London Assembly Conservatives expose Mayor's exorbitant advertising budget
New figures obtained by the London Assembly Conservatives have revealed that Transport for London has spent a whopping £50 million on advertising since 2003.
The figures also show that TfL spent £27 million on ‘information’, which includes the infamous ‘good service’ announcements on the Tube.
In 2006 alone, TfL spent £21 million on advertising. This year, they have spent £5.69m in just four months, already £690,000 over the budget for the entire year at the Department for Transport.
London Assembly Conservative Transport Spokesman Roger Evans AM said “They’ve spent more on telling Londoners how good they are in four months than the Department for Transport have budgeted telling the entire country how good they are for the whole year.
“By comparison, they have only earmarked £20 million to help install Oyster readers at railway stations - a measure that is badly needed. If they cut out this excessive waste, they could achieve a tangible benefit for Londoners from the savings by ensuring Oyster is available to rail users sooner than 2009 - the current expected date when the initiative will be complete.
“There is simply no justification for having spent £50 million over the last four years on selling themselves. Londoners would think far better of them if they had used that money to keep fares down- currently one some of the priciest in the world.”Weekend Tube closures and engineering
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June 28, 2007