"LONDON OFFICIALLY WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE TRANSPORT CAPITAL" - POPE

12.23.59pm GMT Tue 2nd Jan 2007

On the day The Mayor of London puts up cash fares on Tubes and buses by 33%, new research carried out by Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman on the London Assembly, Geoff Pope, shows that London is now the most expensive public transport capital in the world.

The research compared the cost of cash and Oyster card fares for a single Tube journey in zone 1&2, a day travel card and a zone 1&2 monthly travelcard with 7 other European capitals as well as New York, Moscow an Tokyo.

Commenting on the research, Geoff Pope, said:

"London is officially the world's most expensive public transport capital. Unfortunately, sky high tube fares do not mean value for money: Londoners are paying the price for overcrowded and unreliable journeys.

'Monthly fares for regular commuters are extortionate - well over twice New York, Paris or Rome. The Mayor can get away with it because he knows he has passengers over a barrel. Cash fares are also scandalous: short journeys are cheaper by black cab. But with the Tube being re-built over the next ten years we are bound to have cancellations and delays. It's time these disruptions were made up for with cheaper tube fares.

'Lowering fares before 7.30 AM would ease overcrowding in the morning rush and help early morning low-paid workers."

ENDS

Notes to the Editors:

1. Tube fare comparison (London fares from 02 January 2007)

City Single Daily Monthly

1 London £4.00 £6.60 £89.10

1 London (Oyster) £1.50 £6.60 £89.10

1 Paris £0.96 £5.65 (€8.35) £35.30

1 New York £1.07 £3.50 ($7.00) £40.51

2 Amsterdam £1.07 (€1.60) £4.24 (€6.30) £23.63 (€35.10)

3 Athens £0.85 (€0.80) £2.02 (€3.00) £23.57 (€35.00)

4 Lisbon £0.67 (€1.00) £11.75 (€17.45)

5 Berlin £1.41 (€2.10) £3.91 (€5.80) £45.11 (€67.00)

6 Madrid £0.67 (€1.00) £2.36 (€3.50) £24.90 (€37.00)

7 Rome £0.67 (€1.00) £2.96 (€4.00) £20.19 (€30.00)

8 Moscow £0.19 (R10)

9 Tokyo £1.51 (350JPY) £3.07 (710 JPY) £72.87 (16, 820 JPY)

1 Fares from Assembly Budget Committee scrutiny report http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/budgmtgs/2006/budsep14/item05b.pdf

2 Single fare from Rough Guide, July 2005, daily and monthly fares from Amsterdam Tourist Board 00 31 202 018 800

3 Single and daily fare from http://www.athensinfoguide.com/gettingaround.htm#2

Monthly fare from http://urbanrail.net/eu/ath/athens.htm

4 Fares from http://www.metrolisboa.pt/Default.aspx?tabid=273 Applies to central area of metro network. No daily ticket available

5 From http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/Bvg/Index/folder/709/name/Fares+Overview

6 From Madrid Tourist Office 00 34 91 429 4951 (fare for central zone)

7 Rome Tourist Office 00 39 0682 059 127

8 Fare from Hedonist's Guide to Moscow, Oct 2005. Fares increase every few months, so accuracy is difficult

9 Fares from Japan National Tourist Organisation. Single fare is zones 1 and 2 added together

2. Tube fare comparison statistics

Single cash fares

· London's cash single fare is over two and a half times that of the next most expensive city (£4.00 compared to Tokyo's £1.51)

· London's cash single fare is almost three times the price of the European average (£4.00 compared to £1.37)

· London's cash single fare is almost four times that of New York (£4.00 compared to £1.07)

Single Oyster fares

· London's Oyster fare is 53% higher than the European average (£1.50 compared with £0.98)

· London's Oyster fare is 56% higher than the world average (£1.50 compared with £0.96)

Monthly fares

· London's monthly fare is over twice the world average (£89.10 compared to £38.69)

· London's monthly fare is seven and a half times that of the cheapest monthly fare (Lisbon's £11.75)

· London's monthly fare is over two and a half times the European average (£89.10 compared to £34.19)