Bus driver standards in London to be monitored

Date: 1/7/2011

The monitoring of bus driver standards in London will be handled by AA DriveTech, which has been awarded the contract for the job.

According to Transport for London (TfL), every month some 600 covert assessments are carried out on operators of the vehicles across the capital's bus network.

Subjects are marked on issues including how smooth their driving is and the consideration they pay passengers and safety, with the fewer points they receive going towards a higher mark.

These results are then used to assess the overall effectiveness of new initiatives that aim to improve the skills of operators, as well as being utilised by the bus companies themselves to identify development requirements for individual employees.

AA DriveTech's contract will begin on July 1st and run for three years.

Figures from TfL this week revealed that bus ridership has increased by 60 per cent since 2000, with the vehicles carrying more passengers and travelling further distances during the last year than at any point in the preceding five decades.

Posted by Nick Anderson