Sadiq Khan has been criticized for offering ‘ridiculous perks’ to Transport for London staff after it broke out that more than 54,000 friends and family of TfL staff get free travel around the capital.
The mayor of London has been accused of turning the battered transport service into a ‘gravy train’ by the toriesat a time when TfL continues to face ‘major financial challenges’.
Last month, 54,156 people had a “nomination pass” according to figures from the Mayor’s Office.
The passes offer free travel on all TfL, Tube, bus and Overground services, and anyone who lives in the same household as someone who works for any of these can apply for one.
An annual Travelcard for Zones 1-6 costs £2,976, which would mean the value of the nominated passes equates to over £160 million per year.
Sadiq Khan has been accused by the Tories of turning the troubled transport service into a ‘gravy train’, at a time when TfL continues to face ‘major financial challenges’
The figures were obtained by Susan Hall (pictured), the leader of the City Council Conservatives.
Susan Hall, leader of the council’s Conservatives, who obtained the figures, said: “TfL has become a gravy train, spending on benefits for friends of TfL staff while taking cash from poorer Londoners affected by the mayor’s Ulez tax”.
‘Over 50,000 people in London get free travel every day just because they know someone at TfL, with lost revenue in the hundreds of millions. Sadiq Khan should stop making excuses and throw away this ridiculous benefit.
The number of passes used has increased by almost 500 in the last year, the evening standard reports.
TfL has defended the staff benefit, arguing that it is a way of attracting and keeping workers at relatively low cost and that employees can only claim them for one person.
The total number of passes used includes more than 19,000 people nominated by TfL staff members.
On top of this, over 21,000 bus driver nominees, over 10,000 retired TfL friends or family and staff and 3,300 people who know ‘third party’ workers at TfL.
A Transport for London spokesperson said: “Staff nominee passes are a long-standing benefit for Transport for London employees” and are an inexpensive way to attract and retain staff.
“They have a very low cost impact because the number of trips is an extremely small proportion of the total number of trips taken every day, which means very little lost revenue and no additional services need to be operated.”
Nominee passes offer free travel on all TfL, Tube, bus and Overground services, and anyone living in the same household as someone who works for any of these is eligible
An annual Travelcard for Zones 1-6 costs £2,976, which would mean the value of the nominated passes equates to over £160 million per year.
Last year TfL’s 5,000 cleaners enjoyed free travel and Mr Khan, who is TfL’s Chairman, recently extended this to all 800 contract cleaners.
It comes as city council sources said earlier this week that Night Tube’s services are unlikely to be expanded as Khan proposed in 2018, due to ongoing money struggles.
Asked in a recent interview if she wanted to see the Night Tube expanded, Mr Khan’s night zara Amy Lamé said: “It’s no secret that TfL has had some financial challenges, due to the pandemic and due to the way the central government has been treating TfL.
“I would say that for the future, nothing is off the table, but I think there are big financial challenges.”
In August last year, the government agreed a £3.6bn bailout to keep London’s tube, trains and buses running, including or up to nearly £1.2bn in seed funding for TfL.
It was the sixth such bailout for TfL, after revenue plummeted during the pandemic amid low passenger numbers.