The 'Cathedral of Speed' saw stars return to the limelight after lacklustre openings to their seasons

The #11 continues to make history in WorldSBK after another hat-trick last time out at Assen

The two Suzuki riders claimed victory in the Netherlands, with Buis celebrating on home soil and Fleerackers taking his first win in the World Championship

By email and blogpost

Sir Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London and TfL Chair
City Hall
Kamal Chunchie Way
London E16 1ZE 

cc: Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer; London Assembly Transport Committee Members; CEO, London TravelWatch; Dan Tomlinson MP; Ben Coleman MP; Katie Lam MP; Olly Glover MP; Ruth Cadbury MP; Catherine Atkinson MP;  Workplace Colleague Network - London Bus Forums; Sharon Graham - Unite the Union; Journalists; Bus Drivers; Campaigners

10 April 2026

Dear Sir Sadiq,

RE: Poor Working Conditions for London Bus Drivers: 

at what—exactly—are you 'appalled' Sir Sadiq?

Since we've been exchanging correspondence and/or speaking directly since at least March 2021, inter alia—

  5 March 2026 - Bus Driver Safety, Fatigue and Accountability on London's Bus Network

19 February 2026 - Why do the Mayor and TfL refuse to protect London's Bus Drivers from 'Institutionally Unsafe' Working Conditions?

20 May 2025 - Improving London's Bus Services will be Impossible if Bus Drivers' Voices aren't Heard...and Heeded.

28 April 2025 - That TfL's Franchised Bus Operation is "Institutionally Unsafe" is a fact, Mr. Dance!

10 December 2024 - London Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights: Act Now Mr. Mayor! An Open Letter from Kevin Mustafa

29 October 2024 - TfL's 'Safety Scandal' will be your Legacy!

19 August 2021 - Speaking out against London Buses' Culture of Fear

12 March 2021 - More Questions about TfL's Covid-19 Risk Reduction Actions for London Bus Drivers

—I think your 26 March response to Neil Garratt AM's reasonable question about ITV's 19 March Report about Bus Driver Working Conditions— "Falling asleep at the wheel and urinating in jars - the reality for London bus drivers" —cannot be considered anything but, frankly, gaslighting.   

Were you 'appalled' on 13 February 2025 when Metro reported "London bus drivers forced into gross acts during long and tiring shifts"?

Were you 'appalled' on 21 September 2024 the MyLondon reported "Whistleblower London bus drivers 'exhausted' and 'use faulty vehicles' in 'dangerous' conditions"?

Were you 'appalled' on 28 July 2022 when I reported lack of toilets for Bus Drivers to you in person on LBC's #SpeaktoSadiq?

Were you 'appalled' on 7 February 2017 when anonymous London Bus Drivers reported their concerns about lack of toilets, fatigue and poor working conditions to the London Assembly Transport Committee? 

Based on all the information that's freely available for public scrutiny, I reckon that it's impossible for you to be 'appalled' by the inhumane working conditions suffered by London Bus Drivers that the public record has long made clear we've endured for decades and, in fact, first inspired them to demand a Bill of Rights back in 2017, yet your Commissioner for Transport told Keith Prince AM that he's "not familiar with" the Bill of Rights on 25 March. 

In my view, Andy Lord's claimed ignorance of the Bill of Rights combined with your refusal to respond to Keith Prince AM's November 2025 Question 2025/3718 only further reveals that you and your TfL appointees have done nothing but gaslight Londoners about your Mayoralty's commitment to improving Bus Safety and Bus Driver Working Conditions since you first took office in May 2016. 

TfL's published data and your responses to hundreds of Mayor's Questions since 2016 clearly evidence that TfL ensuring Bus Drivers are provided with safe working conditions that allow them to drive with duty of care has never been TfL's priority.

Since you have served as London's Mayor and TfL Chair:

• There have been, on average, over 26,000 recorded TfL bus crashes per year—that's an average of at least 72 potentially-lethal bus crashes per day—with 2024 witnessing the highest number of recorded crashes—TfL reported nearly 29,000 bus collisions, about 79 per day—since 2014—when TfL reported over 25,000 bus collisions, about 68 per day.

• At least 7335 people have been injured in a collision involving a TfL Bus, of which 2450 victims have been 'taken to hospital' and 78 to the morgue.  In your responses to many Mayor's Questions, you have repeatedly confirmed that TfL has no idea if these victims who have been compelled to be taken to hospital from injuries sustained "in or by a bus" have recovered fully or suffer from life-changing injuries or have passed away.  Accordingly, the veracity of any serious injury figure state by you or published by TfL involving its contracted bus fleet is, quite frankly, dubious; 

• At least 103 people have been killed in preventable Bus Safety Incidents in London—78 from collisions, 18 from onboard falls and 7 from other safety-related incidents (e.g, deaths from ill-defined but safety-related 'activity', 'near misses', personal injuries'). The actual number is higher, but, as you know, TfL excludes about 1 in 4 deaths of people "in or by a bus" from its official public reporting. 

• About 10 percent of all vehicle-related pedestrian fatalities in London have resulted from a collision involving a TfL Bus — in 2024, that horrifically large percentage increased to 15%.  Adjusting for the high number of miles carried out by the service, TfL Buses constitute less than 2% of the vehicles present on London's roads at any time.

• Vulnerable Road Users bear the brunt of these Increased Risks: The risk is disproportionately borne by those outside the vehicle. In 2024 and 2025, over 75% of those killed in London bus collisions were pedestrians or cyclists.

• An average of 7 Bus Drivers per month were reported by TfL as having been injured in Assault/Vandalism incidents on London's buses, of which over one driver per month was taken to hospital. 

That these chilling trends have occurred after—

• TfL announced a World Leading Bus Safety Programme in February 2016

• You announced Vision Zero in July 2018 

• TfL announced a 'World Leading' Bus Safety Standard in October 2018

• TfL announced a 'Bold New' Bus Safety Strategy' in September 2023

— suggests to me that your latest gaslighting about London's Bus Safety Performance and Bus Driver Working Conditions will convince your supporters in London's media to divert the public's attention away from the reality of what, in my view, is the real cost in human lives and livelihoods from by your allowing TfL to act as a negligent contractor. 

In closing, let me reiterate the Bill of Rights which London's Bus Drivers are demanding that TfL incorporate into its Framework Bus Services Contract:

 1.⁠ ⁠The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay
 2.⁠ ⁠The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day
 3.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive a safe and well-maintained vehicle
 4.⁠ ⁠The Right to clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes
 5.⁠ ⁠The Right to report safety concerns without fear of retribution from TfL or employers
 6.⁠ ⁠The Right, when seriously ill and covered by a doctor's note, to not be harassed into coming into work until fit to do so
 7.⁠ ⁠The Right to relevant and timely safety training
 8.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion
 9.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to have all company rules in writing and clearly displayed
10.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL an the public
11.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Air Cooling in our cabs in the summer heat 
12.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Heaters in our cabs in the cold of winter

On 1 May, as we did on 5 November 2024 and 5 November 2025, London Bus Drivers will rally in support of the Bill of Rights at TfL Headquarters.  You'll be welcome to address the rally to explain in person why we're protesting for rights and humane working conditions that you claim we already enjoy but the public record clearly shows have been degraded for at least 'the past 25 years'.

I look forward to seeing you in front of Palestra House on International Workers' Day. 

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Mustafa

London Bus Safety Campaigner

Founding Member - Bus Driver Bill of Rights Campaign

By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Ray Archer/TLD

OK, it's subjective; I know. My idea of 'cool' could vary greatly to yours. However, from the nine rounds of 2026 SMX and opening event of MXGP to-date can we agree that Alpinestars seem to be edging ahead in the style-stakes? Their Supertech, Techstar and Racer gear lines (all with varying levels of features, functions and tech within the fibres or construction of the jersey and pants) just seem to pop or gel aesthetically with their racers and their motorcycles. Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence, Simon Längenfelder and Maxime Renaux/Tim Gajser have been unmissable (and easy to spot) on track and the Limited Edition offerings have sprinkled extra fairy dust. For a gathering of the product then check out the link HERE.

Through 13 years with 'On-Track Off-road' magazine, I was lucky to speak to a number of people in the industry about the creative process of motocross apparel. There were clearly two sides to the development: the graphics and colours, and then the R&D with materials and fabrics as brands rushed to make lighter, tougher, stretchier, better performing (moisture-wicking) and better fitting garments. Each side complemented the other. Nobody would buy the latest textile engineering if it looked dated or boring and the same could be said for appealing designs on cheap items that would soon fall to bits.

I wasn't surprised that some of the leading design figures of the last decade, like Dave Durham at Fox, Marc Blanchard at 100% or Maki Ushiroyama, a long-term Troy Lee Designs pioneer, were taking their cues and stimuli from diverse sources. "Many visual places like Instagram, Pinterest but also just going out and watching people, shopping malls, museums and art: daily stuff," Ushiroyama told me in a fantastically open and personal interview at the TLD office, pre-pandemic. "I'll even go somewhere like the opticians and think 'oh, those graphics are quite cool'. It's easy to get inspired."

What was eye-opening was the lead times; the guessing game of predicting consumer's tastes in the future, and the gamble to set trends in terms of blocks, shapes, presence, lettering and more, a year sometimes two or three in advance. As entities like Alpinestars market and sell their 2026 range, the 2027 line-up will be ready to go and design teams will already be thinking about 2028. When Fox launched their innovative Flexair a decade ago it years in the making and was an example of how the aesthetic had to sync with the performance aspects: the emergence of four-way stretch and athletic fit.

"I think it was around four years of development to make that happen," Durham told me. Dave is an industrial designer who was head of Fox's creative team of 20 people at the company's hub in California. He was at the firm for two decades until setting up his own shop 'The Followed'. "It was a challenge to buck the system and go from a highly durable feel-and-effect 900D fabric to a stretch material and to still have it durable enough, and perceived to be strong enough. It was a challenge internally - and also externally - but I feel like we found the right fabric and it ended up being a great product for us."

"Deadlines come fast so you have to make informed decisions very quickly," he said. "Sometimes you don't have the breath to explore more…and in design you can often explore endlessly! It is hard to say 'right, I need to draw a line and take a direction with this' because you often feel you can push it a bit more."

Troy Lee Designs, renowned for their helmet art but also their impact in other products, counted on Ushiroyama's leanings and vision for thirty years. The Japanese then launched the Groove Machine Inc but TLD still seems to be the principal client. Maki was insightful, and willing to share his methodology as well as outline the compromises of the job.

"It's where the 'good designer' or 'bad designer' kicks in because a good one will know there is a limit to what a certain fabric can do aesthetically," he described. "Sometimes it can be as simple as a colour block or even just a colour to get the 'wow' factor and bring in the newness. Troy Lee Designs is a graphic-driven product company, that's what we are known for, and I want to push a lot of graphic into the product but at the same time I am also the one that is eliminating graphics. A lot of the time the mentality can be 'more is more' but I have a 'less is more' mentality too: stripping back graphics to get to the core design. I think Troy started getting it; an empty space to him is scary. He has to fill it in some way. To me it can also be beautiful and can complement something else. It is all about the balance. To me, a single colour can still be a graphic! When it is super-simple it can blend in. It kinda becomes like a wall."

"I'm a product designer with a graphic designer mind," he added. "It's like I design the form of an F1 car, but I am also responsible for the livery as well. Both are equally important. Functionality without style means that people will think something is ugly. A terrible graphic will ruin the first part of the product. So, you have to marry both together.

Focusing more on the artistic side, where does it all stem from? "Coming up with designs is never an issue," Maki said. "I have almost way-too many ideas. I have ten+ years of sketchbooks full of stuff. There has to be a bit of heart and soul in the stuff that comes out. That's why sketching works. I cannot go straight to a computer or a screen. It is small things, small doddles: many ideas where you just connect the dots. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't, and sometimes you can get too far ahead: it might be an idea that is already ten years old but it's still not ready for the market. I can be late too! I might have a great idea but someone has already done it. I might have made something look a bit different…but it was not exciting enough."

"I love creative energy," Durham explained. "I love architecture, but when it comes down to inspiring our line and what we do every day then what really affects it most is very creative people. Usually, it surrounds some kind of underground culture and the expression; it could be custom bikes to what people wear to separate themselves at a music festival. It is about how people are really passionate about something. Usually there is something that drives these people to be individual and make some inspiring stuff."

"Every couple of months I have to download the contents of my phone and organise it," Maki said. "Half of the stuff I'd had similar ideas…but the other half is very new and I don't know what to do with it! If I think something is cool then it is already brewing, and in my heart, I am ready to use it. The new stuff is also exciting…and I think 'how can I link the ideas?' or 'how will one link or bounce to the other?'

It seems that the fear of the 'blank page' doesn't really exist for these designers. But then they are constrained by the ticking clock of product timelines (Maki: "we are all driven by the deadline right?! Those 'oh s**t' moments can also bring up some ideas…"), the ingenuity of the competition and then the worry of repetition.

"I like to hire competitive designers…and I am also like that," Durham said. "If I look at the track over a weekend and I see something [good] that someone else has done then it kinda irks me."

"Priorities. The first is: did I come up with an idea that nobody has? If we have a second year of gear and it has the same feel or vibe as the one before then I reject it," Maki says. "The sales guys want something comfortable so they can sell it all day long - so we have something that looks like TLD but also the regular stuff - but I try not to go there. My job is to try and bring something original. Doing something timeless is always my design 'street'."

While Fox can call on classis designs like the zebra or cobweb schemes, for TLD the Polka dot livery raised some eyebrows. "It definitely shocked a few people and turned some heads," Maki recounted. "And a lot of people hated it! The industry wasn't ready and - although I don't want to pat my own shoulder - I did something to wake everybody up. It was time to change. When I showed Troy for the first time he 'got' it; he knew that everybody would hate us. I said 'are you ready? Because I believe in it' so we went with it: TLD style. It kinda sold OK. It's not like we sold millions of sets…but it was another to cover the costs."

TLD also caused a stir in a brief alliance with sportswear giants Adidas, initially for shoes but then for the premium Ultra LE riding gear. Ushiroyama's story about the union shows how the curiosity and creative might of two prominent teams can come together.

"A representative from Adidas came up to us and said 'Hi, I work in the Future Department'…and we said: 'What does that mean?!' He was part of the advance team that is working on projects five-ten years ahead. They were keen to have some of Troy's artistry on some of their products and we thought 'that's cool!' First of they gave us a small range of shoes and asked us for the TLD 'touch' as we'd done with helmets. We did a bunch and they loved it and that triggered all the next steps. They did a study for us. I remember them saying: 'this is a new fabric, by the way its hundred dollars a yard!' It was a bit advanced for the market but they made a prototype mock-up and a video to show all the stretch. If Adidas were going to make a motocross pant…then that's how it would be. We were shown a presentation and we were blown away."

The Ultra LE was quite reserved by TLD's standards. "They give us a little more freedom…but the true story is that we couldn't put much of a graphic because of the nature of the fabric. There is a lot of multi-functional stretch. It is very calculated and if that is the main marketing story then maybe we don't need a graphic."

Back in 2019 Ushiroyama may have had more creative licence than others thanks to Troy Lee Designs' slight independent and alternative status but that didn't mean he could freestyle wildly. "If our gear and graphic is presented without the logo can people still identify our look?" he poised, rhetorically. "Sometimes it is graphics, sometimes colours, sometimes shape. Of course, we are living in a 'make the logo bigger' world! Somehow people still love the big logos. I'm the first person to want to remove logos and just let the graphic speak - which I have started to do here and there - but every time I do that then I have to be aware that people are also buying as a branding/bonding loyalty thing. I understand that. So, it's a balance again."

Some gear can be applied to specific partnerships: Fox with HRC (and they are currently in a very high-vis situation with Jeffrey Herlings, Tom Vialle and Ruben Fernandez in MXGP) and Alpinestars with Red Bull KTM and Monster Energy Yamaha (the blue/yellow Techstar Knif line suits the Renaux/Gajser pairing nicely). Fly Racing with KTM as well.

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But spare a moment for the teams and the forces behind the items that racers are using and testing. Elite product design is rife in so many areas of motorsport, but motocross and supercross permits an extra artistic edge; a place where a flash, a spark and an idea can influence more than just the stopwatch. This brings its own satisfaction but also extra angst.

"When I design and finish the concept then I am the 'king of the world'!" Maki grinned at me. "I'll think 'this is the best design I could come up with' but then I'll look at it again in the next days and think 'oh man, that's s**t!' It's like writing a love letter in the night and you read it the next morning and you're like 'what was I thinking?!' Same thing! But I will go back and make sure it will be the best design I can do at that time and be confident in it enough to present it, whether it's to a customer, the sales department or Troy. At least I will have put 100% into it. If it doesn't sell…then tough s*t! I'll do it again and keep trying, keep trying."

Perspiration is a given, but the weight of inspiration and science that flow into the 'best looking' kit is gloriously uneven; hemmed by deadlines and then judged by the public and consume. Or…it could be as simple as Maki states: "A good rider makes everything look good."

By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Polarity Photo.

There was a cheeky glint in Pedro Acosta's light eyes. The Spaniard had plumped into the chair opposite us for his post Thai Sprint debrief, leathers open, beaded in sweat and understandably eager to despatch questions about his gripping and controversial duel for victory with Marc Marquez: the spat had lashed back the curtains on 2026 MotoGP in the most emphatic way. Acosta deflected and flippantly tackled most of the enquiries with a hint of impatience. The session was coming to a natural close so before he could escape, I asked: "Was that as much fun for you as it was for us to watch?" He momentarily paused and his demeanour flashed. "Super-fun," he grinned. "My best battle so far in the championship."

There were a few 'layers' to Acosta's 13-lap dispute with Marquez, that was eventually decided by a 'Drop one position' penalty by Race Direction for the world champion's line into the final corner of the penultimate lap, Turn 12, that ran Acosta wide. Despite the marginal time loss, Pedro gobbled up a few tenths on the last circulation. Marquez then conceded the lead, and slow-clapped the Race Tower on the slowdown.

