A TFL update on the Government funding settlement details a £1.2bn base funding agreement, ongoing revenue support and will allow for new investment in the railways
The Transport for London (TFL) has issued an update on the new funding agreement with the government.
The agreement with Government previously left a gap in TfL’s budget of around £740m across the next two years
The new terms of the funding agreement guarantee passenger revenue until March 2024, accounting for sluggish returns to pre-pandemic passenger behaviour.
It also allows TfL to continue with their committed transport investments, which include purchasing new trains for the Piccadilly line and Docklands Light Railway, completing in-progress schemes like Four Lines Modernisation, the Bank station upgrade and the transformation of Old Street Roundabout, and finalising the transformational investment in the Elizabeth line.
The TfL update also indicates a partnership with the DfT and London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to reopen Hammersmith Bridge and plans to deliver a Bus Action Plan. Further development plans in London include investing in borough roads, with around £80m per year spent on projects that benefit people walking and cycling.
The TfL have taken measures to balance their budget
In order to accept the agreement, TfL identified measures such as these include holding their cash balance at £1.2bn, assuming benefit from the inflation mechanism built into the agreement, and the release of contingency from the budget.
They have set a target for further savings of around £90m in 22/23 and £140m in 23/24, beyond the £730m per annum recurring savings programme TfL already have already committed to.
Transport for London commissioner Andy Byford’s statement is below:
“After weeks of negotiation, we have today reached agreement with Government on a funding settlement until 31 March 2024. This agreement, which was hard won, means that we can now get on with the job of supporting London’s recovery from the pandemic – to the benefit of the whole country. There is no UK recovery without a London recovery, and no London recovery without a properly funded transport network.
“The agreement with Government means that across the funding period, TfL expects to receive further base funding of around £1.2bn from Government until March 2024 and gives TfL ongoing revenue support should passenger numbers not recover at the rate budgeted, which is crucial at this time of ongoing economic uncertainty. It helps us avoid large-scale cuts to services, and means that we will commit £3.6bn to capital investment over the period, with around £200m of new capital funding from Government beyond previously budgeted sources like business rates, which were devolved to the Mayor in 2017. The agreement also allows us to increase our asset renewal programme to help ensure our network remains reliable, and means we can restore our Healthy Streets programme, making our roads safer, and more attractive for those walking and cycling.
“The support offered by Government left an unfunded gap in our budget, which we have been working hard to identify how we will fill. This work has made good progress and we are confident that we will achieve an outcome that allows us to balance our budget and maintain our minimum cash balance. We will need to progress with our plans to further modernise our organisation and make ourselves even more efficient, and we will still face a series of tough choices in the future, but London will move away from the managed decline of the transport network. We are grateful for the support of both the Mayor and the Government as we now set out to continue serving the capital and investing in safe and reliable services for the millions of people who need them.”
