TfL fare increases 2023: how much are London bus and Tube prices going up by - and how to find cost of fares

Fares on London buses and Underground services are set to jump by almost 6%, according to city mayor Sadiq Khan.

Khan said that Transport for London (TfL) had been left with no choice but to increase its fares in line with national changes after receiving a £1.2 billion government bailout last year.

The 5.9% increase is the biggest in 10 years and will come into effect at the beginning of March. It will add 10p to a single bus fare and 30p to a single Tube journey in the central Zone 1.

Announcing the changes alongside an increase in council tax, Khan said: “I froze TfL fares for five years from 2016 to make transport more affordable for millions of Londoners. But my hands have been tied since the pandemic by the strict conditions set by the Government in the recent emergency funding agreement for TfL, which means fares have to be increased in London by the same amount as national rail fares – 5.9 per cent.”

As part of bailout conditions set by the government, £20 per household from the council tax increase will also be diverted to TfL.

The changes mean a daily single bus fare will rise to £1.75, while the daily cap on multiple bus trips will increase from £4.95 to £5.25. The seven-day bus and tram pass will go up £1.40 from £23.30 to £24.70.

On the Underground, Zone 1 fares will rise by 30p at on-peak times and 20p off-peak. Most other single Tube fares will increase by 10p. Khan said this was to keep cost as low as possible for Londoners commuting in from the suburbs and reflected the fact journeys solely within Zone 1 were more likely to be for tourism or leisure.

Tube travel caps will also increase by different amounts depending on zones. For Zone 1-4 daily caps will increase by 70p and weekly travel will go up by £3.50. The daily cap on Zone 1-6 will increase by 80p to £14.90, and the weekly cap will go up £4 from £70.50 to £74.50.

Although free travel for teenagers and the over-60s will remain in place, a temporary policy which charged them for travelling before 9am has now been made permanent.

Passenger can check individual fares and travel pass costs on the TfL fare finding service.

Peter Fortune, deputy leader of the GLA Conservatives, said London was "now facing a major cost of Khan crisis".

"Sadiq Khan’s council tax will have risen 57% since he was elected, as he hits Londoners with another big increase in fares and a ULEZ tax that targets the poorest," he said.

"The mayor wants to impose an eye-watering and unaffordable cost of living burden on Londoners to compensate for his own financial mismanagement."