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The Evening Standard’s Jack Kessler tells the podcast why Transport for London fares are set to rise by around 5 percent from January, and what that could mean for efforts to bring people back to the city centre.

Normally TfL fares are set each year by the Mayor. But the terms of its third bail-out, agreed by Sadiq Khan with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in May, state: “TfL will continue with its existing plan to increase fares in line with their business planning assumption of an overall fares increase of RPI+ one per cent on fares under the Mayor’s control in January 2022.”

Jack says some experts believe it will put people off returning to the commute, a bill many haven’t had to pay since the pandemic began last year – but there’s little chance of a u-turn. 

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