Our Ref:         FOI-3061-1819

Thank you for your request received on 12 February 2019 asking for information about rough sleeping on night buses. I apologise for the delay in my response.
 
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 do hold the information you require.
 
TfL is committed to working with the Mayor’s Office and homeless charities to identify and support rough sleepers that seek refuge on the transport system. Our staff regularly intervene and provide valuable assistance to anyone that needs help. The interventions will include putting them in contact with the appropriate outreach team or support service and in some cases when appropriate, the police.
As part of our efforts to help safeguard rough sleepers on our transport networks, we are part-funding Thames Reach, a homelessness outreach charity, in conjunction with the Mayor’s Office to identify and engage with rough sleepers on the transport network. The aim is to get a clearer picture of the extent and causes of rough sleeping that affects the transport network and to develop ‘joined up’ engagement methods with other agencies such as housing to provide support to these people.
 
At present rough sleeping on the transport system can be reported in a number of ways, however there is currently no central database for recording this information. On many occasions rough sleeping would be reported directly to StreetLink or Thames Outreach, charities commissioned by the Mayor’s Office to deliver outreach services. We are currently working to improve our processes to provide a more accurate picture of rough sleeping across the TfL transport network and to have central oversight and coordination of the different activities underway to help rough sleepers across the TfL networks.
 
In response to your request we have provided Driver Incident Reports (DIRs) data for rough sleeping on the bus network over the last three years. DIRs are calls made by London bus drivers to the London Buses control room, for a range of incidents such as reporting collisions, passenger illness, mechanical failures or a crime taking place. We have also separately listed the top 20 routes for rough sleeping reports, where a route data field was populated. We expect that this is an underestimate of the true scale of rough sleeping on our buses – the hidden homeless – which is why we are working to make it simpler for drivers to report rough sleeping so we can put the right interventions in place.
 
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.
 
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

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

[email protected]

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