• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Therefore why did you not have a bendy bus as TfL's float?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I totally agree with your comments there but as you know my position with TfL is so far, so good, but I want more. Let me just share with you what I heard last week. A constituent in his 70s told me he had to go recently to Homerton Hospital after the sudden and violent braking of a bus caused him to fall over and hurt his wrist. That was not even bad enough but when he got there, staff at that hospital said to him that they were getting a number of older Londoners coming in with injuries sustained...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Mr Mayor, would you agree with me that the points that Geoff has made are absolutely good but it is not about just dealing with one particular constituent group? Our buses must be able to accommodate the needs of people standing at bus stops, so I support your offer but this is work in progress and there should not be a bus out there that is in breach of the contract because that is what we have been working for for the last five years. It is not good enough to just say we can redesign buses for just wheelchair...

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

The question of access to local buses is still an issue and I do not know if you are aware that I get a regular daily log from a wheelchair user, which chronicles the episodes in which bus ramps have not worked or drivers have claimed they are not working. This resident, who uses buses quite frequently, says that on one occasion in four he is left at the bus stop being unable to access the bus, which is clearly a great concern. I do know that Peter Hendy (Managing Director, Surface Transport, TfL) is very keen to sort this...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

You have to say they have quite good judgement in the City of London. You have just set out very interestingly it seems to me all these problems that have been well known with the Routemasters and going back to the old days when they were the main part of the fleet; 20 people a year falling off them and so on. Given all that background, how come you said only a dehumanised moron would get rid of the Routemasters?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

ndeed. You did also talk a little bit about the background of the Routemaster and the people who were demanding that it be kept in service and who were supporting the vehicle. Do you not think it is a touch hypocritical to criticise those people when during the Lord Mayor's Parade at the weekend, the vehicle that TfL used in that parade to highlight their brilliance, was a Routemaster bus?

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Thank you, Chair. I think some more work should be done on that one.

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I understand what you are saying and I agree we do not want delays. However, therefore there may be a bit of a problem about the advice they are being given if essentially it is unworkable and maybe some more thought needs to go on to giving a more reasonable risk assessment approach to the situation, because there is no point in giving security advice which none of us think is unreasonable to follow, but we do want the best security that can be achieved.

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

This is one particular instance but of course you will understand why this is a real concern to us; there was a particular issue where the driver said that he had himself checked that a bag that was abandoned was not a safety threat. Is this what drivers are expected to do and if not, do you think it would be a good idea, while we are on the theme of education and information, to put information around so that passengers know how drivers are supposed to react to these situations?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Can you then look and see if the phasing out of the single zone Travelcard can be the last thing that you do then?