THE resignation of Andy Byford as London’s Transport Commissioner is a blow for the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and a blow for Londoners. Mr Byford was widely respected, and helped negotiate a funding deal with the Government which partly addresses TfL’s shortfall in revenue due to Covid. Given the frosty relationship between ministers and City Hall, it was useful that the Commissioner was highly regarded throughout the industry. The Mayor is now on his third TfL commissioner and his third deputy mayor for transport.
Mr Byford is leaving for family reasons, but it is reasonable to surmise that the challenges he faced didn’t help. There was endless wrangling with a hostile government over five bailouts. There is also something of a continuing brain drain from TfL itself, a problem that he warned about: the successive resignations inevitably affected morale. TfL has unresolved problems with pensions and staff cuts. There is, moreover, disquiet about proposed cuts to many bus routes. And there are more Tube and bus strikes to come.
