But unusually only the headline increases were given. It's taken another eight days for the full list of new fares to be issued... silently, without any kind of press release, as part of a Mayoral decision paper. You can read the full details here, download the signed version here or see tables of all the new train fares here. As far as I know no major news providers have noticed yet, or thought it worth reporting.
What follows is my annual summary of TfL's fare rises, with highlighted text for bad news Sadiq hadn't announced before. It's particularly grim if you travel within Zone 1, avoid central London off-peak or plan to ride the cablecar.
Sadiq froze fares for four years before the pandemic but has since been forced to raise them by government-approved amounts. That's 1% above inflation in 2021 (2.6%) and 2022 (4.8%), and a thankfully much-lower-than-inflation rise in 2023 (5.9%). To put that in context, fares rose 7% in 2011, 7% in 2012, 3% in 2014, 2.5% in 2015 and 1% in 2016, because Boris Johnson wasn't afraid of an above-inflation hike.
Here are some of the new fares in historical perspective, with Boris's years in blue and Sadiq's in red.
Cost of a single central London tube journey
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Peak
£2.10
£2.20
£2.30
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.50
£2.80
Off peak
£2.10
£2.20
£2.30
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.40
£2.50
£2.70
After six years at £2.40 and two years at £2.50 the Zone 1 PAYG tube fare suddenly takes a hike. In 2021 it was deliberately left unchanged "to support the wider economic recovery of London" but in 2023 it's leaping 12% because "journeys solely within Zone 1 are more likely to be made for tourism or leisure". Contradictory reasons bring contradictory outcomes.
For the first time ever, a Zone 1 fare will cost more at peak times than off-peak. The peak fare will be £2.80, a 30p increase, while the off-peak fare will be £2.70. These are increases of 12% and 8% respectively, well above the 5.9% headline figure.
n.b. These are PAYG fares for Oyster or contactless users. Those who insist on paying cash will now pay £6.70 rather than £6.30.
Cost of a tube journey from Green Park to Heathrow
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Peak
£5.00
£5.00
£5.10
£5.10
£5.10
£5.10
£5.10
£5.10
£5.30
£5.50
£5.60
Off peak
£3.00
£3.00
£3.10
£3.10
£3.10
£3.10
£3.10
£3.10
£3.30
£3.50
£5.60
Ouch. A Z1-6 fare rises only 10p this year, one of the very lowest increases, but fares to Heathrow are now a special case. In September last year the Mayor announced that travel from Z1 to Heathrow would always be charged at peak rates, hiking prices on the Piccadilly line by £2 overnight. The new tube fare from central London to Heathrow will be £5.60 at all times. This is £2.10 more than it was twelve months ago and a higher fare than any other off-peak journey, even Amersham to Upminster.
But it's still a bargain compared to Crossrail, indeed less than half the purple fare. That's currently £11.50 and will be going even higher in March, although the Mayoral papers don't explicitly state what the new fare will be. What they do say is "The TfL-set additional fare supplements to the Heathrow fares will increase by 40p" and "The Elizabeth line Heathrow supplements for travel via Zone 1 are set at £7.70", so I suspect it'll be breaking the £12 barrier for the first time. If you choose to take Crossrail to the airport you are being milked for the convenience.
For many years all off-peak tube journeys in Z2-6 cost £1.50. In 2021 the Mayor disrupted that by making longer journeys cost more, and this year he distorts the scale again.
Tube (off-peak), journey does not include Z1
1 zone
was £1.60, will be £1.80
2 zones
was £1.70, will be £1.90
3 zones
was £1.80, will be £1.90
4 zones
was £1.90, will be £2.00
5 zones
was £1.90, will be £2.10
Most off-peak outer London journeys are seeing significant hikes. The increases to 1-zone journeys (e.g. Kennington → Brixton), 2-zone journeys (e.g. Finchley Road → Wembley Park) and 5-zone journeys (e.g. Whitechapel → Upminster) are all over 10%. What's more if you consider 2020→2023 the increases are 20% for 1 zone, 27% for 2 or 3 zones, 33% for 4 zones and a massive 40% for 5 zones. Posters across the network used to delight in saying 'Travel off-peak within zones 2-6 for just £1.50', but that's currently £1.90 and I suspect £2.10 isn't going to look as good.
Daily caps for journeys in London are all increasing by the requisite 6%, but you have to be going some across zones 2-6 to ever hit one.
Cost of a single central London bus journey
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
£1.35
£1.40
£1.45
£1.50
£1.50
£1.50
£1.50
£1.50
£1.55
£1.65
£1.75
TfL are often kinder to bus passengers because they include the poorest amongst the electorate, but not this year which sees another 10p rise. This takes the daily cap for bus journeys over £5 for the first time, specifically £5.25. The anomaly whereby a one zone tube ride (e.g Whitechapel to Stratford) was 5p cheaper than taking the bus will no longer apply.
Cost of an annual Z1-3 Travelcard
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
£1424
£1472
£1508
£1520
£1548
£1600
£1648
£1696
£1740
£1808
£1916
No matter what the Mayor decides, Travelcards rise in price in line with National Rail fares which are set by the government. That's also 5.9% which is much lower than inflation but still a fair whack. It also means the price of an annual Z1-3 Travelcard is going to increase by over £100 for the first time.
Finally to the means of transport seeing the sharpest fare increase.
Cost of a single Dangle
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
PAYG
£3.20
£3.30
£3.40
£3.50
£3.50
£3.50
£3.50
£3.50
£4.00
£5.00
£6.00
Walk-up
£4.30
£4.00
£4.40
£4.50
£4.50
£4.50
£4.50
£4.50
£5.00
£6.00
£6.00
Cablecar fares will now be the same however you pay at £6 per crossing. It's already £6 if you rock up at the terminal and buy a boarding pass, like foolish tourists do, but previously Oyster and contactless users got a £1 discount and now they won't. The key phrase hidden away in the Mayoral Decision is "Discounted fares will no longer be available." They're also removing return tickets "to simplify the ticket offering".
This shunts the Dangleway even further into sightseeing territory, assuming it was ever anything but. It also means that if you just want to cross the river then a Thames Clipper ride should be £2 cheaper. Regular Dangleway users should however be delighted that a carnet of 10 tickets remains at the rockbottom price of £17 - a mere £1.70 per crossing - the same as it was ten years ago. Don't expect to see this advertised anywhere, you have to ask at the ticket window, but it is the best bargain in the 2023 fares package.
So brace yourself because all these daily increases soon add up, especially if you're one of those people who just taps their way round the capital and blindly lets TfL charge the going rate. Balancing the books when fewer people are travelling is a tough ask, and if the government won't help foot the bill then you and I are going to have to.
