Fewer than one in 10 support PPP

The Government's Tube plans have suffered a crushing blow, with fewer than one in 10 commuters backing the scheme.

The highly contentious public-private partnership (PPP) has the support of a mere seven per cent of transport users, according to independent research out today. In contrast, 43 per cent support Mayor Ken Livingstone's assertion that PPP will be inefficient and unsafe, with the remainder undecided.

Such high levels of public opposition will put further pressure on the Government to modify its version of PPP, due to be decided on in January. A spokeswoman for TfL today said: "This survey backs up our view that PPP is unworkable."

Massive levels of commuter dissatisfaction are also revealed in the annual London Transport Survey, carried out by independent pollsters MSB.

Only nine per cent of the 1,000 travellers surveyed thought the Tube had improved in any way over the past year. A third said disruption and reliability had got even worse.

And 41 per cent of mainline train users were dissatisfied with the service they received, a figure that rose to 60 per cent for value for money.