By Ilaria Grasso Macola
Transport for London’s (TfL) board is set to meet next Tuesday to discuss the government’s long-term funding deal.
TfL has confirmed the meeting will take place next week, but it remains unclear whether the board will accept the proposal made by transport secretary Grant Shapps on 22 July.
The public body has been locked in discussions with government officials over the £3.6bn funding for more than a month to ensure the deal’s conditions were “fair and deliverable.”
“We are grateful for the support we have received so far, and maintain we have met every condition that has been set by the government as we have worked towards agreeing a multi-year funding settlement that would give certainty to London and to the tens of thousands of jobs across the country that are directly linked to TfL,” said TfL’s commissioner Andy Byford on 3 August.
The secretary, for his part, assured the offer remained in place.
On the same day, the latest round of government support expired and, since then, TfL has been operating on a day-to-day basis with its savings.
According to TfL officials, without a proper long-term investment, the London network will fall into a “managed decline” scenario, which would include a raft of cuts to bus routes as well as underground service reductions.
Bus cuts and alteration are already in the works, as the public body launched in early June a public consultation over its decision to cut or alter 78 of the current 620 routes, City A.M. reported.
The consultation ended on 7 August but the results have yet to be released.
In addition to its financial woes, TfL was hit by a series of strikes, the latest of which took place on 19 August.
Around 10,000 members of the union RMT working for London Underground took it to the streets in a dispute over pensions and jobs. Tube workers were joined by Overground staff who went on strike over pay.
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