TRANSPORT for London spent £78 million on advertising and communications last year, new figures have revealed.

The news comes after the Ealing Times learned that bus fares were set to rise by a further ten per cent, on top of the rate of inflation, from January.

That means a single journey currently costing £1.50 would rise to around £1.69, bringing around an extra £8.5 million in revenue a week.

London Assembly Conservatives have reacted with "utter disbelief" at the figures, which were released in a letter from TfL Interim director of marketing Nigel Marson to Roger Evans, Conservative spokesman for transport.

Mr Evans said: "When London's transport network is reportedly the most expensive in the world, it is astounding that TfL chooses to spend £78 million on advertising a service that Londoners using public transport have to use.

"Instead of this shameless self-promotion, TfL could use this money to freeze or reduce fares."

Richard Barnes, Ealing member of the London Assembly and Conservative spokesman for policing, said: "In these uncertain times, where the security of the transport network is paramount in the minds of Londoners, instead of channelling additional resources towards security, Transport for London, a public transport monopoly, has decided to advertise its brand.

"£78 million pounds is simply excessive when you consider that such funding would allow the recruitment of a further 1,500 police officers who could patrol the London transport network providing reassurance and additional security."

Now the Ealing Times has learned that TfL plans to release a new prime time TV campaign on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to run for 12 weeks.

The cost could be as much as £60,000 a minute for each of the slots.

But the deputy head of media at TfL, Stephen Webb, said the expenditure was justified as it was only a small percentage of an annual £6 billion budget.

"Our marketing spend covers public information for our 10 million daily passengers," he said.

"For example, every bus stop in London has a tailored timetable and route map and each Tube station carries a similar amount of specific information.

"We also run a number of high-profile campaigns on important issues such as reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads and advising women to avoid taxi-touts and use only licensed mini-cabs."