News from London Assembly Labour

London’s Tory candidates quizzed on Mayor’s Tube ticket office closures

Labour’s London Minister Tessa Jowell today issued a challenge to Conservative candidates in the capital on whether they back Boris Johnson’s planned cuts to tube ticket office opening hours.

Labour’s Deputy Leader Harriet Harman was campaigning in Westminster North today, highlighting Boris Johnson’s broken promises on tube ticket offices at Warwick Avenue station, which is threatened with significant cuts to opening hours.

At the same time as reducing the opening hours of ticket offices, it emerged this week that the Mayor’s proposed new bus for London involves squandering £7.8million on just five new buses for London – over £1 million for each vehicle.

Labour’s Minister for London Tessa Jowell said: “We are challenging Conservative candidates to tell Londoners whether they back the Conservatives’ plans to cut Tube ticket office opening hours, imposed by Mayor Boris Johnson.

“The cuts to opening hours are already giving rise to concerns from people about how safe and secure they will feel when using their local Tube station. They will affect stations across the capital – including many parts of outer London.

“Boris Johnson promised he would defend local ticket offices yet instead he plans to cut the opening hours at hundreds of them, as well as cutting 450 Tube ticket office staff.

“The Mayor is the most senior elected Tory in the country and his decisions are a preview of what a Conservative Government under David Cameron would be like.”

Labour members of the London Assembly have calculated that 90% of stations will see some ticket office opening hours reduced under the mayor’s plans. One in five stations affected will be open for less than four hours a day and outer London stations will be hit the hardest. Of the 20 per cent of stations with fewer than four hours opening each day all but three (52 out of 55 stations) are outside zone 1.

Documents released by London Underground to tube staff show that under the Mayor’s plans Cannon Street, an important City terminus and interchange with the underground, will have its underground ticket office closed altogether.

Other news from London Assembly Labour

• Ken: "This morning's tube delays are completely unacceptable" - 10 February 2012
• Boris Johnson's comments are ill-judged and offensive - 9 February 2012
• Ken answers his critics about his support for LGBT rights - 8 February 2012