Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy has today pledged that the entire double deck fleet will have extra opening windows on the top decks in time for summer 2007.

Almost half of our double decker buses have already been fitted with extra opening windows on the top deck

London Buses has invested over half a million pounds since last summer, in addition to £1 million invested in the previous year, to continue the job of making the Capital's buses more comfortable in warm summer weather.

This investment means that nearly 2,300 out of the 4,900-strong double deck fleet now have additional upper deck opening windows and hundreds of other double deckers have also been fitted with either forced air ventilation systems or air cooling systems.

Peter Hendy said: 'Almost half of our double decker buses have already been fitted with extra opening windows on the top deck to help deal with the high temperatures that we sometimes encounter during the summer months.

'The high-density city centre routes, which tend to heat up the most, have been our priority, but I can confirm today that the remainder of the fleet will be similarly equipped by summer next year.'

All new buses entering service must have heat reflective white painted roof panels, body insulation, more opening windows on the upper deck, tinted glass and heaters which switch off automatically when the bus gets too warm.

In addition, a programme has begun to refurbish buses that have been in service for more than five years, which will include converting older manual heating systems to the automatic type and painting roof panels white.


  • TfL has a £10 billion Investment Programme to meet London's transport needs, now and in the future
  • Taking retrofitted, refurbished and new buses together, 2,284 double deck buses (out of a total of around 4,900 in the fleet) are now fitted with additional opening windows
  • 472 buses have new ventilation systems and 83 new vehicles this summer will have air cooling systems
  • About 300-400 new buses enter the fleet over the course of a year with a similar number refurbished. All of these new or refurbished buses will have thermostatically controlled heating systems and white painted roof panels; the new vehicles will also have body panel insulation and tinted glass