How MILLIONS could get free Tube, bus and train rides as Londoners are encouraged to go back to the office

MILLIONS of people could get free Tube, bus and train rides as part of a scheme to encourage workers to return to the office. Free tickets are being discussed as a way of encouraging people to use public transport in London. Many workers have stayed home and avoided the office during the Covid-19 pandemic due […]

MILLIONS of people could get free Tube, bus and train rides as part of a scheme to encourage workers to return to the office.

Free tickets are being discussed as a way of encouraging people to use public transport in London.

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Many workers have stayed home and avoided the office during the Covid-19 pandemic due to fears of catching the virus, leaving usually-busy stations empty. There has been a gradual increase in people using the Tube since lockdown was relaxed.

The Government is considering introducing the scheme – named ‘First Ride Free’ – to promote the use of public transport for people who have not gone into the city since lockdown began, the Evening Standard reported.

Supporters of the plan hope it will be as popular as Chancellor Rishi Sunak‘s Eat Out To Help Out scheme.

London’s new transport boss Andrew Byford came up with the ‘First Ride Free’ scheme, and it is being discussed with Paul Scully, the Minister for London.

The idea will require financial support from the Government to go ahead – but they are reportedly keen for businesses to share the costs.

Mr Scully said: “I’m looking at all options to show people rather than just tell them that there is a warm and very safe welcome waiting for them when they come back to the centre of our great city.”

A Transport for London spokesman said the ‘First Ride Free’ scheme was “one of a number of options being considered to help encourage people back into central London in the coming months”.

“No final decisions have been made and any option would need to be delivered with government support, and agreed with them as part of ongoing discussions about our finances,” the TfL spokesman said.

“More customers are now returning to public transport and we are seeing steady growth every day. We are delivering a near full tube, bus and rail service and the network is cleaner than ever before.”

BACK TO BUSINESS

Businesses have expressed their support for the idea.

John Dickie, director of policy at non-profit organisation London First which aims to promote the city as an attractive place to do business, said the success of Eat Out To Help Out showed that a similar approach would work towards encouraging the use of public transport.

“Targeted, publicly-funded cut-price travel would encourage people to return to the city and once they’ve experienced public transport they will see for themselves the steps taken to make it safe and hygenic,” he said.

“Getting Londoners back into our central restaurants, galleries and shops now is vital to our city’s economic recovery and to the recovery of the Government’s tax base.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson called upon the country in July to get back to the office and stop working from home where possible.

He said: “It’s very important that people should be going back to work if they can now.

“I think everybody has sort of taken the ‘stay at home if you can’ advice – I think we should now say, well, ‘go back to work if you can’.”