More Tubes and buses are coming, but bad news for commuters

Transport for London (TfL) has secured a £1.6bn government bailout after the coronavirus pandemic caused its income to fall by 90%.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan had been warning that services on Tubes and buses would have to be cut if a financial injection wasn't agreed by the end of the day.

A source close to his office told Sky News that fares would have to rise under the terms of the deal, which would also see government officials join TfL's board.

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The settlement – £505m of which is in the form of a loan – emerged days after Sky News revealed TfL was facing the prospect of a £4bn loss.

Stay-at-home orders have seen TfL passenger numbers collapse during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The transport authority has furloughed 7,000 staff in order to access government money to subsidise their wages and save cash – and despite halting 300 construction projects, its costs have still been running at £600m a month.

Any cuts to Tube or bus services would have threatened efforts to get key sectors of the economy back to work following seven weeks of coronavirus hibernation.

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The mayoral source said: "The government has belatedly agreed financial support for TfL to deal with COVID-19 – as they have for every other train and bus operator in the country.

"But they have forced ordinary Londoners to pay a very heavy price for doing the right thing on COVID-19 by hiking TfL fares, temporarily suspending the Freedom Pass at busy times and loading TfL with debt that Londoners will pay for in the long run."