Please see below for a sample of several of the pledges in this section of the 2008 Manifesto. For the full list of pledges, please download the complete Progress Report.
"I will protect London’s cab trade."
Mayor Boris Johnson is a strong supporter of London’s cabbies. To protect the Black cab trade, Boris has ensured cabbies are formally represented on the TfL Board (link). Boris has also reduced the bureaucracy they face, scrapping half yearly taxi inspections by the Public Carriage (link). Boris will continue to be a strong supporter of London’s cabbies.
"I will make London a genuinely cycle-friendly city by introducing a central London cycle hire scheme and increasing the number of cycle parks."
As a dedicated cyclist, Mayor Boris Johnson notices everyday just how genuinely cycle-friendly London now is. He is proud of the fresh thinking, innovative approach that his administration has taken towards cycling. The Barclays Cycle Hire scheme was rolled out across central London in mid 2010 (link).
Four Cycle Superhighway routes have also been opened and four more routes will open in 2013 (link). Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2010, over 40,000 cycle parking spaces were delivered across London (link). Boris is also working hard to make cycling in London safer by improving junctions on Cycle Superhighways and has recently launched a major review of other junctions (link).
"I will launch a competition to produce a new, iconic London bus, a 21st century Routemaster with conductors, of which Londoners can be proud."
Following a competition to design a new London bus, the first new Routemaster bus, complete with conductors, entered service on 27 February 2012. Mayor Boris Johnson is extremely proud that it is British designed and built and one of the greenest buses in Europe (link). Boris has changed the face of bus travel in London, reviving the iconic Routemaster design and making bus travel safer and more environmentally friendly at the same time.
"I will end the era of the bendy bus by scrapping them."
Mayor Boris Johnson was elated when the last bendy bus went out of service on 9 December 2011. Since the end of bendy buses, London has saved £7 million in lost fare revenue (link). Buses today are safer and the opportunity to skip out on paying fares is much more limited.
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