London

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We’re here at City Hall, on the (almost) anniversary of Boris Johnson’s move into the mayoral office to ask him a load of questions. Not questions from me or the magazine’s writers, but questions from you, the Time Out readers.

When we asked you to send questions for the Mayor we never expected such a response. We got hundreds – below are his answers to all those we got a chance to ask.

This is the second time I’ve been in an office belonging to Johnson. The first time was four years ago when I poked my nose around the door of his office at The Spectator on Doughty Street. The contrast is notable – whereas that office was fusty, like something you’d expect to see housing a don at Oxford, this is modern and shiny.

There’s another difference: Viz’s swearing dictionary, ‘Roger’s Profanisaurus Rex’, which I spotted on a shelf at The Spectator, appears to be missing. Removed by some Conservative Central Office bod on Johnson’s first day? Eliminated to cleanse his image so that no passing journalist sees it and makes a big thing about it being there? Whatever the reason, it seems to be gone.

Boris is gutted. Feature continues

‘Surely it’s here. It must be here!’

Boris’s PA, Ann, also his PA in those days, starts looking for it on his bookshelves.

‘It must be here. I had all the books shipped over, every one of them.’

After five minutes of frenzied searching, it’s found. Boris is beaming and he sits down at the table and begins reading it and chuckling to himself. At one point he looks up, starts to ask me what my favourite swearword is, then thinks better of it. The interview can, at last, begin.

'I’m not one of those people who believes in going endlessly around finger wagging and ticking people off for occasional colourful use of language’

We got more questions about you bringing back Routemaster buses than on any other subject. John Horton in Eltham represents the majority when he asks when we can see Routemasters back on the road and what percentage of the fleet will they represent?
‘You can’t bring back the old Routemasters because the youngest Routemaster that was on the streets of London was about 35 to 40 years old and they patently had to be replaced.

'What we’re going to do is have a lighter, cleaner, greener vehicle that will be much more energy efficient than the current buses. They will be less noisy, and we are going to have them there by the back end of 2011. That’s the fastest we can do it.

'We’re doing something amazing. No city’s doing this at the moment, and I think it’s a great counter-cyclical, counter-recession measure. We’re going to be developing a new bus for London and it will probably run on hybrid technology, but it will have the advantage of the open platform at the back.’

That’s not the whole fleet, though, is it? Are you confirming that you’ll get rid of every single bendy bus?
‘The first bendies go this summer, and they’ll soon be history. There are some forces of reaction, some people who want to keep them, but they’re going. There are some bendy enthusiasts out there, manic members of the… er [strains for the phrase]… the Bendy Liberation Front! The Bendy Preservation Society.’

And when will the last bendy bus go?
‘The last bendy will have gone by the end of 2011.’

This one is from Keith Rance in Clapham: ‘A simple idea to reduce crime and encourage more cycling: secure central cycle parking where bikes can be left safely for a nominal fee. How about it?’
‘We’re committed to creating a cycling, er, revolution in the capital, and are investing a record £111.3 million in cycling this year. The money will be invested in cycle routes, cycle parking facilities, the London Cycle Hire scheme to make cycling accessible to all, education, adult and child cycle training and cycling events.

‘TfL has also installed 20,000 new cycle stands on London’s streets, which provide parking for 40,000 bicycles, and is spending £2.7m on even more cycle parking in London this year.

‘We’re keen to provide more cycle parking across London. Following on from the, frankly, award-winning Finsbury Park Cycle Park, with its 24-hour security and covered parking for 125 bikes, TfL is looking into other potential sites.’

Allan Anderson from Walthamstow writes: ‘To date Boris has axed the west London congestion charge and has now approved reprogramming traffic lights, cutting the time that people have to cross the roads. This clearly favours the motorist, so just what is he doing to support the pedestrian?’
‘Actually, if you look at what we’re doing on traffic lights, in some cases they’re being rephased to assist the pedestrian; we’re just trying to do it… We’re rephasing the traffic lights to assist smooth flowing of traffic, and in some cases that means adding extra seconds on for the pedestrian.

'What we need to do is get people walking in this city, we have got the fattest 11 year olds of any part of the country. And that’s no disrespect to London 11 year olds – they’re a wonderful bunch of people – but they need to be helped to lose weight! And one thing we could be doing, we should be encouraging kids to walk more, and that means making the streets safe, and they are safe, and showing them that distances they travel by bus or by tube can actually be just as quickly accomplished, just as quickly covered, on foot.’

Here’s a question about that from Lewis Husbands in Twickenham: ‘Buses in London are now free for kids. Does that not encourage the lazy lifestyle that’s led to us having the most obese children in Europe?’
‘This is something that obsesses me. We do have a problem with obesity. We’ve got to make the streets safer, make the parks safer, make kids understand that playing outside is a safe thing to do, make parents understand that so they’re less paranoid, and that they don’t need to be as paranoid as they are in my view. The place is fundamentally safe, but also give them the opportunity to cycle more.’

'Banksy's got to accept it if from time to time, someone will need to paint over his work. Sorry, Buster!’

