Mayor spends £20m to encourage more bus trips

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is spending an extra £20m to encourage more people to use buses.

Transport for London (TfL) will use the fund for "fares innovation" which may include reducing fares at certain times and even making some services completely free when they first launch.

Bus passenger numbers fell for the first time since the pandemic last year, from 1.869 billion journeys to 1.842 billion, which London's transport watchdog said was down to sluggish bus speeds.

The mayor's annual budget was approved by the London Assembly on Thursday.

Noting that innovation "costs money", Sir Sadiq pledged a renewed focus on increasing "ridership and revenues".

"We will be tasking TfL to look into ways we can encourage more people to use, in particular, buses," he told the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee.

"We're a city with a remarkable public transport system which is getting better all the time."

Sir Sadiq added that innovation was particularly important in the outer boroughs, where buses were a "lifeline", but that more Londoners generally needed to be "incentivised" to ride them once again.

Assembly Member Elly Baker, the Labour group's transport spokesperson, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she welcomed the announcement.

"Times are tough with the cost of living crisis, and we have to keep public transport affordable wherever we can," she said.

"The news that at least some of the funding is going to be put towards innovation around buses and bus fares is incredibly welcome to me."

Baker added that London's buses catered to "people who don't have any options", including older people, disabled people, and low income Londoners.

"The statement of intent is really, really important."

Bus use in London has been on a downward trend since the peak of 2.4 billion passenger journeys in 2014, according to figures from the Department for Transport.

The mayor is working towards his target for 80% of trips in London to be made by walking, cycling and public transport by 2041.

Watchdog London TravelWatch estimated that this would require bus journeys to rise by 40%.

Average speeds on the capital's bus network fell to 9.17mph in 2024-5, down from 10.27mph four years before, according to City Hall data.

Michael Roberts, chief executive of London TravelWatch, told the London Assembly in December that every 10% reduction in speed led to a 6% fall in demand.

The investment is part of an extra £142.6m discovered by City Hall officials between the draft and final budgets due to an unexpected surge in business rates and council tax returns.

The mayor's budget also sets aside a record £1.26bn for policing, including a new crackdown on mobile phone theft, as well as boosting both TfL's and the London Fire Brigade's budgets by £250m each.

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