Tube fares are highest

Tube and mainline rail commuters faced a double blow today as a study revealed that London Underground fares are the highest in the world, while a leading pressure group warned of a "summer of discontent" on the railways.

The minimum fare of £1.60 for a central London journey compares with an equivalent trip in Berlin of £1.40, 97p in Toronto, 95p in New York, 88p in Paris, 84p in Tokyo and 55p in Rome.

Ken Livingstone, who controls the fares even though he will not take charge of the Tube until later this summer, said he had already taken action to curb previous inflation-busting price increases.

He said: "Past government policy gave London the highest fares in the world and some of the worst services.

"Between 1986 and 2000, Tube fares rose 44 per cent in real terms and bus fares by 18 per cent while the cost of car journeys remained static."

The Mayor added: "Since my election, although I do not control the Tube, I have reversed this price spiral by freezing bus fares and pegging Tube fares to the level of inflation."

LU had a policy of increasing fares by at least one per cent above inflation. In practice, however, some fares rose by more than that.

Policy Exchange, a British neo-conservative think-tank, carried out the survey comparing transport-related statistics in seven world cities.

Director Nicholas Boles said: "It is clear the British public get a raw deal when it comes to transport and that much of the blame lies with government."

The survey found that although fewer Britons own cars than in any other G7 nation they pay more for petrol because of the huge amount of tax.

In the UK, on a litre of petrol costing 75p the Government takes 57p in tax. In the US where drivers pay 24p a litre the tax is 6p. It was also found that in Britain there was the highest reluctance to walk anywhere. Despite the transport problems here, only 12 per cent of journeys are made on foot, compared to 30 per cent in France.

Meanwhile, leading pressure group Transport 2000 warned of major problems ahead on the railways because of fare increases and cuts in service as the industry seeks to "free" the tracks and make the trains run on time.

Leaders of the passenger trains companies have been ordered to attend a crisis meeting tomorrow by the governing Strategic Rail Authority to explain how they intend to improve punctuality.

In the last three months of last year fewer than one in four trains, including many commuter services, ran on time.

When the figures are published next month for the first quarter of this year they are expected to show that there has been little, if any, improvement.

The order to attend tomorrow's meeting, however, has angered some train chiefs who say they are not solely responsible for the delays.

One said: "It is true that a lot of the delays happen when our trains break down or there are staff problems. But it is equally true that an awful lot of the problems - more than half sometimes - occur because of track and signal failures for which we are not responsible."

Earlier this year Richard Bowker, the SRA chairman, warned that many improvements planned for the railways may never take place because the investment cash is fast running out.

The Department of Transport will later this year bid for a "significant increase" in the £3.5billion set aside for rail in the Government's 10-year transport policy.

Mr Bowker will tell rail chiefs that unless service is improved there is little chance of getting any extra funding.