21-year-old upstart versus 33-year-old multi world champion. Two Spaniards, one from the northeast, one from the south, similar in their personality DNA for their pursuit of victory, and their spectacular and adventurous methods to obtain glory. They are two of only three riders on the grid to have won both championships in the supporting classes. Pedro is a challenger for Marquez outside of his own family. Record breakers for youthful achievement (Marc is the youngest ever GP winner, Pedro the youngest Sprint) and, allegedly, future factory Ducati teammates for 2027 and 2028.

Saturday was a tantalizing hors d'oeuvre for not only 2026 but potentially for the coming two years of Grand Prix.

That Marquez would be strong with the 2026 Desmosedici, that his right shoulder would resist and he was back to fiery and manipulative form was not a surprise in Thailand. Instead, it was Acosta who has displayed headline-worthy forward steps, and for all the tempered excitement about Aprilia's chances this year and Marco Bezzecchi's persistent race-winning speed, it is the KTM man's head-turning style, his fearlessness and his defiant attitude that is proving to be magnetic.

There are three pillars behind this development for #37.

In 2024 Acosta was billed as the fast-tracked, generational MotoGP star of the future; the 'next Marquez' who even had the chance to rob #93 of his milestone as the youngest premier class victor. He was given time and margin to learn but then loaded a shovel of pressure onto his Red Bull Energy Station plate by leading the charge for KTM/GASGAS. In 2025, expectation and consternation with KTM's commitment to MotoGP in the face of existential crisis turned to frustration and surliness as Ducati proved to be largely unbeatable once more. Acosta ended two seasons without a win but 10 trophies and 6th and 4th in the championship standings. Pedro had blended with Crew Chief Paul Trevathan to tremendous effect, and the Kiwi followed his charge from Tech3 to Red Bull KTM, along with several other key technicians. Trevathan's homely vibe that worked so prosperously with Pol Espargaro was a bedrock of strength for Acosta but he had to calm and cajole his racer in line with the limitations of the RC16 and the possibilities of the technical package.

There was a short phase when Pedro stared at all of his toys on the floor and watched Maverick Viñales extract fresh potential out of the KTM (by adaptation and by sheer will), but he then reset, and waded into a second half of the year where he only dropped out of the top five twice from round twelve onwards.

Thailand is only a one-event sample size to deduce performance for the 21 fixtures to come, but it was a visual and literal post of progress. In 2025 Acosta crashed and circulated at the back of the pack to classify 19th after a limp 6th on Saturday. Twelve months later and he went 1-2 for the weekend to become KTM's first ever world championship leader.

"I'm making less mistakes than two years ago and even last year," Pedro said when I asked him in the official post-race press conference how he has improved as a MotoGP athlete. "Last year - even more [at the] beginning of the year I was getting quite, not nervous, but when the situation was not under control, I was always making mistakes or crashing or going wide or whatever."

"It was not maybe the way to build confidence," he added. "Now maybe I'm in a more chill mode, let's say. Even when the bad moments come, I use more the brain. Maybe this is the biggest difference."

The advancement coincides with more consolidation and activity from KTM during the winter. Acosta's tendency to be more in 'chill mode' stems from fixes to the last iteration of the 1000cc RC16, and to the rider's high-lean, corner speed emphasis. "It also looks like the bike is a bit stable and surviving a bit more," he explained. "Before, I remember, we made three laps and the tyre was already gone. Now it looks like we are arriving to the first fifteen in proper good pace. Good, for this."

"I am following my way with the bike," he said. The orange is not completely ripe. Acosta griped about difficulties in the first two sectors of the Chang International Circuit and the KTM was the fourth fastest brand for top speed. "It looks like we're stay the same speed as last year…our rivals are faster, that's it," he shrugged.

But the technical side of his job has had a definitive uptick. "It's true that they [KTM] are 100% pushing to give me slight improvement during whole winter to try to survive a bit more in the races," he observed. "It looks like we found something that is still a way to go. Not every GP will be that nice like that one, but we are working quite okay in the box."

Round two at the unseen Ayrton Senna International Circuit in Brazil will be impossible to predict and maybe also difficult to gauge a trend but the USGP at COTA, where Acosta was 7th in the Sprint and DNF-ed on Sunday will be the next best chance to evaluate whether #37 is really in this.

Acosta has been allayed by both KTM's resurgence for 2026 and by the assurance of his future with, supposedly, a multi-year agreement with Ducati confirmed to replace Pecco Bagnaia. He will greet Marquez on equal terms (being the latest candidate for this unfathomable challenge) and, potentially, enter red as Gigi Dall'Igna's future pet. Pedro has stonewalled every question about his plans and employment in MotoGP with impressive robustness and seemingly does not think beyond tomorrow. A typical exchange happened on Thursday and the eve of the GP at Buriram.

"Do you have an update on the future?

Of what?

Your future…

Ah, no. In the end I need to have good results and try to start the championship in a consistent way which is what I was missing last year to try and be a bit more in the top three. We need results."

A worthy dodge. Year three with KTM, the same crew, the same teammate (who he accredited as being in resurgence but clearly feels he still trumps for results) and the knowledge that if the RC16 does again prove to be 0.3-0.4 of a second adrift of the track potential that he craves then he'll soon be on a different motorcycle. These elements all combining to fashion a secure nest for Acosta to go about his business.

This is perhaps less tangible but watching Acosta repeatedly out-braking Marquez into Turn 12 during the sprint while looking like one of the better riders 'on the anchors' was a stark sign of his belief in the bike. It also demonstrated how KTM's data analysis and gains for sustaining the life of the Michelins was one of the biggest technical narratives of the Grand Prix. OK, the Tech3 pairing of Enea Bastianini and Viñales had their own issues as the KTM quartet were the most bi-polar of all the brands, but Brad Binder's improved results backed-up the work done by the Austrian crew.

Acosta had not left 'Back to the Future' style fire trails behind him at the Sepang and Buriram tests in terms of lap-times…but the competitiveness was evident, even during the longer, more strategic 26-laps on Sunday where he rattled the Aprilias. "I'm in a really good moment, enjoying every time," he beamed at one point in Thailand.

Pedro dismissed the significance of his current championship ranking. He also seemed a little sheepish about the Sprint win and the penalty given to Marquez. "I entered in the finish line like, 'what is going on?'" he admitted when asked if he expected to be given the race lead again. But the sheer reverse of his dark 2025 Thai Grand Prix was the juice that made the KTM pitbox bounce.

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Actions are louder than Spanglish and if Acosta sustains his front-foot approach and Marquez-esque attacking instinct then we're in for an unexpectedly gripping campaign. #37 will rake-in fans and the series might have another face-off worth talking about.

"This is what makes MotoGP that exciting," Pedro said of the back-and-forth with his countryman. "At the end you remember those kind of battles and these kind of moments…you know?"

By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Ray Archer.

As ever the launch of MXGP brings international motocross up to speed and, as ever, the reminder of Grand Prix pace and physicality comes strongly to the fore after a long winter break. The hike to the southern hemisphere for the first round of the championship feels like a long haul but the sun-kissed new site of Bariloche (home of the principal airport for the teams travelling to previous host Neuquen) offered a timely reminder of the climate relevance, especially with several pre-season motocross events in Europe being heavily affected or cancelled due to grim weather.

The 'Bariloche MX Race Track' was a soft topsoil build within the confines of a sparse industrial park and with an epic Patagonia mountain range and the gentle shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi for a backdrop. So far, so pretty. But Bariloche bit. Full credit to the Infront Moto Racing track crew for their prep work leading into the Grand Prix and then the modifications during the weekend. New tracks are typically and notoriously hard to read in terms of how the bumps and ruts develop: the layout of off-cambers, tight 180 turns and waves are part of the MXGP fabric but how the location-specific dirt evolves is anybody's guess.

On Saturday the course was fast and rippled and offered little in the way of differential in lap-times (the kind of technical demands we've seen recently in SMX, where riders have more room for interpretation as well as mistakes). After extensive watering - made to contain the dust and resist the strong breeze that affected the second MXGP moto on Sunday - the ground was softer and more varied but also incredibly rough and slick. It was a draining first Grand Prix, and a thorough introduction to the physicality of the 450s at full pelt for the rookies like Tom Vialle and Andrea Adamo.

Aesthetically, Bariloche had that rough-around-the-edges look of a temporary construction. In one aspect the ambition and support of the local government to make the facility and the Grand Prix happen must be applauded. In another, it's not the shiniest presentation for a series where the latest trend for sports 'absorption' or engagement is about image, brand and bite-sized 'wow' factors. The big win was the attendance and the enthusiasm of the fans. Apparently, pre-event, expectations from the local organisers were modest for the turnout, but the excellent TV drone work by MXGP showed a bounteous and eager crowd. The official figure was 43,325 for the weekend.

Could the Argentine Grand Prix have a new home? After the one-hit visit in Cordoba in 2025 and the allegedly defunct status of the Neuquen venue near Villa la Angostura there is some promise for Bariloche (especially with all the convenience and catchment of the 150,000 nearby populus) but the issue of funding and mid-long term commitment has always been shaky in this particular area of the world, irrespective of the motorsport.

1. Jeffrey Herlings banishes the mystery

The five-times world champion was not the most obvious bet for a 1-1 at the opening round. The odds were against the 31-year-old posting these kinds of results: new to the CRF450R, new to the Petronas HRC team, a first GP away from a KTM SX-F and WP Suspension and with relatively little riding and testing (and racing) time compared to rivals like Romain Febvre, Lucas Coenen, Maxime Renaux and even teammate Tom Vialle who had two extra months of prep . The great 'unknown' of the Herlings-Honda formula played out on Saturday in Argentina where he was fastest in Timed Practice but then crashed in the Qualification Heat and had to limp home in 12th with a bike issue. "Shame on me," he admitted.

There was none of this uncertainty on Sunday, however. The starts were typically Herlings: no holeshots but not too bad. He then rode like an experienced master in the second race to pursue and overtake the world champion. "I managed to close up to Romain before putting the hammer down with five-six laps to go," he reflected afterwards.

Win #113 (now 12 more than the previous record held by Stefan Everts) means Herlings is just 9 MXGP victories away from equalling the total he amassed through seven seasons in MX2. The milestone achievement in Bariloche saw the Dutchman rolling out the expected platitudes about HRC, the team, the work and even a nod towards his amicable departure from KTM, and the manner of Jeffrey's success was also par for the course: measured, unmatchable and intense. That he has such comfort and control over the Honda in just nine weeks is testament to his brilliance but also the methodology and organisation of the Giacomo Gariboldi-led set-up. Pre-GP the Italian took delight in showing off their stunning race workshop in the Netherlands: next level stuff.

So, a goal in the first minute of the Final. It's impossible to predict how this will run for Herlings. We're talking about a rider that can fashion one of the most comprehensive Grand Prix campaigns in the history of the FIM series (2018) but then one who can miss an entire campaign due to injury (2019/2022) or lob a promising championship tilt to the waste basket in a matter of seconds.

Jeffrey is not a man for trends or patterns. He has won the opening round in MXGP just twice in what is now his tenth (ninth if we discount the lost 2022) premier class attempt. His two MXGP titles came from P1 (2018) and P2 finishes (2021) at the opener however so Argentina 2026 was an encouraging marker. Ominously for the opposition, Herlings is only going to get better and quicker once he knows the full possibilities for set-up in different soil and start gate prowess. He then must face the biggest obstacle of all: avoiding the medical centre.

Oh, and also change the Fox gear. I know it's a 'eye of the beholder' subject but the light orange was jarring. Alpinestars meanwhile are clearly winning in the 2026 design stakes.

2. A deep field pressurises start-gate performance

A small almost-insignificant change to the rulebook for 2026 emphasises how critical race starts have become in MXGP, and how essential they are when most of the field is present and the track invites a heavy throttle-hand while testing the fitness of these ultra-fit athletes. Pre-moto there is usually a lot of personnel and activity in the gate between team members, officials, media, and guests. It can be packed. Now, according to the regulations, nobody can touch the metal start mesh. Prior to 2026 it was politely discouraged, and teams were picky about the cleanliness and traction of their slot, with mechanics routinely carrying the rear end of the bike from the waiting area to the gate to avoid tyre 'fouling', but it not always enforced.

Starts have become a meticulous area of study for riders and teams. Devices, mapping, timing, ride-height and more. Tom Vialle, a Prado-esque holeshotter in his MX2 pomp, was all too aware of this for his MXGP bow and the Frenchman used his smarts from the line positively. "I didn't know what to expect. Because there is a lot of good guys…so I've been working a lot on my start," he said. Vialle went one better than his MX2 Grand Prix debut in 2018 where he appeared on a world championship podium in his second appearance. Here he assumed P3 despite a second moto bike stall that cost him precious seconds and ground.

At this fruitful stage of the season and before attrition inevitably hits MXGP (even though Argentina was round one it missed the feistiness of Isak Gifting with a shoulder issue and former MX2 world champ Kay De Wolf, who needed surgery on his thumb) we have to look hard at the flyers. One protagonist seeking rapid improvement will be Monster Energy Yamaha's Tim Gajser who caught the eye in the second moto as he motored up to P3 but still almost ten seconds adrift of Herlings. The fact that teammate Maxime Renaux earned the holeshot indicates that the YZ450FM might be more capable in 2026. Lucas Coenen might also be seeking gains for more holeshot credence, but the young Belgian was hampered by a vision problem in his right eye and described his second moto as "racing blind."

3. Febvre in for the long game

The world champion completed a calculating season in 2025 against the youthful verve of Lucas Coenen, and his runner-up result overall in Argentina was a continuance of the flavour: high level performance without outright rule of the category. The Frenchman looked to have the second moto under lock, with a comfortable margin over Herlings. "I looked back and thought it was Tom. I thought I had a huge gap," he recounted. "With five-six laps to go I looked back again and saw it was Jeffrey. I then broke my roll-off with a lapper and I knew when he [Herlings] was on my wheels then it was going to be a little difficult…"

Febvre's learning from 2025 meant he didn't offer much resistance to his Honda-mounted rival but also said that the 2026 settings with the KX450F are work in progress: "I had better flow in the second moto. It was a bit easier to ride…but I didn't feel myself. I need to work a bit more with the bike." Romain still went P2 in Argentina for the third year in a row.

4.MX2 stirs the pot

1-1 for Simon Längenfelder who, with the help of Romain Febvre, meant we had the very rare sight of two #1 plates in the world championship. The German had a ragged Saturday with a first turn clash putting him 22nd and adrift in the start gate but he showed his mettle with some purposeful speed at Bariloche.

On paper, the MX2 class looks bereft of the same competitiveness we've seen in previous seasons and compelling duels between the likes of Geerts/Vialle, De Wolf/Coenen, De Wolf/Längenfelder but the potential shown by Yamaha's Latvian Reisulis brothers, the fitness and maturation of Triumph's Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan and possibilities for Kawasaki's Mathis Valin and Honda's Valerio Lata means that some new names and faces will be coming to prominence. The next wave.

Längenfelder's toughest threat should come from his brandmate. Sacha Coenen won the Qualification Heat but, curiously, didn't show his customary holeshot readiness on Sunday and was the same energetic mix of pure speed and heightened risk. His second moto DNF after a collision through traffic was bad luck but the diminutive twin needs to show more race smarts to be considered a title candidate through the rest of the 54 starts to come.

5.MXGP: As you were

Lots of box-ticking for MXGP. A busy pre-event for fans and public in Bariloche (but should this be done weeks in advance to generate even more local interest and media buzz for the GP?), the track lap, the pre-moto gate interviews but a lack of trackside insight. There was the dynamic drone camera work but some undercooked social media content, odd graphics and the same feeling of a long, drawn-out TV spectacle.

By no means do I want to compare MXGP to other motorsports like F1 and MotoGP but there is currently a lot of work and budgets in those series being allocated to who, where and how people are finding and enjoying the racing. So, how is MXGP trying to modernise, and explore how it can also grow and offer more to potential sponsors and more value to teams investing to compete?

Perhaps the series would benefit from 'rebadging' parts of the racing? How about a top satellite team rider getting a post-race interview and prize? How about a 'Best Ride' award for most positions gained? How about prioritising and rebranding the second motos? Maybe consider shuffling all European Championship races to Saturday at EU rounds and creating a platform and pinnacle for the MXGP class? Perhaps MXGP could get inventive with their YouTube presence and have an analytical show that could build its own audience and roam the stories in between the results? Paul Malin is one of the jewels of the championship and MXGP would be much poorer without his passion and intelligence but Paul is commentating on all races alone and also doing the Live TV Studio Show with Lisa Leyland and the track guide and then popping up in any 'Behind the Gate'-type features: is there anyone else in the MXGP paddock that could help out and get people invested? If we take SMX as a near reference, then the amount of experience and expertise the Americans can call-on for punditry and further insight is leagues ahead.

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MXGP still has an online PDF magazine, which I know from personal experience, is a dated medium. Instead MXGP could have an active, multimedia Blog to post stories, interviews, 'Best photos of the weekend', podcasts, competitions and more.

Infront Moto Racing spend a vast amount of their revenue on live TV production and their attempts to develop this with the timing, visuals and the drones is commendable but is MXGP's young demographic really discovering the sport through a 45-minute moto broadcast with limited real-time information? It just feels that the series could reflect and then say, "MXGP could and should be different to other sports in another way…" rather than following a standard transmission format that is now decades old.

The date of the Mayor's decision was eerily coincidental with my own Oxford Street 'experience': exactly 16 years before, I was released from a ten-week stay in hospital after I was critically injured by a TfL Bus on Oxford Street on 18 December 2009.  

Although the Mayor's pedestrianisation scheme—running East to West from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street—is bisected by open traffic roads flowing North and/or South at five junctions along Oxford Street, the four smallest of six areas designated to be traffic-free are as long—or longer—than FIFA football pitches, with the two longest areas over twice as long. When it is completed, the approximately 1100m covered by the Mayor's approved plan will be truly 'world-leading': London will have one of the largest pedestrianised city-centre areas in the world.  

It is curious to me that all the recent mainstream media reports about Oxford Street have given disproportionate space to a long-running official narrative that pedestrianisation will inconvenience many, especially TfL Bus Users, e.g.—

• The case for banning vehicles from Oxford Street in London is weak Economist (15 Jan)
• Plan to pedestrianise London's Oxford Street given official go-ahead Guardian (26 Feb)
• Oxford Street pedestrianisation gets go-ahead from Sadiq Khan with traffic ban this summer Evening Standard (26 Feb)
• Sadiq Khan approves plan to pedestrianise part of Oxford Street MyLondon (26 Feb)

Meanwhile, there has been little—or, more often—no mention of the well-evidenced lethal and life-changing outcomes that allowing traffic (i.e, Buses and Taxis) on London's 'premier shopping destination' has imposed on Londoners and visitors for decades.

