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meHis advertisement “Mind the Gap” is legendary, millions of commuters and visitors in the British capital use it: the London Underground. Now the more than 150-year-old underground is in one of its deepest crises. The municipal transport company Transport for London (TfL), which operates subways, buses and other railways, is in dire need of fresh money amid the crown crisis, otherwise it threatens bankruptcy. TfL’s management is currently requesting another aid package worth 5.7 billion pounds (6.3 billion euros) to finance transport services for eighteen months.
Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, passenger numbers, previously nearly 5 million a day, have plummeted in April by as much as 90 percent. Meanwhile, they have partially recovered to a good 1.5 million a day in early October, but it is still well below the pre-crisis level. And since this weekend, new crown restrictions have been applied in London. The capital has risen to danger level 2, which means that citizens must refrain from all unnecessary travel with the “metro” and buses.
Save “critical national infrastructure”
TfL has a $ 1 billion deficit this year. In the Corona period, ticket revenue has dropped to a fraction, but most costs continue to work. The transport company has to pay its more than 27,000 employees. According to TfL Commissioner Andy Byford, weekly earnings are 45 million pounds less than last year. In May, TfL received a rescue package of 1.6 billion pounds (1.8 billion euros), which expired this weekend. Negotiations between the transport company, which reports to Mayor Sadiq Khan (Labor), and the conservative state government of Boris Johnson are difficult.
Even the closure of subway and bus services this weekend was a threat. At the last minute, the aid package was extended for two weeks until the end of October, but then it could lead to a showdown. The heads of 34 large corporations, including Heathrow Airport and the real estate groups British Land and Canary Wharf Group, recently wrote a letter to the government asking the government to save “critical national infrastructure.”
The Grant Shapps Department of Transport is poised for another £ 1 billion rescue package, but is demanding something in return from the city. Johnson, the former mayor of London, accused his successor Khan of mismanagement: “Sorry to say, but the current mayor blew up TfL’s finances with an irresponsible rate package.” Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey too, whose election campaign was suspended by Corona, accuses Khan: He nearly bankrupted Transport for London and hung a “closed” sign across the city.
Khan’s mayor defends his record. A spokeswoman emphasized that it had significantly reduced TfL deficits. In exchange for a new “ransom”, the government is demanding an extension of the area where the city toll (“congestion charge”) of £ 15 per day must be paid to the urban regions of the north and south . In addition, the free transport of children and the elderly will be ended. The conservative mayoral candidate also describes a toll expansion to other urban areas as fateful and as a “coffin nail” for the city’s already ailing economy.
If the government and the mayor cannot agree on the terms of a new rescue package, TfL would have to declare bankruptcy. Then a spending freeze would take effect and London’s train and bus traffic could be halted. Under a nearly two-hundred-year-old law, TfL would only have to continue to operate a small ferry, the Woolwich Ferry, and school buses would run, nothing more. A temporary closure of all local public transport would be a nightmare for the capital. Most likely not. Prime Minister Johnson just wants to take the opportunity to show off Khan and the supposedly inefficient TfL. The company is in dire need of modernization, he says. Among other things, this includes the use of driverless trains in the future.
