The bus cuts proposed by Transport for London (TfL) would only save £35 million out of the £400 million required, a senior executive at the transport agency has said.
TfL is consulting on cutting sixteen routes – four of which run through Southwark – and changing 78 more under cost-cutting proposals.
But the bus cuts, which residents, drivers, politicians and unions have all warned would have a disastrous impact, would only deliver nine per cent of the savings the government is asking for as part of its funding agreement with TfL.
Asked at the London Assemly transport committee for the level of savings the cuts would result in, Andy Lord, the chief operating officer of TfL, said: “When they’re fully implemented, we believe they will be in the region of £35 million per annum.
He added that the cuts were “not an insubstantial amount obviously in the context of savings we’ve got to make in the wider TfL”. Mr Lord added that the “vast majority” of savings would not come from cutting services.
The four routes that would be affected in Southwark are the 12, the 45, the 78 and the 521. Southwark Council’s overview and scrutiny committee has invited Sadiq Khan to discuss the proposed cuts at a meeting next Wednesday (July 6).
TfL extended the consultation period for the cuts until August 7, after first setting the deadline at July 12, because of extremely high interest.
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