Floating bus stops prevent old, blind and disabled people using public transport, Sadiq Khan's TfL says - but refuses to scrap them

Transport for London (TfL) has admitted island bus stops which direct cyclists between buses and pedestrians are scaring vulnerable passengers out of using public transport.Lord Sadiq Khan's transport body previously insisted in reports that the islands, known as floating bus stops or bus stop bypasses (BSBs), were not preventing the elderly or disabled from travelling as normal.As of 2024, London is home to at least 164 of them. They put a cycle lane between the bus stop and the pavement so cyclists can circumvent buses as they come to a halt. But charities and campaigners for blind and disabled people claim they are too dangerous for the vulnerable to use, because cyclists ignore the zebra crossings that are meant to help people cross to the stop.TfL has twice been forced to withdraw versions of reports that defended their use after leaving out crucial information to the contrary, including incidents where people were mown down by bikes and e-scooters as they tried to catch a bus.The new report, published today, acknowledges the number of older and disabled passengers has fallen by up to three percent at floating bus stops.But it has infuriated campaigners after it claimed that this was 'not statistically significant' enough to justify any action. Video footage shot by the National Federation of the Blind UK shows close shaves between pedestrians and cyclists at a number of floating bus stops Sadiq Khan and London's cycling commissioner Will Norman on TfL hire bicycles. Both have overseen an aggressive rollout of floating bus stops in London Sarah Gayton, of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) UK, told the Daily Mail that TfL, and the Mayor, are continuing to 'ride roughshod' over legitimate concerns.She said: 'I'm so angry about this. Saying that blind and partially sighted people are statistically insignificant - what planet is the Mayor on?'Transport for London's slogan is "Every Journey Matters". Not if you're blind or partially sighted, it doesn't.'For years, Ms Gayton has filmed cyclists riding through the zebra crossings at floating bus stops as pedestrians wait to cross, some blasting through ringing their bell while ignoring their legal obligation to stop.In some cases, she captures worse: in October 2024 she published a video of a young cyclist on a Lime bike running down a small child as he ran across the lane to catch a bus, just in front of the zebra crossing. It later emerged the e-bike had been illegally activated without an account - so the cyclist was never traced.Her campaigning was recognised at last week's Highway Champion awards, held at London's InterContinental London Park Lane, where she was presented with a medal by broadcaster Vernon Kay.She insisted that she was joined on stage by some of those she is fighting to protect, among them trustees and campaigners from NFB UK.'The people on stage with me - Yemi, Andrew, Karl, Hyacinth, Sarah and Nellie - are not statistically insignificant,' Ms Gayton added added.'They are not a tick box exercise and they cannot be ignored and excluded with fancy reports and research all designed to ignore them.'It comes just days after the London Assembly and transport watchdog London TravelWatch called for TfL to pause on any new stops - pleas that appear to have fallen on deaf ears. More than 290 organisations representing vulnerable people also demanded their removal in a letter to the Prime Minister last month.The Government has paused the rollout of Shared Use Bus Boarders (SUBBs) - another type of floating bus stop that puts the cycle lane between the shelter and the road - while still encouraging councils to press ahead with BSBs.But campaigners have been warning of the risks posed by the stops for years.Vincent Stops, a former policy officer for London TravelWatch, told the Mail: 'The report was riddled with errors and constructed in a fashion to undermine the case of blind people. 'The issue is not the safety of sighted people who occasionally were hit - but the fears of blind people to the degree they won't use the stop.'Ms Gaynton added: 'It's disgraceful. I want him [Lord Khan] to stand down because of this. The way these have been rolled out hasn't been done in an inclusive way. 'They've had to revise this report three times already. I really do think we'll get a fourth.'And official figures show that elderly people make far more journeys by bus in London than on the Underground.In 2025, people in their 60s made more than twice as many journeys by bus compared to the Tube, and those 70 and above caught the bus four times for each Underground trip.TfL maintains that the risk of pedestrians being hurt at floating bus stops remains 'very low', and that incidents at them account for less than one percent of all pedestrian casualties involving a cyclist between 2020 and 2023.However, critics have pointed out a substantial amount of this data was sourced during the Covid pandemic, when fewer people were using public transport.Will Norman, London's walking and cycling commissioner, said: 'The Mayor and I remain committed to enabling safe and sustainable travel across the capital for everyone. 'It’s encouraging to see data confirming that the risk of bus stop bypasses to pedestrians is extremely low, but also that TfL remains committed to making this infrastructure work for everyone.'