Camera Monitoring System (CMS) Retrofit

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) sets out the Vision Zero goal of zero people killed or seriously injured (KSIs) on London’s roads by 2041. It includes targets for a 70% reduction in KSIs by 2021 and for no one to be killed on or by a bus by 2030. The Bus Safety Standard (BSS) was launched in 2018 to help achieve the Vision Zero goal for buses. The BSS mandates the use of safer vehicles and supports safer behaviours and speeds, specifying safety requirements that new buses entering service in London must meet.

The introduction of a Camera Monitoring System (CMS) onto buses in the London fleet is an essential component of the BSS and is therefore a key part of achieving Vision Zero and supports key objectives in the MTS. It is also an enabler and complementary feature for other measures in the BSS, notably Advanced Emergency Braking.

Making roads that both are safer and feel safer is an objective of Healthy Streets; fewer collisions involving TfL’s bus fleet will also improve down time and reduce operating costs, as well as wider impact of fewer overall collisions contributing towards less congestion generally, and improved reputation of London Bus operations.

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) sets out under Vision Zero the goal of reducing the number of people killed in, or by, London buses to zero by 2030.

The MTS specifically references the BSS as a key deliverable to significantly contribute to this target. CMS is part of BSS, which improves direct and indirection vision for the driver by reducing blind spots and improving hazard perception. It is a driver assistance safety measure designed to help the driver avoid or mitigate the severity of incidents and enables wider BSS measures. All new buses in TfL’s fleet that have been contracted via our Bus Operators from 2021 onwards have CMS already installed.

TfL, in partnership with bus operators, aims to retrofit a CMS to existing buses in the fleet, starting with routes that have the highest recorded number of incidents.

We are still evaluating which vehicles in the London bus fleet are suitable for retrofitting CMS, and this will depend on cost, age of vehicles, and technical factors. The potential number of vehicles in scope to be retrofitted is up to 1,360 and is not anticipated to be any lower than 680.