• Question by: Victoria Borwick
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Victoria Borwick AM: The point about us having this open discussion today - which, as you have said before, is not just seen in this Chamber but obviously through people watching it elsewhere and on the web - is that I hope you feel and understand the strength that we feel in supporting this unique part of London’s transport infrastructure. I also wanted to mention disabled accessibility and how important that is. The guys who become black cab taxi drivers have trained for many years, as you say yourself. They have invested in their vehicle, they have invested in their...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

James Cleverly AM: I declare an interest. I have a large number of taxi drivers resident in my constituency and I also have a large number of black cab users. One of the concerns I have from both the operators and the users of black cabs in suburban London is the availability of suburban taxi ranks. Will you pay serious consideration? Will you talk to officers at TfL about making availability on the roads that we control and making greater availability at suburban transport hubs for suburban taxi ranks?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Darren Johnson AM: You say that we need to raise our game on touting. Can I just have your assurance, therefore, that you will urge TfL to implement fully the recommendations from the cross-party evidence-based report that this Assembly did?

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: Thank you very much. Mr Mayor, you can see the huge support that we have had from the taxi and private hire industries for our report, which I do hope you now have had the time to read. There is a desperate need for a simple strategy and a vision for how we can support the industries going forward and, clearly, to sort TfL out because there are huge problems there, as we have raised in our report. You said we have to raise our game; TfL has to hugely raise its game. In the spirit...

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Richard Tracey AM: Indeed, Mr Mayor, a lot of the overall confusion about enforcement and everything is being caused by the proliferation of these apps for securing a car. Can I ask you point blank what the situation is over the legal case and the verification of what Uber [taxi hire mobile phone app] is up to in London? Clearly, it is quite a popular means of getting a car amongst many people, but we really need to be clear.

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Andrew Dismore AM: A straightforward question, Mr Mayor. Please, a straightforward answer. How many police officers did we have in Barnet in May 2010?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Richard Tracey AM: Mr Mayor, it is well recognised that Network Rail is not really very good at co-ordinating. That was particularly shown at Christmastime at King’s Cross. The problems are pretty well-rooted. I recollect that the Secretary of State [for Transport], Patrick McLoughlin, did talk about appointing a special Department for Transport director to Network Rail to make sure and to oversee their co-ordination. Have you heard what progress is being made with that?

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

Steve O’Connell AM: On that same point, it is well argued and it is unanswerable, the case for one coherent transport system under mayoral control. Picking up on Val and James’s point, I wrote last week to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), in essence demanding that it considers proper compensation - and I think there is agreement around this horseshoe - and not the compensation that you can automatically get for 30 minutes late, which is the business-as-usual compensation. We have a structural problem here. My letter to Charles Horton [Chief Executive Officer, GTR] was demanding on behalf of my constituents...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 25 March 2015

James Cleverly AM: Mr Mayor, we have had quite an extensive discussion about the conversations you have had about what is going wrong at London Bridge at the moment. Obviously, my constituents in the London boroughs of Bexley and Bromley traditionally came into platforms 1 to 6 at London Bridge and they have now been constrained to platforms 1 to 3. Can you give me an assurance - or can you help me give my constituents an assurance - that the lessons that hopefully will be learned with the changes made at the platforms that have already been refurbished will...

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 23 February 2015

Andrew Dismore AM: Could you tell me, Mr Mayor, how much you provided for spending on street homelessness in your budget?