Mayor 'absolutely confident' on fare cuts if Government hand him control of rail services (From Haringey Independent)

Mayor of London Boris Johnson 'absolutely confident' on fare cuts if Government hand him control of rail services

3:30pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News By David Hardiman

Boris Johnson has joined his main rival in May’s mayoral election in pledging to cut rail fares if Transport for London is given control of suburban train services.

Both the current Mayor and Labour candidate Ken Livingstone want to take control of the borough’s rail franchises, which are currently operated by First Capital Connect and Greater Anglia.

The plan would mean all key commuter rail services, like those from Seven Sisters and Finsbury Park into central London, would be run by TfL and brought under the same system as the capital’s Tube network and London Overground route – which was switched to TfL in 2007 in a similar move.

Both men believe the savings in changing the contracts, which would need the permission of the Government, would mean that fares could be brought down.

Rail commuters were hit by above-average ticket price rises last month, with a single ticket from Haringey to central London rising by up to 10.4 per cent, much higher than the average of 5.6 per cent Tube and bus tickets went up after a Government cash injection.

Mr Johnson told the Haringey Independent: “We could do it for less – we think that there are economies of scale that you can bring in, natural waste of one kind or another – the more people use it, the more we’ll be able to drive down fares.

“We want a world-class Metro-style service, and if we do that then we’re absolutely confident that fares will be lowered.”

But Mr Livingstone, who announced a similar plan last month, said that Mr Johnson was taking his lead and that the idea would put “ordinary Londoners first, rather than the profits of rail companies”.

The Labour candidate is also pledging to cut Tube and bus fares by an average of seven per cent if elected in May.

First Capital Connect have a contract with the Department for Transport to run the Great Northern route until September next year, while Greater Anglia started a contract until September 2014 this month.