Mayor Johnson aims to give better deal to part-time commuters - but some lose out

Boris unveils a crowd-pleasing fares package - but some passengers lose out

Boris unveils a crowd-pleasing fares package - but some passengers lose out

London Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled a new fare structure aimed at giving a better deal to part-time workers, making up a fifth of the capital's workforce.

Whilst he announced an average increase to fares of 2.5%, the Mayor is cutting pay-as-you-go daily price caps so they become one fifth of the cost of a seven-day travelcard. This will mean a daily saving of £2 for those paying the existing daily cap of £8.40 for zones one to two and a daily saving of £4.10 for those paying the zones 1-6 daily cap. A three-days-a-week customer travelling betrween zones one to five could save over £600 a year.

The Mayor had been pressed by the Lib Dems to introduce fares for part-time workers. TfL estimates that over 600,000 customers will pay lower fares in a typical week. But the cost of daily travel will rise for off-peak customers living in zones 4-6 and travelling into zone 1. This is because peak- and off-peak capping are being withdrawn and the new caps are higher than the current off-peak ones for those travelling from zones 4-6.

And with the changes it still offers better value to buy a monhtly pass: tthe Mayor said that making the daily cost the same as that for monthly or annual travel cards would cost £200m.