire scheme was introduced in July 2010 — was required to make improvements. But there have been questions over whether key sponsor Barclays should be contributing more than up to £5 million a year.

Click the 'view gallery' button above for tables with full details of the fare rises

A TfL spokesman said the rise was “absolutely nothing” to do with the banking giant’s funding. However, he refused to reveal how much of the £50 million by 2018 promised had already been paid, citing commercial confidentiality.

Lib-Dem leader in London, Caroline Pidgeon, said: “Quite shamefully Boris Johnson has decided to bury bad news. Such steep rises would not be necessary if the Mayor had secured a far better sponsorship deal with Barclays.

As they obtain immense benefits from the sponsorship deal they should be the first people to dig deep in the pockets to help fund the scheme.”

Mr Johnson promised in his 2008 manifesto to bring in the scheme —which was expanded east to Canary Wharf this year and will extend to south-west London by 2014 — at no cost to the taxpayer.

The Mayor insisted he was keeping transport fares as “low as possible” while continuing with crucial investment in the network. City Hall sources revealed there would be

“significant investment” in the road network to be announced next month. This year’s rise is lower than feared following a £96 million bailout from the Government.

On London’s buses, the Oyster pay-as-you-go fare rises by 5p to £1.40 while the cash fare will rise by 10p to £2.40. When the Mayor took over in 2008 a single bus fare was 90p.

On the Tube and London Overground, a single zone 1 PAYG fare rises by 10p and a zone 1-6 single fare by 20p during the peak, or 10p for off-peak. Cash fares rise by 20p.

The daily PAYG cap — £8.40 for zone 1-2 peak and £7 off peak— will be frozen at 2012 levels. However, a paper daily travelcard rises by 40p to £8.40 peak and is up 30p to £7.30 off-peak.

A weekly travelcard for zone 1-2 will go up £1.20 to £30.40 and a monthly one up £4.60 to £116.80. All free and concessionary travel is protected, including the new 60+ Oyster card.

Mr Johnson said: “I am very pleased to have secured nearly £100 million that will help to keep fares as low as possible, and protect the important concessions that we offer the most vulnerable Londoners.

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