TfL promises to install toilets on all London bus routes after MyLondon campaign

£6m will be spent on improving toilet facilities this year, Transport for London has confirmed

Transport for London has pledged to install toilets on all of its bus routes following a campaign among drivers for better conditions. Six routes do not currently have any facilities, resulting in some drivers urinating into plastic bottles or stepping off the bus to relieve themselves in a park.

Over the next few weeks new facilities will be installed at one terminus of all six routes. TfL is also providing additional funding to enable the building of 53 more toilet buildings across London over the next few years and will ensure facilities are available on 10 routes where they are currently not open all the hours drivers are on shift.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I know, from personal experience, just what a vital role London’s hard-working bus drivers play in keeping the capital moving around the clock. It’s an absolute priority for me and TfL to ensure that every bus driver across our great city has the facilities they need to do their crucial work safely and comfortably.

“That’s why we’re investing more to support fantastic bus drivers and working at pace to install these essential facilities, which will help us provide a more effective bus network for everyone, as we continue building a fairer and better London for all.”

Despite welcoming this step, many drivers are pushing for clarification on where these toilet upgrades will be carried out. Only 38 per cent of London’s 675 routes currently have dedicated 24/7 toilets for drivers at both ends, TfL confirmed in response to a Freedom of Information request in June.

The authority also said one in four routes lack facilities at one end of the route, and that seven dedicated toilets have restricted hours and days. One driver told MyLondon he refuses to use the single toilet shared with 200 other bus operators at the end of his route in Brixton due to its “disgusting” condition.

Female bus drivers are bleeding through their trousers due to the lack of toilet access while on their period. Former driver Antonia Pugh-Thomas said a few months ago her colleague was forced to spend her entire 40-minute break trying to buy new clothes in order to carry on working.

The announcement to improve toilet facilities across the network comes two weeks after TfL also pledged to fit all London buses with air conditioning by next May. This follows MyLondon’s Back Our Bus Drivers campaign, and a walkout from Arriva workers, which saw 1,500 drivers in North and East London strike in August.

TfL has now agreed to address three out of 12 clauses laid out in a proposed ‘Bill of Rights’ campaigners have been pushing for several years. Drivers are also calling for the authority to change “unsafe” shift patterns which make them fatigued behind the wheel, while also addressing the alleged ‘culture of fear’ which discourages them from raising safety concerns with depot staff.