Minutes 77/02/04 – 92/02/04
Transport for London

Minutes of a meeting of the Board
held on Wednesday 11 February 2004, commencing at 10.00 a.m.
in the Chamber, City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA

Present:
Board Members:	Ken Livingstone 	(in the Chair) 
	David Begg 	(for min Nos 77/02/04 – 85/02/04)
	Stephen Glaister
	Kirsten Hearn
	Sir Mike Hodgkinson
	Oli Jackson
	Susan Kramer	
	Paul Moore
	Murziline Parchment	
	David Quarmby
	Tony West
	Dave Wetzel

In attendance: 
Special Advisors:	Bryan Heiser
	Lynn Sloman

TfL Officers:	Maggie Bellis
	Barry Broe
	Ian Brown	(for min Nos 77/02/04 – 81/02/04)
	Stephen Critchley
	Isabel Dedring
	Roy Ellis
	Mary Hardy
	Peter Hendy
	Pip Hesketh
	Robert Kiley
	Locksley Ryan
	Fiona Smith
	Ed Thompson
	Tim O’Toole
	Jay Walder

Secretary:	Jacqui Gregory

77/02/04	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE	
		
	An apology for absence was received from Bob Crow.	
		
78/02/04	MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 3 DECEMBER 2003	
		
	The minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2003 were agreed and signed as a true record.	
		
79/02/04	MATTERS ARISING	
		
	Declaration of Interests	
		
	The Chair reminded Board Members of the requirement to declare any interests in the matters under discussion.  No interests were declared.	
		
	Matters Arising	
		
	NOTED	that all actions agreed at the last meeting had either been completed or were being progressed.	
		
80/02/04	COMMISSIONER’S REPORT	
		
	In response to questions raised by Board Members on the Commissioner’s Report, the following issues were discussed: -	
	•	Walking and Cycling – Peter Hendy advised that the Walking Plan, which was put out to consultation in 2003, had been finalised and would be published the following week.  The Cycling Plan, which had also been consulted upon last year, was in the process of being finalised with a view to it being published at the end of February 2004.
•	The Camden Town and Hammersmith Derailments – Tim O’Toole advised that the final report on the Camden Town derailment had now been published and the conclusions drawn were no different from those indicated in the interim report.  The final report on the Hammersmith derailment had been published on 27 November 2003.  The Board noted that as soon as LUL received the necessary safety clearance, the original operational timetable on the Northern line would be restored.
•	Spending Review 2004 – the Chair advised that since the launch of the SR 2004 Campaign at the end of October 2003, meetings had also taken place with the TUC, in addition to the individuals and stakeholder groups referred to in the Commissioner’s Report.
•	Crossrail – the Mayor advised that funding requirements were currently being discussed with the Government and Treasury.
•	Major Projects and Initiatives – the Board noted that whilst there was no TfL Board meeting scheduled between 25 March 2004 and 22 June 2004, special Board meetings would be convened, if necessary, to discuss developments on major projects.
•	Disruption from Adverse Weather Conditions – Tim O’Toole advised that on 28 and 29 January 2004, the Tube experienced severe disruption due to icy conditions; the infrastructure companies were taking appropriate action to ensure that adverse weather did not affect performance to such an extent in the future.  Peter Hendy advised that on borough roads, the London Boroughs had adopted different standards for the gritting of roads during the adverse weather. Peter Hendy undertook to consider setting standards for gritting by the Boroughs. Jay Walder advised that this was something which could be reinforced via the Local Implementation Plans which set out the transport objectives for London.	
		
	The Commissioner’s Report was noted by the Board.	
		