• at least four people have been killed and over 125 injured from collisions on Oxford Street: that's over 1 KSI per month; 
• KSI collision incidents on Oxford Street are now twenty percent higher than when Sadiq Khan announced his Vision Zero Programme in July 2018;
• three quarters of Oxford Street's fatal crashes—and about a third that have resulted in serious injury—have involved TfL buses; 
• only last month, a Route 456 bus based at New Cross Garage operated by Go Ahead under contract to TfL inflicted "life changing injuries" on a male pedestrian on Oxford Street.

As an Oxford Street 'survivor', it will be a great comfort to know that when people travel to Oxford Street to shop, work, visit friends or just enjoy some time in the greatest city on earth, the risk of them 'dying helplessly on a city street, their brains and bodies crushed by rushing tonnes of steel'—a risk that has been for years—will be zero.    

Since the Mayor's stated Vision Zero goal is "no one killed in or by a bus by 2030" in London, the fact that there is the real possibility that such an 'ambitious' goal will be achieved on 1100 metres of a pedestrianised Oxford Street by 2027 should be celebrated.  Moreover, since the Mayor appears to have manifestly triumphed over what appears to be a well-entrenched 'Bus Lobby' at TfL that has publicly opposed pedestrianisation for decades, perhaps there's a story worth investigating? 

Regardless, even with 1100 metres of Oxford Street under his belt by the end of next year, the Mayor's still got 20,453,200 metres and less than 4 years remaining to achieve his Vision Zero goal for "no one to be killed in on a bus by 2030" on the rest of London's roads.   And based on my analysis of more than ten years of TfL's Bus Safety Data—available since 2017, thanks to my campaign supported by Victoria Borwick AM—the Mayor's faces a tough road ahead of him.

Since 2016—

• in terms of collision KSIs, London Buses have become about 90% more dangerous per mile and 60% more dangerous per hour operation, while all other modes of motor traffic—including HGVs—saw analogous risk profiles improve or stabilise;
• Pedestrian deaths "on or by a bus" rose from an average of about 8 per year (2016) to more than 10 per year in the year ending April 2025;
• A pedestrian in London has become twice as safe from being killed or injured around an HGV for every mile-hour of operation, but today they are nearly 60% more at risk around a TfL Bus for every mile-hour of each bus's operation; 
• A cyclist in London has become nearly three times safer around an HGV from being killed or seriously injured for every mile the vehicle is driven, but they are now about 45% more at risk around a TfL Bus and 33% more likely to be killed for every hour a TfL Bus is active on London's roads;
• Buses account for only 0.6% of vehicle miles in London but are now involved in roughly 12-15% of all road fatalities. This "over-representation" has nearly doubled since 2016.
• The evidenced increase in Bus Safety Incident Risk is almost entirely borne by those outside the vehicle. In 2024/25, 85% of those killed by London buses were pedestrians or cyclists. 
• For every hour TfL Buses are active on the road, a pedestrian in London is now more likely to be killed by a Red Bus with "Mayor of London" emblazoned on it than an HGV. The opposite was the case in 2016.

Accordingly, this suggests that the Mayor's legacy will depend on a lot more than keeping his 2016 commitment to pedestrianise Oxford Street.  It also suggests that (a) Westminster residents forced to live with TfL buses diverted through their streets and (b) cyclists forced to share the road with Buses are certainly within their rights to demand that TfL be transparent about the risks imposed on them, the risk assessments TfL conducted and the specific TfL will implement to mitigate. There is really no excuse for the Mayor's laudable Vision Zero achievement on Oxford Street to be erased by increasing numbers of people killed and injured by Buses that have been shifted elsewhere.

By Adam Wheeler. Photo by MotoGP.com

Marc Marquez's busted wheel rim and grip frustrations for the likes of Pecco Bagnaia, Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio produced a rare 'off-race-day' for the reigning world champions in the Chang International Circuit cooker.

Coming into 2026 and the last splutter of the 1000cc ride-height-aero-defined era, there was only one major angle: Ducati's enduring relentlessness in MotoGP and how their combination with arguably the greatest Grand Prix racer of all-time had reinforced that status.

It was a subject that attracted the passing interest of the open-minded folk on the Daily Telegraph sportsdesk, at a time when squeezing any MotoGP coverage into UK mainstream outlets is harder than ever. Why? Britain has not had any presence in the premier class for half a decade and currently only has two riders in the two others categories, and despite Silverstone being a brilliant, fast and challenging circuit for motorcycle racing - the longest on the calendar - the crowds have not flocked to Northamptonshire even with two variations on the date.

During their annual presentation at the Italian ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio in January, Ducati unveiled the statistical weight of their MotoGP white-out, including the proud record of 88 consecutive podium appearances and a trek that goes back to the summer of 2021. Interviews for the Telegraph story with Dall'Igna and Ducati Motor Holdings CEO Claudio Domenicali helped unearth some of the causes, reactions and measures that brought the company to this position, and should also see them primed for 2027-2031 and the lunge into the 850cc-Pirelli phase of Grand Prix.

Thailand was deflating but Buriram was also an elevated battle ground for countrymen Aprilia. The TV image of Dall'Igna looking aghast at Marc Marquez's wheel drama on Turn 4 as he tried to chase two RS-GPs and Pedro Acosta's KTM RC16 summed up the temporary horror but the engineer was probably far more sanguine later in the day: Marquez's resilience in his first race appearance since October 2025 indicated his right shoulder was in fine fettle, Bagnaia's malaise was a freaky contrast to his happiness after the two pre-season tests, and incoming recruit for 2027, Acosta, underlined his generational talent once more and complimented his skill with even more maturity to rest as P1 in the world come Sunday afternoon.

For neutral MotoGP fans, Thailand raised the small possibility (and the heartrate) that Ducati might be toppled in 2026 but factors such as Michelin's harder carcass tyres for the higher temperatures (reaching the high 50s at the CIC) and the extra rubber poured onto the asphalt like a rich syrup by the other classes, as well as two days of MotoGP tests. Even torrential showers on Thursday afternoon did not have a major effect. It was not a Ducati day. There won't be many more.

Make no mistake, MotoGP will stay red for the next nine months (even if lashes of orange and black will invade the picture, like the first licks of a Jackson Pollock collage). The Telegraph article ended up being trimmed and simplified from the original text…but still shows how and why the Bologna boys should remain as the main targets.

"A £39,000 Panigale V4 R sportsbike stands guard outside the Dolomite ski station chalet restaurant, unwillingly coated with ice and frozen to the spot. The machine bares resemblance to the Ducati's multi-million-pound prototype Grand Prix steed; a motorcycle that has won the last four MotoGP world championships in the hands of three different riders and has been present on a record 88 consecutive Grand Prix podiums to-date, a streak stretching all the way back to the summer of 2021. Ducati have ruled the Constructors standings for the last six years. The Italians, who will celebrate a centennial this July, sit quite contentedly at the peak of the MotoGP mountain.

For the second night of the factory's Ducati Lenovo Team's 2026 presentation in Madonna di Campiglio, management, riders (world champion Marc Marquez and 2022 and 2023 winner Pecco Bagnaia) plus guests of various sponsors and entities like the Audi Group (Ducati Motor Holdings' owner since 2012 and major investors in the opulent resort), are toasting the past and present and are optimistic of the future. The three-day shindig is the longest and most affluent of the 11 squads in the series. For the last four years Ducati have had something to celebrate. CEO, Claudio Domenicali, tells us that they like to "work hard, play hard".

Ducati are the smallest manufacturer from the five in MotoGP, but they are Grand Prix overlords thanks to their Ducati Corse racing division, led by the 'Adrian Newey of motorcycling' Gigi Dall'Igna, and the company's commitment to competition. That devotion is manifested by Ducati's unmatched pursuit for technical innovation: winglets, tyre 'scoops', mass dampers, rider-activated front and rear 'holeshot' catches and the semi-automatic self-regulating ride height device all mean they have been trendsetters for the last decade - even above the Japanese who introduced genius concepts like the seamless gearbox to the championship - and have been copied by their peers.

From 2021 to 2024 four teams fielded Desmosedicis. Ducati leased current and one year old models, and had eight of the 22 bikes in MotoGP in play. This large catchment of data helped fast-track development, and surge Ducati to the front of the grid despite being throttled by the MotoGP 'Concessions' format limiting their scope for further testing. In 2024 the factory owned all but three of the 20 rounds. In 2025 it was 17 of the 22 Grands Prix and 19 of the Saturday Sprints…."

Head HERE (where you only have to enter your email address for access) to read the rest of the article.

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cc: Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer; London Assembly Transport Committee Members; CEO, London TravelWatch; Dan Tomlinson MP; Ben Coleman MP; Katie Lam MP; Olly Glover MP; Ruth Cadbury MP; Catherine Atkinson MP;  Workplace Colleague Network - London Bus Forums; Sharon Graham - Unite the Union; Journalists; Bus Drivers; Campaigners

Dear Ms Murphy,

• Minimum guaranteed rest periods between duties
• Limits on excessively long or irregular duty schedules
• Guaranteed access to proper toilet and welfare facilities at route termini
• Fatigue risk assessments applied consistently across all operators
• Clear reporting and monitoring mechanisms for fatigue-related concerns
• Independent oversight to ensure compliance with driver welfare standards

• What specific actions have been taken since the publication of the earlier fatigue research to address the risks identified?
• Why TfL continues to describe the issue as requiring further evidence when extensive research has already been carried out over a number of years.
• Whether TfL would consider incorporating a formal driver welfare framework, such as a Bus Driver Bill of Rights, within future bus operating contracts.

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your email. Please see a response below from Lorna Murphy.

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your email.

As I have set out to you in previous correspondence, London bus drivers are at the heart of our network and their safety and welfare is of the highest importance. TfL is committed to improving bus driver welfare within the areas under its control and influence. This includes investing in additional toilets across the network and continually improving our Bus Vehicle Specification to ensure all buses across the fleet support bus driver welfare and safety. While the specifics of scheduling are agreed between operators and local trade unions according to the agreements within each company, TfL continues to build the evidence base around fatigue and the impact of scheduling on this, including through our ongoing trial of Fatigue Detection Technology. TfL has also commissioned expert guidance on the use of fatigue risk assessment tools (FRATs) and has shared this with operating companies.

Regarding violence against transport workers, this is unacceptable in all forms. TfL's 2026 Business Plan has reiterated our vision to eradicate work-related violence and aggression, in line with our Vision Zero commitments to eliminate harm for all those that work or travel on our network. This includes bus drivers and other colleagues working for contracted services just as much as TfL's directly employed colleagues. Our strategy focuses on preventing incidents before they occur and supporting anyone who needs it. You can read more about TfL's work to address workplace violence and aggression here.

Regarding the London Assembly motion concerning Mark Hehir, the Mayor and TfL will be responding directly to the Assembly's motion.

Yours sincerely,

Lorna Murphy

To: Lorna Murphy, Director of Buses, TfL

From: Kevin Mustafa

RE: Why do the Mayor and TfL refuse to protect London's Bus Drivers from Institutionally Unsafe Working Conditions?

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2026 1:20 PM

cc: Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer; London Assembly Transport Committee Members; CEO, London TravelWatch; Dan Tomlinson MP; Ben Coleman MP; Katie Lam MP; Olly Glover MP; Ruth Cadbury MP; Catherine Atkinson MP;  Workplace Colleague Network - London Bus Forums; Sharon Graham - Unite the Union; Journalists; Bus Drivers; Campaigners

Dear Ms Murphy,

Thank you for your perfunctory response. Kindly note that I have recirculated it to everyone who was copied on my original email, as I have also  done with my response today.

As you probably know from my earlier letters to City Hall and TfL (cf. Speaking out against London Buses' Culture of Fear, 19 August 2021), my decision to quit the buses and campaign for the Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights was inspired by the fact that, six years ago today, Bus Drivers were being abandoned by their Bus Operator employers, Unite the Union, TfL and the Mayor when they started getting sick and dying from Covid-19.  Your response confirms that, despite at least 76 Bus Drivers dying from Covid-19, nothing has changed. 

·       TfL has yet to conduct "a short-term review of shift lengths, patterns and rotas of London bus drivers" recommended by the UCL Institute of Health Equity in March 2021 and agreed by TfL to complete "by summer 2021";

·       One in Four London Bus Routes still lack Toilet Facilities at one end for Bus Drivers;

·       Compared to 2024, in 2025 the number of Bus Drivers taken to hospital from Assault/Vandalism incidents increased by 17%. 

Since (a) the Mayor has sole responsibility for Policing in London and (b) the unanimous London Assembly Motion called for the Mayor and TfL—

 "to issue a public apology to Mr Hehir and to apply pressure to Metroline to reinstate Mr Hehir or provide appropriate compensation for his dismissal"

—I think you'll find your complacent restatement of TfL's long-standing policy of ignoring Bus Driver welfare is deeply out-of-sync with both the Mayor's legal obligations and the public mood. 

According to TfL's own data, over the period 1 January 2014-31 December 2025, an average of 7 Bus Drivers per month were reported by TfL as having been injured in Assault/Vandalism incidents on London's buses, of which over one driver per month was taken to hospital. 

Since I know that many Bus Drivers don't report injuries they receive on duty, I believe TfL's numbers are underestimates. 

Over the same 11-year period, an average of 15 people per month were reported injured from an Assault/Vandalism incident on buses and about 4 per month were taken to hospital.  

I'd wager TfL's numbers of passenger injuries from Assault/Vandalism incidents are also underestimates. 

TfL's data also reveal that Bus Drivers accounted for 41% of all reported injuries from Assault/Vandalism incidents and 46% of all those taken to hospital.

As you no doubt know, over the period for which TfL has made bus safety data available for public scrutiny, Bus Drivers—on average—have only constituted an infinitesimal (0.0011%!) of the total number of annual Bus Passengers.  Hence, I think you'll agree with me that the fact that Bus Drivers are 80,000 times more likely than a passenger to be injured and 40,000 times more likely than a passenger to be taken to the hospital in an Assault/Vandalism incident on London's buses demands that TfL do more than just abdicate responsibility for Bus Drivers' safety and security. 

TfL's numbers reveal an obvious fact: Bus Drivers are not just casual victims of Assault/Vandalism incidents on London's buses, they are the primary victims of this increasing violence.

Given this well-evidenced risk, when a Bus Driver chooses to intervene to defend a Bus Passenger against Assault/Vandalism and is subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct—and the Mayor, TfL and Unite the Union do nothing—the outcome of this complacency undermines the safety of London's Bus Network for which the Mayor and TfL are legally accountable. 

And TfL's decision to side with Metroline against Mark Hehir—i.e., against someone who TfL's own data shows had the highest risk of serious injury and the most to lose from intervening in an Assault/Vandalism incident—simply re-broadcasts a clear message, that I've been familiar with— 

(a) since Bus Drivers started to sicken and die around me from Covid-19 6 years ago this month, and;

(b) each time the Mayor fails to respond to Bus Drivers' reasonable demand to incorporate the Bus Drivers Bill of Rights into TfL's Framework Bus Services Agreement:

—TfL takes no responsibility for the security and safety of London's Bus Drivers. 

Since we already know that TfL's  "incident reporting system does not specifically collect data relating to disciplinary outcomes" regarding Bus Drivers, your statement that it "would not be appropriate for TfL to intervene" rings hollow: the public record shows that TfL completely washes its hands of how Bus Drivers are disciplined by their employers.

The London Assembly Motion also calls on the Mayor and TfL—

"to set out clear guidance for transport workers protecting passengers."

I do hope the London Assembly Members copied here will take note of the clear guidance your response conveyed: 

TfL will support any Bus Operator which fires a Bus Driver who chooses to risk injury to protect Bus Passengers against Assault/Vandalism incidents on London's buses.

Why do the Mayor and TfL refuse to protect London's Bus Drivers?

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Mustafa

London Bus Safety Campaigner

Founding Member - Bus Driver Bill of Rights Campaign

-----------------ATTACHMENT------------------

From: Bus Ops FOIs & Inquiries <BusOpsFOIsInquir@tfl.gov.uk>

Sent: Friday, February 13, 2026 1:13:07 PM

To: Kevin Mustafa

Subject: RE: Subject Intervention Requested: Dismissal of Bus Driver Mark Hehir

Dear Kevin,

Please see below a response to your email from Lorna Murphy.

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your email. As you are aware, bus services in London are delivered by private operators, such as Metroline, under contract to TfL. Operational matters, including staffing and employment decisions within individual companies, sit with those operators. As this issue relates to Metroline's internal employment processes, it would not be appropriate for TfL to intervene. You may wish to raise your concerns directly with Metroline so they can address them through their established procedures.

Yours sincerely,

Lorna Murphy 

By email and blogpost

Any transparency shown by TfL about the frequent deaths and serious injuries generated by its contracted bus fleet is the direct result of a policy forced upon London's Local Transport Authority (LTA) by Mayor Boris Johnson in 2014. TfL's reluctant transparency came about only after it been regularly receiving (a) bad press generated by my 'relentless' volunteer research and campaigning and (b) public scrutiny from London Assembly members, namely Victoria Borwick, and Richard Tracey (Conservative), Caroline Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat), Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson (Green).  

Analysis of the Bus Safety Performance Data (called—interchangeably—"IRIS" or "SHE" Data) that TfL has published every quarter since 2014 evidences—

• there have been, on average, over 26,000 recorded TfL bus crashes per year—that's an average of at least 72 potentially-lethal bus crashes per day—with 2024 witnessing the highest number of recorded crashes (nearly 29,000 or 79 per day) since 2014 (nearly 25,000 or 68 per day).
• at least 10,818 people have been injured in a collision involving a TfL Bus, of which 3557 victims have been 'taken to hospital'.  In his responses to many Mayor's Questions, the Mayor has repeatedly confirmed that TfL has no idea if these victims who have been compelled to be taken to hospital from injuries sustained "in or by a bus" have recovered fully or suffer from life-changing injuries or have passed away.  Accordingly, the veracity of any serious injury figure published by TfL involving its contracted bus fleet is, quite frankly, dubious; 
• at least 137 people have been killed in preventable Bus Safety Incidents in London—113 from collisions, 16 from onboard falls and 9 from other safety-related incidents (e.g, deaths from ill-defined but safety-related 'activity', 'near misses', personal injuries').
• about 10 percent of all vehicle-related pedestrian fatalities in London have resulted from a collision involving a TfL Bus — in 2024, that horrifically large percentage increased to 15%.

