Last night, Simon Harris told you how Mayor Boris Johnson was likely to announce hefty fare increases on London's transport... today. Well, guess what - Simon was right. The 2010 fare package for Tfl says that bus and Tube fares will go up 12.7% and 3.9% respectively from the New Year and the congestion charge is likely to go up from £8 to £10 at some point soon as well. Some services will be cut with a reduction in bus schedules and fewer off-peak trains in outer London.
There are various caveats, price-freezes and some pre-paid savings to be had but the bottom line is that a single tube journey in zone one using a pay-as-you-go Oyster card will go up from £1.60 to £1.80 and single bus journeys using an Oyster card will go up to £1.20 hitting Londoners where it hurts at a time when they can least afford it. Boris says this is a necessary evil, blaming 'mistakes of the past' as well as the recession. The scheme is expected to raise £125m a year as Boris looks to shave five BILLION pounds off the Tfl budget by 2018. He says if we don't pay up now we'll end up having to shell out more later, but you can't help thinking there will be loads of Londoners who feel the '2010 fare package', should be re-branded the '2010 unfair package.'
Have your say at six.
Also tonight, we report on the nun who has crowds flocking top see her more than a century after she died.... and Ronke Phillips tells us how healthcare in east London has been ranked as the worst in Britain in a nationwide survey of the NHS.
On the lighter side of life, Sally Rourke - who can always be relied upon to unearth a good story - is literally digging into London's past later with a group of young archeologists. Apparently, everything from Roman artefacts to dinosaur fossils and sharks' teeth (?) have been found beneath the city's streets and Sally will be getting her hands dirty with her literal interpretation of how to make television history, later.
Someone else who would be quite happy getting hands-on with her assignment today is our Entertainment Correspondent Lucy Cotter. She's on the trail of Hollywood A-List artefact George Clooney. Lucy's interviewed him before and was, shall we say, quite taken with him. In fact, she asked him to marry her live on air and he said yes, but she's heard nothing since which is, frankly, rude Mr. Clooney! He's in town at the London Film Festival with his new movie, "Men Who Stare At Goats" premiering in Leicester Square later. Lucy will be staking her place in the media huddle tonight after scouring the city for a glimpse of her betrothed all day. Don't forget to tune in later for the Leicester Square premiere of Lucy's new movie: 'Women Who Stare at George Clooney!'
Matt and Katie
