Request ID: FOI-0591-2324 Date published: 22 June 2023
You asked
Dear Sir/Madam
I am requesting the following information under the freedom of information.
Could you please provide me the following via email;
1. In the last 10 years how many bus drivers have carried out service work with 9 points on their licences? Please breakdown per operator
2. In the last 10 years how many drivers have been involved in accidents with pedestrians causing minor or major injury to the pedestrian? Please breakdown per operator
3. In the last 10 years how many drivers have been dismissed due to accidents with pedestrians causing minor or major injury? Please breakdown per operator.
I look forward to receiving this information.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0591-2324 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 25th May 2023 asking for information about bus drivers. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. Specifically you asked: “Could you please provide me the following via email; 1. In the last 10 years how many bus drivers have carried out service work with 9 points on their licences? Please breakdown per operator 2. In the last 10 years how many drivers have been involved in accidents with pedestrians causing minor or major injury to the pedestrian? Please breakdown per operator 3. In the last 10 years how many drivers have been dismissed due to accidents with pedestrians causing minor or major injury? Please breakdown per operator.” I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. In answer to Questions 1 and 3, TfL does not hold this information. London's bus services are operated by private companies on behalf of TfL, and those companies employ their drivers directly. TfL does not collect the data that would allow us to answer these questions. In answer to Question 2, over the last 10 years there were approximately 2215 drivers involved with collisions with pedestrians which resulted in injuries (due to variations in the way this data has been recorded by the operator this number should be treated as a close approximation). This is data reported to us by the operator through their Bus Safety System (IRIS). This is broken down by operator in the table below. Please note that the size and scale of operations by London’s different bus operating companies varies significantly – from around 25% of operations at the largest level, to less than 0.5% at the smallest. Further, this has fluctuated over the past decade. Where business acquisitions have occurred, historic data has been allocated against the existing bus operating company. The date range for this table is 31 May 2013 to 31 May 2023.
GroupName
Total Drivers
Abellio
136
Arriva London
531
Go-Ahead
457
Metroline
344
RATP
232
Stagecoach
434
Sullivan Buses
2
Tower Transit
75
Not recorded
4
Note further that TfL proactively publishes bus safety data on our website via the following link: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZWY3NDRmODEtNGY4ZC00ZmI2LWJhMjQtNzVmNzNlYWFlYTMxIiwidCI6IjFmYmQ2NWJmLTVkZWYtNGVlYS1hNjkyLWEwODljMjU1MzQ2YiIsImMiOjh9 TfL is working in partnership with the boroughs, police and other stakeholders to directly tackle road danger and continues to work on a number of major programmes to make London's roads and the vehicles using them safer. This includes delivering a world-leading Bus Safety Programme, with all new buses joining the London bus fleet – over 1,000 buses - currently compliant with either the 2019 or 2021 Bus Safety Standard. Intelligent Speed Assistance technology, fitted to one third of London’s buses, ensures buses comply with the speed limit, and Camera Monitoring Systems remove both the risk of a wing mirror hitting another road user and obscured visibility for the driver due to blind spots, adverse weather conditions or poor lighting. Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems are also being introduced on all new buses, to alert vulnerable road users to the presence of the quieter-running zero-emission vehicles in the fleet, while Advanced Emergency Braking and changes to the bus front-end are features to be rolled out from 2024. If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed. Yours sincerely, David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
