A transport campaigner has said that Transport for London (TfL) needs to consider increasing passenger fares in order to improve rail services.

The London Assembly met with people working to improve the transport industry to discuss the future of rail services in London this week.

While there was overall agreement between assembly members that services needed to be improved, there we major concerns about how this could be done.

TfL have a deficit of nearly £1 billion pounds this year.

Labour London Assembly member Tom Copley was the first to raise this issue asking how improved rail services would be paid for.

David Leam, infrastructure director for London First – a campaign group working to improve public transport in London – said: “TfL will have to rely on central government grants, but we have to be realistic that that will not cover all costs.”

“One of the biggest challenges we have in London is funding transport improvements. We need to start to look at doing this through increased fares or taxes.

“Londoners are going to have to do their bit.”

In 2017 TfL received £2.35 billion in central government grants, making-up 23 per cent of its funding.

In the same year it got £4.8 billion from passenger fares which made up 47 per cent of its funding.

But at a meeting between the assembly and the transport body yesterday, concerns were raised about the reliability of income from fares due to declining passenger numbers and a fare freeze on 70 per cent of TfL services.

Mr Leam today suggested that the demand for rail travel in the capital has gone down because more people are working part-time and from home.

He added: “We need to look at how rail tickets can match the changing needs of people’s day-to-day lives better.

“There is uncertainty over demand for transport at the moment and I think people are still trying to get their heads around it.

“There are changes in people’s working activities, people are also doing more shopping online and coming into central London less.”

Mr Leam also suggested that introducing a “tourism tax” could help bring in more money for TfL.