Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has said he cannot guarantee that every London bus driver's cab will have air conditioning by May 2027, the deadline agreed only weeks ago.
Earlier this month, City Hall, Transport for London and the trade union Unite reached a deal to retrofit every driver's cab that does not meet current standards by the end of May 2027. Almost 90% of the existing fleet needs the work. The agreement followed years of campaigning by bus drivers over working conditions, with cabin temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. Cabs are also to be fitted with UV protective film to reduce skin cancer risk.
Just over a week after the announcement, Khan acknowledged the scale of the task. At Mayor's Question Time, Green Party assembly member Caroline Russell pressed him on the deadline, pointing out that around 8,000 of London's 8,982 buses need retrofitting.
"It's going to be hard," Khan replied. "Unite have been really assiduous in giving us examples of some of the conditions that bus drivers are working under."
He added: "This would be the biggest transformation of a bus fleet ever undertaken. I'm determined to get there by the end of May."
The mayor also addressed toilet access for drivers on routes without facilities at either end, saying he would look into allowing drivers to use TfL staff toilets at stations. "We'll make sure of that – of course, they are part of the transport family," he said.
Russell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Distracted driving is a known safety risk, so it is urgent the mayor tackles causes of distraction like sweltering in an overheated bus driver's cab."
