Page 265 of the draft Mayor's Transport Strategy main document https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/transport/our-vision-transport/draft-mayors-transport-strategy-2017has the words: "...the fundamentally inadequate and unfair way in which road use is paid for in London, with motorists paying too little, and in effect being subsidised by public transport fare payers. " No costing or reference is given to support this. As a management consultant working in the transport and government sectors, I am intrigued as to the reasoning. Please respond under the Freedom of Information Act giving a breakdown of your - figures for what motorists pay towards the roads - figures for what public transport users pay towards subsidising them - main working assumptions (e.g. if the figures are just an estimate, or are an average over a number of years) - sources and references (e.g. cite central government statistics, GLA or third party document).

---

TfL Ref: 1552-1718 

 

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 21 September 2017 asking for information about the draft Mayor’s Transport Strategy. 

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm that we hold the information you require.  You asked: 

 

Page 265 of the draft Mayor's Transport Strategy main document https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/transport/our-vision-transport/draft-ma 

yors-transport-strategy-2017 has the words: 

"...the fundamentally inadequate and unfair way in which road use is paid for in London, with motorists paying too little, and in effect being subsidised by public transport fare payers. " 

 

No costing or reference is given to support this. As a management consultant working in the transport and government sectors, I am intrigued as to the reasoning.  

 

Please respond under the Freedom of Information Act giving a breakdown of your 

- figures for what motorists pay towards the roads 

- figures for what public transport users pay towards subsidising them 

- main working assumptions (e.g. if the figures are just an estimate, or are an average over a number of years) 

- sources and references (e.g. cite central government statistics, GLA or third party document).  

 

A meaningful Excel spreadsheet would be fine for the calculations; MS-Word or PDF or Powerpoint format preferred for other documents.  

 

 

There is a widely held view that motorists pay too little given the external costs of car use.  These external costs include the congestion imposed on other road users, the costs of deaths and serious injuries involving cars, of air pollution, noise and community severance, for example. More specifically, within the narrower context of funding London’s transport system, road users contribute vastly less than public transport fare payers for their use of the network. Either Government should give London a greater share of what is paid to them by motorists in London, or motorists in London should pay more in total towards the operation and capital cost incurred in the provision of the road network they use.  It is not fair that the only option is for public transport fares to make up the shortfall in funding required. A breakdown of TfL’s income from road users and the costs of operating and improving the road network is below.  

 

 

Funding for London’s roads 

The Transport for London (TfL) financial position relating to roads is set out in the 2016 TfL Business Plan[1], of which the relevant extract is shown below. A more detailed breakdown of income and expenditure for 2017-18 is in Appendix A also below.   

 

 

			Forecast	Plan	Plan	Plan	Plan	Plan
£m			2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Operating income			315	391	403	393	383	387
Direct operating cost			-650	-666	-654	-648	-604	-598
Indirect operating cost			-83	-88	-75	-76	-79	-78
Net operating deficit			-418	-363	-326	-331	-300	-289
Capital renewals			-131	-107	-133	-151	-178	-167
New capital investment			-148	-123	-122	-228	-281	-226
Total capital expenditure			-279	-230	-255	-379	-459	-393

 

 

This shows there is a large deficit between the costs of operating and maintaining the road network and the income generated from it.  

 

However, as of 1 April 2018 TfL will not receive any operating income from Government as the DfT general grant is being phased out during the financial year 2017/18^[2].   As TfL does not receive any operating grant from Government, TfL does not receive any share of VAT or duties on petrol or diesel paid by motorists to operate and maintain the TfL road network. 

 

Unlike Highways England, who are responsible for the strategic road network outside London, TfL is not currently due to receive any share of Roads Fund which from 2020 will use ring fenced money coming directly from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)[3].  The Government is due to consult on a Major Roads Network which could see elements of VED funding allocated to local authorities, but it is currently not clear if any of this will be allocated to London[4]. 

 

This means that, from 2018/19 onwards, Government funding is no longer available to fund the operating deficit on TfL’s roads. Therefore, the operating deficit on roads is essentially being cross subsidised by the operating surplus on London Underground, which in 2018/19 is £526m[5]. 

 

 

1. http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-business-plan-december-2016.pdf (page 65) 

2  http://content.tfl.gov.uk/spending-review-2015-funding-agreement-letter-march-2016.pdf

 

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572825/roads-investment-roads-funding-package.pdf

 

4. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624990/transport-investment-strategy-web.pdf

 

5. http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-business-plan-december-2016.pdf (page 45) 

 

 

Appendix A – Breakdown of roads income and expenditure (2017/18) 

 

Income summary	£m
Congestion charging income	184
Congestion charging enforcement	104
Road network compliance	56
On street enforcement	20
Other	27
Total operating income	391

 

Operating expenditure summary	£m
TfL Road Network operations and maintenance	(134)
Borough investment (LIPs)	(163)
Congestion Charging operating costs	(98)
*Roads and Transport policing	(103)
Staffing	(95)
Other	(73)
Total direct operating costs	(666)
Indirect costs	(88)
Total operating expenditure	(754)

 

Capex and net funding requirement	£m
Net operating deficit	(363)
Capital renewals	(107)
New capital investment	(123)
Total funding requirement	(593)

 

 

*NB: Further analysis has apportioned the RTPC costs across buses, roads and rail modes. This has estimated that c.£40m of the c£100m on RTPC relates to Roads, with the remainder relating to public transport. This will be reflected in the 2017 TfL Business Plan.  

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.  

 

Yours sincerely  

 

 

Sara Thomas 

FOI Case Management Team 

General Counsel 

Transport for London 

Back to top

---