• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Lastly, Mr Mayor, people like myself who represent areas on the edge of London have a great reliance on their bus routes around the edges of places like Old Coulsden and North Cheam. It worries many of our residents, many of them elderly or vulnerable, who use the buses perhaps late at night in these dark evenings. The possibility of a cut in fares could see a cut in their services. Would you not agree that is a great concern?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Also some years ago we did a review of crime on buses at the Transport Committee and we discovered that, of the top ten routes that were affected by bus crime in London, the majority were served by bendy buses. What is the removal of the bendy buses going to do to crime on the buses?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Mr Mayor it is a little while since the bendy buses were removed on route 25 which serves my constituency. Can I thank you for straightening out the bus services in my part of the world and ask you to confirm will there be no more bendy buses on the streets of London after the New Year and is this going to be an acheivement of another Mayoral election promise?

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Would you agree, Mr Mayor, that the rather odd notion opposite about drastic fare reductions would have some considerable effect on the safety but also around the infrastructure investment that you anticipate doing through TfL in places like Croydon and elsewhere?

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

I am glad there is such interest in Labour's policy of cutting the fares in London by 5% for 18 months. Will the Mayor accept our absolute reassurance that having gone over his figures in TfL there is some agreement that this policy would cost something like £215 million over one year, but would he also accept that TfL had a capital under spend of £205 million last year --

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Thank you, Chair. I wish colleagues across the room would stop interruping me during my flow! Mr Mayor, do you have any idea of the effect on fare evasion that the removal of the bendy buses has had yet?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Mr Mayor, recently politicians on the other side were suggesting a fare cut of 5%. That is being worked out somewhere around £900 million. What effect would such a move have on the bus capacity in your view?

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Given that it is really important that you make sure that bus capacity on these routes does meet the actual demand that is there and I am very concerned that with particularly some of these routes in south east London - which does not have the Tube network as extensively as the rest of London - you really are matching demand. I am hugely concerned that routes like the 436 are always heaving with passengers. They are really, really packed. Make sure that you meet the demand there. Can I clarify absolutely, you are committing that you will review each...

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

The real concern is that on a number of these bendy bus routes where you are taking them out you are reducing capacity so at all times of the day, including peak hours, on routes like the 436 you are seeing cuts despite the fact huge developments have been going up along the route and there is increased demand. Buses like the 12 are seeing a reduction of 405 passengers every hour. That is the sort of thing that we are concerned about. Will you agree that you will review all of these routes to make sure that you put...

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 16 November 2011

Pursuing the same theme if I may, Mr Mayor, would you agree with me it is indeed cause for celebration under your tenure that ridership has gone up and crime has gone down both on our buses and on our trams? Mr Mayor, would you agree with me that that is cause for celebration?