(a) now only accounts for about 1 percent of all vehicles on London's roads at any time (down from about 3 percent in 2014), and;

(b) these vehicles' presence on London's roads and ridership have steadily declined since 2014;  

"for no one to be killed in or by a London bus by 2030"

Since TfL's official annual bus fatality totals and the 2010-14 baseline are frequently cited by the Mayor and TfL in official reports and press releases—and, as a direct consequence—in Government and media reports—you might appreciate my firmly held conviction that each time the Mayor or TfL quote numbers and baselines that purport to reflect everyone "killed in or by a bus" in London, those numbers should be based on fact.  

3. Keith Prince AM's scrutiny of TfL's 2010-2024 Bus Fatality Data 

In October 2025 (and confirmed by the Mayor in his response to Question 2025/3723), Keith Prince requested TfL to provide him with the raw 2010-14 bus fatal incident data that it used to populate the information published in, inter alia, TfL's "Fatalities in Greater London 2024" Report. Despite the fact that Keith Prince later requested the Mayor to compel TfL to publish this raw data on the London Assembly website for public scrutiny, the Mayor failed to honour Keith Prince's request.  However, I am grateful Keith Prince shared both TfL's 21 November 2024 cover email and its attached data directly with me. 

Based on my analysis of the information TfL provided to Keith Prince directly for scrutiny, below please find my findings that I hope will encourage further actions by Brake Charity.

4. TfL's 2010-14 Baseline cannot be accurate

Below please find the 21 November 2025 correspondence from TfL to Keith Prince AM. 

From: Members Correspondence <MembersCorrespondence@tfl.gov.uk> 

Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 4:21:11 PM

To: Keith Prince <Keith.Prince@london.gov.uk>

Subject: Follow up from bus safety discussion

Dear Keith,

Thank you for meeting with us last month to discuss our bus safety data. We hope that you found this helpful and productive.

As requested, we have compiled a spreadsheet showing the bus fatalities that are included in table 3 of the data annex (Bus-involved fatalities), we have included the date, borough, collision location and causality mode of travel. Please note, this only includes police-reported (STATS19 fatalities) and doesn't include non-STATS19 fatalities such as medical incidents and fatalities resulting from collisions on private land.

Unfortunately, the raw data which we have used in the spreadsheet is only available from 2017 onwards.  This is because bus casualty data is part of a 'Bus or Coach' category as per the Department for Transport STATS19 modal categories. In 2017 TfL agreed with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to split out bus and coaches to enable better monitoring of incidents relating to our buses, this means that from 2017 a flag was included for London buses in the police form which could be used to identify bus-involved fatalities. Prior to 2017, bus involved figures are estimates based on modelled data, so raw data records are not available to share.

Some of the other requested information, such as the bus route and operator, is not recorded in STATS19 and as such could not be included in the attached. 

Please let us know if you have any further questions. 

Kind regards,

[NAME WITHHELD]

Government Relations

11th Floor, Palestra, SE1 8NJ

Despite the Mayor repeatedly stating (cf. Question 2025/4415 from December 2025) that TfL uses a 2010-14 Baseline to, inter alia—

• measure TfL's 'progress' against Vision Zero Bus Safety targets and
• determine levels of annual performance bonuses paid to TfL executives

—this email confirms that TfL has no reliable raw bus fatality data that underwrites this key Vision Zero and Bus Safety Performance baseline. Furthermore, the fact that TfL admits that it's using STATS19 Data to represent the number of people "killed in or by a bus" each year proves that TfL knows it is citing a mere subset of a larger group of fatalities.  If you review the Bus Safety Data Guidance that TfL issued hastily and without explanation in early November 2024, STATS19 criteria allows TfL to exclude victims—

 "killed in or by a bus" from "collisions on private land, noncollisions (e.g. death due to medical episodes or slips, trips and falls on a bus), incidents outside the Greater London boundary and death occurring after 30 days."  

While those exclusions might produce inaccurate bus fatality datasets acceptable to the DfT (cf. RAS0601, which shows 521 fatal road collision incidents involving a "Bus or Coach" from 2015-2024), TfL's use of knowingly smaller STATS19 datasets to reflect the total number of people "killed in or by bus" for each year to "measure progress towards the Mayor's Transport Strategy bus involved fatality target for 2030", is frankly, simply intentionally misleading. As you know, both the Mayor's Transport Strategy and the 2030 target are unique-to-London and there is no statutory, legal or moral requirement for TfL to publish less-robust STATS19-defined figures for these reports that relate exclusively to TfL's 'progress towards the Mayor's Transport Strategy bus involved fatality target for 2030.'

5. TfL is intentionally excluding documented incidents of people "killed in or by a bus" in its official reports that claim to show the total number of people "killed in or by a bus".

My reconciliation of the raw 2017-2024 data TfL emailed to Keith Prince on 21 November 2025 with the IRIS Data TfL has published on its website quarterly since 2014 reveals that, since 2017, TfL has failed to report 21 documented incidents of "people killed in or by a bus". This means that, for the past 7 years (at least), TfL has failed to acknowledge the deaths of at least 1 in 4 of the total number of people that have actually been "killed in or by a bus". 

In 2017, TfL states that 8 "people were killed in or by a bus", but TfL excluded the following 4 fatal incidents:

• the 11 March 2017 death of an elderly male pedestrian who was killed in a collision involving a Route E6 Bus operated by Metroline (Greenford Depot) under contract to TfL in Hillingdon Borough;
• the 28 April 2017 death of an adult male passenger who was killed after an assault on a Route 189 bus operated by Metroline (Cricklewood Depot) under contract to TfL in Westminster Borough;
• the 29 June 2017 death of an elderly male pedestrian who was killed in a collision involving a Route 216 bus operated by RATP (Fulwell Dept) under contract to TfL in Surrey County;
• the 16 December 2017 death of an adult male passenger who was killed after falling on a Route R11 bus operated by Go Ahead (Orpington Depot) under contract to TfL in Bromley Borough.

• the 1 April 2018 death of a third party driver of unknown sex and age who was killed in a collision involving a Route 61 bus operated by Stagecoach (Bromley Depot) under contract to TfL in Bromley Borough;
• the 23 July 2018 death of an elderly female passenger who was killed in an "activity incident" on a Route W8 bus operated by Metroline (Potters Bar) under contract to TfL in Enfield Borough;
• the 17 September 2018 death of a passenger of unknown sex and age in an "activity incident" on a Route 318 bus operated by Arriva (Enfield Depot) under contract to TfL in Haringey Borough;
• the 6 November 2018 death of an adult male passenger after falling on a Route 32 bus operated by Metroline (Edgware Depot) in Brent Borough. 

• the 12 February 2020 death of an adult male pedestrian in a collision involving a speeding Route 191 bus operated by Go Ahead (Northumberland Park Depot) under contract to TfL 'near' Edmonton Bus Station in Enfield Borough;
• the 14 March 2020 death of an adult male pedestrian in a collision involving a Route 96 bus operated by Stagecoach (Plumstead Depot) in Dartford; 
• the 16 March 2020 death of an elderly male passenger after falling on a Route 106 bus operated by Arriva (Ash Grove Depot) in Haringey;
• the 4 June 2020 death of a third party driver/occupant in a collision with a Route 209 bus operated by Transport UK (Twickenham Depot) in Richmond Upon Thames Borough. 
• the 22 October 2020 death of an elderly female passenger who was killed after falling on a Route 35 bus operated by Go Ahead (Camberwell Depot) in Southwark.

• the 10 August 2021 death of an adult female pedestrian named Melissa Burr who was killed in a collision with a Route 507 bus operated by Go Ahead (Waterloo Depot) at Victoria Bus Station in Westminster Borough. The Evening Standard reported that the Mayor had issued a 'sincere apology' to Melissa Burr's family because TfL "wrongly suggested [she] may have been at fault for her death", an apology the Mayor confirmed in his response to Question 2024/3450. In my view, with all the information about the systemic causes of Victoria Station deaths now in the public domain, TfL's decision to exclude Melissa's Burr's death from the 2021 dataset demands further scrutiny.

• the 18 December 2022 death of an adult male pedestrian named Stephen Mitchell who died after he was critically injured in a collision with a Route 363 bus operated by Go Ahead (Peckham Depot) in Southwark on 26 November 2022.  Similar to Melissa Burr's death, the fact that there is so much in the public domain about the ghastly circumstances surrounding Mr. Mitchell's death, and the fact that the Bus Driver was found guilty  calls into question TfL's decision to exclude his death from the 2022 datasets and demands further scrutiny. 

In 2023, TfL states that 6 "people were killed in or by a bus", but TfL excluded the following 2 fatal incidents: 

• the 12 March 2023 death of an adult male passenger after a collision involving a Route 79 bus operated by RATP (Edgware) in Harrow;
• the 15 December 2023 death of an elderly female pedestrian named Grace Mecaley who was killed in a collision involving a Route 212 bus operated by Go Ahead (Northumberland Depot) under contract to TfL at Walthamstow Bus Station in Waltham Forest Borough. Since TfL had a Notice of Contravention served to it by the Health and Safety Executive as a direct result of this incident—a document, by the way, that both the Mayor and TfL have both yet to provide for public scrutiny—similar to the exclusion of Melissa Burr and Stephen Mitchell from TfL's official fatality data for 2020 and 2022, TfL's justification for excluding Grace Mecaley's death from 2023's official fatality data demands a cogent explanation. 

In 2024, TfL states that 13 "people were killed in or by a bus", but TfL excluded the following 4 incidents:

• the 27 January 2024 death of an elderly female passenger after an "activity incident event" while on a Route 55 bus operated by Stagecoach (Leyton Depot) in Westminster;
• the 11 February 2024 death an adult male pedestrian after a collision involving a Route 158 bus operated by Arriva (Edmonton Depot) in Enfield;
• the 20 June 2024 death of a Bus Occupant of unknown sex and unknown age—an incident that is published in TfL's "Road Fatalities in Greater London since 2019" spreadsheet, but does not appear anywhere else on the TfL site;
• the 30 December 2024 death of an elderly male passenger who died after falling on a Route 5 bus operated by Go Ahead (River Road Depot) in Newham on 15 March 2024. 

Since we already know that (a) at least 1 in 4 bus victims have been ignored in TfL's 2017-2024 official dataset and (b) TfL refuses to provide the raw data to support the data it cites for "people killed in or by a bus" for the period 2010-2016, I reckon that 21 unacknowledged bus deaths is already a serious underestimate of the total number of victims that TfL has chosen to ignore over the period 2010-2024.  In fact, if you've had the opportunity to read my unacknowledged 2 December 2025 Letter to Mayor Sadiq Kahn (#VisionZero: Why is TfL allowed to ghost people who've been killed or seriously injured "on or by a bus" in its annual official Road Casualty reporting?), you'll immediately recognise the names of 2 vanished bus victims from 2010-16. 

• Saba Mirza (31), who was critically injured on a Zebra Crossing in a collision involving a Route 46 bus operated by Metroline under contract to TfL on 25 November 2016, but, I understand from her family, died while still in hospital in early January 2021. How many more vanished victims like Saba Mirza are there? 
• Ezarhul Islam (73), who fell and suffered critical injuries after, judging from the Coroner's 16 June 2016 Regulation 28 Report, a Go Ahead 191 Bus moved suddenly without warning on 23 October 2015, but died while still in hospital in December 2015. In its IRIS Data, TfL recorded the cause of his death as "Medical" and didn't include the incident in its "killed in or by a bus" total for 2015.  Since 1 January 2014, TfL has recorded 69 Bus-related Fatalities with "Medical" identified as the causal factor for death. How many of these "Medical" deaths actually represent vanished bus victims like Mr. Islam?  Based on last month's response to Question 2026/0028, the public will never know because the Mayor has refused to instruct TfL to investigate. 

6. How Brake Charity can Help TfL's and the UK's Vanished Bus Victims

From my quick reconciliation of the raw 2017-2024 Bus Fatality data Keith Prince received from TfL on 21 November 2025 with (a) the documented incidents of people "killed in or by a bus" found in TfL's published  Bus Safety ("SHE/IRIS") Data and Road Safety (STATS19 ) Data  and (b) some AI-assisted Web searching, it would appear that, since 2010, there are at least 23 people whose deaths "in or by a bus" were in vain because—

• Key Vision Zero Safety Target Baselines were created;
• Executive Bonuses were determined and paid;
• Official narratives about "Progress" on Vision Zero appeared in Press Releases that were dutifully reported by the local and national press;
• Evidence was submitted by TfL to at least three London Assembly Bus Safety Investigations and also, to the Department for Transport;

—and these specific documented preventable deaths "in or by a bus" were not acknowledged by TfL to have taken place at all. 

While TfL press spokespeople callously dismiss these ignored vanquished lives as "a small number of other fatalities" and TfL Board Documents negligently classify all bus deaths as "small numbers of low probability events", as the CEO of the leading national charity providing support to Road Victims, can I assume that you will not dismiss TfL having ignored at least 23 victims "killed in or by a bus" since 2010 in its benchmark road safety publications as merely the data geek pedantry of a highly-motivated Bus Crash Survivor but rather treat it as the breach of public trust by the Mayor and TfL that I think it clearly represents?  I might add, for governance of the Mayor's Vision Zero Programme and also for these victims' families, I think the Mayor's and TfL's acknowledgement of these 23 victims "killed in or by a bus" is precisely the point of Vision Zero. 

Accordingly, for a public bus fleet that is entirely within TfL's control, but—

• still ranks poorly for safety performance among its 'world city' peers, and;
• is probably the least safe of any major European city.

• Campaign for the Mayor and TfL to understand that the first step toward supporting those 'impacted' by the frequent deaths and injuries generated by London's contracted public bus operation will be for both to acknowledge that these fatal incidents have occurred at all and have them appear in TfL's Annual Road Casualty publications, Monthly Board papers and the baselines TfL uses to measure 'progress' against for Vision Zero 'bus-involved fatalities and determine annual bonus payments for its executives.  It is not acceptable that the Mayor and TfL have been allowed to claim credit for 'progress'—and TfL's executives have been receiving larger bonus payments—for meeting Vision Zero targets that are not based on the actual number—or published Vision Zero Target—of people "killed in or a by a bus".
• Meet with the Bus Drivers who are leading the Bus Driver Bill of Rights Campaign. I ask, because I know that TfL's secretive Vision Zero Reference Group of which Brake Charity is a member, has representatives from political lobbying groups from the Bus, Taxi and Car industries, but lacks any members who can speak with authority about the well-evidenced "institutionally unsafe" conditions that TfL Bus Contracts inflict on London's Bus Drivers.  And given your recent public comments about the Government's new Road Safety Strategy, I urge to you also to 'be brave' and instruct your charity to begin to understand and campaign to change the systemic safety problems that have plagued TfL's contracted surface transport operation for decades that undermine the ability of a Bus Driver to operate with duty of care for passengers and other road users.
• Read the Evidence Submissions from London and UK Bus Drivers to the Bus Services [No. 2] Bill.  If you are not familiar with Bus Drivers' key systemic safety concerns, these well-evidenced submissions are a good place to start.  I'll make it easy for you—

• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61844/documents/6811
• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61680/documents/6750
• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61691/documents/6758
• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61678/documents/6749
• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61683/documents/6752
• https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61937/documents/6837

• Watch the videos produced by Bus Drivers posted on the new @BetterBuses YouTube Channel. For more information about his new grassroots driver-led initiative, please read my unacknowledged 16 January 2026 Open Letter to Elly Baker (Labour), Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee. 
• Campaign for the DfT to revise its STATS19 bus fatality data definitions to conform to London's Vision Zero "killed in or by a bus" metric, a more robust metric that actually reflects the "Safe Systems" approach upon which the Government claims its recently-published Road Safety Strategy is based.  Based on what we've recently discovered in London, we know that DfT's data showing 521 fatalities from a "Bus or a Coach" for the period 2015-2024 has to be a smaller number than the actual number of road safety-related fatalities that have been generated from the country's bus and coach operations over that period.  Because Lord Hampton raised the issue of the defects of STATS19 reporting for Bus Fatalities in the House of Lords on 13 February 2025, Lord Hendy's response on that date—"in respect of accidents away from public roads, which I will go away and have a close look at. I am not familiar with that nuance, but it is clearly important" —confirms that the Minister knows about STATS19's definitional defects and suggests that the Government's primary road safety dataset for Bus and Coach Fatalities is neither robust nor accurate. I hope Brake Charity can convince Lord Peter Hendy to do more than just "look at" the manifestly obvious and easily solvable problems surrounding STATS19 definitions that have resulted in many of the UK's bus victims to be excluded from the statistics upon which laws and policies are determined.

I've read articles explaining "Camber thrust" theory but never seen any real world evidence of the effects of camber on a bike in a similar way that Bill Milliken did with his MX1 "Camber Car". Often wondered how to do that but couldn't think of an easy way until the 2WS Demo Bike construction was almost done. Replacing the 2WS Demo Bike forks with 30 degree cambered forks, but with only one wheel steering, was fairly easy.

Took a little time away from the new racer project and made a cheap and easy to build electric 2WS demonstration bike. I've known about the effect of 2WS on lean angle for decades, but never effectively demonstrated it. The end of the video has frame grabs that illustrate the 2WS effects on lean angle and front wheel steering angle.

• Weight with battery 62 pounds. 
• Wheelbase 53 inches. 
• Head tube angle at both ends 0 degrees. 
• Trail at both ends 1.4 inches. 
• Weight distribution with rider 60% F | 40% R. 
• RWS settings 0%, 50%, and 66%. 
• Hubmotor 48V 1000W. 
• Battery capacity 20 Ah.
• Top speed 24 MPH.

