SH: Taxi transport is an integral and vital part of London’s transport network – we need to create the conditions where it can be even more efficient and rapid. New initiatives are needed for late night travel: We’re looking at pioneering shared minibus taxis through a TfL franchise with a £5 flat fare to get late-night clubbers and shift workers safely home to their own front doors.

CS: Looking at how the current situation with Private Hire licensing stands, is there anything you would have done differently or do you have plans for change should you become Mayor?

SH: TfL and the PCO have had a huge task in licensing Private Hire vehicles and now licensing drivers. We should now be stepping up enforcement to make sure that all operators are playing to the rules; otherwise minicab passengers are at risk of "getting into" something they may regret.

CS: What is your view on the possibility of licensed Private Hire being allowed to ply for hire on the streets of London?

SH: Private Hire minicabs have a quite different function from black cabs and we need to keep the two roles quite distinct. I will not let minicabs ply for hire on London’s streets.

CS: Steve Norris has claimed in Call Sign that if elected Mayor of London, he would discontinue with the Congestion Charge. Your website claims that you would "modify" it. Can you give an example of how you would do that?

SH: One important change I will make is to allow an extra 24 hours for people to pay the congestion charge. It’s too easy to get to the end of a busy day and realise too late that you’ve forgotten to pay the charge. We should be helping well-intentioned law-abiding drivers – but if they haven’t got their act together by the end of the following day, well, tough!

SH: My interim policy paper on transport "Moving London On" commits us to ensuring that "drivers of black cabs are represented on the Board of Transport for London."

CS: Do you have any views on the Knowledge of London? Would you want to interfere with the way it is run?

SH: "The Knowledge" is legendary, and provides cab passengers with an amazing service unparalleled anywhere else in the world. It’s another important difference between black cabs and minicabs. As Mayor, I’d want to work with the black cab trade to look at ways we can develop its operation, where operators and drivers feel there is need for change.

CS: The trade has for some time been in disagreement with TfL over the exclusion of taxis from some important bus lanes such as those along Islington High Street and Bishopsgate. The Mayor promised to look at the situation over 12 months ago, yet nothing has changed with many taxi drivers being issued with Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) for driving in these often-empty lanes when traffic all around is solid. What is your view on taxis using all bus lanes?
 

SH: As I said earlier, black cabs are an integral and vital part of London’s transport network. Of course they should be able to use the road space we have rightly dedicated for our public transport network – I see no evidence the black cabs will slow down bus journeys to any significant extent.

CS: Ken Livingstone has flooded London with buses. A good public transport system is actually of great benefit to the taxi trade as it brings people into town, but many feel that this proliferation of buses is heading out of control. Do you have a view on the subject?

CS: Taxi drivers who work during evening hours now find it difficult to even get close to theatres at finishing time due to the number of Pedicabs parked outside. Do you have a view on Pedicabs and the way they operate?

SH: Pedicabs have added an amusement factor for tourists but I am increasingly concerned that they are getting in the way of "serious" traffic movements and I shall be consulting on ways of bringing them under much stronger control.

CS: It has been claimed that if elected Mayor, you would close Oxford Street to all traffic. One of our company’s largest accounts involves subsidised taxi travel for thousands of disabled passengers. How would they get to Oxford Street – a very popular destination? And if that road were closed, how would buses and taxis go east to west and vice-versa with Wigmore Street being so narrow and there being so many buses around nowadays?

SH: Obviously any major redevelopment of Oxford Street would have to be talked through with all the leading players – the retailers and cab trade among them. There are a great many side streets crossing Oxford Streets where cabs can get close to all the main locations. Some of the 23 bus routes would have to turn round at new termini at Marble Arch or Centre Point. Transport for London should be looking into running a tram spur to Marble Arch from their proposed Cross River Transit (Camden-Peckham). This could provide swift and silent accessible transport for a high volume of passengers from Oxford Street to destinations both north and south of the river.

CS: If you were elected Mayor of London, how much of the Lib-Dem philosophy would you take with you? Or is the job separate from party politics?

SH: I have been a Liberal Democrat MP for 25 years, and I work from Liberal Democrat values and principles. Most notably a real belief that you try to empower ordinary people in their communities and get their energies and talents moving. Sometimes even within the party, there could be a conflict between national policy and the needs of Londoners – as Mayor of London, I will always put Londoners first.

CS: If you had to describe the London taxi trade in 20 words or less, what would they be?

SH: Amazing – I own and drive an ex-cab – cab drivers are knowledgeable, streetwise, and an endless source of news and jokes.