Route and borough reports

You can find performance tables for all London’s bus routes and boroughs below. Bus route information is based on up to two years data.

Use the search box below to get individual route reports. You may find it useful to read the Common questions first.

Quality of service indicators

Use the map or list below to download the most recent reports for London boroughs in PDF format. You will also be able to see which routes operate in that borough, and download their individual performance reports. Alternatively, you can download:

QSI results for all bus routes (PDF 60KB)
Index of Monitoring Locations (PDF 113KB)

Please read the Common Questions before downloading the reports.

Common questions

What are Quality of Service Indicators (QSIs)?

Bus QSIs show how long passengers actually wait, when compared to scheduled services.

How is the information collected?

A team of more than 100 data collection staff monitor bus performance. They stand at locations across the Capital and use devices to record data. A shift lasts for up to three hours.

The data is sent to London Buses. We compare results against the timetable. We can then see how long a passenger actually waits, compared to the wait if the bus service ran exactly on time.

Each location is surveyed 16 times over a 12 week period.

We measure bus service reliability from a passenger point of view. This may mean - for example - that a bus running late may be treated as the next bus running early, because that is how passengers would see it.

We monitor each bus route throughout the course of its journey, not just from where it started.

QSIs are a valuable source of information. They identify poorly performing routes and allow improvements to be made where they’re needed.

What is the difference between a high frequency and a low frequency route?

A high frequency route has five or more buses an hour. It’s a route where waiting passengers tend not to look at the timetable.

For this reason we are more interested in how reliable and evenly spaced the service is. Scheduled arrival times are less important. We aim to ensure buses run at evenly spaced intervals and do not ‘bunch’.

A low frequency bus route generally runs four or fewer buses an hour. A passenger using this service is more likely to use a timetable. This means it’s more important that services run on schedule.

A more detailed explanation of reliability statistics can be found with each of the reports.

How do I interpret the figures in the reports?

For non-timetabled (high frequency services), the statistics shown are:

Average scheduled waiting time (SWT)	The average time passengers would wait if the service ran exactly as scheduled.
Average excess waiting time (EWT)	This is the difference between SWT (above) and AWT (below). It shows how long passengers wait because of irregular buses or buses not running at all. This excess waiting time is a key indicator of good performance. It shows how much time passengers had to wait above the time we expected them to wait.
Average actual wait (AWT)	The average time that passengers actually waited.
Average wait divided by scheduled wait (AWT:SWT ratio)	This indicates how much longer, on average, passengers are waiting than intended. For example, 1.5 would mean passengers waited 50 percent longer than intended.
Percentage chance of waiting less than 10 minutes, 10-20 minutes, 20-30 minutes and more than 30 minutes	This gives an indication of how individual waiting times vary.

The table above shows averages for groups of services. These are weighted. The amount of weighting depends on how frequent the service is. The more frequent the service, the heavier the weighting.

For timetabled (low-frequency) services, the statistics shown are:

Percentage chance of a bus departing on time	The chance that a bus runs 1) at the advertised time or 2) between two minutes early and up to five minutes late.
Percentage chance of a bus not running	The chance that a bus does not run at all (see note on late running).
Percentage chance of a bus running early	The chance of a bus running more than 2.5 minutes before the advertised time. This category may sometimes include late running buses, which passengers would see as the next bus running early.
Percentage chance of a bus running late	The chance of a bus running between 5 and 15 minutes late. This category may sometimes include early running buses, which passengers would see as the preceding bus running late. Buses running more than 15 minutes late are classed as non-arrivals.

The table above shows averages for groups of services. These are weighted. The amount of weighting depends on how frequent the service is. The more frequent the service, the heavier the weighting.

Night bus services

Results for night bus services are shown separately. Most Night bus services are monitored. All Night buses serving the West End are covered. Performance criteria are based on those of low frequency bus services.

Tramlink

Where appropriate, service results are also shown for Tramlink services. Figures are based on high frequency services.

London Local Service Agreement Services

Results for these services are shown separately in reports. Figures are based on those of low frequency bus services.

Why do buses 'bunch'?

‘Bunching’ often happens as follows:

Bus 1 is delayed by an unexpected incident. Just behind is bus 2 - which also gets delayed. Behind them, bus 3 runs without delay. After a while, buses running on time start to catch up with the delayed buses. The buses closest to the incident get delayed as they’re picking up more and more passengers. This means their journey takes longer. At the same time, the buses running behind have fewer passengers to pick up.

How is the data published?

Reports are published quarterly to the London boroughs, Department for Transport and London Transport Users Committee (LTUC). The data is also published on this website.

What do the route performance graphs show?

The route graphs show up to two years of data. These types of data are called ‘reliability’ and ‘kilometres operated ’ information.

Reliability data is based on readings taken over a 12-week rolling period. Kilometres operated data is based on four-week periods.

How do I read the graphs?

The data table below the graph shows:

Top line – data for this year
Middle line – data for last year
Bottom line – a minimum standard

The date range covers a year broken into four-weekly reporting periods. As a guide, period 1 starts on 1 April and period 13 ends on 31 March.

Why do the graphs show different performance measures for some routes?

There are different reliability measures for high and low frequency routes.

How do you define your key route performance indicators?

Excess Waiting Time (EWT): this is the average time passengers wait over and above what would have been expected if the service was running exactly as scheduled.

Departing On Time is the chance of a bus running between two minutes earlier and up to five minutes later than the scheduled departure.

Kilometre performance information is available for all standard routes regardless of frequency. It is the amount of kilometres run in relation to a route's schedule. For example, a route that runs 95 miles out of a scheduled 100 miles has run 95 percent of its schedule.

Why is information missing for some routes?

Information may not be available for certain routes. These include mobility buses, school and some night buses. Performance data is shown for current routes and operators only.

What is a minimum standard or benchmark?

We measure the performance of each route against minimum standards. These vary between routes in order to reflect London’s different operating environments.

Factors taken into account include; the number of major centres; congested corridors; other traffic hotspots; the length of the route.

We also take past performance into consideration when we advertise contracts for re-tender. If the performance lines are above the minimum standard line, then the route has achieved or exceeded its set target.