(a) evidence how—in contrast to other safer transport sectors—TfL does not place a high priority on Human Factors in how public services are contracted, managed and controlled in London, and;(b) offer evidenced-based suggestions as to how TfL's known ignorance of Human Factors that negatively impact Bus Driver Working Conditions can be mitigated. 

Episode 1: Human Factors and the Future of Bus Safety — "If a system allows you to make an error it is a bad system.  If a system induces you to make an error, it is a really bad system."
Episode 2: Londons' iBus Radio System: Fit for purpose? — Bill of Rights No. 8. ⁠"The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion"
Episode 3: Worse & Better Communication - "You can either blame—or learn—it's very hard to do both"

(a) TfL's failure to consider Human Factors in how Bus Door Controls are designed that makes Driver error inevitable, and (b) how to fix these known problems.

"killed on on by a Bus", inter alia, by "collisions on private land, noncollisions (e.g. death due to medical episodes or slips, trips and falls on a bus), incidents outside the Greater London boundary and death occurring after 30 days". 

Ezarhul Islam (73), who fell after a Go Ahead 191 Bus moved suddenly without warning in October 2015, but died while still in hospital in December 2015. Because Mr. Islam died 30 days after  his death—which resulted in the Coroner issuing a "Prevention of Future Deaths" Order in June 2016—TfL recorded his death as a "Medical" in origin and didn't include the incident in any official Road Casualty reporting, including Figure 17.  Since 1 January 2014, TfL has recorded 69 Fatalities with "Medical" serving as the cause. How many of these "Medical" deaths represent Bus Injury Victims like Mr. Islam, who died 30 days after the incident?  
Saba Mirza (31), who was critically injured on a Zebra Crossing by a Metroline Route 46 in November 2016 but, I understand, died while still in hospital in January 2021 (i.e., after 30 days). By the way, the collision incident that eventually killed Saba Mirza is not recorded in any of TfL's published Bus Safety Performance records, including "TfL Bus Drivers critically injuring pedestrians on Zebra Crossings". 
A Male Pedestrian (41) hit by a speeding Go Ahead Route 191 Bus at Edmonton Green Bus Station in February 2020. 
Melissa Burr (32) hit by a Go Ahead Route 507 Bus at Victoria Bus Station in August 2021. 
Stephen Mitchell (60), killed while trying to board a Go Ahead Route 363 Bus in Peckham in November 2022. Until London Assembly Member Keith Prince reported the fact that the Bus Driver was convicted for "causing death by driving without due care and attention" in 2025, on its website TfL previously recorded the incident as a non-fatal "Collision" Incident where the victim required "No Treatment".  Since 1 January 2014, TfL has recorded 3053 Bus Collision Incidents where the victim required "No Treatment".  How many of these incidents resulted in the death of the victim where the Bus Driver was convicted? 
Grace Mecaley (74) hit by Go Ahead Route 212 Bus at Walthamstow Bus Station in December 2023. 

'TfL does not receive ongoing updates on the status and health outcomes of people who were previously involved in bus incidents and has no information about the health status of members of the public up to eight years after an incident' 

"On 11 September 2019, a former TfL Board Director and Safety Panel Chair told the London Assembly Transport Committee and your Deputy Mayor for Transport: "We owe it to the victims of that accident [Sandilands] and we owe it to victims of accidents on the buses and on other parts of the network to get to the bottom of exactly how this organisation is run. How does it deal with this sort of situation? What happened? Why did it happen? How did they do that audit? What lessons can we learn about how to do audits? How can we make sure that we are delivering the radical transparency that is the only way to deliver Vision Zero? I am not trying to be difficult or unpleasant or cause problems, but I can tell you now that if you do not deal with that culture and if you do not have robust audit processes, you will get nowhere near to Vision Zero. Nowhere near to Vision Zero." Since (a) bus collisions remain at the same level (about 80 per day) as when you announced your Vision Zero Programme in July 2018 and (b) casualties from buses are now higher than when you took office, will you commit to a policy of "radical transparency" on bus safety?"

In your response, you stated —

"Transport for London (TfL) has no higher priority than the safety of its customers, staff, and those affected by its operations, and continues to strive to reach the ambitious Vision Zero targets."

I need not remind you that, 

• since you've been Mayor, your Vision Zero Target for Buses that "no one to be killed on or by a bus by 2030" has been going the other way.

• on 3 July 2025, your own Transport Commissioner admitted to the London Assembly that—

 "until this year...the Bus Companies would still be penalised if they curtailed or did not meet their performance requirements because of the hot weather or because they were taking action to support Driver Welfare"

• you will get nowhere near Vision Zero unless you compel TfL to deliver 'radical transparency' on Londons' failing Bus Safety Performance and unsafe Bus Driver Working Conditions.  

1) Issuing a Formal Apology to each of the families of Saba Mirza, Stephen Mitchell, Melissa Lamb and Grace Mecaley—all killed "on or by a bus" under your watch as Mayor and TfL Chair—with a full explanation as to why—since their loved ones' deaths "do not meet STATS19 criteria"—TfL did not include their incidents as part of (a) "the underpinning data source for all road safety policy and from which Transport for London (TfL) built its evidence base for the Bus Safety Standard (BSS)" (b)  "TfL's road safety targets and baseline" (c) in the determination of executives' bonuses for achieving safety targets in, respectively, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023, (d) Figure 17. 

2) Publishing a Consolidated Annual Figure for people "killed on or by a bus" in London. 

Your explanation as why you refuse to order TfL to perform the simple task of publishing a consolidated annual figure that shows all the people "killed on or by a bus" is, frankly, contemptuous of the families of the over 100 victims who—while you have served as Mayor and TfL chair—have been killed "on or by a bus", as well as of the at least 9698 victims who've been sent to hospital from preventable Bus-related injuries over the same period.  A truly just Vision Zero Policy would not impose on the families of victims—or on victims themselves—the obligation to interrogate TfL's dubious datasets in order to discern the actual number of how many people have been killed "on or by a bus" in London. Both you and TfL are wittingly adding insult to injury: have you no shame?

3) Instructing TfL to conduct a Independent Data Integrity Audit of all TfL's published Bus Safety Datasets

Since at least 2022, Keith Prince has been asking you instruct TfL to conduct an Independent Audit of the Integrity of TfL's published Bus Safety Performance Data. 

March 2025 - Vision Zero: Bus Safety Data Integrity Audit

November 2024- Vision Zero: Independent Data Integrity Audit of TfL Bus Safety Data

March 2022 - Independent Audit of TfL's Quarterly Bus Safety Data

"TfL will probably say 'we don't recognise this because nobody's brought this to our attention'.
"But if it has been brought to their attention and they're not doing anything about it, that's a very different thing."

Under your watch as Mayor and TfL Chair, you've presided over a Surface Transport Operation that has produced— 

• at least 100 deaths from preventable Bus Safety Incidents;
• 76 deaths of Bus Drivers from Covid-19; and, 
• 7 deaths from the 2016 Croydon Tram Crash at Sandilands.

"While Sadiq Khan has been mayor and TfL [Transport for London] chair, about every six weeks someone has been killed in a London bus safety incident. Three in four of these deaths are the result of a bus collision. In 2024 someone was killed in a preventable bus safety incident every three weeks. Except for a short period during the Covid-19 pandemic, recorded crashes have been stuck at an eerily predictable 80 bus crashes per day for the past five years."

• analyses of years of TfL's published casualty data reveal that TfL Buses—which (a) constitute about 1 percent of the vehicles on the road at any time, and (b) are solely contracted by TfL—were involved in 15 percent of all pedestrian fatalities from Road Vehicles in London in 2024, an increase from the ghastly 10 percent annual average from 2014-2023. 
• when benchmarked to its 'World City' peers by Imperial College, year-after-year London consistently appears at the bottom tercile for Bus Collisions. 

• every day over 3 people have been hospitalised from a preventable bus safety incident, 1 of which is due to a collision.
• deaths "on or by a bus" have risen from 12 in 2016 to 16 in 2024, despite at least an 8% fall in the number of bus miles driven. 
• at least 100 people have lost their lives from preventable safety incidents "on or by" TfL buses.  
• and—at least— 76 Bus Drivers lost their lives to Covid-19 and 7 passengers were killed in the Croydon Tram Crash, both safety catastrophes that, despite the many serious questions about TfL's poor oversight of these crises that remain outstanding, you are obviously desperate to close the books on

• inscribing the Bus Driver's Bill of Rights into TfL's Framework Bus Services Contract; and, 
• appointing an 'Independent Judge-Led Enquiry" to investigate TfL's Safety Culture 

Three "Rights" listed in the London Bus Drivers Bill of Rights —

• The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay 
• The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day 
• ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL and the public 

— underscore the extent to which the system in which TfL negotiates, agrees and enforces its Bus Performance Contracts is broken. But there's something deeply broken about a Public Surface Transport System the compels its own workers to be complacent about Fatigue even before they start the job.

Among TfL's Bus Contractors a Fatigue-inducing Practice of forcing new Bus Drivers to sign away their right to a legal 48-hour working week has been quietly normalised. Drivers are compelled to give up this right—not after settling in and understanding the full implications of the job—but on Day One, during their Induction. 

And the form they're made to sign leaves no room for debate.

"As an Employee of [INSERT TfL BUS OPERATOR NAME HERE] , I agree of my own free will and individual choice to opt out of the average maximum working week of 48 hours contained within the Working Time Regulations 1998. If you wish to withdraw from this agreement, please speak to the Trainer on your Induction."

This document doesn't only reflect bureaucratic complacency: it is coercion wearing a smile.

The Illusion of "Free Will" to choose Working Hours.

The document's phrasing is deliberate: "I agree of my own free will and individual choice." This is legal theatre. A performance designed to bypass the spirit of worker protections by putting the burden of refusal on the most vulnerable: new Bus Driver hires.

This form: which asks New Bus Driver Hires to opt out of the legal 48-hour weekly working limit is given to the prospective employee before he or she even officially starts, usually a few days or a week ahead of his or her induction day. On Induction Day, the Operators assiduously check if all pre-employment forms—including this one—are completed and signed. If anything is missing, your application may be paused or even stopped altogether. For some documents, Bus Operators might offer assistance. But with this one, the approach is more blunt: "Sign it, and if you want to opt back in later, sort it out after you've started."

"I understand that this agreement will continue unless I decide to terminate it by giving four weeks notice in writing addressed to my Operations Manager." 

In plain English: if you don't want to agree now, you're either out of the running — or locked in for four weeks of whatever hours the company demands—with no guarantees of ever receiving a manageable schedule.  

This is not informed consent. This is institutional pressure hiding behind a paper shield.

No Perks. No Overtime Pay. No Choice.

Bus driving is already one of the most demanding jobs in London.  Drivers manage thousands of passengers a day, navigate unpredictable traffic, deal with verbal abuse and threats, and are still expected to maintain perfect punctuality despite impossible schedules. It's no wonder the industry is facing a recruitment and retention crisis.

And yet, instead of addressing these systemic issues — poor pay, long hours, safety risks, understaffing — TfL's solution has been to permit its Bus Contractors to lean harder on the people who show up every day. This opt-out form is a symptom of a deeper systemic disease:  tt reveals how TfL contracts its Bus Contractors to treat time, energy, and health as infinite resources that they can consume without human costs so that Bus Users are satisfied and Bus Companies are profitable. The opt-out form shows how easily "choice" becomes manipulation when the power dynamics are skewed entirely in favour of the unaccountable.  And this form proves that exploitation doesn't start after a London Bus Driver gets behind the wheel:  it starts the moment he or she is handed a pen.

The Fight for Change Begins with Awareness.

If the Mayor and TfL are serious about fixing London's well-evidenced record of failing Bus Safety Performance, they must start with Transparency.  The Mayor and TfL must prevent Bus Contractors from pretending that this opt-out form is a fair agreement.  They must stop Bus Operators from assigning "free will" to Bus Drivers decision to sign it when they know it's anything but.   And the Mayor, TfL and the Bus Operators must stop expecting workers to sacrifice their wellbeing in Silence.  London's 'world leading' Public Bus Network only runs because of its Drivers.  Without them, the city doesn't move.  The least these Drivers deserve is respect: and that starts with giving them a real choice about their working hours, not a rubber stamp that condemns them to a working life hobbled by Fatigue.

When 'Protection' Becomes Permission.

• That all Working Time Agreements present a real choice:  with a clear 'yes or no' checkbox.
• That opting in or out does not affect Bus Workers' Job Offers or Career Progression.
• That Bus Drivers can challenge unrealistic rotas without the fear of being disciplined or isolated by their managers.

When Unite the Union—the very institution that's meant to stand up for London's Bus Workers—has complacently accepted the Employer's line for decades, then something is deeply broken...and unjust.

The message is clear: if you want the job, you'll play by the rules that are already well stacked against you. And if those rules exhaust you, or endanger your well-being or others in your bus or on the road? That's your fault: you've already signed away your leverage.

What makes the current situation worse is the silence from those who should be shouting the loudest.  A Union that turns a blind eye, or worse, plays along, isn't protecting anyone. It's simply helping to keep TfL's contracted 'Killing Machine' running day-in, day-out.

This isn't about paperwork: it's about power. And until the Mayor and TfL start asking the right questions—and demanding real accountability from Bus Operators and Unite the Union—Bus Drivers will keep being pressured to drive fatigued and powerless to change things.

And increasing numbers of lives and livelihoods will be lost as a result of a Franchised Public Bus Operation—under the complete control of the Mayor of London—that refuses to make Driver Welfare and Public Safety a Priority.

Dear Caroline Russell,

RE: The Mayor's 7 May 2025 Response to the London Assembly's 13 February 2025 London Bus Driver 'Bill of Rights' Petition 

Kindly note that I am forced to write to you anonymously because the poor TfL Bus Safety Performance and Bus Driver Working Conditions issues I highlight publicly here today might get me fired from my job as a TfL Bus Driver.  In any case, this bit of public reporting of my concerns about the Mayor's and TfL's poor safety oversight of London's Contracted Bus Operation will certainly get me disciplined, and my family and I cannot risk that. 

I note the Mayor responded to your 13 February 2025 Submission of our Bill of Rights Petition (letter attached) on 7 May 2025.

Since you put yourself at the front of our 29 January 2025 Bill of Rights March from Victoria Station to Parliament, you know what 'Rights' we are demanding, i.e.,—

 1.⁠ ⁠The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay

 2.⁠ ⁠The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day

 3.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive a safe and well-maintained vehicle

 4.⁠ ⁠The Right to clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes

 5.⁠ ⁠The Right to report safety concerns without fear of retribution from TfL or employers

 6.⁠ ⁠The Right, when seriously ill and covered by a doctor's note, to not be harassed into coming into work until fit to do so

 7.⁠ ⁠The Right to relevant and timely safety training

 8.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion

 9.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to have all company rules in writing and clearly displayed

10.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL and the public

11.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Air Cooling in our cabs in the summer heat 

12.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Heaters in our cabs in the cold of winter

Because our lived experience proves that (a) we do not have these Rights and (b) we have no remedies to invoke when we are denied them by our employers, we are asking that they be inscribed into TfL's Framework Bus Contract so that the Rights are unambiguously established and will apply universally to all London Bus Drivers in a single, publicly-accessible document that the (1 January 2016) TfL Framework Bus Contract represents.

If you had the opportunity to scrutinise Deputy Mayor Seb Dance's 11 May 2025 Response to Bus Driver Activist Kevin Mustafa's 10 December 2024 Letter or any one of the Mayor's Responses to Questions 2025/0580 to 2025/0592 provided to Keith Prince AM from 28 February -12 March 2025, you'll see that the Mayor's 7 May 2025 Response to you is just the same regurgitation of the fact-free gaslighting that he, his Deputy and TfL have been dishing out since the Mayor's 21 January 2025 Response to Question 2025/0089 from Thomas Turrell AM.

Kindly note that even a cursory scrutiny of the Mayor's official reason for rejecting the Bill of Rights, i.e—

"Many aspects of the proposed 'Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights' are already covered by existing agreements, actions or legislation."

—will reveal City Hall's repeated refusals lack any granular evidence to support them.

Why? 

Because even a little scrutiny of what appears to be a hastily-assembled collection of factoids that purport to evidence the existence of the Bill of Rights, negates City Hall's and TfL's ill-conceived assertion that these Rights exist at all. 

Based on our lived experience as London Bus Drivers and thousands of facts on the public record thanks to dozens of Freedom of Information Requests, at least two London Assembly Transport Committee Investigations (2017 and 2024) and hundreds of Mayor's Questions since 2011, we are confident that "arm-waving" statements from City Hall and TfL like—

"Relevant legislation includes, but is not limited to, the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (1992), Working Time Regulations (1998), Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999), and the Equality Act (2010)."

and

"Further regulation is provided by the need for all bus operating companies to hold a valid Public Service Vehicle Operator Licence and to adhere to requirements set by the Traffic Commissioner and administered by the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)." 

and so on... 

— are intended solely to confuse the London Assembly and the public.

Will the London Assembly assiduously scrutinise all these statements from the Mayor, his Deputy and TfL? 

"already covered by existing 'agreements'"

• What agreements? 
• Between what parties? 
• Where are these agreements recorded and available for public scrutiny?
• Which "Right" or "Rights" contained in the Bill of Rights do these agreements to which the Mayor refers establish? 
• To which specific clause in which specific "agreements" can a London Bus Driver refer when he or she is denied the "Right" or "Rights" founded upon said agreement(s)?
• Do all these alleged agreements to which the Mayor refers apply uniformly across all of London's Bus Contractors and treat all London Bus Drivers equally? 

• What—exactly—is an "action"?  
• Where are said "actions" recorded, between whom are they agreed, and to whom do they apply? 
• Are these "actions" published and available for public scrutiny? 
• Which "Right" or "Rights" contained in the Bill of Rights do these "actions" to which the Mayor alludes establish? 
• To which specific clause in which specific "actions" can a London Bus Driver refer when he or she is denied the "Right" or "Rights" founded upon said "action(s)"?
• Do these "actions" apply uniformly across all of London's Bus Contractors and treat all London Bus Drivers equally?

