I recently asked how much is Transport for London (TfL) saving as a result of the recent dramatic fall in petrol costs? I only got a partial answer from them in reference solely to the buses as TfL hide behind their contracts with the bus operators just like their did with getting the bus drivers the London Living Wage across all 12 operators recently. It will be interesting to know the answer in relation to the trains as well, which l suspect will be quite different story.

Then l asked if TfL hedged their bets against energy costs with the banks? l got a better response this time. TfL does not currently mitigate its exposure to the risk of changes in energy prices through hedging with banks. In reality TfL has outsourced 99 per cent of its energy purchasing (circa £130 million per annum) to the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), which acts as TfL’s Risk Manager and Framework provider.

I also asked the Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy, at City Hall more directly how will the paying public benefit from these energy cost savings? It did not appear to occur to him that this was a reasonably demand to make of his TfL empire. It will be something l will continue to ask about.