By Emma Griffiths BBC News, London

Peter Hendy was managing director of London Buses

Former London Buses managing director Peter Hendy, 52, who worked as a bus driver while a trainee, takes over the top job from Bob Kiley on Wednesday.

Preparing for the 2012 Games will be just one item in a bulging in-tray.

"It's a bit daunting, I think London expects a lot from its transport system," he told BBC News.

"If you are in charge of delivering it, you should be a bit daunted."

I get lots of time to read stuff on the train Peter Hendy

The married father-of-two has plenty of first hand experience of the public transport network.

He has a four-hour daily commute between his home in Bath, Somerset, to Transport for London's (TfL) headquarters by way of a train and two buses.

"I get lots of time to read stuff on the train," he said.

"I think anybody would say that we have still got a lot more to do, but on my daily journey, the bit within London has improved within the last five years."

Starting at London Transport as a graduate trainee in 1975, he did short stints as a bus conductor and driver, both based in Hammersmith, west London, and later headed up bus firm Centrewest and was UK bus deputy director for FirstGroup.

Bob Kiley had opposed the introduction of PPP on the Tube

From 2001 Mr Hendy was the boss of London Buses, during the biggest package of improvements to bus services in central London in 50 years.

Among some of his tasks in his new �320,000-a-year role will be trying to get the Crossrail project off the ground as well as preparing London for the 2012 Olympics.

"It's really important that that stuff is on target and delivered - I think we have got a good chance of doing that," he said.

He also hopes to oversee a five-year �10bn investment plan and hold the government and public private partnership (PPP) firms to their promises on modernising the ageing Tube system.

Mr Hendy said he would be able to work with the firms - sometimes criticised by his predecessor - and had no objection to "people making a profit".

We have to make PPP work Peter Hendy

He added: "Nobody I have met thinks it (PPP) was the best way of doing it, but we have got it and we have to make it work.

"Our best bet is contractors who do a good job, who deliver what we want, on time."

But he told BBC News that his main priority was more modest.

"Every day we have got millions of people using our public transport, highways, walking and cycling," he said.

"We have got to give them the best service we can. We haven't got everything right, some things take much longer than others.