81/02/04	FINANCE AND PERFORMANCE REPORT	
		
	Jay Walder reported on operational and financial performance against budget and target for the third quarter of 2003/04, covering the period from 14 September 2003 to 6 December 2003.  In response to questions raised by Board Members, the following issues were discussed: -	
	•	Station Projects – the Board noted that the Tottenham Court Road planning application had been delayed, pending determination of the Crossrail route.
•	Road Safety – progress continued towards reducing the number of major injuries and fatalities on London’s roads to the 10-year target.  Peter Hendy advised that the revised Road Safety Plan would address motor cyclists’ safety.
•	Oyster Pre-Pay – Jay Walder advised that there were now 55,000 trips per day being made on the Underground, using Oyster pre-pay.  It was envisaged that pre-pay on buses would be introduced in early March 2004 and TfL was in the process of trying to increase the number of ticket retailers/agencies through which Oyster pre-pay cards could be obtained.
•	Workforce Composition – Pip Hesketh advised that the figures received for period 11 of 2003/04, indicated that black and minority ethnic people in senior management positions in LUL had increased (from 2.8% in October 2003) to 4.9%.  	
		
	The Board noted the third quarter Finance and Performance Report.	

	
82/02/04	CHANGES TO TfL PENALTY FARES	
		
	The Board noted the proposed increases in the penalty fares on London buses and the Docklands Light Railway.	
		
83/02/04	PPP CONTRACT PERFORMANCE	
		
	Tim O’Toole reported on PPP contractual performance (including PPP Infrastructure Service Charges) and on the measures used to assess performance of the PPP contract.  He highlighted the following, in particular:-	
	•	A new team had been set up to deal with the Central line cars, with a view to a more reliable service being provided on the Central line.  Tim O’Toole advised that the team had made good progress to date.
•	Metronet SSL – there had been flooding on the northern side of the Circle line, with up to 4 times the amount of usual water needing to be pumped out on a daily basis.  Tim O’Toole advised that meetings would be taking place with Thames Water to address this matter.
•	Tube Lines – Tube Lines had disputed the Infrastructure Service Charge attribution resulting from the Camden Town derailment; this matter would be dealt with via the dispute resolution process.
•	Graffiti – the programme to remove graffiti from trains was progressing well, although consideration needed to be given to the removal of trackside graffiti, which would involve enlisting the help of the Boroughs and the Metropolitan Police.
•	Performance Summary – agreement had been reached with Metronet on the supporting information to be provided by them on maintenance and projects performance.  It was hoped that agreement with Tube Lines would follow shortly.	
		
	The Board noted Tim O’Toole report on PPP Performance.	
		
84/02/04	MODAL SHARE TRENDS	
		
	Barry Broe reported on recent and current trends in mode shares in London and outlined how mode shares were likely to change in the future, given the assumptions in TfL’s current business plan and long-term expectations regarding the development of London.	
		
	In response to suggestions made by Board Members, Barry Broe undertook to give consideration to the following and, where required, submit a further report to the Board in due course: -	
	•	Future reports to show: -	
	-	car and taxi use separately;
-	a breakdown of modal usage in inner and outer London areas and between the inner and middle London regions;
-	a breakdown of the types of customers travelling and causing the modal shift and how this compared with the social inclusion figures;
-	the impact on different communities and, in particular, those outside of London; and
-	road space and fees charged for car parking, together with an indication of whether this was encouraging more people to use public transport.	
	•	Communication of the increase in public transport usage, which was dramatic when compared with other world cities and, in particular, the growth in bus usage which was considered to be attributable to increased reliability.	
	•	Whether the LTS strategic model was the most up-to-date means of providing travel trend projections and account to be taken of the ‘soft-factors’.	
	•	Whether there were more up-to-date means of projecting car ownership (i.e. the Travel Report 2003 referred to five yearly figures, whereas the National Census of Population figures used in the written report were based on 10-yearly projections).	
	•	Sharing the figures with the Strategic Rail Authority, to establish the reasons why there had been no improvement in modal share on the train network, despite increased investment.	
	•	Discussions taking place with large event organisers, with a view to their publicising in their event literature the local transport links to and from their events.	
		
	Jay Walder further undertook to include modal share trends in the revised transport strategy.	
		
	The Board noted the report on Modal Share Trends.	
		
85/02/04	IPA SELF-ASSESSMENT	
		
	The Board: -	
	•	agreed to submit detailed comments on the self-assessment process to the Chief Finance Officer by 20 February 2004; and	
	•	subject to the above, approved the TfL self-assessment and delegated authority to the Managing Director, Finance and Planning, to make any final changes to the self-assessment, prior to its publication on 5 March 2004.	
		
