Return to ‘Fares Fair’ as Red Ken outlines fares cut policy

ELN: The former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has pledged to cut Tube and bus fares by 5% in his first year and after that any rises would be capped at the rate of inflation – but that’s only if he beats incumbent Boris Johnson in the mayoral elections next year. When Leader of the Greater London Council in the 1980s, Ken Livingstone was acclaimed for his radical “Fares Fair” policy that saw tube and bus prices slashed and brought him the ire of Margaret Thatcher. Indeed, she was so upset with him she eventually abolished London itself as the only way to be rid of her Left-Wing nemesis. His battle with Maggie earned him the epithet “Red Ken” – a name that has stuck in the popular imagination to this day. Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Monday, Ken said,“The detail is simple. I will introduce an overall fares cut of 5% in the autumn of 2012 and ensure there are no further fare rises at all in 2013. In January 2014 and in subsequent years, fares would rise by no more than the price of RPI inflation.”However, Andrew Moylon the Deputy Chairman of Transport for London said Mr Livingstone’s scheme would cost TfL about £850million over the course of the next mayoral term and that Londoners would “suffer” if his plans went ahead.Apart from being Boris’s sidekick at TfL, Andrew Moylon is also the Deputy Leader of the Conservative-run London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.