London mayoral elections: Zoe Garbett pledges flat Tube fare in Green manifesto

The Green Party plans to introduce a flat fare on London Underground and Overground, its mayoral candidate says.

Zoe Garbett pledged passengers would pay the same regardless of whether they were travelling from Zone 2 or Zone 6.

Transport is a focus of the party's manifesto, which includes plans for free transport and a pay per mile consultation.

The Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem candidates also gave their views on her proposals.

The flat fares scheme is a repeat of the Greens' pledge in the past two elections, with Ms Garbett saying she would look to introduce it first on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

Implementing it on Transport for London (TfL) services would cost "hundreds of millions" and would depend on government negotiations, Ms Garbett added.

The Greens have come third in the past three mayoral elections and it currently has three assembly members.

Launching her party's manifesto in Walthamstow in east London on Monday, Ms Garbett argued the capital was not "working" for millions of Londoners and "fairness" was central to her plans.

Along with an ambition for a flat fare in the future, the party wants to extend free bus travel to under-22s, restore free peak-time transport for the over-60s, give free school meals to all secondary schools and create 10 new parks.

"We need a plan to refocus London for the workers and renters in our city," she said.

Ms Garbett's other proposals include offering free travel and cycle hire to asylum-seekers to ensure they "can get to appointments they need to and able to feel part of our communities".

She said she would also consult people in the first year on "pay-per-mile" road-charging, where motorists would pay according to how far they drive and at what time, as well as the emissions of their vehicles.

Labour candidate Sadiq Khan has ruled out this kind of road charge in his next term but he has previously said he was looking at creating a new charge to replace the separate Ultra Low Emission Zone charge, congestion charge and tolls at the Blackwall and new Silvertown tunnels.

On the Greens' fare plans, a spokesperson for Mr Khan said: "Sadiq has done everything he can to keep TfL fares low. He is proud to be freezing TfL fares again this year, the fifth time he has frozen fares since becoming mayor.

"This is alongside Sadiq's other work making fares more affordable, such as trialling off-peak fares all day on Fridays, and the huge success of the Hopper bus fare."

Conservative candidate Susan Hall faced criticism after a campaign claiming Mr Khan had plans for "pay-per-mile" charges, and her team also circulated leaflets looking like penalty charge notices with a scannable link to a webpage making the same claim.

Ms Hall denied that the materials were misleading, saying TfL software engineers had been carrying out research for Mr Khan.

"Sadiq Khan expressly said last time he wouldn't expand Ulez, and that's exactly what he did," she said.

"It is alerting the public that if they vote for Sadiq Khan, not only will they keep Ulez expansion but then he will introduce pay-per-mile which means more tax."

Mr Khan's spokesperson said: "These leaflets peddle a barefaced lie. The Tories are clearly desperate and have resorted to deliberately misleading Londoners. It is nothing more than scaremongering.

"Sadiq has repeatedly, categorically, ruled out pay-per-mile for as long as he is mayor. Londoners will not be duped by these Tory lies."

Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie said the Green policies would leave TfL "short of billions of pounds", which he said would result in cuts to bus routes and Tubes breaking down because maintenance would be cut.

He also accused Mr Khan of "mismanagement of TfL", which he said had resulted in similar issues.

"The Liberal Democrat plan for transport will protect bus routes and make sure that Tubes don't break down as often," he added.

It comes amid developments on other transport issues in the capital - specifically, a government announcement of £2.9m in new funding for Hammersmith Bridge to resurface a cycle lane.

The 137-year-old bridge, which is owned by Hammersmith and Fulham Council, has been closed to motor vehicles since cracks appeared in the pedestals in 2019.

The money will be used to resurface the temporary cycle lane across the bridge and make it permanent, but the financial boost will not solve ongoing issues about how the £250m bill will be funded.

The full cost will be split three ways between the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, the Department for Transport (DfT) and Transport for London (TfL), however the DfT is still assessing plans by the council to fund its share by introducing a toll.

Transport minister Huw Merriman told BBC Radio London: "We have to go through that and make sure that the governance and the oversight and the value for money is in there for the whole f the UK taxpayer.

"The UK taxpayer doesn't own the bridge, the borough does and therefore if funds are going to be added then we need to make sure it's going to be good value for the taxpayer as well."

A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said: "We are grateful to the DfT for the £2.9m carriageway funding and look forward to its approval of our business case for the full restoration of the historic bridge."

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