By James Ford

Londoners are set to pay through the nose to ride on the tube, take a bus or drive their cars in the capital from March and every March until the end of the decade. But what improvements (if any) can they expect to see in exchange for being squeezed financially?

The deal is done. The fix is in. Tube fares are going to rise by a whopping, inflation-busting 5.8 per cent next March. Nor is this a one-off hit for London transport users. TfL fares will rise by more than the rate of inflation (RPI 1 per cent) every single year until 2030.

Nor can Londoners make a conscious decision to avoid higher fares by switching to their cars; the daily congestion charge is set to rise 20 per cent, helping TfL to net an extra £1billion a year in charges, tolls and fines. Even bus fares – previously capped in the capital – are expected to rise by 10p (to £1.85) a journey from July 2026.

That is the deal that Mayor Sadiq Khan struck with the government in the spending round earlier this year. He got a multi-year transport funding settlement (worth £2.2 billion), but in return, Londoners would bear the pain of eye-watering fare hikes year after year.

It is fair to say that the list of ways in which Khan is different from his nemesis Donald Trump is pretty extensive. But, based on this bargain with the devil that the Mayor of London has struck, it seems certain that no........

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