"Mayor needs to encourage poorest communities in London to take up Oystercard" - Pope

12.46.37pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Apr 2007

Commenting on the announcement today by the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone that Transport for London are mounting a major new campaign to encourage all Londoners to take up Oyster cards by offering 100,000 of the cards free of any deposit payment, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport spokesman Geoff Pope said:

"We have long told the Mayor that he needs to encourage the poorest communities in London to take up the use of Oystercard - the Liberal Democrats put this forward as a budget proposal earlier this year - but is a general advertising campaign really the best way to go about it? Transport for London need to be much more pro-active in targeting these hard to reach groups and making sure that those who are in real need of financial support benefit from the scheme."

Notes to editors:

Details of teh mayor's announcement can be seen at http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=11611