London’s cycling budget will reduce significantly under the next Mayor, according to new research The Green Party's Darren Johnson AM has carried out. A Mayor’s Question time response shows how TfL expect cycle funding to fall off a cliff in years to come.
Darren questioned the Mayor about London’s cycling budget after 2016/17. The Mayor responded that in 2016/17 Transport for London will spend £166m on cycling but this will drop to just £68m by 2020/21.
Transport for London predicts that cycling numbers will rise considerably over this period. These cuts to the cycling budget do not take into account further cuts that could affect TfL’s future spending as a result of the government’s comprehensive spending review.
Mayors response to future cycle funding question
Darren said
“These extreme cuts to the cycling budget are set to kick in just as cycling is set to rocket in London. The next Mayor should be investing consistently year-on-year to bring London’s cycling infrastructure up to continental standards, not letting funding fall off a cliff edge and leaving cyclists to face danger. The London Assembly agreed unanimously that cycling’s share of funding should match the proportion of London trips taken by bike and that would mean at least £200m of TfL’s budget at today’s level of cycling, not a pathetic £31m. I urge the next Mayor to spend more to make cycling safer and more appealing in London and to intervene to reverse these planned cuts.”
Notes to editors
Budget allocation for cycling in each of the years from 2017/18 to 2021/22?
The Mayor:
TfL is currently in the process of setting the budget for cycling in 2016/17 and beyond. The table below sets out the historic annual expenditure, the current year forecast and the draft budget for 2016/17 and business plan allocations for the remainder of the £912m ten year Cycling Vision programme.
Year £m Source
2012/13 to 2015/16 302 Actual spend
2016/17 155 Draft budget
2017/18 166 Draft plan
2018/19 124 Draft plan
2019/20 66 Draft plan
2020/21 68 Draft plan
2021/22 31 Draft plan
Total 912