Labour’s transport lead on the London Assembly, Val Shawcross, has warned of a backlash against Boris Johnson’s proposed cuts to bus services and funding. Buses will be running 26 million kilometres less than previously planned and the subsidy is being cut by 37%.

Responding to the publication of TfL’s business plan today, Val Shawcross said: ‘”The proposed cuts to the bus service are deeply worrying and, along with his fare rises, contradict all the Mayor has said about getting people out of their cars and on to public transport.

“A £150m cut to bus service subsidy means London’s buses will be running twenty-six million fewer kilometres per year while bus passengers can expect to pay over and above inflation increases for their tickets every year.

“Buses in London are set to get more expensive, less frequent and overcrowded with salami sliced service cuts. The quality of the service could also decline if TfL drops its incentive contracts with bus operators.

“All this adds up to an attack on the bus service and its passengers who are clearly way down on the Mayor’s list of priorities He may come to regret this if there is a backlash against cuts and overcrowding not just in inner London but in the suburbs he promised to support”

• The TfL Business Plan was approved by the TfL Board today http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/Item06-TfL-Business-Plan-2010-11-2017-18.pdf
• The table on page 102-103 lists the reduction in bus kilometres from 504 million in the previous business plan to 478 million in this year’s.
• The table on page 72 shows the reduction in bus subsidy. The previous bus plan projected that by 2017/18 the level of subsidy would have risen to £721m. This year’s business plan reduces this to £452m – a 37% reduction http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/tfl-business-plan-09-10-to-17-18.pdf