Our Ref: FOI-0134-1819

Thank you for your request received on 15 April 2018 asking for information about complaints and positive feedback made about bus drivers.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

1. I am requesting to know how many customer/public complaints sent to TfL against bus drivers in the last 3 years to date. Please list by bus operators.
Please also list number of customer complaints have been found to not be true.

3. I would like to know how many bus drivers received positive feedback in last 3 years to date. Please list by bus operators.

All bus companies contracted to operate TfL services have investigative processes and disciplinary procedures to manage driver conduct issues. All would include the ultimate sanction of dismissal for actions amounting to gross misconduct. We expect all complaints to be followed up and independently assure ourselves as the standard of driving and customer service by carrying out driving quality monitoring, and customer satisfaction and mystery traveller surveys. We do not hold information on the number of complaints that were found not to be true.

Please see the table below for information on the number of bus driver ‘complaints’ and bus driver ‘commendations’ for the past three years.

Please note that there will be occasions when complaints and commendations are classified incorrectly and may have been logged as an ‘enquiry’. It should also be noted that we changed the Customer Relationship Database that we use to capture our customer feedback in May 2017. During the transition period the systems there were a few issues adapting to the new system so, some complaints and commendations may have been recorded as enquiries. We have included the ‘enquiry’ category in the table below.

Bus Driver Complaints by Bus Operator Commendation Complaint Enquiry Grand Total
ABELLIO LONDON    
FY15-16 152 1616 125 1893
FY16-17 183 1444 118 1745
FY17-18 186 1956 453 2595
ABELLIO LONDON WEST    
FY17-18 74 694 167 935
ARRIVA EAST HERTS & ESSEX    
FY15-16   1 1
ARRIVA KENT & SUSSEX    
FY15-16 25 472 20 517
FY16-17 35 295 16 346
ARRIVA KENT THAMESIDE    
FY15-16 2 8  10
FY16-17  1  1
ARRIVA LONDON     
FY15-16 167 2016 209 2392
FY16-17 192 2022 215 2429
FY17-18 30 316 36 382
ARRIVA LONDON NORTH    
FY17-18 217 3959 892 5068
ARRIVA LONDON SOUTH    
FY17-18 143 1669 389 2201
ARRIVA SHIRES & SOUTHERN COUNTIES    
FY15-16  1  1
FY16-17  1  1
ARRIVA THE SHIRES    
FY15-16 10 390 22 422
FY16-17 8 267 14 289
BLUE TRIANGLE    
FY15-16 18 459 30 507
FY16-17 29 488 29 546
FY17-18 62 921 186 1169
CT PLUS    
FY15-16 14 345 18 377
FY16-17 19 486 20 525
FY17-18 79 815 150 1044
FIRST GROUP    
FY16-17  1  1
LONDON GENERAL/CENTRAL    
FY15-16 253 2417 261 2931
FY16-17 289 2511 255 3055
FY17-18 719 5782 1233 7734
LONDON SOVEREIGN    
FY15-16 29 550 36 615
FY16-17 24 542 30 596
FY17-18 52 644 140 836
LONDON UNITED    
FY17-18 225 2838 610 3673
LONDON UNITED BUSWAYS    
FY15-16 122 1621 138 1881
FY16-17 136 1555 115 1806
FY17-18 26 227 19 272
METROBUS    
FY15-16 61 792 57 910
FY16-17 81 772 60 913
FY17-18 139 1074 235 1448
METROLINE    
FY15-16 162 1937 232 2331
FY16-17 141 1910 184 2235
FY17-18 279 4725 1007 6011
METROLINE WEST    
FY15-16 54 1146 91 1291
FY16-17 53 1185 77 1315
FY17-18 96 1565 318 1979
NCP CHALLENGER    
FY16-17  1  1
QUALITY LINE    
FY15-16 22 378 16 416
FY16-17 26 376 17 419
FY17-18 21 523 104 648
SELKENT    
FY17-18 148 1803 396 2347
SOUTH EAST LONDON & KENT    
FY15-16 78 1153 72 1303
FY16-17 88 1204 92 1384
FY17-18 20 160 14 194
SULLIVAN BUSES    
FY15-16  41 1 42
FY16-17 1 37 3 41
FY17-18 21 174 52 247
TOWER TRANSIT    
FY15-16 59 1176 83 1318
FY16-17 60 1123 59 1242
FY17-18 108 1691 334 2133
UNIVERSITY BUS    
FY15-16 3 23 2 28
FY16-17  15 2 17
FY17-18  19 6 25
Unspecified    
FY15-16 63 901 204 1168
FY16-17 57 828 173 1058
FY17-18 101 1509 2895 4505
EAST LONDON BUS & COACH GROUP    
FY15-16 118 1447 116 1681
FY16-17 107 1352 105 1564
FY17-18 125 2156 480 2761
LONDON SOVEREIGN     
FY16-17  1  1
Grand Total 5812 72526 13434 91772

If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]