TfL racks up £600,000 advertising bill to promote yet-to-launch late night service
Transport for London (TfL) has spent £600,000 on advertising the yet-to-launch night tube, according to figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information act.
Some £200,000 has been ploughed through digital and social media channels in a bid to raise awareness of the service. Meanwhile, around £245,000 has been spent on radio, press and out of home between the campaign’s launch in June last year and 13 January.
Additional costs for production and distribution also ran into the hundreds of thousands
Overall, £608,214, was spent despite the service still does not having an official launch date. TfL is still in talks with unions over pay and plans for the night Tube, with leaders criticising the pre-mature running of the campaign as well as how much was spent.
However, a TfL spokesperson told the Guardian that it approved the campaign on the expectation that an agreement with rail unions would have been reached before the planned launch on 12 September last year.