Monty Python star backs Fair Fares Now campaign - Michael Palin joins protesters at Charing Cross station

Published: 06 January 2011
by JOSH LOEB

ACTOR Michael Palin joined activists protesting against ticket fare rises at Charing Cross station this week. 

Fair Fares Now, a new campaign group set up by sustainable transport charity Campaign for Better Transport, is calling for “cheaper, simpler, fairer” tickets.

Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi, who lives in Queen’s Park, said fare rises showed Mayor Boris Johnson was “out of touch” with working Londoners.

Tube and bus fares have risen by at least 6.8 per cent.

On buses single cash tickets in Westminster have risen from £2 to £2.20 – on Oyster this will rise by 10p from £1.20. The daily Oyster cap will increase by 10p to £4. 

On the tube a zone 1-4 weekly travelcard has risen from £34.60 to £39.40. And a zone 1-2 monthly travelcard broke through the £100 barrier for the first time.

A single tube journey from zone 1 to 2 on an Oyster card has risen by an average of 10p from the current £1.80.

Mr Palin, said: “Rail fare rises are holding travellers to ransom, and increasing the likelihood that people will have to take to our already over-crowded roads. Regular price hikes are no way for the government and train companies to reward their regular customers. Instead of milking them, they should be thanking them for their loyalty with a better, simpler, more competitive fare structure.”

• Pictured: Michael Palin is the first to sign up to the campaign.