But you’re encouraging them not to walk by giving them this free travel!
‘Let me tell you, it’s a terrible law of politics that this benefit has now been conferred on… it’s a universal benefit; to take it away would be extremely difficult, and it would also hit some families on very low incomes who do need the relief they get by being able to put their kids safely on a bus without having to pay for it. That is something that’s of great benefit to families on low incomes, it’s a way of redistributing money through society.

'I’m certainly not against it. It has had this side effect. The side effect is that there is not enough walking; there is not enough outdoor activity. We need to tackle that. We need to give kids the opportunity; we need to encourage them to walk or cycle.’

Another question, this one from Carolina Pastrana in EC1: ‘I can’t believe London’s such a big global capital yet the tube ends at midnight.’ What’s your view on this?
‘She’s right. And I would love to extend it, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings. It think it would be a great thing for female travellers, commuters; I think it would be a great thing if people had the security of the tube, because you know minicabs can… all the rest of it. There’s a big issue there.’

What’s stopping us?
‘It’s just that we have the oldest tube system in the world.’

So it’s not the unions saying they won’t go along with it?
‘I don’t know. This is an issue. Believe me, this is one of the things I really wanted to do as soon as I got in. It’s really that you need to spend those nocturnal hours repairing and making it good.’

Every night? Does the whole system really have to be cleaned for that long every night?
‘Well, who knows? It’s very, very hard to make it work. Let me tell your readers, I want your readers to know that I have not given up on this. I think it would be a wonderful thing to do, I think it would be a particularly wonderful thing to do for female travellers, female users, and we are on the case but it’s one of those things that at the moment has proved more difficult than others.’

‘What significant improvement to London will allowing motorbikes to cut up cyclists in bus lanes bring?’ asks Gary Johnson.
‘Well, obviously I reject the idea that they are going to be cutting up cyclists. There are several things to say. First of all, this is a trial. If the motorcyclists abuse the privilege of using bus lanes then that privilege will cease. If we get evidence that there have been injuries, that there has been a rise in accidents as a result of this policy then we will have to review it very carefully.

'But there’s evidence from places like Bristol, Kingston upon Thames – places where they’ve tried it and it has worked – and what it’s done is actually helped everybody to move through the roads more smoothly, and it has been of benefit to all road users, including vulnerable road users such as cyclists. So that was why we went ahead with the trial. And I’m a cyclist, I cycle every day, I cycle miles a day.’

Sometimes inside City Hall…
‘Yes, nothing wrong with that.’

'My haircut? Very little expense'

Of course. A question from Jennifer Rossington by email: ‘Binge drinking could be curbed if bars were more responsible in refusing intoxicated revellers, but they are afraid of involving the police in incidents which might lead to the loss of their licence. Essentially they prefer to put profit before public safety. Are you prepared to take a stand and remove licences from bars who flout their responsibilities?’
‘Absolutely, and this is matter for the councils, and what we’re doing is we’re supporting good councils who are absolutely ruthless in taking away licences from people who flout the law and sell drink to underage kids. In particular Bexley has been very good; Croydon Council has been extremely imaginative in this area. This is one of the ways in which we have to tackle binge drinking.

'It was amazing; shortly after I got here we had this thing where we banned alcohol on the tube, on the buses, on the trams, on the DLR. And there were massive ululations of hatred! Not since Margaret Thatcher had young people turned out to hurl execration at a Tory politician. It was this wonderful moment, but actually if you look at the figures, if you look at the public response, if you look at the effect it’s had… I am overwhelmingly certain that it was the right thing to do.’

This is from Ben Brocherie in Finsbury Park: ‘Banksy and graffiti: yes or no?’
‘Banksy? Well he’s brilliant, isn’t he?’

Tricky one for you, though, isn’t it? Some people, including many in your own party, would say that he’s vandalising property.
‘Well, I know. It’s very difficult. Well, no, he’s probably adding greatly to the value of the properties that he adorns.’

You’re fine with him going about, doing his stuff?
‘I’m going to be careful what I say here. It’s a very complex issue. What I really think about Banksy is I think he’s a genius, he’s a great artist and I like his stuff. But he’s got to accept it if from time to time someone will need to paint over his work. Sorry, Buster!’

From William Bagnell in Primrose Hill: ‘Does it freak you out when you’re sitting on the stage at City Hall answering questions and there’s your predecessor sitting there peering at you from the front row?’
‘It freaks me out when he’s not here! The other day he didn’t turn up, and I felt a personal sense of loss. He’s a sort of mascot, we need him there, hanging over proceedings.’

Yury Vershinin from Chislehurst wants to know: ‘Where do you get your hair cut?’
‘Um… anywhere. There’s a place round the corner at home. If I had to do it in the office it’s a trip down the street, there’s a nice place down the street. I don’t have a particular…’

You don’t have someone who comes in here and does it?
‘No.’

Shame. I can imagine you looking out over London with a kind of mat on the floor around the chair.
‘Sadly, no. Very little expense, my haircut.’

Part one | Part two