If the Mayor continues to refuse to provide documentary evidence to support his claim about all the alleged "actions" he claims establish the existence and application of the Bill of Rights for all London Bus Drivers, isn't the Mayor merely gaslighting the London Assembly?

"already covered by existing...'legislation'"

• The Mayor cites various legislative acts but does not reference specific clauses, why? 
• Which "Right" or "Rights" contained in the Bill of Rights does this said legislation establish? 
• To which specific clause in which specific legislation can a London Bus Driver refer when he or she is denied the "Right" or "Rights" founded upon said legislative act(s)?
• If Bus Drivers are being denied Rights guaranteed by Legislative Acts, aren't TfL Bus Contractors breaking the law? 
• If the Mayor of London, as TfL Chair, is permitting TfL Bus Contractors to break the law, isn't he just an accomplice? 

If the Mayor continues to refuse to provide documentary evidence to support his claim about all the "legislation" that establishes the existence and application of the Bill of Rights for all London Bus Drivers, isn't the Mayor gaslighting you? More importantly—if what the Mayor has stated is true and can be backed up by evidence—is he knowingly permitting TfL Bus Contractors to break the law? 

As you know well, the Bill of Rights we're demanding derive directly from the lived experiences of London Bus Drivers. The Mayor claims we already enjoy them, but he refuses to cite:

(a) the Specific Clauses of the any Existing Agreements, Actions or Legislation that Guarantee London Bus Drivers those Rights 

and, more importantly—

(b) the Specific Remedies available to Bus Drivers when we are denied them.

As a publicly-elected official whose sole purpose is to scrutinise the Mayor of London and the institutions over which the Mayor has authority, we believe it is incumbent upon you and the London Assembly to reject the Mayor's contemptuous response and subject it to some meaningful scrutiny. 

The penultimate paragraph of the Mayor's letter to you—

"TfL encourages any London bus driver who feels his or her rights are being infringed to raise their concerns with their employer, their union, or TfL directly. This can also be done via an anonymous reporting system, The Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis Service, which is available to all drivers."

—should provide you with some encouragement that being on 'the right side of history' on Bus Safety occasionally bears fruit. 

On 17 September 2014, your Green Party Predecessor Darren Johnson asked Mayor Boris Johnson a simple question about Bus Safety—

Unlike Tube Drivers, the drivers of buses in London do not have access to a Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis System (CIRAS), where employees can confidentially register individual concerns about work colleagues, working  practices, and other activity which presents a safety hazard, or fails to apply good systems of risk management with the assurance that these safety concerns will be investigated by an independent body.   Will you immediately order TfL to make subscription to CIRAS a condition of continuing to be an approved supplier for TfL London bus contracts and other related services?

And the argument put forward by Mayor Boris Johnson to reject Darren Johnson AM's reasonable request  —

There are already robust systems for reporting and investigating safety issues and incidents across the bus network. Assurance is provided by audits of operator reporting and investigating procedures, as well as regular reviews of reported data. All London bus operators have their own established procedures in place.

— seems remarkably (and contemptuously) similar to Mayor Sadiq Khan's to you on 7 May.

As I suspect you already know, after further campaigning from Darren Johnson joined by Assembly Members from the Liberal Democrat (Caroline Pidgeon AM) and Conservative Parties (Richard Tracey AM, Victoria Borwick AM), Mayor Boris Johnson was shamed into extending Confidential Safety Incident Reporting to TfL Bus Drivers in January 2015  and—after TfL delayed (obstructed?) implementing the Mayor's order for a year—CIRAS was officially extended to Bus Drivers by TfL at its cost in January 2016.

Given the dozens of Mayor's Questions about the Bill of Rights Conservative Assembly Members Keith Prince AM, Neil Garratt AM and Thomas Turell AM have put forward since we started the Bill of Rights Campaign at TfL Headquarters on 5 November 2024, and additional questions from Liberal Democrat AM Hina Bokhari, from my simple Bus Driver's perspective it would appear that you've got at least a quorum of Assembly Members that would support you putting a Bill of Rights Motion in front of the Assembly for a debate and a vote.

To be honest, we are disappointed by the fact that, since 29 January 2025, you haven't been inspired to (a) ask any Mayor's Questions about the Bill of Rights or (b) present a Bill of Rights Motion to allow all Assembly Members from all Parties to reveal their public positions about our reasonable demands.   Now, more than ever, we need you to work with other London Assembly Members to pressure the Mayor to stop gaslighting the London Assembly about the Bus Drivers Bill of Rights.  Your predecessor Darren Johnson's success in obtaining Confidential Safety Incident Reporting for London Bus Drivers against Mayoral and TfL's public gaslighting is a good example of the kind of "about-face" that's possible when both facts and common sense are on your side. 

Given the fact that 2024 saw a doubling of 2023's number of people killed 'in or by a bus' , the Mayor's Vision Zero 'ambition' for that chilling number to be 'zero by 2030' appears to be nothing more than a virtue-signalling fantasy.  Much like the Confidential Safety Incident Reporting for London Bus Drivers that the Mayor of London and TfL once vociferously opposed but now are publicly cheerleading, we believe that the the Bill of Rights we're demanding is just common sense that the Mayor and TfL will come around to embrace when the public narrative they've been pushing is revealed, as it was with Confidential Incident Safety Reporting for London Bus Drivers, to be manifestly incorrect. 

You marched at the head of our procession to Parliament on 29 January 2025. 

You met us in front of City Hall on 13 February 2025 to receive our Bill of Rights Petition. 

We look forward to you to continue supporting us in our efforts to convince the Mayor about the lethality and negligence of his and TfL's public rejection of the London Bus Driver Bill of Rights.

Lives and Livelihoods are stake here:  we continue to expect that you'll remain on the 'right side of history' on the London Bus Drivers Bill of Rights. The facts, common sense, and London Bus Drivers are on that side too.

Yours sincerely,

—An Anonymous London Bus Driver

a) Well-evidenced and long-known Poor Working Conditions of London's Bus Drivers;b) Poor Operational Safety Performance of London Buses  

• An average of 3 people a day have been hospitalised from a preventable Bus Safety Incident, at least one of which involves a Bus Collision;
• About every 5-6 weeks, someone has been killed in a preventable Bus Safety Incident, mostly from Bus collisions. In 2024, there was such a death every 3 weeks.
• For the past decade, 1 in 10 Deaths from Road Traffic Incidents in London has involved a TfL Bus.  Based on TfL's published data it also appears that, Based on 2024's preliminary figures, we believe that chilling ratio shrank to 1 in 7.  Do you agree with me that is an appalling level of lethality for public service vehicles that represent less than 1 percent of the total number of vehicles driving on London's streets at any given time?
• Since this Mayor was elected, over 100 people have been killed in preventable Bus Safety Incidents, 70% from collisions. 

 1.⁠ ⁠The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay 2.⁠ ⁠The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day 3.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive a safe and well-maintained vehicle 4.⁠ ⁠The Right to clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes 5.⁠ ⁠The Right to report safety concerns without fear of retribution from TfL or employers 6.⁠ ⁠The Right, when seriously ill and covered by a doctor's note, to not be harassed into   coming into work until fit to do so 7.⁠ ⁠The Right to relevant and timely safety training 8.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from       Controllers whilst in motion 9.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to have all company rules in writing and clearly displayed10.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL and the public11.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Air Cooling in our cabs in the summer heat 12.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Heaters in our cabs in the cold of winter

"We are calling on you and the Mayor to meet with a delegation of Bus Drivers and Campaign Representatives in a Public Forum—like the London Assembly or House of Commons Transport Committees—to agree (a) a timeline where TfL will to write the Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights into its Framework Bus Contract and (b) how TfL plans to enforce and monitor these Rights being respected and adhered to by its Franchised Bus Operators  This meeting will need to be televised and recorded for public scrutiny.  We are not asking for what already exists. We are demanding what has never been delivered by TfL, its Franchised Bus Contractors or Unite the Union: a Safe, Respectful, Transparent and Accountable Working Environment for those who keep London moving on the UK's largest and longest-running Franchised Public Bus Network."

• Access to Toilets at the end of every Bus Route;
• Bus Cabs below 40c in the summer and above Freezing in the winter; and
• Working Schedules and Rotas that don't Ensure Driver Fatigue

• Publicly Acknowledge the crucial role of London Bus Drivers in London TravelWatch's and London Bus Alliance's future publications and/or public discussions about improvements to London's Bus Services;
• Assure the Public that they—like the LCC—recognise the direct link between Bus Driver Working Conditions and Bus Safety Performance;
• Campaign Publicly for the Mayor to write the London Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights into TfL's Framework Bus Services Contract.

London Bus Drivers' Bill of Rights
 1.⁠ ⁠The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay 2.⁠ ⁠The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day 3.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive a safe and well-maintained vehicle 4.⁠ ⁠The Right to clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes 5.⁠ ⁠The Right to report safety concerns without fear of retribution from TfL or employers 6.⁠ ⁠The Right, when seriously ill and covered by a doctor's note, to not be harassed into coming into work until fit to do so 7.⁠ ⁠The Right to relevant and timely safety training 8.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion 9.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to have all company rules in writing and clearly displayed10.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL and the public11.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Air Cooling in our cabs in the summer heat 12.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Heaters in our cabs in the cold of winter

Amendment 1. Confidential Safety Reporting — that any Bus Operator running a Public Bus Service enabled by the Bill be subscribed to a Confidential Safety Reporting Scheme like CIRAS or its equivalents. Thanks to a campaign I initiated in 2014, TfL agreed to fund CIRAS to extend its contracted Bus Drivers access to CIRAS in early 2016.
 Amendment 2. Bus Safety Incident Reporting — that any Public Transport Authority (PTA) taking control of its Public Bus Services through franchising or direct ownership will be obligated to publish its Bus Safety Performance Data every quarter. Thanks to my successful campaigning backed by Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Party London Assembly Members, TfL has been reluctantly publishing its Bus Safety Performance Data since 2014. 
 Amendment 3. Bus Driver Hours — that the Working Hours of Bus Drivers should conform to those of UK Lorry Drivers.  Amendment 4. Safety Qualifications of Public Transport Authority Officials — that any Public Transport Authority Official made responsible for Franchising Public Bus Services under the Act will possess basic IOSH and/or NEBOSH certifications.  

• Since 2014, about 1 in 10 deaths on the roads of London have involved TfL buses, a fleet that constitutes—corrected for mileage buses cover—about 1 percent of the vehicles on London's roads at any time. 

• International benchmarking undertaken by Imperial College consistently finds London in the lowest third of comparators for bus safety every year, suggesting that London has been— for years—the worst Bus Safety Performer in Europe. 

• In 2023 and based on STATS19 (undercount) data, TfL says that there were 258 people killed and seriously injured by buses in London—that is 258 families put through unimaginable trauma. Trust me, I know personally what that entails.  In 2017, TfL says that there were 259 people killed and seriously injured by buses in London.  After 6 years of a Vision Zero Programme much-touted by Lord Hendy's boss, the Senior Minister of Transport Heidi Alexander when she served as London Mayor Sadiq Khan's Deputy Mayor for Transport from 2018-2021, TfL's own published data shows, despite a reduction in total Bus Mileage, Buses and Bus Drivers, casualties from Preventable Bus Safety Incidents are now higher today than when Mayor Khan took office in 2016. 

• Buses and Coaches have killed, on average, about 20 pedestrians per year;

• Buses & Coaches have accounted for 3.4% of Total Pedestrian Fatalities in the United Kingdom but only account for 0.34% of the total number of vehicles in the UK and only 0.57% of the total vehicle miles in the UK;

• Accordingly, based on analysis of DfT's published data—Bus & Coach Lethality is 10 times higher than what these vehicles numbers on the road would predict and more than 5 times higher when these vehicles presence is corrected for their mileage;

London Bus Workers' Bill of Rights

1.⁠ ⁠The Right to a safe work schedule without any forced overtime or loss of pay2.⁠ ⁠The Right to a decent and proper rest break in the working day3.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive a safe and well-maintained vehicle4.⁠ ⁠The Right to clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes5.⁠ ⁠The Right to report safety concerns without fear of retribution from TfL or employers6.⁠ ⁠The Right, when seriously ill and covered by a doctor's note, to not be harassed into coming into work until fit to do so7.⁠ ⁠The Right to relevant and timely safety training8.⁠ ⁠The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion9.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to have all company rules in writing and clearly displayed10.⁠ ⁠⁠The Right to be treated with dignity and respect by our employers, TfL and the public11.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Air Cooling in our cabs in the summer heat 12.⁠ ⁠The Right to Working Heaters in our cabs in the cold of winter

(i) Confidential Safety Reporting; (ii) Timely and Accurate Safety Data Publishing by PTAs; (iii) Limiting bus driver hours; and, (iv) Ensuring Public Officials those designing, awarding and enforcing bus franchise contracts had safety qualifications 

'Traffic collision experts concluded that the Bus Driver began turning while his view was obscured by another bus' 

and "a pillar inside the bus also created a blind spot but the driver could have moved his head and upper body to look around it".

• a "turning bus"

• "obscured vision"

• a "pillar inside the bus" that "create a blind spot" that required the driver "to move his head and upper body to look around it" to see a pedestrian crossing the road in a designated pedestrian crossing.

• the unrelenting pressure from iBus Controllers on the Bus Driver to be timely and fast

• the Driver might haven't had access to a toilet for hours;

• the well-evidenced possibility that this 76 year-old driver might have been suffering from fatigue; 

"Implementing a Vision Zero programme" "The Secretary of State must work with bus service providers, trade unions, professional bodies, and appropriate training institutions to implement a Vision Zero programme within the bus sector, modelled on best practice in the industry, with the aim of eliminating serious injuries in the course of bus operations."

• Confidential Safety Reporting

• Bus Safety Incident Reporting

• Limiting Bus Driver Working Hours

• Safety Qualifications of PTA Officials

• Creation of Independent Bus Crash Investigation Branch

Got the frame far enough along to install the upper A-arms and dummy shocks (Half travel length). Next steps: Finishing the frame with a lot of triangulation and finishing the steering system. The lower suspension arm (Left side) is laterally located by Watt's linkages (Not shown) to the right side lower tube. Two wheel drive and two wheel steering in the 21st century requires a far different design approach - 19th century technology doesn't work.

Another surprise video - wasn't involved with the production - still glad to see it out there. Has the typical mix of enthusiastic comments and stupid comments:

From: Kevin Mustafa 

Subject: Urgent Concerns Regarding Bus Safety and Driver Fatigue

Date: 23 March 2025 at 10:31:17 GMT

To: Lorna Murphy - TfL Director of Buses <lornamurphy@tfl.gov.uk>, Andy Lord - TfL Commissioner <AndyLord@tfl.gov.uk>

Cc: Tom Kearney, Neil Garratt <Neil.Garratt@london.gov.uk>, Keith Prince <Keith.Prince@london.gov.uk>, Caroline Russell <caroline.russell@london.gov.uk>, peter skinner <skinnerzboy@yahoo.co.uk>, Lorraine Bus Driver <lorraine.robertsoniz@hotmail.com>, "bishopmi@me.com" <bishopmi@me.com>, James Rossi <jamesrossi268@outlook.com>, Michael Liebreich <michael@liebreichassociates.com>, "billofrights@hotmail.com" <billofrights@hotmail.com>

Dear Lorna , Andy

Are you a Londoner? Do you ever come to London on business or for leisure, or as a tourist? Then this post is for you.

You might find the sight of a red London bus reassuring. You should find it terrifying. In an annual benchmarking study carried out by Imperial College, London scores consistently in the lowest tercile for safety, probably the least safe bus system of any major European city.

I was on the board of TfL and chaired the Safety Panel, and I know why: the system under which TfL contracts out bus services to private companies is "institutionally unsafe". Payment is tied entirely to the number of passenger route miles and to keeping up with the bus in front.

As congestion has increased and inflation has eaten bus company margins, pressure on bus drivers to speed has increased. Drivers work in conditions none of us would accept: lack of toilets, overheated cabs in summer; frozen cabs in winter; pressure to drive extra shifts up to 13-days in a row; insufficient time between shifts; and so on.

The Mayor and TfL have tried to deflect attention from all this, and from its impact on safety, but the data does not lie. As you can see from the attached chart, in 2024 there were 16 preventable deaths involving TfL buses - the highest number since 2009, Boris Johnson's first year as Mayor, despite bus journeys in London declining 17% over that period.

In 2017, as part of Vision Zero, Sadiq Khan announced that no one would be killed on or by a London bus by 2030. He has only been on track during the pandemic years, when London's buses ran reduced services. On current trend he will fail by a country mile.

Why does this matter today, and what can you do?

First, London bus drivers are campaigning for TfL and the bus companies to adopt, promote and enshrine in contracts a 12-point Bus Drivers Bill of Rights. There should be nothing controversial about it - all are basic rights that any decent person would want drivers to have. I feel so strongly about this, I have marched with the drivers, alongside Unite the Union. Everyone should sign their petition here.

Secondly, as it stands, the "Better Buses Bill" that the government is pushing through Parliament right now, would extend the "institutionally unsafe" London bus franchise model across the country. If you worry about London's appalling bus driver working conditions and pressure to speed leading to the same safety outcomes nationwide, please write to your MP, demanding that safety be put at the heart of the Bus Services [No. 2] Bill. 

• Demand regular, timely, independently audited safety data across all bus services in the UK. 
• Demand a guarantee of decent working conditions for drivers: toilets, access to a confidential whistleblower service, and the rest of the Bus Driver Bill of Rights.
• Demand an independent investigator for bus crashes in the UK, as we have RAIB for rail crashes and the AAIB for aircraft crashes.

You can find your MP here.

—Michael Liebreich

Originally Posted by the author on LinkedIn (19 Feb 2025).  Published here with the author's permission. 

Michael Liebreich served on the Board of Transport for London (2012-18) and as the Chair of the Board's Safety, Sustainability and Human Resources Panel (2016-18).  

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The post All Eyes On Yellow: Donhou Bicycles Utility Bike appeared first on The Spoken.

1. London accounts for about one half of UK Bus Journeys and one quarter of the UK's Bus Fleet.

Source:  DfT 

2. TfL Buses are ten times more lethal than their presence on London's roads would predict; since 2014, 1 in 10 RTC Fatals and 1 in 10 Pedestrian Deaths in London have involved a TfL bus.

