Bus Services in London

Our Transport Committee report warns that overcrowding and passenger satisfaction levels could be causes for concern if Transport for London and the Mayor do not address future bus planning in the capital.

Watch our video about the Assembly Transport Committee report.

[[{"fid":"28557","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Future bus overcrowding concerns (London Assembly report)","height":"340","width":"1024","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]The Committee calls on the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) to demonstrate how they will cope with an estimated additional 167 million more bus journeys in 2022 than are currently taken.

The Transport Committee's report suggests TfL should develop ways to measure and evaluate bus overcrowding – as is done on UK rail – as well as listen to passengers’ feedback. The Committee also calls for improvements to bus service planning following detailed evidence from organisations representing London boroughs, including London Councils.

The recommendations set out in the report – Bus Services in London – include asking TfL and the Mayor to:

Publish a long-term strategy for the development of the bus network to address rising demand

Devise a measure for determining ‘bus busyness’, set annual performance targets and report on these twice a year

Report on work with NHS providers on delivery of good public transport links to London’s hospitals and health centres

Publish a schedule for the roll-out of more environmentally friendly bus vehicles including electric buses

Report on plans to develop more customer-focused ticketing, including early bird, part-time and one-hour bus tickets

Devise a new approach to future bus service consultations, including more targeted interaction with passengers and allow local councils to have more say on bus services

Full data and analysis table

14 May 2014 UPDATE

TfL's response to Bus Services in London report makes a number of commitments for future action including:

Continue to develop affordable, cost-effective plans to increase capacity on the bus network to ensure it keeps pace with the expected growth in demand;

Introduce a new approach to engagement to capture the views of stakeholders and passengers on changes to bus services. This could include organising informal ‘drop-in’ sessions and emailing Oyster card users about consultations which may be of interest;

Build on the report’s welcome and strong support for increased bus priority which will include working more closely with the London boroughs to distribute the £200m that has been allocated for these schemes in the TfL Business Plan up to 2020/21. Four fifths of the capital’s bus services operate on borough roads;

Further increase transparency by publishing annually the number of passenger journeys and bus kilometres operated on each of nearly 700 bus routes, with data for 2013/14 published by the end of this year.