Number of people sleeping rough on London night buses rises by 20 per cent

Passengers on the top deck of a London night bus
Alexander Baxevanis/Flickr/Creative Commons licence CC BY 2.0
Hannah Al-Othman25 May 2016

Rough sleeping on London's night buses has soared by more than 20 per cent over the past four years, according to an internal report from Transport for London.

The report has exposed the shocking extent of the problem in the capital, with the number of people sleeping on buses during the bitter months of November to January alone rising by a staggering 121 per cent between 2012/2013 and last winter.

Overall, there had been an increase of 22 per cent in reports of rough sleepers throughout the whole of last year compared to the average number of reports over the past four years.

In 2015 a total of 213 incidents were reported, compared to an average 174.3 over the preceeding four years.

The boroughs where the most incidents were reported were Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Redbridge, Southwark and Waltham Forest – with Westminster having more than three times the number of reports as the next highest boroughs.

It was suggested that this was due to the large number of bus routes passing through the borough, as well as the vibrant night time economy in the area.

TfL has also revealed that the bus route with the most rough sleepers is the 25, a double-decker that starts in Oxford Street in Westminster and ends up in Ilford – a three hour round trip, and one of the longest bus journeys in London.

The next most popular routes were the 29, 18, 149 and 73 and 453. Longer bus routes give passengers more time to sleep, and are better value for money.

The data also revealed that incidents of rough sleeping are most prevalent during cold periods and over weekends.

However, the report also found there was a decrease in rough sleeping between December and February, which is thought to do be due to increased availability of winter shelters over the festive period and foreign rough sleepers returning abroad.

On October 1 last year, a joint partnership operation in Westminster identified 12 sleepers on route 25 buses at Holles Street within a 4 hour period.

Three of the twelve were women, and the majority were foreign nationals from the EU, Africa and India.

The report showed the incidents dropped from close to 300 reports in the 11 week November to January period in 2011/2012 to less than 100 during the same time frame a year later.

TfL was unable to immediately pinpoint the reasons for the decrease, and figures for 2010/2011 were not available, so it was not immediately clear whether the larger figure was a statistical anomaly or part of an on-going trend.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: "This shocking report is yet another example of the previous Mayor's failure to deal with the housing crisis and, particularly, homelessness in London.

"Sadiq Khan will be working closely with government, TfL, local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle the issue of rough sleeping in the capital.”

Data: the number of reports has steadily increased since 2012/2013 (Transport for London)
TfL

Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive of Crisis, said: “Since 2010, the number of people sleeping rough in London has doubled, so sadly it is no surprise to see an increase in the number of people who resort to sleeping on the bus.

"Rough sleepers are 13 times more likely to be a victim of violence, so sleeping on the bus can be an attempt to find at least a modicum of safety compared to the streets.

"Though we don’t have any statistics on the nationality of people who do sleep on buses, we do know rough sleeping in London has been increasing amongst all groups, including British nationals.

“Our new Mayor of London has significant powers to tackle homelessness, and the ability to bring boroughs and services together. Now that he has taken office, his first priority must be ambitious action to tackle homelessness in London."

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