"Now help me re-zone Kingston and Surbiton"

3rd May 2008

Davey calls on Johnson to make good his election pledge

Kingston and Surbiton's Liberal Democrat MP, Edward Davey, has written to London's new Mayor, to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss Mr Davey's campaign to re-zone Kingston and Surbiton train stations.

(See the full text of the letter below)

Edward Davey has been running a long campaign to have Kingston and Surbiton train stations re-zoned from zone 6 to zone 5, after huge fare rises came in due to Ken Livinstone's and Labour's move to zonal pricing. During the Mayoral contest, Edward Davey persuaded Boris Johnson to back his campaign and to join him in putting pressure on South West Trains.

Commenting, Edward Davey said:

"Boris Johnson is now boss of Transport for London so he now has a say in how public transport works across the Capital. Given he promised to back my campaign to re-zone Kingston and Surbiton to zone 5 in the election, I'm sure he'll now want to deliver on his election pledge.

"I've naturally congratulated the new Mayor, and made it clear I'm keen to work with him in the interests of the people of Kingston and Surbiton, and I think the re-zoning campaign is an opportunity to make early progress together.

"I'm sure Boris won't let the opposition of Kingston Conservatives to my campaign get in the way of helping me, as he also promised in his election speech to put political differences aside in the interests of the public.

"I've asked for an urgent meeting, as time is getting short if we want to have this in place for January 2009."

Text of my letter to Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson MP
Mayor of London
Greater London Authority, City Hall
The Queen's Walk,
London SE1 2AA

2nd May 2008

First of all, congratulations on your impressive victory. You have a real mandate to take forward your election pledges, and I'm pleased you talked in your acceptance speech about putting political differences aside in the interests of the people of Greater London.

You will recall that we met before Christmas to discuss my campaign to have Kingston and Surbiton train stations moved from zone 6 to zone 5. I was delighted you backed this campaign, and I know from the doorsteps that your pledge was influential here. As you will recall, these stations are almost exactly the average zone 5 distance from Waterloo, and yet are in zone 6. With the move to zonal pricing for day fares and season tickets, this means that the fares per mile travelled are out of line with those from other outer London stations.

I know that you will want to make good your re-zoning promise to the people of Kingston and Surbiton. We have already done a lot of work on the mechanics of re-zoning. We know, for example, that decisions on rezoning have to be made in early summer to have an effect for the following year. For that reason, it is vital that we meet soon, if the change is to happen in 2009.

Transport for London have already said publicly they would back these stations being re-zoned. The Association of Train Operating Companies have told us privately they would not oppose it. I believe that a coalition of supporters, including you as a Mayor with the political authority from having committed to this as part of your election campaign can persuade South West Trains to our cause.

I therefore seek a meeting with you as a matter of urgency to decide how we can best persuade South West Trains to agree to re-zoning. I would bring Susan Kramer MP, as Kingston station is on the borders of her constituency too and she was formerly on the TfL board, and Dr Tim Leunig, a transport economist from the LSE who has done much of the background work on this with me.

Yours sincerely,