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Echoing some previous posters, I believe that this is the natural result of many years of accumulated greed by executives, be they captains of industry or public sector chiefs/QUANGOcrats.
My initial feeling was that it was indeed an utter liberty to demand a bonus for performing their regular jobs, but what may be seen as cynicism on the part of the bus drivers/train drivers etc is easy to understand. Even if they do get these £500 payments, this will be a mere 160th of the £80,000 bonuses that TfL directors stand to receive.
Elsewhere we see so-called golden parachutes for failing executives, often for as much as 5 or 6 times what the average Brit will earn in a lifetime. Meanwhile those nearer the bottom of the employment pyramid are made redundant and often offered as little as 1 weeks salary per year worked with whatever the company or organisation is.
At the risk of straying into tinfoil hat territory, I think that we are rapidly approaching a tipping point where widespread social unrest/violence will result.
I worked in a Unionised workplace once. The Unions hated the idea of performance related bonuses. Their line was that if there was money available for bonuses it should go to everyone equally however well or badly they had performed that year. Way to motivate people !
That kind of thinking leads to this kind of insanity.