London buses ‘more dangerous’ under Khan, transport experts claim

Michael Liebreich, who oversaw health and safety while sitting on TfL’s board between 2012 and 2018, said: “It’s becoming more and more difficult to meet the schedule. So the pressure on drivers is only increasing.”

Mr Liebreich also said that London was in the lowest quartile of cities – ranked by vehicle collisions – in a 2021 study done by the International Bus Benchmarking Group.

Now working as a transport executive, Mr Liebreich said: “People should be scared. We have a really unsafe system in London. There are hundreds of victims here.”

Since 2016, 61 people have been killed in bus collisions, TfL data shows.

Chronic fatigue

Some bus drivers on particular routes are also alleged to be speeding, yet TfL admitted it does not routinely share this information with the police, Questions to the Mayor shows.

In January 2020, Unite said bus drivers were also suffering from “chronic fatigue” after a survey found 36 per cent of drivers had had a “close call” because of tiredness in the past 12 months.

A spokesman for the mayor of London, said: “The mayor is committed to ensuring London’s transport network and roads are as safe as possible. Since introducing his goal to eliminate road deaths in London, both deaths and serious injuries in London have fallen faster than the national average.

“Buses are already the safest way to travel on London’s roads and carry more people than any other public transport mode. Despite the Government trying to force major bus cuts in London, the mayor has managed to protect the vast majority of bus routes and is now expanding bus services, particularly in outer London. This includes the new Superloop bus network.

“In September, TfL announced a new strategy to make buses even safer. This includes continuing to roll-out the world-leading Bus Safety Standard, which specifies safety standards for new buses in London. More than 1,400 buses now meet the standard and this number will increase as older vehicles are replaced with new electric buses. The mayor has pledged to make all of the capital’s buses zero-emission by 2030.”

TfL and Go Ahead declined to comment.