TfL Ref: 1323-1819

Thank you for your email received by us on 11 August 2018 asking for information about air conditioning on London Buses in relation to your previous request (reference: 0986-1819).

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked for the following information:

1. In the response
"drivers can also report any technical issues as part of their initial check of the vehicle before they begin their shift to highlight areas for engineers to look into without delay".

Can you please clarify if you meant before their working time shift or before departing the bus from depot?

Is air-con checking actually part of first user check - 3.30 am it would be cold to identify a working air-con?

I can advise that the vehicle condition check is undertaken during work time, prior to the driver taking the bus out at the start of their shift.

2. You mentioned TfL wrote to the bus operators can you tell us what was written word by word or present us the letters?

I can confirm the following was written from Transport for London’s Director of Bus Operations to the Managing Directors of our principal bus operators following advance forecasts of high temperatures, emphasising the need to keep driver cabs as cool as possible:

This week is set to be incredibly hot and we have had a lot of enquiries from the press about driver cab conditions and general bus cooling. We have responded back on our understanding of the situation but appreciate that even with air cooling in these temperatures it can be very difficult to cool the vehicles! Can I just ask that you ensure that all measures are in place with your teams to do what we can to keep the buses as cool as possible

3. If a bus driver identifies a bus with a defective air-con and reported to engineers during first user checks before departing the depot and the engineers are unable to resolve it. Will the bus driver be told to take the bus out in service from depot or will bus operators ensure a bus does not leave the depot without a working air-con just like a defective wheel chair ramp does not leave the depot if not repaired?

Bus operators usually hold spare vehicles on standby, therefore if a bus is not in an appropriate condition to enter service it can be substituted with another at short notice. During particularly warm spells, operators have been known to relax the dress code and provide water to drivers to enhance comfort.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London