Sources:  Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly 

3. TfL's sole metric of bus contract performance is a time-based "Excess Waiting Time"/Headway calculation that independent benchmarking shows London—

• in the highest tercile of its 'world city' peers for Bus Punctuality and Profitability per Bus;
• in lowest tercile of its 'world city' peers for safety (collisions per km); 
• London has the least safe public bus system of any major European city.

Sources:  Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly; Imperial College

4. TfL has never conducted any analysis or safety risk assessment of its (a) Bus Franchise Model, (b) Bus Contract Financial Incentives or the (c) iBus System it uses to measure contract performance

Sources: Mayor of London, TfL; London Assembly 

5. Bus Driver Fatigue is a well-evidenced systemic problem, with the latest independent study showing 1 in 3 bus drivers reporting a near-miss due to fatigue and 1 in 6 Bus Drivers having fallen asleep at the wheel while driving a bus;

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly; Loughborough University 

6. Bus Collisions (2016-2023) - London averages of over 26,000 collisions annually (2023: over 28,000 - so, getting worse) from which — 

• about 1200 people are hospitalised per year
• 1 person is killed about every month (2024). 
• 80 to 100 people are sent to hospital per month from Preventable Bus Safety Incidents (80% Collisions, 20% Onboard Trips & Falls), 20 of these victims with serious and/or life-changing injuries;
• People killed and seriously injured from Bus Safety Incidents (80% Collisions, 20% Onboard Trips & Falls) are now higher than 2016 despite a) the total number of bus miles has fallen b) the total number of bus users has fallen (c) the total number of buses in London's contracted bus fleet has fallen (d) the total number of Bus Drivers has fallen (e) since 2016, the Mayor of London has announced 3 'world leading' Bus Safety Programmes and a Vision Zero Programme.

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

7. 25% of London Bus Routes don't have a toilet at 1 end for Bus Drivers.

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

8. TfL has agreed with Bus Operators and Unite the Union that Bus Drivers don't need a toilet on any route round trip that lasts up to 150 minutes - this was agreed without a single bit of data (i.e, Human Factors Study, HSE Risk Assessment).

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

9. TfL has evidence of (at least) 12 million (est.) Annual Bus Speeding incidents on file that it does not share with the Police; From January 2017 to January 2024, nearly half (44%) the Bus Collision Deaths occurred in 20mph (or less) zones.

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

10. Since January 2016, more than 1 pedestrian per month has been injured by a TfL Bus hitting them in a zebra or pelican crossing.

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

11. Since 1 April 2015, an average of 6 people per month (2022-23: 8 per month- getting worse) have been injured after being struck by a Bus Wing Mirror. 

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

12. TfL received the highest Health & Safety Fine ever in July 2023 for HSE Failures on the Croydon Tram, a contracted surface transport operation that was founded, managed and monitored by TfL's Bus Executives.

Sources: Department of Justice; Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly; Press Reports

13. While Sadiq Khan has been Mayor, 16 Pedestrians have been killed or seriously injured while in Traffic "Refuges";

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

14. TfL does not report Law-Breaking by Bus Drivers to the Metropolitan Police for, inter alia—

• Running Red Lights
• Speeding

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly

15. TfL Bus Drivers had the highest rate of death (per 100 thousand) from Covid-19 for any UK Profession (that includes Doctors, Nurses and Healthcare workers)—

• Over Two-Thirds of the TfL Bus Drivers who died from Covid-19 did so after the first Lockdown;
• TfL data shows Bus Drivers were still dying from Covid-19 through 2022, after which it stopped collecting this information; 
• TfL has never requested any of its Bus Operators to provide a Covid-19 Garage Risk Assessment.

Sources: Mayor of London; TfL; London Assembly; University College London

Notes to Sources:

1. Analysis of published DfT Data— 

In March 2023, 30,154 buses were operated by local bus services in England, with 8,788 of them in London

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2023/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2023

 

2.  Analysis Data Extracted from TfL's "Casualties in London" Reports; DfT Annual Bus Statistics; TfL "Travel in London" Reports; London Assembly Investigations; Mayor's Questions

"Buses contracted to Transport for London (TfL) constitute approximately 2% of total motorized road traffic in Greater London. This includes all buses, not just TfL-contracted ones, but TfL buses dominate the category."

 

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-07-what-are-the-trends-and-patterns-of-bus-and-coach-traffic.pdf?t&utm_source=perplexity

 

"The percentage of TfL buses in total traffic has seen fluctuations over the years. In 2019/20, buses constituted about 1.2% of motorized road traffic in Greater London. This percentage dropped significantly during the pandemic in 2020/21 to 0.4%, reflecting reduced public transport usage. By 2022/23, the percentage had rebounded to around 1.5%. This indicates a recovery trend but still not reaching pre-pandemic levels."

 

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/travel-in-london-2023-trends-in-public-transport-demand-and-operational-performance-acc.pdf?t&utm_source=perplexity

London Assembly: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s110115/Appendix%201%20-%20Letter%20from%20Tom%20Kearney%20received%2015%20December%202023.pdf

3. Mayor's Questions, TfL's published Bus Performance Data, Internal Bus Operator Communications

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/refusal-benchmark-londons-safety-performance-world-city-peers

5 Year Data (2015-2019)

 

https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/sites/default/files/3828%20Refusal%20to%20Benchmark%20Londons%20safety%20performance%20attachment.pdf

4. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/vision-zero-tfls-bus-tendering-system-and-ksis-bus-safety-incidents

5.  http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-driver-fatigue-report.pdf 

6.  https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/bus-safety-data

7.  https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/lack-toilet-dignity-london-bus-drivers-name-borough-where-toilet-not-provided-end-bus-route

8. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/negligence-and-toilet-priority-classification-agreed-between-tfl-unite-union-and-its-bus-contractors

9. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/speed-compliance-tool-information-contained-recent-go-ahead-london-training-video; 

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/bus-collision-deaths-20mph-or-lower-zones-2016-q1-2024;

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/vision-zero-speed-compliance-tool-data-and-ksi-incidents

10. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/nimi-reports-and-tfl-bus-drivers-critically-injuring-pedestrians-zebra-crossings-1-january-2016-11

11. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/vision-zero-pedestrians-struck-bus-mirrors-1-january-2018-30-september-2023

12. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/R-v-TfL-270723.pdf

13. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/vision-zero-bus-collision-ksis-crossing-islands

14. https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/signal-passed-danger-spad-3; 

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/vision-zero-speed-compliance-tool-data-and-ksi-incidents

15. https://content.tfl.gov.uk/initial-assessment-of-london-bus-driver-mortality-from-covid-19.pdf;

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/number-bus-workers-who-died-covid-19-march-2020-november-2023;

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/update-employers-bus-workers-who-died-covid-19-march-2020-june-2023

Normally, I tack weld the entire frame assembly together, fit check it during some stage of that, then finish weld it (Including capping open tube ends) when there's nothing left to add. This time, some tubes had to be trimmed, capped, and finish welded before continuing on with the next operations. So off the bench it came, work was done, and, well, there it is,

The primary frame structure is done now - time to finish connecting the dots with some triangulation. According to the scale, this frame looks like it will weigh just over half of the last one. The suspension is already done - still have to make the steering system before I have a finished roller. I have no idea when I'll reach that milestone, but it is that much closer to getting there.

 Hanging from my ceiling over my desk, for many years, was my first 2WS/2WD experimental electric recumbent bike. While staring at it, I wondered why a video wasn't produced as soon as it was done. Then it hit me: It was built and ridden about 3 years before YouTube was launched! It was designed and built almost a quarter century ago! It also hadn't been ridden in 8 years - time to take it down, dust it off, and give it a fresh set of tires and batteries! The paint exhibits some wear and tear, but, well, so do I:

 The 2WS/2WD system for the next racer is assembled and on the bench! 

 When the decision was made to build the last racer, the first 3 thoughts went through my head:

1. This is going to be a lot of work.
2. This should be a lot of fun when it is done.
3. This is going to generate a lot of stupid comments.
   

1. Low CG motorcycles are hard to balance - ever try balancing a short broom?
2. That's just a copy of the Gurney Alligator!
3. You'll die if you crash or run into something!
4. All those ball joints and rods kill steering feel!
5. The rider can't see where he's going on the track!
   
6. Can't properly stand on the pegs whilst riding over bumps!
7. KANEDA!

 The racer has spent almost 3 years in the workshop, welcoming me every time I walk in the door. While it still is an unusually amusing sight, it isn't doing me a whole lot of good. The original plan of parking it in our living room seemed like an increasingly bad idea - a split level mid-century house, oddly enough, isn't optimized for motorsports displays. So, what about loaning it to a museum, so others can marvel/point and laugh at it? Why not? So a call was made to a Big Motorcycle Museum in Alabama - the word "Loan" didn't get finished before the other end of the line snapped back a snotty "We only accept donations - on OUR terms - NO LOANED MOTORCYCLES!". Oh, really: Not at my current net worth.

So the next call went out to the nearby St. Francis Motorcycle Museum. I asked if they were interested in displaying an experimental homebuilt roadracer. They said they would be interested if it is something different - is it . . . different?

Last night, the racer was loaded up in the van and rolled into their front door this morning. Would the spot between the ELR and unmolested R90/6 be OK? Oh, yes. 

1. This is going to be a lot of work.
2. This should be a lot of fun when it is done.
3. This is going to generate a lot of stupid comments.
   

1. Low CG motorcycles are hard to balance - ever try balancing a short broom?
2. That's just a copy of the Gurney Alligator!
3. You'll die if you crash or run into something!
4. The rider can't see where he's going on the track!!!!!

One of the big challenges for the next racer was building an engine with my own crankcases. The built and fully developed engine was expected to weight under a 100 lbs and produce over a 100 hp. The initial engine build is the relatively quick, cheap, and easy part - the development is where time, money, and work can be challenging. All of that isn't entirely necessary any more - the recent KTM 890 engine fills the design requirements reasonably well. A KTM Duke 890 has just rolled in the shop, and a lot of the previous donor engines and parts have been sold to help pay for some of it. This project was about a year behind schedule - this moves things forward quite a bit! Absolutely no changes are required for the rest of the motorcycle. A 4-stroke twin provides greater opportunities for racing in clubs that accommodate real purpose-built race bikes. 

The 2-stroke engine design that I had in mind would still be a good project and would have made for a good story, but other than being a different way of doing the same thing, it wouldn't have done anything better than the above 890 engine. That said, while lap times and all that don't care about "The Story", the most intriguing racing motorcycles have at least one good Story behind them beyond the score chart. I don't believe that racing is strictly about the racer and not the motorcycle, otherwise we could just dispense with the expense of those unnecessary machines and just race without the burdening the racer with equipment: Running barefoot and naked! No, that's really not my idea of fun, either

Before tearing down the KTM, it'll require some break-in mileage. It is the first "Normal" motorcycle I've ridden since race school, early 2012. It seems like a shame to take apart a perfectly good bike (I really like the Duke 890 an awful lot!), but the next racer should make it all worth it!

You gotta hand it both partners in this collaboration: both State Bicycle Co. and The Grateful Dead have smashed it out of the Golden Gate Park with this smokin’ klunker and a psychedelic range of accessories.

Coincidentally, the collection dropped today: 4/20 also being a celebration of cannabis culture. Fun fact: one of the original Waldos was a roadie for the Dead’s bassist Phil Lesh.

Oh man, if we weren’t already hooked on klunker kulture, this one hits that high point of history when cycling’s counter-culture took to the hills.

The klunker is available in two guises: our favorite is featured here, emblazoned with Dead iconography, and a goddamn bottle opener on the seat tube.

There’s a beautiful black version too, decorated with the Dead’s ‘Dancing Bears’ icons, although don’t get us started on the accompanying apparel and accessories.

The list is long but, needless to say, our favorite is the 4/20 bar ends. And we’re a sucker for the tie-dyed jerseys. And saddles. And bar tape. Oh, man. This is one bike I’d like to take on a long, strange ride.

See more on the SBC website.

State Bicycle Co. | Instagram

The post Shake Down Street: State Bicycle Co & The Grateful Dead Klunker appeared first on The Spoken.

It finally happened: ENVE, our favorite composite component maker has announced the commencement of its own custom frame program — and while the name and livery might be one of the most uninspiring yet, the bare bones are looking beautiful.

The addition of the ‘Custom Road’ to the catalog was a logical next step for ENVE who, up till now, has stuck mainly to the production of wheelsets, forks, and finishing kits.

It’s made-in-the-USA with completely custom geometry from a versatile molding kit and will be available in Race (up to 25-31mm wide tires) and All Road (29-35mm) modes.

The integrated frame and finishing kit are what I'm most stoked about. It's an ethos that hearkens to the LOOK 795 and even further back to that of the French constructeurs.

Inside ENVE’s one-piece, SES AR Bar/Stem Combo is Chris King’s new AeroSet™ headset that allows the cabling to be routed straight down through the bars and frame.

A complete comes with SRAM Red or Force AXS, Shimano Dura-Ace or Ultegra Di2 and disc brake drivetrains only. Frame-only is also an option, as is a custom travel case.

Custom paint? Oh yes: four templates, two finishes, and thirty-eight colors. Pick one. I’d love one, but could I please have it in raw carbon so I can admire its construction?

Head to ENVE for more information and pricing:

ENVE | Instagram

The post Straight Up Layup: ENVE’s New Custom Road Program appeared first on The Spoken.

Not many would choose a fatbike as a first choice of vehicle to take on a long distance tour, but it depends on what type of terrain you intend to tackle. Marc traversed a good chunk of Europe to realize a fatbike was his ideal carriage.

Marc’s list of conquered countries include France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Iceland, Sri-Lanka, Morocco, Mauritania and half of Africa.

All of his travels had been aboard a touring bicycle, but a new cheap fat bike changed the game, awarding the ability to float over everything from fesh-fesh to deep snow.

He destroyed that cheap fat bike, but he was working as a mechanic and, subsequently, frame builder at a Parisian travel bike brand before accepting the same role at Victoire.

He’s been working at the Auvergne workshop for two years now, developing his dream bike that’s now a reality. It’s stout enough to handle Marc’s 120kg frame and 5″ tires.

Orange HOPE components flash like autumn leaves against the camouflage paint, which took thirty hours of sanding, priming, painting and clear-coating to apply.

Marc intends to ride the 2021 Grande Traversée du Massif Central à VTT aboard his new Victoire before returning to Iceland to ride from Akureyri to Reykjavik. But meanwhile he’s carousing around the Puy-de-Dôme region that surrounds the Victoire workshop.

Victoire Cycles | Instagram

The post L’automne Tourer: Marc’s Fall Fat Bike By Victoire Cycles appeared first on The Spoken.

It’s been two years since Cameron Falconer blew me away with the fat-tyred mini-velo dirt shredder he built for a Japanese customer. This new lemon sherbet cruiser again proves Falconer’s focus on fabricating insanely fun and functional bikes.

Cameron can build you a rock-solid roadie or a sure-footed back road tourer, but he also has a reputation as the go-to builder if you’re after something, well, a little different.

Travis of Paul Components contracted Cameron to build him a klunker-inspired mountain bike — the grandparent of the modern MTB — and there are others, too.

Building up freaky pedal-powered ensembles that break out of boxes is something Japan’s Blue Lug bike shop is also famous for, which they did with this new cruiser.

Like Travis’ Falconer, the components are almost all made in the USA. The headset, cranks and bash guard, freewheel and chain ring were made by White Industries.

Paul Components manufactured the Boxcar stem, hubs, brake levers, Klamper brakes and the Tall and Handsome seat post. Nitto made the handlebars.

My favorite detail is the 1990 Selle Italia Flite saddle — another complete juxtaposition to the overall perceived style of bike but, for some, it’s kinda the Holy Grail of saddles. Classy and iconoclastic, just how we like it.

Falconer Cycles | Instagram

The post Fast And Fizzy: Falconer Cruiser by Blue Lug appeared first on The Spoken.

It’s been a strange last few months but, if anything, they have proven that bicycles really are the best form of release from a locked-down lifestyle. This 650b+ Explorer from Dorset’s Sven Cycles is the ultimate escape plan — and it could be yours.

The Explorer is one model in Sven’s Semi-Bespoke range, developed by Darron and the team to carry you away from a world of nervous crowds, masks and sanitiser, offering the best form of social distancing possible.

The heart of the Explorer is a TIG welded Reynolds 921 stainless steel frame, dressed in matte green military paint with Paragon Rohloff dropouts. It’s fronted by a thru-axle Columbus unicrown fork with all the necessary mounts.

There’s a Rohloff Speedhub in the rear and a SON 28 Dynamo in the front, surrounded by stealthy WTB KOM Light rims, Sapim Race spokes and Schwalbe G-One rubber. Yes, that’s a custom matching X-Pac frame bag by Spoked UK.

There’s a HOPE headset up top with a Jones H-Bar and a black Brooks Cambium. A pair of TRP Spyke brakes haul everything up and the drivetrain consists of Middleburn cranks and chainrings.

Sven Cycles’ portfolio of previous work reveal a true passion for craft and innovation. The Explorer is a noble steed, like every bike manufactured by the Dorset workshop, one that epitomises the spirit of adventure and the desire to commune with the outdoors.

This one in particular was built for a customer but as a result of these ‘unprecedented’ times, it is now up for sale. With this spec it has a retail value of more than £6,000 but is being offered for a substantially lower amount — head to the website to find out more.

Sven Cycles Website | Facebook | Instagram

The post Life In The Green Lane: Sven 650b+ Explorer appeared first on The Spoken.

 According to the social media single track vehicle dynamics authorities (Do-Little Talk-a-Lots and Stale Cliché Curators, the lot of them), I'm doing everything wrong! They don't know what I'm doing, so clearly I must not know what I'm doing, either! Appeal of authority gets far more approval from the uninvolved!

Modern motorcycle design has evolved itself into a corner - they can't go accelerate or decelerate any harder without flipping, or corner any harder without running out of clearance. Any changes to one or more areas to improve one aspect will result in an overall loss of performance. Tires are optimized to accelerate or brake, not both, leading to cooling events. Suspension has to be optimized for load transfer extremes. All the above leads to both slow roll response and high polar inertia about the longitudinal axis. And that results in terrible aerodynamics. ALL of the above problems can be successfully addressed IF you discard the original configuration and derive a functionally superior configuration that isn't recognizable. 

