Sadiq Khan has been accused of endorsing a "nanny state culture" in London, after it emerged that Transport for London (TfL) has spent almost £4.5 million on posters within the last three years.
Some of the posters have messages on them such as "take extra care after drinking alcohol" and "use the lift with luggage and buggies" among the 297 master advertising poster designs that have been produced.
TfL spent a total of £4,448,698.31 on posters in the last three years, analysis from the Taxpayers Alliance shows. It spent £1,304,310 in 2021/22, £1,222,176 in 2022/3 and £1,922,212 in 2023/24.
This comes despite several walkouts as a result of pay disputes and a number of publicly funded bailouts for TfL.
TfL spent a total of £4,448,698.31 on posters in the last three years
PA/Taxpayers' Alliance
Jonathan Eida, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Londoners are tired of TfL's endless lectures. Commuters can barely enter a station without being beaten over the head by the all-knowing nanny state.
"Transport bosses should focus less on preaching and more on punctuality."
Khan faced criticism today after he announced plans to rebrand the overground lines at a cost to the taxpayer of £6.3million.
Each line will be given an individual colour and names including Lioness, Mildmay, Windrush, Weaver, Suffragette and Liberty.
The Mayor said the project would prevent "nightmare" journeys.
But the Conservative Mayoral Candidate for London, Susan Hall, said: "1,000 people have been killed under his Mayoralty, and yet Sadiq Khan is only interested in this virtue signalling nonsense.
"The only surprise from today's announcement is that he hasn't named one of them the Sadiq line."
Speaking from Highbury and Islington today, Khan said: "We speak to customers every day who find it a nightmare getting across these 113 stations across these six separate lines. They are all called London Overground, all have the orange colour.
"You'll recognise from this great city of ours, we've got 12 Tube lines with distinct names, distinct colours, we've got the Elizabeth line.
"But these six particular lines are quite confusing - how do you get from Liverpool Street to White Hart Lane? How do you get from Croydon to Enfield? It's the same colour line, 113 stations, and it's a nightmare.
"So what we've done is, we've engaged with customers, with local communities, with industry experts, with historians, and announced today six brilliant new names for these six distinct lines that will make it much easier for commuters to get across our great city."
TfL spent £1,304,310 in 2021/22, £1,222,176 in 2022/3 and £1,922,212 in 2023/24
Taxpayers' Alliance
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He added: "The challenge is how you get around our fantastic stations and public transport network. We also know we are a city that has the largest number of tourists in the world. How do tourists get around our great city?
"So it's been a long process, we've been engaging with customers, communities, people across our city. We've announced the six names today. Not everybody is going to be happy, but we think we've managed to please most people which is really important."
Emma Strain, TfL’s Customer Director, said: “We’re responsible for London’s vast and complex public transport and road network, and it is vital that we communicate key information to customers to make their journeys safer and easier.
“Our campaigns provide customers with key information about transport services and related activities. They have focused on a wide range of issues including, messaging to support Londoners to get the best value fare, information on improvements to the network and safety messages.
“Safety is a key priority on our network and we use posters to remind our customers that slips, trips and falls are the biggest cause of accidents in stations. We continually monitor the effectiveness of our campaigns in improving safety and adjust our approach accordingly.”
