• Reference: 2024/3446
• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

How do you reconcile your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2873 that 'TfL continues to invest in its bus driver facility assets' with a) the 29 June 2022 statement by TfL’s Head of Bus Business Development Tom Cunnington at the London Assembly Transport Committee that TfL has no plans and no budget to add toilets to 175 bus routes lacking toilets at one end – a point you further confirmed in your response to Mayoral Question 2023/2120 - and b) the information from your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2892 that "there is not a specific toilet working group" in the Tripartite...

• Reference: 2024/3445
• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

My Mayoral Question 2024/2873 specifically asked for you to provide the 'certain criteria that must be met for TfL to cover bus driver toilet breaks' that I have seen in internal communication from one of TfL's largest bus contractors. Please will you provide me with a copy of this 'certain criteria that must be met for TfL to cover bus driver toilet breaks'?

• Reference: 2024/3444
• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

How do you reconcile your responses to Mayoral Questions 2024/2872 and 2024/2873 with the chilling testimony of London bus drivers found in the 21 September 2024 My London Investigation headlined "Whistleblower London bus drivers ‘exhausted’ and ‘use faulty vehicles’ in ‘dangerous’ conditions"? For example: “if they’ve given you 10 minutes stand time, by the time you get there, you’ve got two minutes, and that’ll be the time you have to go to the toilet."

• Reference: 2024/3443
• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

In your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2872, you stated "The layover period built into a schedule provides adequate time for drivers to use facilities." Please provide me with any specific guidance TfL has issued to its bus contractors that clearly defines what constitutes "adequate time for bus drivers to use facilities" on – as per your response to Mayoral Question 2022/5376 – the at least 175 bus routes with no bus drivers’ toilet at one end. Does this guidance even exist? If not, please explain why not.

• Reference: 2024/3442
• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

In your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2872, you stated "Bus Operators work to a contractually set of mileage coding guidelines, with operators expected to code mileage losses which are within the operator's control as deductible." Please share any specific guidance TfL has issued to its bus contractors that clearly defines the circumstances under which the timing allowed for a bus driver toilet break is determined to be "within the operator's control" and that which is not. Does this guidance even exist? If not, please explain why.

• Reference: 2024/3441
• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

In Mayoral Question 2023/1355 (March 2023) I asked you, as TfL Chair, "to commit to drafting and enforcing a “Code of Candour” for TfL and its contractors that – analogous to existing statutes that have applied to the NHS and its contractors for years: (1) sets out specific requirements that TfL and its contractors must follow when things go wrong with safety including immediately informing the public about the incident; (2) provides reasonable support to those affected; (3) compels TfL and its contractors to provide truthful information and an apology when things go wrong". After 11 months of no response...

• Reference: 2024/3440
• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

During his Confirmation Hearing on 29 May 2024, your Deputy Mayor for Transport told the London Assembly "There are not many cities worldwide that take the kind of action we are, for example, working with drivers and the unions to ensure that we provide proper facilities for drivers to ensure that they are not fatigued....again, no other city is really doing this to the extent that we are." With the chilling testimony of London bus drivers found in the 21 September 2024 My London investigation entitled "Whistleblower London bus drivers ‘exhausted’ and ‘use faulty vehicles’ in ‘dangerous’ conditions", do you...

• Reference: 2024/3439
• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

A cursory Vehicle Operating Licence search of a single TfL bus operator managing director on the DVSA website reveals, inter alia, that the same two people are serving as Transport Managers for at least 16 bus depots, which between them have at least 2050 buses and over 3000 London bus drivers. Following up on your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2888, does TfL have "robust processes" in place to monitor its bus operators to determine if their named Transport Managers are (a) competent to fulfil their safety critical role and (b) capable of doing their safety critical job covering, as with...

• Reference: 2024/3438
• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

Published guidance from the DVSA clearly states the role of the ‘Transport Manager’ "as being responsible for things such as making sure that: drivers have a valid licence and your vehicles are taxed, have a valid MOT and are insured at all times, vehicles are properly maintained and fit and serviceable at all times, work is priced so that it can be done both legally and profitably, vehicles are loaded safely and not overloaded, and work is arranged so that drivers do not break drivers’ hours rules or have to speed”. Following up on your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2888...

• Reference: 2024/3437
• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 10 October 2024

A Companies House search of "Crown Sightseeing Services" confirms that one of its directors is, inter alia, also a director of 7 other bus operators, 6 of which are contracted to provide bus services to TfL. Following up on your response to Mayoral Question 2024/2888, does TfL also have a "robust process" for overseeing and acting to ensure that its bus contractors are not "overboarding" individuals so that it might be impossible for them to carry out their important governance and safety critical roles as directors of companies whose entire income is dependent on fulfilling TfL bus contracts?