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• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

That is very clever, but in discussions with Tube Lines they felt able to begin to draw up a comparator of what the output required by the PPP actually delivers in the terms the Assembly had put. I suppose what I am looking for from you is that there is a translation of the outputs in the PPP into terms that human beings travelling on the Tube will understand. The other part is that it is not just about the PPP. I would also like you to commit today to giving a benchmark and an estimate on improvement on those...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Sorry, I just distinguished between what the public wants and what the Assembly Transport Committee wants: to be able to measure you on your own performance within your own management skills and your performance on managing the PPP contract.

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Moving on from that, it is the perception and how that relates to your indicators. You have already indicated there is a little bit of a discrepancy there. For example, the public is not very comfortable in terms of the perceived safety of Underground stations. If you look at the statistics, it does not look so bad. Where are you with that? How do you think we can make the perception of safety on the Underground work?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

People are not so worried about what is causing the breakdown. As a management issue, of course you want to know why there is a delay, waiting, or overcrowding but that is not what matters to people " according to the work we did. If you look at something like overcrowding on the Tube, London Underground actually wrote back to us at the Assembly to say their standards are higher: it is 0.5 metres per person. If you unpack that, it is very weasely. They take from both ends of the line; they are not looking at the squashed bit...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Thank you for that answer. I have a couple of points related to my question. Firstly, I am glad you recognise this is an issue that is not going to go away and that it absolutely should be high on the agenda now, primarily because 17% of the working age population in London " your customers " have registered themselves as long?term disabled. It is not like we are talking about a minority issue here. You talked about the PPP envelope, which is something that was put to me recently by someone born with cerebral palsy. He got over that...

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

I know you recognise accessibility is an issue not only for people with mobility problems, important though that is. Can you tell me what plans TfL has to make improvements in accessibility for those who have sight or hearing impairments?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Over the last three years we have seen the Mayor carrying out a number of scurrilous personal attacks against senior Underground staff. What have been the consequences of that and how are you going to patch up that relationship?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

I would like to ask the 1 million euro question: are you able to tell us today that the Tube will be materially and recognisably different and better in July 2004 than in July 2003?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Come 15 July, when the transfer will take place, will you be able to announce to Londoners I do not want you to pre empt that by announcing it today, but it would be nice if you would the tangible ways in which the Tube will be better in the coming year? An electoral timetable is obviously a good benchmark for this. They will be non cosmetic changes, not just changed uniforms; they will be material changes in the quality of services, the frequency of trains, and the levels of crowding and you will set targets for that? Is that...

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

I wanted to ask Tim O'Toole: I know you are not yet hands on at London Underground. When you are, you will experience the difficulty in working with overland rail, where there are interchanges which have combined stations. Do you have any thoughts yet about whether you will be revisiting the escalator policy at those interchanges, where lifts are proposed for new stations but often escalators are not? They are expensive, but they are also a very valuable part of access to local people " not just people with mobility problems, but to have them in addition to lifts is...