Londoners will be discouraged from returning to work if the Government fails to keep the Tube and bus network running at full capacity, Sadiq Khan has warned.
The mayor said this week’s decision to axe the “work from home if you can” advice added to pressure on ministers to secure a long-term funding deal for Transport for London.
It came as reductions in commuter trains run by South Western Railway into Waterloo left key workers “stranded” and unable to balance childcare with their return to work, according to London MP Sarah Olney.
TfL’s current deal runs out on February 4, with it preparing to enter a “managed decline” scenario that could include cuts of up to 18 per cent in bus services and nine per cent on the Tube.
Thursday morning saw an immediate jump in Tube journeys as Londoners headed back to the office, up eight per cent on a week earlier.
Mr Khan said: “Are you going to be encouraged and enticed to come back to the office if there is 10 per cent fewer buses or 20 per cent fewer Tubes and you can’t get the quality of service you have been used to?
“We need people to return to the office because that helps our economy, helps mentoring and creativity.”
Ms Olney, the Lib-Dem transport spokeswoman and MP for Richmond Park, said a reduced timetable introduced by South Western Railway on Monday had caused her constituents problems.
“Our city should be opening up but instead rail operators and the Government seem hell-bent on making life even harder for businesses and commuters,” she said.
A weekly survey by Transport Focus and London TravelWatch on Friday found that 72 per cent of passengers felt safer if others wore face coverings.
Mr Khan said: “I worry about people who may now catch the virus because people next to them aren’t wearing a face mask… or they themselves, because they’re not wearing a face mask, may be more susceptible to catch it.”
A KMPG study commissioned by the Government last year into TfL’s long-term financial sustainability, at a cost of £1.2m, remains secret, despite requests from MPs and TfL for it to be made public.
Transport minister Trudy Harrison said: “The Government will continue to monitor the public interest test for when publication might be appropriate.”
Ms Olney said: “Piecemeal, short-term settlements will not be sufficient and many fear this is exactly the conclusion the KPMG report reached.
“We need a fully informed debate around how TfL can get back on its feet and survive for years to come. That makes the release of the report, even in redacted form, absolutely essential.”
