http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/l...ing%20Standard

Inquiry into bus complaints
By Ross Lydall Local Government Correspondent, Evening Standard
3 March 2005
The chronic state of bad and dangerous bus driving in London can be revealed
today.

New figures show that 2,600 passengers a year are injured as they board or
alight from the capital's 7,000-strong bus fleet.

One in four of the incidents involves pensioners, who are thrown from seats
or fall over when drivers pull off from stops too quickly or brake too
sharply.

Overall, more than 20,000 complaints were received, from buses failing to
stop, to the damage they cause to parked cars, to drivers refusing to lower
ramps for disabled passengers.

Now the London Assembly has decided to launch a formal investigation-into
the state of driving, with the amount of bus journeys taken each day
expected to rise further this summer when the congestion charge jumps to £8.

The 700-route bus network already carries 6.25 million passengers each
weekday - a modern-day high.

Roger Evans, the Conservative transport spokesman on the Assembly, said:
"Most of our bus drivers are excellent, but we are let down by a few who are
not.

"In one out of 20 cases inspectors looked at, the driving wasn't just bad,
it was dangerous. Drivers were stopping too fast, people were being thrown
off their seats.

"If you commute every day, it means that once every two weeks you will be
driven dangerously. That is not good enough."

The Assembly's inquiry follows the release of figures by Ken Livingstone in
response to questions from the Liberal Democrats.

The Mayor revealed that there were an average of 18 complaints each day made
to Transport for London or the private bus companies about poor or dangerous
bus driving. In addition, it emerged there we


35 complaints each day when drivers were said to have deliberately missed
stops.

485 complaints a year of buses damaging cars.

287 complaints a year where drivers refused to lower ramps for disabled
travellers.
TfL's figures, which cover the 12 months to September 2004, named and shamed
the bus companies that attracted the greatest complaints.

This list was headed by Arriva London North with 749 complaints, Metroline
(733), Stagecoach East London (540), Arriva London South (539) and First
CentreWest (502).

Lynne Featherstone, the Lib-Dem chair of the London Assembly's transport
committee, said: "Those most at risk from erratic driving are frail or
elderly people who are unable to balance themselves when the bus accelerates
or brakes sharply."

Mr Livingstone said standards had fallen when the bus network was privatised
in the Nineties and poor wages led to a third of staff quitting each year.

But since his election in 2000, salaries had risen from £16,000 to £21,000
for bus drivers, and all staff now underwent a BTEC training course.

He said the number of accidents was small compared to the 1.7 billion bus
trips a year in the capital.