Request ID: FOI-1166-2223 Date published: 05 September 2022
You asked
Dear Transport for London,
Please supply me with a copy of any assessment you have made of the proportion of London buses currently in service that do not have functioning air conditioning in line with TfL's specifications for London buses. Please could you also supply me with any correspondence you have had with London bus operators in the last 6 months relating to the issue of air conditioning on buses.
Many thanks.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-1166-2223/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10 August 2022 asking for information about air conditioning on London buses.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.
We do not hold data on the proportion of London buses currently in service without functioning air conditioning. The most recent sampling of air conditioning units undertaken by TfL was last year and identified that the vast majority of the systems were functioning correctly. The operators have in place a combination of planned servicing and process for making ad hoc repairs of any units when they fail. An email from our Principal Engineer to all Bus Operators alerting them to the hot weather was sent on 8 July 2022, the text of this was:
Risk of Hot Weather impacting Surface Transport
Hot weather has been identified as a risk to Surface Transport this coming week so the drivers air-con could again become an issue Please flag any concerns you may have in the fleet
No further correspondence is held – any communications were by telephone.
If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
