Boris: fares rises needed to fund TfL

BORIS JOHNSON was today forced to defend Tube and bus fare rises which could see Londoners pay an extra £300 a year.

The new prices which came into effect this month have seen peak Oyster card fares for trips within Zones 1 and 2 rise from £2 to £2.20.

The Mayor was facing questions from members of the London Assembly over his first draft budget which includes a freeze of the Greater London Authority's share of the council tax.

But opposition members said this amounted to a saving of £9 a year - compared with a travel card increase of between £160 and £300.

Mr Johnson, who has promised to cut the GLA's £12billion budget in 2009/10 by £9.1million, said the financial position of Transport for London made the rises inevitable. He said: "They were put in place by the last mayor and abandoned in the run-up to the elections."

Labour's budget spokesman John Biggs said: "Holding tax down with one hand and snatching fares with the other does not represent value for money for working Londoners."