London Assembly 16 July 2003
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London Assembly 16 July 2003 Thirty-Third Mayor’s Report to the Assembly Author: The Mayor This is my thirty-third report to the Assembly, fulfilling my duty under Section 45 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It covers the period from 5 June – 2 July 2003. Olympic Bid 2012 Appointment of Olympic Bid Chair As I stated at the Assembly meeting, on 18 June, Barbara Cassani had been appointed as the Chair of the bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics to London. The appointment was made jointly by the three key partners in the bid: the Government, the British Olympic Association and myself. Barbara Cassani was CEO of Go Fly Ltd until July 2002. She created Go in 1997 and led it through a £110m buyout with 3i. Go was subsequently sold to easyJet in May 2002. I am extremely impressed with Barbara Cassani and I believe she will be an excellent chair of the London Olympic bid. Her proven business acumen will give London an excellent chance of hosting the 2012 Olympics. I look forward to working with her to take the Bid forward. World-class shortlist announced for London Olympics A shortlist of consortia bidding to masterplan the Lower Lea Valley, which includes the main venue for the proposed 2012 London Olympics, has been announced by the London Development Agency. The six consortia include: • EDAW/HOK/Allies & Morrison/Foreign Office Architects/Mott MacDonald/Buro Happold/Faithful & Gould/C2C Management • Arup/Foster/Bligh Voller Nield/Groupe Signes/Patel Taylor/Davis Langdon & Everest • MBM/Jacobs/Turner & Townsend/Grant Associates/Ancer Spa • Herzog & de Meuren/Michel Desvignes Paysagiste/Faber Maunsell/Hepher Dixon/Davis Langdon & Everest • Terry Farrell/MACE/Grimleys/Lovejoy/Alan Baxter Associates/Symonds/Turner & Townsend • Richard Rogers/WSAtkins/Sports Concepts/Community Action Network 1 The selection panel, which drew up the shortlist from 29 submissions, includes representatives of the London Development Agency, Greater London Authority and British Olympic Association, as well as Sir Howard Bernstein of the Organising Committee for the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and Josep Acebillo, City Architect of Barcelona. The panel was impressed by the innovation, creativity and high quality design demonstrated by the bidders who have been shortlisted. Official documents including a more detailed brief have been sent to the shortlisted candidates. The successful consortium will be chosen in late July. Masterplanning work will begin in August and will be finished in time to complete the International Olympic Committtee questionnaire in January 2004. Transport Congestion Charge On 6 June I launched the most recent results, from monitoring of the central London congestion charging scheme, which show that after three months of operation the scheme is exceeding its targets for reducing traffic and congestion in central London. The results form part of a comprehensive five-year monitoring programme, which is being undertaken by Transport for London. These results confirm that traffic congestion and journey times for motorists, bus passengers, and business journeys are significantly reduced both inside and outside the congestion charging zone. This is great news for everyone who travels into central London. Reduced traffic levels have stabilised in central London remarkably quickly after the introduction of congestion charging. Even those who were previously sceptical are now able to clearly see the benefits that the scheme has brought. Fewer traffic jams and faster, more reliable journey times into and within central London are good for business, tourism and Londoners. The new monitoring results show: Traffic Moving More Quickly - New results from a full bi-monthly survey of journey times on 70 kilometres of road inside the charging zone, carried out during March and April 2003, show that the average speed of traffic across the charging day (including time spent queuing at junctions) has increased year on year by 37 per cent to 11 miles per hour (17 kilometres/hour). This compares with eight mph (13kph) at the same time of year in 2002 and nine mph (15kph) in the last few weeks before charging was introduced. Reduction in Congestion Exceeding Targets - Year on year comparison of the bi-monthly results indicates that the reduction in congestion during charging hours amounts to a 40 per cent reduction. TfL’s expectation was a congestion reduction of 20-30 per cent. Other Results After Three Months – · An average of 98,000 individual drivers and 12,000 fleet vehicles pay the charge each day. · Traffic levels entering the zone continue to show a 20 per cent reduction. · Charging is delivering above the expected reductions in congestion inside the zone. · Traffic levels inside the zone have reduced by some 16 per cent - TfL’s expectation was a 10- 15 per cent