Transport for London to Place a Quarter of Its Staff on Furlough

(Bloomberg) --

Transport for London will place 7,000 of its staff on furlough from April 27, as the coronavirus pandemic impacts its operations.

The move will allow the London transport agency to access funding from the U.K. government’s Job Retention Scheme and save an estimated 15.8 million pounds every four weeks, according to a statement issued by TfL on Friday morning.

The decision, affecting about 25% of the organization’s workforce, will be implemented for an initial period of three weeks. London’s Transport Commissioner Mike Brown said in the statement that the agency’s work with the government about the support it needs was “ongoing” and “constructive”.

TfL says that Tube journeys have now fallen by 95% and buses journeys by 85% since the government announced a lockdown in the country. “This has meant that TfL’s main source of income has almost disappeared,” the agency added.

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