Three people died on London’s buses without anyone noticing in the past six years

London’s bus network is one of the safest in the world.

Transport for London (TfL)’s latest data revealed that in June there was one death and 366 injuries out of an estimated 106.6 million passenger journeys.

Residents have more chance of catching coronavirus or breaking a bone.

Since 2015, the number of fatalities on London’s buses has declined.

While some deaths on the network were seemingly random, a large proportion were related to collisions, trips and falls on the busses themselves.

In fact, nine of the 13 people who died on the network in 2020 had been involved in a fatal accident.

TfL documentation has also revealed that three people were found dead on buses in the past six years whilst the driver was performing checks of their buses at the end of the route whilst at a bus stand.

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A route 106 bus passes Royal London Hospital

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Two of these tragic instances were recorded in 2015 on bus routes 349 and 436. In those cases, both drivers found unresponsive passengers and called the emergency services.

However, paramedics were unable to revive them. It was confirmed that the deaths were due to natural causes and not due to any issue occurring directly as a result of them taking the bus.

A third instance, still undergoing investigation, happened last October on route 266. All three instances are believed to be men.

As the passengers were found at the end of the bus journeys at bus stands, their deaths appear to have gone unnoticed during the journey.

Fortunately, there are far more instances where medical emergencies have been avoided thanks to the swift intervention of other passengers and TfL staff as demonstrated by TfL’s bus safety dashboard.

Over the same six year time frame, 14 people have died after slipping, tripping or falling over on a London bus, ten of which have been elderly people.

Most of these instances have taken place on stairs of double decker buses or when passengers have been boarding or alighting.

TfL has taken on recommendations from coroner’s reports and inquests in order to reduce the number of injuries and deaths on its buses. They have mitigation strategies to prevent things such as runaway buses and driver fatigue which can contribute to serious accidents.

Number of people who have died on London’s bus network since 2015:

2015 21
2016 19
2017 16
2018 19
2019 12
2020 13
2021 4

MyLondon has reached out to TfL for comment on the statistics.

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