Route and borough reports

A breakdown of various performance related criteria, specific to individual London bus routes and London boroughs. Performance information by route is presented in a graphical format showing up to two years of reliability and kilometres operated data.

Search for performance reports for individual London bus routes using the search box below. Please read the FAQs before downloading the reports.

Quality of service indicators

Use the map or list below to download the most recent QSI report 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 FAQs before downloading the reports.

FAQs

What are Quality of Service Indicators (QSIs)?

Bus Quality of Service Indicators (QSIs) were started in 1977. At the time, it was generally felt the amount of mileage being operated by a bus route was not giving a complete indication of how reliable or punctual bus routes were.

How is the information collected?

A team of approximately 117 (and growing) part-time data collection staff is allocated work in advance. They are instructed to stand at particular locations throughout the TfL area and record buses using hand-held data-capture devices for 2.5- or 3-hour shifts.

The data is then transmitted back to London Buses, where it is validated. At the same time, staff match the results against the timetable and we report on how much longer a passenger would have to wait than if the bus service ran exactly as expected.

An observation point will be surveyed 16 times during a 12-week period.

It is important to appreciate that bus service reliability is measured 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, as that is how it would be regarded by passengers.

We aim to ensure that a bus route will be monitored throughout the course of its journey and not just from where it started.

QSIs are a valuable source of information, identifying poor performing routes and allowing remedial action to be taken where necessary.

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

A route with five or more buses per hour is generally regarded as one where passengers turn up randomly at a bus stop and not actually look at timetable.

For this reason we are more interested in how reliable and evenly spaced the service is, rather than the time a bus was due to arrive at a bus stop. The aim of monitoring in this way is to ensure that buses run at evenly spaced intervals and do not bunch.

Low-frequency bus routes are ones which generally run four or fewer buses per hour. We assume that a passenger using such a service will use a bus timetable. It is therefore more important that services run exactly to the times specified on timetables.

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

How do I interpret the figures in the reports?

Statistics shown are:

Non-Timetabled (High Frequency Services)

Average scheduled waiting time (SWT)	The time passengers would wait, on average, if the service ran exactly as scheduled during the periods observed.
Average excess waiting time (EWT)	The difference between 1) and 3), representing the additional wait experienced by passengers due to the irregular spacing of buses or those that failed to run. The excess waiting time is a key performance indicator since it denotes how much time passengers had to wait in excess of what we would have expected them to.
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 (e.g. 1.5 would indicate passengers waiting 50% longer than intended)
% Chance of waiting less than 10, 10-20,20-30 and more than 30 minutes	Gives an indication of the variation in individual waiting times.

Timetabled (low-frequency) services

% chance of a bus departing on-time	The chance that a bus runs at the advertised time or between two minutes early and up to five minutes late. This is regarded as a key performance indicator.
% chance of a bus not running	The chance that a bus fails to run (see note on late running)
% 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 be late-running buses, which would be regarded by passengers as the next bus running early.
% chance of a bus running late	The chance of a bus running 5-15 minutes late (buses more than 15 minutes late are regarded as non-arrivals). This category may sometimes include early-running buses, which would be regarded by passengers as the preceding bus running late.

For groups of services, totals are a weighted average of the individual route-level observations, the weighting being proportional to the frequencies of the routes (ie more-frequent services are given a higher weighting). Results are quoted to one decimal place. For this reason figures may not add up due to rounding.

Night Bus services

Results for Night Bus services are shown separately. Most night bus services are monitored, with all those serving the West End covered. Performance criteria are based on those of low-frequency bus services.

Tramlink

Where appropriate, service results are also shown for Tramlink services. Performance criteria are based on those of high-frequency services.

London Local Service Agreement Services

Results for these services are shown separately in reports, where appropriate. Performance criteria are based on those of low-frequency bus services.

Why do buses 'bunch'?

An incident may happen to delay a bus. This is followed by a second bus, which also gets delayed, while a third bus runs without delay. After a while, buses that are running on time start to catch up with those that are delayed. The buses closest to the incident also start to get delayed as they pick up more and more passengers. At the same time, the buses running behind are more lightly loaded.

How is the data published?

Reports are published to the London Boroughs, Department for Transport and London Transport Users Committee (LTUC). In addition, this data is also published on this website.

Results are produced to quarterly timescales.

Route Performance Graphs - FAQs

What do the route performance graphs show?

The route graphs show up to two years of reliability and kilometres operated information. Reliability data is based on 12 week rolling periods and kilometres operated data is based on 4 week periods. A minimum standard or benchmark line is included to highlight and compare trends against a target.

How do I read the graphs?

The data table below the graph shows data for the current year (on the top line) compared with the previous year (on the middle line), against a minimum standard (on the bottom line). The date range covers the start and end dates of the rolling reporting year broken down by 13 four-weekly reporting periods. As a guide, period 1 starts on the 1st April and Period 13 ends on the 31st March. As the key on the graph indicates the top and middle performance lines are shown as dashed lines and the bottom minimum standard line is shown by a solid line.

Why are the graphs showing different performance measures for some routes?

There are different reliability measures for high and low frequency routes. Excess Waiting Time, in minutes, is the key performance indicator for high frequency routes (five or more buses per hour). % Departing On Time is the key performance indicator for low frequency routes (four or less per hour), including night buses.

How can these key route performance indicators be clearly defined?

Excess Waiting Time (EWT) is the average time passengers wait over and above what would have been expected if the service was running exactly as scheduled (therefore waiting more than half of the scheduled interval between buses). For example, waiting more than 5 minutes for a 10 minute service.

Departing On Time is the chance of a bus running between 2 minutes early and up to 5 minutes late, in relation to the advertised time.

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 / contract. For example, a route that runs 95 miles out of a scheduled 100 miles has run 95% of its schedule.

Why is information missing for some routes?

Information may not be available for certain routes, including mobility, school, some night buses and other special services, as kilometres operated or reliability data may not be captured in standard systems. Performance data is shown for current routes and operators only. Most night bus services are monitored, with the exception of routes which do not serve the west end.

There may be some route variations by borough when compared against other reports, as a route may run along a borough boundary rather than enter it, providing no practical service.

What is a minimum standard or benchmark?

London Buses measures the performance of each route against minimum standards and benchmarks. These vary between routes in order to reflect the different operating environments in London. Factors taken into account include, for example, the number of major centres, congested corridors and other traffic hotspots served, together with the length of the route. Past performance is also taken into consideration when contracts are retendered. If the performance lines are above the minimum standard line the route has achieved or exceeded its set target.