r/londonbuses

I hope this is okay to post. As of 2006, London buses must have AC installed. Our current mayor has recently told bus companies to keep buses in the depot if their AC is faulty. But this isn't country wide!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/775009

I'm sure many of you have seen the number of viral videos circulating of bus drivers in the London heat a month ago trying to stay cool and fainting on the street from the heat.

Many vehicles, not just buses, do not have air conditioning, creating dangerous environments for our hard working bus drivers.

I've even been told of one bus company in Norwich, Norfolk who deliberately uninstalled AC to avoid maintenance costs.

Simply rediculous! A workers wellbeing should come first!

Whilst a blanket ban may not be the answer, I'm hoping it will encourage public transport companies to ensure proper maintenance of their vehicles and AC across the country.

I encourage any healthy debates below, all are welcome and will be noted as I hope to one day, be able to speak about this personally in the house of commons and/or Lords and fight for the rights of drivers up and down the country.

And of course, where possible, give your public transport workers cold water and maybe an ice lolly or 2 to help make their working hours a bit more bearable. It may be 34°c today, but inside those cabins it's nearly 45!

Thank you all and I hope there's some compassionate people here xx

Only a small amount (13% based on FOI requests and rough estimates) of buses have true air conditioning, and the rest have air cooling, at least on the upper deck. Most of the time the ‘’air cooling’’ only works whenever the bus is moving, which is often not the case for most buses in London (at least the ones that I’ve taken), which makes it boiling hot during heatwaves (and quite stuffy on buses with fewer windows).

However while circumnavigating London on the Superloop I’ve noticed that the SL9 and SL10 have buses that blow strong air out from vents whether the bus is moving or not. It’s not air con, as the air isn’t chilled, but it’s still pretty good.