• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

The reality is that on the Heathrow Express you have the business classes, those on business executive flights, they can claim it on the expenses, and ordinary Londoners are not using it because the cost is so high. Something like this would be very useful, would bring in a whole set of customers that they do not have at the moment, and it is almost as though they do not really want to serve ordinary Londoners going to their airports.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

Obviously your life story will be entitled `Confessions of a Bus Spotter'! The point is that there are a small group of elderly people, without access to private cars, maybe their kids in other parts of London will drive you to and from the supermarket and do things for you, but people want independence, and these services are, for them, a lifeline. I think there is a fear out there, in the case of the 953 people were given the service two years ago, now it is being rearranged. It took years to build up local knowledge that there was...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

But possibly the reason it reaches that point is because you have gone down to one service a week, you change the day on which it operates. I found, for example, that on one of those routes it chooses whether or not to go down a particular road depending on whether they have been told the day before there might be people waiting for it there! That does seem a rather strange way to operate a service that people who are particularly vulnerable want to rely on as part of our community.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

You are partly right! I did meet with passengers on the 903 who include some good friends of mine in the Shadwell area, and constituents of course. But I also spent some time in the last month with passengers who use the 953 service in Dagenham. I am not a bus spotter so I will not give you a detailed exposition on its route, but basically --

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

I am more interested in the policy issues underlying this, because you are in charge of TfL as Chair.

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

OK. Just a small point on CCTV. There were three attacks in Rotherhithe within a short period of time. It is fantastic that we have CCTV on all the buses however and the CCTV on the buses is not as reliable as the CCTV in static locations. There is a 3% failure rate and that seems to be because the CCTV was designed for static locations, rather than being bumped around on buses. Is this something that TfL (Transport for London) will be looking at to try and improve the technology? Having got the CCTV, I think the bus drivers...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

): I think many of us will be relieved to see that these headline figures have been settled because perhaps it might bring to an end some of the very destructive feeding frenzy of debate. We do need to see the Olympics as what it is, which is a massive opportunity for the economy in London, and for London to reach out across the world, as well as regenerating north east London. I know, Mayor, that the Assembly will, quite rightly, want to see much more detail, particularly of the ODA budget and plans. You mentioned that we could be...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

Can I just go back to the announcement that you made, almost as an aside, about the new Safer Transport Teams. From my point of view, and I am still an outer London borough resident - I live in Croydon - there has been a real revolution in bus safety in the last few years, and this is very, very welcome. One of the key issues is, in maximising the benefit of having these Safer Transport Teams, as well as the work of TOCU (Transport Occupational Command Units) and all of the police work that is going on now on...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

Equally?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 21 March 2007

Certainly on night flights!