Scrutinising the Mayor articles

Pedestrians on Oxford street are reduced to shuffling along overcrowded pavements, while hundreds of buses an hour inch forward at an average of 4mph, according to a new report from the London Assembly Transport Committee.

The report, ‘Streets ahead: Relieving congestion on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street’, notes that despite its phenomenal popularity with shoppers, the area continues to be divided by a "slow-moving procession of buses and taxis". On average the area suffers an accident involving a bus every 3.4 days - and air quality in the area, already the worst in London, is on track to be the worst in the UK by 2015

At the heart of the problem is the conflict between the need to provide a pleasant shopping and leisure environment, and meeting the demand for transport links through the West End. And various schemes to reduce traffic congestion and improve the pedestrian experience in one of the world’s premier shopping destinations may not be enough, says the report, calling for more radical thinking.

The London Assembly Transport Committee has launched a report, The Future Of London's Buses, setting out a number of questions to the Mayor about how he will guarantee the future of the capital’s world-class bus service despite large cuts to the bus subsidy.

The report captures a range of views expressed at a seminar hosted by the Committee to debate both the benefits of the bus service and how any changes to it would impact on Londoners.

Buses are by far the most popular mode of public transport in London, catering for nearly two billion journeys each year. However, despite a growing population, and for the first time in several decades, the bus network is not anticipated to expand at all between now and 2012. Over the next eight years, the bus subsidy will be cut by a third, from £700 million in 2008/09 to £450 million in 2017/18.

The Mayor of London will soon be hearing about access problems facing wheelchair users on Ilford buses following a recent visit to Ilford by Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson and Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee.

On Wednesday (16th December) Caroline took up an invitation from Councillor Shoaib Patel to visit Ilford and find out at first hand some of the specific problems facing wheelchair users in using local buses, with a detailed briefing provided to her by wheelchair user Max Reid.

The issues raised with Caroline Pidgeon and Councillor Patel included ramps frequently not working or being too steep and also the lack of space on some buses for wheelchair users. Caroline Pidgeon and Councillor Patel also heard about the unhelpful attitude of some drivers towards disabled bus passengers.

Following the visit Caroline Pidgeon has promised to raise all the issues raised in Ilford with Boris Johnson through a series of written questions at the next Mayor’s Question Time in January.

The London Assembly today called on the Mayor to demand payment from embassies in the capital owing outstanding fees and fines for the congestion charge.

A motion agreed by the Assembly urged the Mayor to write to the Head of State for each country that is refusing to pay the congestion charge and invite Ambassadors to explain their reasons for the refusal. The motion calls for responses to be published on the Greater London Authority website.

Proposing the motion, Caroline Pidgeon AM said:
"The American and other embassies that dodge payment of the congestion charge are insulting their host city and denying a valuable source of income to Transport for London."

"The congestion charge is not a tax and the vast majority of embassies clearly recognise this. The minority that decide to not follow the rules of this country must now explain in writing how they can justify their actions."