reduction. · Car journeys to and from the zone are quicker and more reliable than before the introduction of the scheme. Results from TfL’s driver survey show typical savings on a round trip to and from the zone are in the region of 13 per cent. 2 · Diverted traffic is being successfully accommodated. · The various payment systems are working well, with retail proving to be the most popular, making up 37 per cent of total payments. There has been a steady move towards payment via SMS text messaging. SMS payments have increased from 12 per cent of payments to 19 per cent since 17 February. A further 25 per cent of payments are being made via the Internet. · As projected, the majority of drivers changing their travel patterns due to the charge have transferred to public transport with many choosing to travel by bus. Some, who had previously used central London as a cut through, have diverted from the zone. The remainder have switched to using their cars at different times, to different destinations, to taxis, motorcycles, pedal cycles, or to walking or have responded in other ways (eg car sharing). · Bus journey times are improving with big reductions in delays due to traffic congestion. Service reliability is improving too. · The five-year monitoring programme is proceeding well. A comprehensive programme of surveys and studies has been put in place to monitor the impacts of the scheme including the traffic, transport, social, business and environmental effects of charging. The first annual report of the central London congestion charge scheme was also published on 6 June, showing in detail for the first time the baseline monitoring data against which the impacts of the scheme will be assessed. The monitoring programme covers traffic, transport, economic and business, social and environmental impacts. The level of success of the scheme in reducing traffic means TfL now forecasts a decrease in the revenue from charging of around £64m. It is important to get this in perspective – the main aim of the scheme was to reduce the congestion that was costing London millions of pounds every week and it has done this very successfully. In addition, the scheme will still raise tens of millions of extra pounds of investment for transport across the Capital. Contrary to reports in the media, I am not in the slightest bit worried or perturbed by the lower revenue projections. The lower revenue is a testament to the effectiveness of the charge in reducing congestion, which is its primary function. London Buses Bus improvements continue across the capital, boosted by extra investment and faster journeys thanks to congestion charging. The latest bus performance figures based on services running between January to March 2003 across London showed reductions in the average waiting time for high frequency services (which account for 90 per cent of the network) with the same period in 2002. It also showed that bus passengers travelled an extra 178 million kilometres, an increase of 14 per cent compared to the same period in 2002. London’s Taxi Service I took a long-hard look at the future of London’s black cabs this month following the first Fitness of Purpose Review for forty years. This review, carried out by TfL’s Public Carriage Office, looked at whether we should allow other types of vehicle to be used in addition to the traditional black cab. It was clear to me that only the traditional style of black cab, with its unique turning circle, could easily pick up passengers from the other side of the road – something essential for the elderly, disabled people and those with young children or heavy shopping. I am determined to rid London of the scourge of illegal minicabs. The Transport Operational Command Unit, which I set up with TfL and the Met police to tackle crime on buses and taxi- touting, continues to make good progress. The latest operation saw 18 illegal minicab drivers arrested and 44 vehicles taken off the streets for being unsafe. 3 On 17 June I held a constructive and comprehensive meeting with black cab drivers’ representatives. The taxi economy is low at the moment and drivers’ representatives raised a number of concerns. I explained that I am still consulting on range of options for licensing mini- cab vehicles, and I have an open mind on the issue of whether mini-cabs should be able to display signage on the outside of their vehicles. I have agreed to immediately review all instances where taxis are currently excluded from bus lanes, to seek the views of the TGWU and the London Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) as part of this review, and to ask TfL to consult them on any future proposals to exclude taxis from a particular bus lanes. I have also agreed to establish a regular forum to consult taxi drivers’ representatives involving my office, the Public Carriage Office, the TGWU and the LTDA, where these and other issues can be raised and discussed in the future.