by Joanne Harris, London bus driver
Transport for London (TfL) have been operating a ‘managed decline’ of London’s public transport since 2018. Many of London’s buses have been removed from our streets in order to save money.
Londoners deserve better and should not be used as political footballs in a game of attrition waged betweem a Tory Government and a Labour Mayor.
When Boris Johnson, the outgoing Mayor in 2016 gave up TfL’s operating budget of £750m to turn it into a business machine, all was fine until COVID came along. The private companies running London’s buses, of course, had to be paid whilst TfL earned nothing from fares. That’s what almost bankrupted them.
We say PUBLIC TRANSPORT SHOULD NEVER BE RUN FOR PRIVATE PROFIT. London is the only capital city in Western Europe and possibly the whole world without full and direct government funding, instead we outsource bus services to foreign companies who use London to subsidise the transport in their own countries. This has to end. Londoners deserve better, bus drivers deserve better.
Under the original proposal, doing away with 16 bus routes would displace or remove over 3,000 London bus drivers. Removing night buses increases the danger for vulnerable women who work late. These cuts could have serious consequences for everyone that relies on London’s buses, so, we say:
FULLY FUND OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORT OR NATIONALISE IT NOW!
#saveourbuses #saveourtubes #nationalisenow
