Dear Transport for London, Bus Drivers are assessed and monitored of the standard and reported to bus operator. (I believe these are AA DRIVETECH and BCES) Can you please tell us who conducts the assessments to bus drivers? Which of them are contractors to TfL? Do any of these accessors old a pcv license? Which of them are directly employed by TfL? What qualifications do they have? Have any of the assesments carried out been inaccurate? How many BCES assesments have carried out on bus drivers in the last 5 years? How many AA drivetech assesments carried out in last 5 years?

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TfL Ref: 1962-1819

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27 October 2018 asking for information about bus driver assessments.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.  Your questions and our responses are below:

• 1Can you please tell us who conducts the assessments to bus drivers?

   

   

  For DQM it’s DriveTech and for BCES it’s GFK.

   

   

• 2Which of them are contractors to TfL?

   

   

  Both.

   

   

• 3Do any of these accessors old a pcv license?

   

   

  For DQM, yes, for BCES, no.

   

   

• 4Which of them are directly employed by TfL?

   

   

  Neither

   

   

• 5What qualifications do they have?

   

   

  With both surveys, staff are trained in the particular surveys by their companies. For DQM, staff also have to be PCV holders.

   

   

• 6Have any of the assesments carried out been inaccurate?

   

   

  Yes, and we encourage any operator to appeal if they feel that there is an discrepancy. Operators can challenge assessments but we ask them to check CCTV first.

   

   

• 7How many BCES assesments have been carried out on bus drivers in the last 5 years?

   

   

  There was a change to contractor in April 2016 and since then reductions in the number of assessments carried out. Currently, there are 1,600 assessments per period for 12 periods, so that would mean 96,000 assessments over five years.

   

   

• 8How many AA drivetech assesments carried out in last 5 years?

There are around 7,400 per year, so around 37,000

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.

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

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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