Here are the old problems (And causes):

1. Stoppies (High CG, short WB) 
2. Wheelies (High CG, short WB) 
3. Lean angle limitations (Oversized rear tires)
4. Roll rate limitations (High CG)
5. Suspension sub-optimization (High CG, short WB) 
6. Tire sub-optimization (High CG, short WB)
7. Aerodynamic sub-optimization (High CG, short WB)

1. Long WB, low CG, linked brakes
2. Long WB, low CG, 2WD
3. 2WS, appropriate tire selection
4. 2WS, low CG
5. Long WB, low CG
6. 2WD, 2WS, linked brakes, long WB
7. Long WB, low CG 

 
Hello…is this thing on? It’s been quite a while, but some of you may still be subscribed to the old RSS feed (is that still a thing?). If you do somehow find this post, I want to let you know that I just started posting again on the @bicycledesign Instagram account. I plan to update Instagram primarily going forward, but the Twitter and Facebook accounts will remain active too (mainly just auto-posting from Instagram).

Who knows… I may even start occasionally posting on the blog again too. I am sure that it would take quite a bit of time to rebuild the community after three years away, but I really do miss it, so the effort might be worthwhile. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though. For now. I’ll just see how it goes resurfacing on social media. I hope that you will follow along… and maybe even contribute some of your ideas and designs.

After ten years of blogging at Bicycle Design, it's time for me to move on. This post may seem a bit like déjà vu to those of you who remember my "final" post from February of last year, but this time I really do need to shift my focus to other projects and goals.  I won't repeat everything that I said in that previous post, but I do want to reshare the first paragraph:

"It is hard to pinpoint the exact reason that I started this blog in 2005. I could say that it was to showcase the work of industrial designers in the bicycle industry, or to give students a place to share their bike related ideas and concepts, or maybe the idea was just to generate discussion and get people thinking about the potential of bicycles, and other types of human powered machines, to change the world for the better. Over time, I believe the blog has served all of those purposes, but when I quickly put together that first post over eight years ago  (over 10 now), I wasn't thinking any of those things. The fact is, this blog was something I started one day on a whim, and I never imagined that it would ever last so long… or reach so many people."

At its peak, Bicycle Design reached over 100,000 readers per month, and I am truly grateful for each of them (each of you I should say). Since 2005, I have connected with many wonderful people through my blog, including talented designers who share my passion for bikes and human powered transportation. Thank you to all who contributed designs, participated in discussions, or just followed along. In the decade that this blog has been a part of my life, I have made new friends and learned more than I could have ever imagined. It has been a great experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Though I have really enjoyed sharing other people's designs for the past 10 years, I am looking forward to making time for a few of my own art and design projects (outside of the work I get paid to do). I also want to refocus on local bike advocacy issues, something that I was heavily involved with in the past, but have not had much free time for lately.

Going forward, I will continue to blog occasionally at JCT.design (pay attention to the "Bikes/Active Transportation" category where I plan to share a few of those personal design projects that I mentioned earlier).  You can also connect with  me on Twitter, Instagram, and a few other places on the web at @jctdesign. I do plan to continue updating the Bicycle Design Facebook page when interesting bike designs catch my attention, so follow along there if you don't already. Finally, I will contribute to Core77 every once in a while, so keep an eye out for me on that site too.

If you haven't been reading Bicycle Design from the beginning (or even if you have), I encourage you to look back at the 10 years worth of archives from this blog. Recently, I shared the The top 25 posts from 10 years of Bicycle Design, and I would consider that post a good place to start. Beyond the ones that have been the most popular though, there are many other great designs to explore in the 900+ archived posts. If you have been reading Bicycle Design for a while, perhaps you can share one of your favorite older posts in the comments for others to check out.

Thanks again to all you who have contributed, commented, or just read along over the past 10 years. You are the reason that this blog was such a great experience for me, so I really do hope you will keep in touch. You know where to find me.

 
//

By now, anyone reading this has likely seen the recent redesign of the Specialized Venge aero road bike. In the development of the new Venge, Specialized engineers used Altair's HyperWorks software suite "to analyze and improve the aerodynamic performance of the bike as well as optimize the weight and structural efficiency of the frame." Chris Yu, Aerodynamics & Racing R&D Lead at Specialized Bicycle Components, talks a bit about the design process in an interesting  video on the Altair website.  To find out a bit more, I asked Mike Barton, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) application specialist at Altair, a few questions:

Before we get into the Specialized Venge project, can you give me a brief over view of Altair and the type of work that you do?

Founded in 1985, Altair is a software engineering and consulting company headquartered in Troy, Mich. After three decades, Altair has grown into a global company specializing in optimization and simulation technology with more than 2,600 employees and 5,000 clients. Altair's software is used by a diverse set of industries, from auto, consumer goods, aero, ship design and rail to heavy machinery. The company uses its expertise and extensive work in various commercial and industrial sectors to help designers and product developers in a wide range of unique industries, including bicycle design, golf club design, and other sporting equipment such as shoes.

 The company is best known for HyperWorks, its suite of computer aided engineering programs that helps engineers simulate and optimize designs for light weighting; noise, vibration and harshness; durability; crash and safety and more.

In addition, via its Partner Alliance, Altair provides customers with access to more than 35 additional software products to help designers and engineers develop and optimize their designs and products.

In addition to developing the Fluid Dynamics software that was used to optimize the aerodynamics of the new Venge, did Altair work directly with the industrial designers and engineers at Specialized throughout the design and development of the bike? Tell us a little about the process.

Specialized has been working with Altair for approximately three years to streamline its internal processes.

In the video on Altair's website, Specialized Aerodynamicist Chris Yu mentions that the CFD software allowed them to run problems quickly without perfect CAD, and that those virtual tests of frame shapes saved a lot of time and money over building multiple prototypes for wind tunnel testing. Once the first physical prototypes were tested though, how consistent was the real world data with the results from the software?

We did not receive verification metrics from Specialized regarding the accuracy of their simulations compared to wind tunnel estimates. However, Altair Engineering has conducted similar studies related to bicycle wheel performance with works published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA 2009, 2010 and 2011). The following publication details the CFD analysis of several bicycle wheels for a range of speeds and yaw angles compared to wind tunnel measurements. The analysis demonstrates good comparisons of the CFD simulation to that of the experimental data and also demonstrates unique flow attributes that were not captured during the wind tunnel testing.  

A Comparative Aerodynamic Study of Commercial Bicycle Wheels using CFD

An Aerodynamic Study of Bicycle Wheel Performance Using CFD

A bicycle (even a pro-level racing bike) is slow compared to an airplane or F1 car. How does the lower range of speed for intended use affect the way that you optimize the aerodynamics of the frame?

Although the speeds at which a professional bicycle rider performs are considerably lower compared to an aircraft or automobile, the aerodynamic effects are still very much present.

Consider that the typical drag coefficient (a non-dimensional quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment) of a professional cyclist crouched on top of a moving bicycle ranges between 0.7 and 0.9. Assuming that the bicycle is highly efficient and the rider is aerodynamically streamlined, let's estimate the Cd to be 0.83 and his/her frontal area to be 3.2ft2. If we consider that the rider is traveling at 20mph he/she feels approximately 3.27 pounds force from the aerodynamic loading acting to slow him/her down. In comparison, a typical touring bicycle and upright rider with a Cd of 1.0 and a frontal area of 4.3 ft2 feels approximately 4.4 pounds force at 20 mph[i].

Based on the aerodynamic effects and accounting for minor differences in rolling resistance, the touring rider must put in approximately 27 percent more horsepower to keep pace with the professional rider and bicycle.  Contrast that with a highly efficient automobile, like the Toyota Prius that typically has a Cd of less than 0.25 and a frontal area of 23.4 ft2[ii]. At the rider's speed of 20mph, the aerodynamic drag force is approximately 5.98 pounds force. Although the scales at which vehicles travel are considerably different, they are all influenced by the fluid they move through and this must be taken into account when designing for efficiency and speed.

What about the effect of the rider on the aerodynamics? Did the CFD software factor in the messy aerodynamics of a moving cyclist, or were just the aerodynamics of the bicycle considered.

The primary focus of the CFD conducted by Specialized was related to frame design. The design and simulation did not include effects of the rider, but this is possible with Altair HyperWorks AcuSolve.

Altair has developed a proof of concept simulation to demonstrate the lower torso and legs of a manikin pedaling. This analysis was conducted with the use of two Altair applications within a single simulation. The "Co-Simulation" combines the aerodynamic analysis of AcuSolve CFD with the multi-body systems analysis tool MotionSolve. This unique combination of tools allows engineers to analyze arbitrary rigid body motion and the effects of that motion on the surrounding air.

From the proof of concept simulation, Altair has determined that the air movement in the wake of the rider's legs and the bicycle's pedals significantly affects the aerodynamic loading on the rear triangle and rear wheel of the bicycle. The simulation demonstrates that the air flow in this wake is highly transient and pulses with a frequency higher than that of the cyclist's cadence. As each pulse of air collides with the frame and rear wheel a force acts to slow the rider down and may cause minor instabilities depending on the oncoming wind and direction of travel. Although somewhat minute, these forces can accumulate and will have an effect on the performance of the bicycle as it moves with the rider.

In addition to aerodynamic concerns, Chris Yu mentioned the importance of maintain structural targets while minimizing weight (to the UCI limit).  Can you talk about the structural "ply by ply" analysis of the carbon and explain its relationship to the fluid optimization work?  Were these completely separate problems to address, or were they analyzed and optimized together?

These were analyzed and optimized together.

What else was interesting about this project compared to the work that you typically do? 

One of the more interesting aspects Altair contributed to for the work at Specialized was the use of out-of-the-box tools for advanced aerodynamic design. Specialized made use of the Altair HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel to design the Venge frame. This tool gives typical design engineers the power to perform CFD simulation with little or no experience with fluid dynamics. This is in contrast with other CFD tools that require significant knowledge related to fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, and computer science.

The Virtual Wind Tunnel allows engineers to directly import CAD into the simulation environment, apply simply boundary conditions to the tunnel walls and part, define the flow conditions and run the simulation on a modest workstation. The results are reported automatically or can be custom formatted to meet specifications desired by the design team. The overall process in Virtual Wind Tunnel has been developed and tuned for engineers to use as a part of the entire design cycle. The aim is to give engineers the tools needed to create many more design iterations with less time spent on traditional prototyping and testing.

Footnotes:

Bicycling Science

MIT Press, 1982 (2nd edn), 377 pages

ISBN 0262731541, 9780262731546

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For his final project in Mechanical Engineering at the Danish Technical University, Israeli born Danish citizen Kuba Szankowski designed a velomobile based on the classic Leitra design. He worked closely on the project with Carl Georg Rasmussen of Leitra, who "at eighty years young still builds and maintains all the velomobiles, as well as most any other aspect of the business himself."  Prior to earning his degree, Kuba had worked as a bicycle mechanic and as an advocate for bicycle transportation in Jerusalem, so he wanted to build on those experiences and create a design that would introduce human powered transportation to a wider audience.

He explains the idea behind his redesign of the Leitra:

"My main intent was to develop a bicycle fit for my mother (this is actually what I described in my exam, oddly enough)- a bicycle which cannot fall, with electrical assistance, which encapsulates the rider and protects by being visible and high above the ground. This, along with my own perspective of the ways with which the Leitra velomobile could be improved; these being the lack of ergonomic adjustability, its lack of customization for shared usage in a household and others brought me to my design.

I describe a bent aluminium chassis with a platform for a battery pack or other electrical components. The Leitra seat- a 900-gram fiber composite, originally designed by Carl G. by imprinting his bottom in the snow, was 3D scanned. The resulting file was used to develop the two seating positions, along with an adjustable crank mast.

Front view of seat upright and reclined

 
The vehicle is equipped with 24-inch wheels and a unique (to my knowledge) suspension system, which is a hybrid gas damper/ leaf spring. This is in comparison to the existing Leitra suspension, which is also unique (and field-tested!) double cantilever leaf spring, with about two cm displacement. What the existing suspension lacks is a dampening mechanism.

My analysis consisted mostly of Finite element modelling of the existing leaf spring and chassis. By having two models (the existing frame vs. the redesign), I was able to achieve what I called "independence from model discretisation". The viability of all this is of course subject for debate, and I welcome to share my findings with anyone interested.

In terms of this vehicle as a solution to the "blue ocean" problem, I envision three categories resulting; these are: the base tricycle, with no electrical assistance; a pedalec ("E-bike") class tricycle and an electrical vehicle capable of higher speeds (up to 45 km/h).

Kuba mentioned that he was interested to read the recent post by Karl Sparenberg of Windcheetah, whom he had the opportunity to meet, along with Mike Burrows, at the latest SPEZI festival. "I was happy to see a fellow engineer picking up the work of the masters and advancing it. I wish to find new audience for the Leitra, and bring these weird machines closer to my homeland and the world." Kuba will be presenting his design on October 30th at the 2015 Velomobile Seminar in Austria, so hopefully that will be the first step in making his design a reality.  I am looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

 



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I can hardly believe that it's been a full decade since I started this blog by posting one of my old marker renderings.  Though I started with a few of my own sketches, what really kept me interested in blogging were the design submissions from others that I began to receive in those first few months. Over the past 10 years, readers have shared some great designs with the community here, so I want to take the opportunity to look back on this 10th anniversary of Bicycle Design and share a few of the top posts (Sunday was the actual anniversary, but close enough).

Because Bicycle Design was hosted on Blogger at bicycledesign.blogspot.com for the first 4 ½ years, very few posts prior to the February 2010 move are included in the Google Analytics data. As a result,  this list heavily skewed toward the last 5 years, but with that caveat in mind, here are the top 25 Bicycle Design posts ranked by total pageviews:

1. The Smart ebike by Hussein Al-Attar

2. Shimano Alfine 11-speed
 

3. The design of SRAM Red 2012
 

4. Drymer: a Dutch electric assist trike
 

5. Mando Footloose: a chainless hybrid e-bike
 

6. Wooden bike by Yojiro Oshima
 

7. SR Suntour Swing Shock
 

8. Is TJ Tollakson the Graeme Obree of triathlon?
 

9. Trimtab 3×3 recumbent trike
 

10. Urban Arrow- an electric assist bakfiets design
 

11. Specialized Turbo e-bike
 

12. Rael road bike concept 2.0
 

13. E-bikes from Lexus and VW
 

14. Diesel/ Pinarello urban bike
 

15. Batavus BUB review
 

16. Organic Transit ELF
 

17. I must like harebrained ideas
 

18. Trek Sasquatch and Sand Crawler Cruisers
 

19. Fast Forward powered pedals
 

20. A 6-pound road bike
 

21. City Cycle- a pedal-powered pub
 

22. Specialized McLaren Venge
 

23. Forzer off-road handcycle by Marius Hjelmervik
 

24. A hubless wheel from the past: The Black Hole
 

25. Mechanical doping and the future of e-bikes

As I mentioned, there were quite a few posts that were popular from 2005 to 2009 that didn't make this list. The early guest posts by Mark Sanders and Michael Downes were quite popular (as was my feature post about Michael in 2006).  Posts about the Cannondale Jackknife concept bike (2006) and the JANO dual bike (2007) were among the first to be picked up by large blogs like TreeHugger and Gizmodo to really cause a spike in pageviews at Bicycle design.  Joules, the electric stoker was another post that spread around the web and drove a lot of traffic back to this blog. The most viewed posts by far prior to the 2010 switch to WordPress were those from the 2008/09 "Commuter Bike for the Masses" Design Competition that I staged here at the old blogspot site.  You can see the six finalists and the winner from that competition here.
 

Strida folding bike design by Mark Sanders

Looking back, it really has been a great ten years. Thanks to those of you who have been reading since the beginning…and to those of you who just started.

 
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It's that time of year again. Bike show season kicked off on Wednesday with the opening of Eurobike 2015 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. One of the big stories from the show this year seems to wireless electronic shifting.  SRAM's new RED eTap system is getting a lot of positive press, and FSA is showing a prototype wireless group at the show as well.  Wireless shifting has the potential to have a big impact on the design of racing/sport oriented bikes, but I'll save that discussion for another post.

Today, I want to share three interesting bikes that caught my attention as I have been browsing online galleries and following the #eurobike hashtag on Twitter the last few days.  First is the Tern Cargo node.  The folding bike company teamed up with Xtraccyle to create a longtail version of the Node that will retail for about $1800. Tern calls it, "a game changer if you live in a city or just want more portability from your cargo bike." They designed the bike to fit in an elevator, so you can easily take it up to a high-rise apartment or office. The option to fold is also a plus for transit riders, as it can be done with a load of cargo on the rear rack.

Shannon Evans of Xtracycle and Josh Hon of Tern on the Cargo Node. Photo credit: BikeBiz.com

German company Altinsoy Manufaktur is showing the  Bees Bike, a very unique modular mountain bike with a belt drive and internal gearbox. According to a recent GizMag post:

 "The bike adjusts around the rider through an integrated system of bolts and mounts. In this way, the bike can adjust to better fit your body and riding style. Of most interest is the stabilizer bar that can be swapped in for the DT Swiss rear shock, creating a fully metal hardtail in place of a springy pivoting rear triangle."

I am not sure about that feature (why not just lock out the rear shock?), but I do think the frame is interesting and I like the way the gearbox is integrated. If this is a first bike design from Altinsoy, I am looking forward to seeing its evolution.

Altinsoy Manufaktur’s Bees Bike at Eurobike. Photo credit: GizMag.com

The final bike I want to mention isn't really a bike at all.  The ICE Full Fat 26FS is a recumbent fat trike that evolved from the custom trike ICE built for a ride across Antarctica to the South Pole in December 2013. The full suspension trike is built for expeditions with oversized 26 inch rims and 4.7" (front), 4.8" (rear) tires. It features a Rohloff XL 14-speed hub based drivetrain, and a 4130 chromoly frame that can be folded for easier transport to the trailhead. This is definitely not a mainstream machine, but based on the number of photos on Twitter and Instagram, it does seem to be a crowd favorite at the show.

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