86/02/04	RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS	
		
	The Board: -	
	•	noted the content of the written report;
•	noted that the Audit Committee would continue to monitor both the risk management process and the mitigation of identified risk on an ongoing basis; and
•	noted that regular updates on the above would be submitted to the Board.	
		
87/02/04	PRIVATE VEHICLE HIRE LICENSING – FINAL REGULATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK	
		
	Peter Hendy outlined the proposals for introducing public hire vehicle licensing in London from March 2004 and the proposals for managing the implementation of the new licensing regime.	
		
	The Board noted that once a vehicle had successfully passed the licensing inspection, a paper licence would be issued to the vehicle owner and a licence disc would be affixed to the upper corner of the front windscreen on the passenger side and the rear windscreen on the off-side or the near-side.  Peter Hendy undertook to review the design of the licence disc to ensure it was immediately identifiable and to circulate this to Board Members.	
		
	Peter Hendy advised the Board of a proposal by the Driving Vehicle Licensing Agency to issue number plates which would be immediately identifiable to users of private hire vehicles and local authorities, which he fully supported; Board Members noted that the proposal, if accepted, would require an amendment to the National Vehicle Licensing Regulations.	
		
	The Board: -	
	•	noted the key features of the private hire vehicle licensing proposals as described in the written report;
•	authorised the Commissioner of Transport for London to sign the following proposed regulations: -
-	Private Hire Vehicle (London PHV Licences) Regulations 2004
-	Private Hire Vehicles (Operators’ Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2004; and
•	noted that the Department for Transport was responsible for bringing into effect the following instruments and TfL was working closely with them to harmonise the necessary actions, to ensure that the necessary legislative powers were made in time for an implementation start date of March 2004: -

-	Private Hire Vehicles (London) (Transitional Provisions) (No 2) Regulations 2004
-	Private Hire Vehicles (London) at 1998 (Commencement Number 3) Order 2004.	
		
88/02/04	TAXI FARES AND TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE LICENCE FEES	
		
	Peter Hendy reported on the proposed changes in April 2004 to taxi fares and licence fees for taxis, taxi drivers, private hire drivers and private hire operators.  He advised that a number of meetings had been held with taxi trade organisations, the majority of whom continued to support, in principle, the use of the cost index to determine the change in average fare.  The Public Carriage Office believed it provided a fair balance between the interests of the trade and the travelling public. Peter Hendy further advised that the views of the London Cab Drivers Club had been fully considered in the proposal.	
		
	The Board: -	
	•	approved the proposed taxi fares as set out in the written report;
•	approved the making of a London Cab Order to implement the new fares with effect from Saturday 3 April 2004, to be signed by the Commissioner of Transport for London on behalf of TfL;
•	approved the proposed licence fee revisions for implementation with effect from Thursday 1 April 2004; and
•	approved the making of regulations to implement the new private hire operator five year (standard) licence fee and application fee, and private hire driver three year licence fee and application fee, with effect from Thursday 1 April 2004, to be signed by the Commissioner of Transport for London on behalf of TfL.	
		
89/02/04	REPORT FROM THE AUDIT COMMITTEE	
		
	The Board noted the report on the proceedings of the Audit Committee Meeting held on 28 January 2004.	
		
90/02/04	PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO TfL STANDING ORDERS	
		
	The Board approved the revisions to TfL Standing Order No 2 relating to procurement and disposal transactions and compulsory purchase powers, as set out in Annexes 1 and 2 of the written report.	
		
91/02/04	DOCUMENTS SEALED ON BEHALF OF TfL	
		
	The Board noted the documents sealed on behalf of TfL from 20 November 2003 to 27 January 2004.	
		
92/02/04	ANY OTHER BUSINESS	
		
	Safety, Health and Environment Committee	
		
	The Board noted that the report on the Safety, Health and Environment Committee held in December 2003 would be submitted to the next TfL Board meeting and that future reports would be submitted to the TfL Board immediately following the Safety, Health and Environment Committee Meeting.	
		
	Format of Board Papers	
		
	The Board welcomed the new format for the presentation of Board papers.	

	There being no further business, the meeting closed at 12.10 hours.	

______________________
Chair