Fares in big rise

9:59am Thursday 6th October 2005

Bus and tram fares are set to rise next year for passengers travelling without an Oyster card.

Fares are set to rise by 30p from £1.20 to £1.50 for passengers paying cash to travel on Croydon's trams and by bus.

However, for people using Oyster cards the current £1 fare at peak times and 80p for off-peak travel will remain the same.

London's Mayor Ken Livingstone announced the fare hike yesterday (Tuesday) saying it is was an attempt to encourage more people to use the pre-pay system on journeys rather than cash.

He said: "This proposed fares package focuses on halving the number of cash journeys made in 2006, to speed up journeys and improve the efficiency of the network.

"The simple message is you don't have to pay the new cash fares switch to Oyster and pay-as-you-go and you will save money as well as time. I believe Londoners are astute enough to choose the best value fare for their journey."

Andrew Pelling, London Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton, accused Mr Livingstone of breaking his pre-election promise not to increase fares.