The “ding ding” bell once used on London’s classic Routemaster bus is to be reintroduced in a trial aiming to reduce the number of passengers being injured in falls on buses. Latest figures show that four people – three pedestrians and a cyclist - were killed and 46 people seriously injured in collisions involving London buses between October and December last year. A further 76 passengers were seriously injured on London buses between April and December, mostly from falls often caused as the bus pulls away sharply from a bus stop.
TfL has been running a “bus safety innovation challenge” that seeks to improve on-board safety. One idea is to reinstate the “ding ding” sound that would ring out as the Routemaster’s conductor would press the bell or tap the bell wire twice to alert passengers that the bus was about to depart. Conductors would often shout to passengers: “Hold tight!”. TfL sources said the routes on which the “ding ding” initiative would be trialled had yet to be decided.
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Bus safety campaigner Kevin Mustafa said: “It will drive the driver mad, but it might be a safety measure worth trying.”. Routemaster double decker buses, with their distinctive open rear platforms, were axed from normal service by the then mayor Ken Livingstone on 2005. TfL then operated two “heritage” services on routes 9 and 15 but these were discontinued by Sir Sadiq Khan, the current mayor, in 2018.
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Lord Hendy, the former TfL commissioner and current rail minister, owns a Routemaster and occasionally drives it around London. TfL is also trialling onboard signs that will inform passengers whether there are spare seats on the upper deck, in a bid to limit the number of people standing downstairs. TfL said: “We have carried out market engagement activities for an upstairs seat counter display on buses, with suppliers having until the end of January to answer a number of technical and pricing questions.
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