Transport for London

Minutes of a meeting of the Board
held on Tuesday 18 February 2003, commencing at 10.40 a.m. 
in The Chamber, City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London 

Present: 	Ken Livingstone (Chair)
Board Members:	David Begg
	Bob Crow
	Stephen Glaister
	Noël Harwerth 
	Kirsten Hearn
	Mike Hodgkinson
	Oli Jackson
	Susan Kramer
	Paul Moore
	Murziline Parchment
	Tony West
	Dave Wetzel (Vice Chair)

In attendance:
Special Advisors	Bryan Heiser
	Lynn Sloman
	
TfL Officers: 	Robert Kiley
	Maggie Bellis
	Ian Brown
	Stephen Critchley
	Gareth Davies
	Isabel Dedring
	Peter Hendy
	Betty Morgan
	Tim O’Toole
	Derek Turner
	Jay Walder
		
Other Attendees:	Nicky Gavron (Deputy Mayor)
	
Secretary:	Alan Busson 

Ken Livingstone welcomed Tim O’Toole, Managing Director (Designate) of London Underground to the meeting

01/03	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 

Apologies for absence had been received from David Quarmby.

02/03	MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 19 NOVEMBER 2002

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2002 were agreed as a true record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

03/03	MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

04/03	DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

	The Chair reminded Board Members of the requirement to declare any interests in the matters under discussion.  There were no interests declared.

05/03	COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

Bob Kiley amplified the contents of the Commissioner’s Report for February 2003 which provided the meeting with an overview of major issues and developments since the November 2002 Board meeting.

The main points arising from the Commissioner’s Report were as follows:

A new director is being appointed to head up the Transport Policing and Enforcement Department and a review of policing/security issues will be conducted.

The Chancery Lane derailment had caused the suspension of services on the Central Line and the Waterloo and City Line.  TfL has assisted London Underground to manage the situation.

TfL gritting contractors gritted all TfL roads before, during and after the adverse weather conditions at the end of January.  Road congestion on the Transport for London Road Network was exacerbated by closure of the M1, M11 and M25.  

Congestion Charging was introduced on 17 February 2003 and a full report will be made later in the meeting.

At the present time, management of  London’s road network is fragmented with utility companies carrying out over 70% of all excavations on London’s roads. TfL is working with government/boroughs and utilities to improve/rationalise the London road network, with the ultimate goal of seeking legislative change to ensure that the relevant highway authority has effective control over all street management issues in London.

	It was noted that work to finalise the Crossrail business case is proceeding.  The next 
step in the process is to gain government approval to enable the preparation and 
submission to Parliament of a hybrid bill in November 2003.  It was stressed that there were substantial economic/regenerative benefits for London, to be gained from the Project.   TfL’s Rail Transport Advisory Panel would be discussing the business case at its March meeting.

On 4 February, Agreement was reached between TfL and the Department for Transport to transfer London Underground to TfL.  It was noted that a transfer date had still to be set.  The LUL/TfL integration process was proceeding well, although it was noted that this could be frustrated due to the possible delay in transferring LUL to TfL.

The Commissioner’s Report was noted.

06/03	3rd QUARTER FINANCE REPORT

Jay Walder gave a presentation supporting and updating his written Finance and Performance Report to cover the third quarter of 2002/03 ended 31 December 2002.

The following key issues were highlighted:

Year on year Bus patronage had increased by 6%.  Similarly the Docklands Light Railway (DLR)  passenger numbers had increased by 17% over the same period in 2001/02.  London Underground performance was affected by industrial action taken by RMT and Fire Brigades Union.

The major street management schemes at Vauxhall Cross, Trafalgar Square, Shoreditch and Blackheath had progressed well.  All these road works had now been opened to traffic.

Good progress was being made with the Oyster Smartcard.  The card is being used in trials by almost 80,000 tube and bus staff in advance of a phased introduction of the cards to the public in the Spring 2003.  

The legal closing of the DLR City Airport extension project was imminent; it was anticipated that the extension would be open in late 2005.

The meeting discussed the likely out-turn for the financial year 2002/2003.  Although it was anticipated that the results would be in line with expectations, this was as a result of some project under/overspends.   Jay Walder indicated that contingencies had been established that would be set up to deal with any slippages in projects to ensure that resources were being properly utilised.

Disappointment was expressed at the failure of TfL to spend its budget on road safety, walking and cycling.  Derek Turner explained that this was as a result of structural organisational issues, adding that one of the key objectives of  the new Director of Strategy would be to progress safety/walking/cycling programmes. As a consequence, it was expected that the budget for these items would be delivered in future years.

Susan Kramer questioned the status of the West London Tram project (“WLT”) and the Cross River Tram project (“CRT”).  It was noted that a project team was working on the WLT project and that a project team was being formed for the CRT project. It was agreed that board members would be kept informed as to the progress of both projects which will be dealt with at future Surface Transport Advisory Panels and Finance Committee meetings.

The report was noted.

07/03	TAXI FARES AND TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE LICENSE FEE REVISIONS

	Peter Hendy presented a paper, referring to the section on Tariff Changes proposing  
	the changes contained therein, to taxi fares and licence fees planned to be effective 
	from April 2003.  

	The Board agreed:

1.	the proposed taxi fares;
2.	the making of a London Cab Order to implement the new tariffs with effect from 5 April 2003 to be signed by the Commissioner of Transport for London on behalf of Transport for London;
3.	the proposed licence fee revisions for implementation with effect from 1 April 2003;
4.	the making of a regulation to implement the new private hire operator licence fees and application fee with effect from 1 April 2003, to be signed by the Commissioner of Transport for London on behalf of Transport for London.

08/03	CONGESTION CHARGING

	Derek Turner gave an oral report concerning the introduction of Congestion Charging 
	on 17 February 2003.  Day One was a success; there had been an approximate 25% 
	reduction in traffic which was more than anticipated. The congestion charging system 
	had worked well and 100,000 car owners had paid the charge.  15,000/20,000 fleets had 	participated in the charging scheme.  45,000 vehicle owners had applied for the 
	exemption. Day One would see approximately 10,000 vehicle owners receiving 
	penalty charge notices.   A visual check will be made against DVLA data to try to 
	keep to a minimum any mistakes made in sending out the penalty charge notices to 
	individuals.

	Ken Livingstone thanked and paid tribute to the dedicated and talented staff of TfL for 
	their efforts in introducing the Congestion Charging scheme in London.

09/03	SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE REPORT

The Board noted the report of the Safety, Health and Environment Committee meeting that was held on 4 February 2003.

10/03	ANY OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business 
 
 There being no further business, the meeting closed at 1.17 p.m.

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Chair		Date