• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

It does seem a very complicated perk. What astonished me when I asked the original question was when I was told that this perk apparently goes back to the 1930s, which makes it quite a modern kind of embellishment to being employed by the Underground. We issue over 109,000 free passes at a cost of £168 million, and 85% of those passes, that is 93,000 passes at a cost of £143 million, are to people who are not employed by TfL, some could be retired, some could be partners, what you will. It does seem to me, that in the...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Do you not think it is normal that in most places around the world you have more bridges at the source of a river, where a river is small, than towards the estuary? That is a fact of life.

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Why is TfL a better arbiter of deciding where bus stops should be than London boroughs?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Why did you not do it with the Thames Gateway Bridge?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

It is the consultation on bus stops; it is a matter I have raised before, and Bob Kiley said he thought you could have too much consultation. But right across London residents in London boroughs are irritated by the fact that their only locus in the matter of locating bus stops is their right to be consulted. Boroughs do not have a veto on this. In the light of the disturbance which new bus stops can have on existing residents, will you suggest to TfL that they accept that the views of London boroughs and of local residents should actually...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Consultation has only got validity if those who are being consulted believe they can influence the outcome of the proposals, either to change and stop them or, indeed, at the end sometimes agree with them. TfL are planning to build a new bus depot at the corner of Horn Lane and Western Avenue in Ealing, and in a written answer at the last Mayor's Question Time you stated there would be no special consultation procedures for the bus depot. But Ealing itself is giving the impression that the planning permission which is sought is virtually a foregone conclusion. I wonder...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Thank you very much, and I thank Peter Hendy for acting so fast. He told me the reason for this error was the printing timescale, which went all wrong. But this is a very sensitive issue in this area because of the closure of Richmond Park. So there is a lot of transport that goes up and down Roehampton Lane and Priory Lane and is now going to go to Roehampton Estate. That is our worry, with two schools in there and lots of children around, the worry that all this transport that cannot get down Roehampton Lane because of...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

When you are consulting on a new project, do you think it is responsible to draw people's attention to the environmental impact of that scheme?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Contracting is an obvious point to do it, but more widely and in terms of forward planning, so that there is genuinely a change of culture, because I think one of the criticisms from our side is, despite all the fine talk here about changing the culture in TfL, it has not actually flowed through as we have seen from the exchange just five minutes ago, in terms of a change of mentality, so that they genuinely are not adopting a `we know best', they are genuinely listening and genuinely giving an honest answer, rather than simply saying `no, that...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Sticking with consultation and the benefits of listening, incidentally I should welcome the start this week of a trial of a new bus service, the 603, from Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage, which has only taken six years' worth of campaigning from local people and Liberal Democrats to get that one to a trial stage. Is it not high time - Lynne (Featherstone) to the fore on that one - that we had a proper system so that communities and individuals could actually propose new bus routes or alterations to existing services, with TfL and London Buses inviting those in...