> TfL is a great example: sucks down tens of billions in public money to subsidise the wealthiest people in the country...the North-East is still missing motorways and we are spending £20bn on the Elizabeth line...okay.
TfL no longer receives any central government funding (beyond COVID money, but every aspect of public transport in the U.K. got buckets of money for that), this is despite being required to maintain a significant chunk of London surface roads and bridges. Something that councils normally receive central subsidies for.
Additionally for Crossrail, the Dft only provided £5b in direct funding. The remainder is either loans TfL will have to repay, or has come from locally collected taxes like council tax, and business rates. All of which only impact London residents and businesses.
> also, we had to bailout TfL twice I believe, they are not an example of the system working, tbf there isn't a lot management can do with the workforce
That’s hardly fair. London is the only capital city in the world where it’s public transport get zero subsidies, and costs have to be covered entirely by fare collection and advertising. The central government told people not to take public transport, then forced TfL to run a full service, despite there being 60% fewer passengers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that isn’t going to be financially possible, despite TfL always having 6 months of emergency operating capital on hand. Additionally TfL’s status as a local authority means it can’t operate in a deficit, ever. So it can’t borrow to cover short term cash flow issues. Long story short, government rules and requirements placed TfL in a position where it was either getting a bailout, or collapsing. Nothing short of 3 years of spare operating capital, approximately £30b, would have prevented this situation.
Also worth mentioning that every other public transport operator in the U.K. also collapsed, and needed to be bailed out as well. So it’s a little unfair to single out TfL.
TfL has also become a partisan issue because the Conservative government sees it as an arm of the usually Labour controlled Greater London Authority. For instance, when commuters were begging for TfL to take control of the garbage South Eastern routes in the South East of London during Boris Johnson's Majorship (the area most neglected, transport wise), the transport minister at the time vetoed it because it could mean it fell into the hands of a Labour GLA.
I'd say TfL is far far more popular than any of the private companies and for good reason.
If we funded it properly and extended this approach (running things for the people, not for shareholders) to the rest of Britain it would be a good thing.
In theory this is what Great British Rail will do. They own the network and trains, and use a concession model to bring in private entities to actually drive the train and manage the details of day-to-day operations. Exactly how TfL manages their entire network.
You can guarantee that if you make any comment about TfL on here, you will be dogpiled by all the Londoners explaining how their lavish subsidies are actually justified. Every. Single. Time.
I covered most of what you replied to in my answer.
> Londoners explaining how their lavish subsidies are actually justified.
What subsidies? Please be explicit. London contributes £36b more each year to public purse than it receives in public spending [1]. I’m not sure how a net £36b fiscal contribution to to the tax pot can be considered a subsidy, unless your saying it’s unfair that London subsidies the rest of the U.K. to the tune of £36b a year.
I would also point out that Londons contribution to rest of the U.K. has grown £10b over the last 4 years. So London is receiving even less for its tax pounds than ever before.
TfL no longer receives any central government funding (beyond COVID money, but every aspect of public transport in the U.K. got buckets of money for that), this is despite being required to maintain a significant chunk of London surface roads and bridges. Something that councils normally receive central subsidies for.
Additionally for Crossrail, the Dft only provided £5b in direct funding. The remainder is either loans TfL will have to repay, or has come from locally collected taxes like council tax, and business rates. All of which only impact London residents and businesses.
> also, we had to bailout TfL twice I believe, they are not an example of the system working, tbf there isn't a lot management can do with the workforce
That’s hardly fair. London is the only capital city in the world where it’s public transport get zero subsidies, and costs have to be covered entirely by fare collection and advertising. The central government told people not to take public transport, then forced TfL to run a full service, despite there being 60% fewer passengers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that isn’t going to be financially possible, despite TfL always having 6 months of emergency operating capital on hand. Additionally TfL’s status as a local authority means it can’t operate in a deficit, ever. So it can’t borrow to cover short term cash flow issues. Long story short, government rules and requirements placed TfL in a position where it was either getting a bailout, or collapsing. Nothing short of 3 years of spare operating capital, approximately £30b, would have prevented this situation.
Also worth mentioning that every other public transport operator in the U.K. also collapsed, and needed to be bailed out as well. So it’s a little unfair to single out TfL.