Yahoo Finance Sadiq Khan’s off-peak Fridays branded ‘expensive election bribe’ as trial backfires
Sadiq Khan’s multi-million pound “off-peak Fridays” scheme to get Londoners back into the office has been branded an “expensive election bribe” after it was revealed London Underground journeys actually fell during the trial.
The three-month pilot, which scrapped peak fares every Friday between March 8 and May 31, was supposed to “give a much-needed boost” to the capital’s economy according to Mr Khan, but has instead seen the taxpayer foot an enormous bill.
Londoners made 3.33 million Tube journeys on the final Friday of the scheme – 54,000 fewer than on the Friday before the trial began, according to data released by Transport for London (TfL).
Passenger figures in London have slowly bounced back since the pandemic but the popularity of hybrid working, which sees staff only go to the office for a few days a week, has seen Fridays lag far behind.
Whereas midweek Tube usage is at 85pc of pre-pandemic levels, it is only 73pc on Fridays, according to TfL.
The “Let’s Do Fridays” initiative was heavily criticised from the moment it was announced by Mr Khan in March.
Election rivals claimed the scheme was a short-term “gimmick” to win over Londoners who had increasingly grown frustrated with the performance of the Labour mayor.
While others pointed out the “landmark” scheme would save some commuters as little as £1.20 a week – and do little to encourage staff back to the office.
A passenger commuting from Shepherd’s Bush in Zone two to Bank in Zone one would only save 60p per journey travelling on a Friday during the scheme.
Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives’ transport spokesman, said: “The mayor’s latest TfL experiment was nothing but an expensive election bribe.
“Off-peak Fridays will end up costing the taxpayer an estimated £24m, despite having a negligible impact on passenger numbers.
“Whilst we all want the Tube to be as cheap as possible, the £24m which Sadiq Khan ‘spent’ on off-peak Fridays could have been better put to use funding new zero-emissions buses, or helping sort out the problems on the Central Line, or procuring desperately needed new rolling stock on Croydon’s tram network.”
A spokesman for TfL said: “We continue to analyse the impact of our trial of off-peak pay as you go fares on Tube and rail services on a Friday, which ended on May 31 2024.
“This analysis will take into account a number of aspects including assessing changes to both morning peak ridership and overall daily ridership, as well as the impact to businesses across London.”
