Bus safety

The Mayor's Transport Strategy sets out the goal for Vision Zero for London that by 2041 all deaths and serious injuries will be eliminated from London's transport network. We have a specific target for buses that no one is killed in, or by, a London bus by 2030.

Buses are the safest way to travel on the roads and carry more people than any other public transport mode. There are fewer than 3 injuries for every million journeys on London's buses, but it's not inevitable or acceptable that anyone should be killed or seriously injured when travelling in London.

Bus safety programme

Our bus safety programme continuously drives major safety improvements across our bus network as part of our Vision Zero commitment. We work closely with bus operators in London, bus manufacturers and their suppliers to develop and deliver the programme.

The programme is centred around the 5 themes of our Safe System approach to reduce road danger and to drive improvements to ensure that all parts of the system are strengthened. They include:

• Safe vehicles
• Safe speeds
• Safe behaviours
• Safe streets
• Post-collision support and investigation

Bus safety strategy

The Bus safety strategy builds on the Bus action plan and also captures requirements from the Vision Zero action plan - see the Bus action plan on the Mayor's Transport Strategy page. The strategy sets out our priorities to ensure that we deliver our Vision Zero targets for a safe bus network.

Bus safety innovation challenges

Continual innovation is essential to improve safety:

• We introduced our Bus Safety Innovation Challenge in 2018 to stimulate innovation in the bus market. Our 2019 challenge was affected by the coronavirus pandemic
• In 2021, we launched the Fatigue, Health and Wellbeing Innovation Challenge to trial measures to manage fatigue and improve the health and wellbeing of bus drivers

These projects are now complete. A report will be published.

• In 2023, we launched our fourth challenge with the theme of reducing customer injuries. Projects are now in planning or are underway

Safe vehicles

Bus Safety Standard

The Bus Safety Standard (BSS) contractually requires the use of safer vehicles through demanding specifications that new buses entering service in London must meet. The first safety requirements for new buses were specified in 2019, with subsequent requirements in 2021 and 2024. Requirements for future years are being developed.

The BSS is world leading in requiring new technology to improve bus vehicle safety, both ahead of, and in addition to, regulatory requirements. The measures included in the BSS are wide ranging and are centred around four key areas:

• Driver assist: covers features to help the driver to avoid or mitigate the severity of a collision
• Partner assist: helps other involved road users to avoid the collision
• Occupant protection: aims to reduce the severity of injuries for people on board the bus:
• Partner protection: aims to minimise injury to other road users outside the bus in a collision

These documents detail the in-depth research done for each Bus Safety Standard Measure.

After our initial launch research, we have continued to invest in research and development of the Bus safety standard with further in-depth topical research. 

The European General Safety Regulations are a key milestone in bringing greater safety technology onto vehicles, including buses. These have yet to be adopted by the UK Government, however through the Bus safety standard these regulations can be required on London's buses. A review of the regulations and how they apply to buses was carried out to help us understand the implications of the General Safety Regulations. 

Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS)

Together with design and engineering partners, we've developed our own 'Urban Bus Sound' Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), developed specifically for buses. We have also developed a next-level Responsive Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System.

Bus braking data analysis

This report sets out the findings from a detailed study into the braking characteristics of normal, human driven, buses in-service in London and incidences of passenger injuries to inform the requirements and implementation of Advanced Emergency Braking; a measure required for new buses in 2024 through the Bus Safety Standard.

Pedal application error

Pedal application error is an event where a driver mistakenly presses the accelerator in the belief that they are pressing the brake, or vice versa. While this is a rare event, the potential impacts are significant - this means active risk management is necessary.

We have built on the initial research done when we launched the Bus safety standard with further in-depth studies of this complex area.

This report summarises the results of several individual studies which have developed our understanding of pedal application error in buses, building on previous research. It includes an updated analysis of incident rates, a review of causes and an assessment of potential technical solutions.

This report investigates incidents of unintended acceleration in London buses and identifies potential solutions to the problem of pedal confusion.

This report sets out the findings from research into pedal confusion, looking at the frequency that pedal confusion occurs and the number of incidents of pedal confusion that go unreported by bus drivers, along with the possible causes and solutions to pedal confusion. 

Safe speeds

Speed is the single most important determinant of both the likelihood of a collision occurring and the severity of any injuries sustained. We work with the bus operators to continually monitor excess speed across the network and identify hotspot areas to focus our efforts to ensure safe speeds. We are still rolling out 20mph schemes on large sections of its road network. 

Since 2019, Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) has been required on new buses in London as part of the Bus Safety Standard. ISA helps drivers comply with the posted speed limit, reducing the likelihood of collisions and enhancing the effectiveness of other safety features on buses. 

This report summarises the results of an early trial of ISA on London buses.

Safe behaviours

Fatigue, health and wellbeing

We are committed to developing evidence-led solutions and enabling a fair, open and just culture around understanding and managing fatigue.

We commissioned the first in-depth research into fatigue among bus drivers in 2019. This research by Loughborough University and the Swedish National Road and Transport Institute investigated the nature and extent of fatigue among bus drivers, the contributing factors to fatigue, and what solutions could be implemented to address fatigue.

This report investigates the extent and nature of fatigue in London bus drivers, the contributing factors to fatigue, and what solutions could be implemented to address fatigue.

This report looks at the suitability, limitations and potential for using existing fatigue and/or risk assessment scheduling and rostering tools.

Post-collision support and investigation

The Sarah Hope Line

For customers affected by incidents where someone is killed or seriously injured, our specially trained Sarah Hope Line support service staff can provide guidance and helps solve practical problems resulting from the incident. Find out more about The Sarah Hope Line.

Analysis of bus collisions 

This report analyses data from Stats19, the police fatal archive (police fatal files) the Road Accident In Depth Studies (RAIDS) and the Heavy Vehicle Crash Injury Study (HVCIS) to examine collisions involving buses. It uses the in-depth collision details to assign countermeasures that might help to avoid or mitigate the severity of each collision. 

Bus safety data release

Due to the impact of a cyber security incident at TfL, we are unable to access some of our reporting systems. This means we are currently unable to publish the quarterly bus safety data that was scheduled to be published by the end of October 2024. This usually consists of an update to four data products: the bus safety dashboard, the bus injury detail CSV, the bus network safety performance index (SPI), and the bus fatalities list. TfL will publish the latest data as soon as it is possible.

Explore the bus safety data using the bus safety dashboard. The file below contains details of all bus related injuries since 2014.

Bus Network Safety Performance Index

We use a Safety Performance Index (SPI) to monitor the safety performance of our bus operators.

Fatal incident investigations

This document outlines details of all fatalities involving a bus.