More than half of London boroughs have failed to meet Transport for London’s target for on-time Dial-a-Ride trips.
The data, provided by TfL, revealed that 19 boroughs fell short of the 90% on-time target set for Dial-a-Ride, a free door-to-door bus service aimed at those who may not have the capacity to use public transport.
Barnet was the worst-performing borough between July and August, where 17% of all rides were considered ‘late’, a measure that TfL defines as arriving later than 15 minutes either side of a set pick-up time.
TfL’s data further revealed an 87% on-time average across all 33 boroughs, meaning that of the 550,000 trips made this year to date, at least 71,500 of them were more than half of an hour late.
James Mead, head of Dial-a-Ride, said: “What we’re finding is that we’re doing quite well on the drop-off. So we’re getting customers to where they need to go on time, but we’re not quite as good at picking them up to start the journey.
“We’re always trying to review that regularly, but it’s clearly one of the things that we want to keep working on and keep refining.”
Yet, for some, the changes can’t come quickly enough.
The service is an essential lifeline for not only the elderly, but also those with physical disabilities and mobility issues, and delays have ultimately created a knock-on impact on the social aspects of their lives.
John McGreachy, Campaigns Manager at Age UK London, works closely with a number of Dial-a-Ride users and believes the issue lies with capacity, where a lack of drivers, buses, and staff have all contributed to inefficiencies in the service.
He said: “I always say with dial-a-ride, it’s a really good service because it can make a huge difference to people’s lives and it’s free, but when it goes wrong, it can have a really big impact on people.”
Following Age UK’s Dial-a-Ride campaign and report in 2022, ‘From door to more’, TFL claims to have recruited additional drivers to ease pressure on the service, as well as a new booking system.
However, not all changes have led to an immediate positive impact on performance.
The implementation of the Dial-a-Ride app a year and a half ago suffered a number of teething problems and glitches in its opening months, leading to users not being able to make advanced journey bookings, and created a further complication for those not technologically savvy.
McGreachy said: “They introduced the new app about two months before Christmas, and it led to lots of issues with the booking system.
“People were not able to get through to dementia services, lunch clubs, and social activities because they were left waiting on the street for Dial-a-Ride.”
Improvements have since been made, and with 29% of all bookings in the capital made through the app, Mead paints an enthusiastic picture of progress alongside an uptick in performance.
Yet, McGreachy believes there are still issues.
He said: “It’s really hard to know the exact picture, but there does seem to be a disconnect between people’s on-the-ground real-life experiences and TFL’s data.”
This disconnect, revealed in instances where Age UK volunteers had been left waiting with someone for hours after an event had finished as a result of a bus failing to show up or a mix-up with scheduling, points to wider problems in the scheme, McGreachy said.
He added: “It also has an impact on organisations providing services. Because if you’re hosting a dementia class, or chair exercises, or Zumba, and you’ve got everyone there for three o’clock, and then half the people don’t turn up, there are wasted resources that go into that.”
For some, being dependent on an increasingly unreliable service has meant finding ways to “work” the system, as one user, Roopal, described it.
Following a stroke in 2013, Roopal’s mobility issues mean she relies on the service daily to go to the gym and socialise.
Based in Redbridge, a borough with the highest number of completed trips in 2025 and the second highest number of cancellations, her frustrations lie with the lack of drivers and scheduling.
She said: “Without Dial-a-Ride I would not be the person I am today. I wouldn’t be able to be independent or go to places, but that doesn’t mean that the service is running efficiently.
“If I know I need to be somewhere at one o’clock, I wouldn’t say I need to be there at one o’clock, I’d say I need to be there at 1:45 because I know Dial-a-Ride would get me there late.”
Although she acknowledges the role traffic may play in drivers being late, she believes that the schedules should be designed in a way that takes into account the busiest sections of the road at peak times and avoid them where possible.
Roopa added: “The scheduling doesn’t make sense. And that’s because of the new technology, I think, which is why I’d say it’s become worse.
“When I first used them, schedules were paper sheets so drivers could see who they had, and they could use their own initiative to take the quickest routes. Now they can’t use their own initiative. It’s all on the computer.”
There have also been a number of times where a trip has been rescheduled on the app without her prior knowledge or say-so.
These ‘reschedulings’ have differed by up to two hours from the time she originally booked for and have led to missed appointments and gym classes.
She said: “I do get frustrated thinking, why have they just changed it without me knowing? That means according to your records, it’s going to look like the driver’s coming on time, but you’ve just changed the time.
“They’ve not only done this to me, they’ve done this to other customers as well. They just change it on the system.”
Azfal, a Dial-a-Ride user of four years, agrees.
He said: “There are times when I’ve looked at my time on the app and thought, am I going crazy? It makes you think twice.”
In response to this, Mead believes this may be a technical issue with the app, as in theory, rescheduled customers should always be notified if their booking has been changed.
Another area of concern for Azfal remains refused trips.
This means that trips may be requested and put on standby, but are eventually refused for a number of reasons, usually due to a lack of drivers.
At a current rate of 8% refusals this year, Azfal believes his location, just 15 minutes away from the nearest bus depot in Redbridge, is the reason why less than half of his requested trips are accepted.
“I think that’s unfair because I think everyone should get a certain amount of rides if available,” he said.
This is what Roopal also wishes to make clear. Although she is grateful to the service for providing a means to be independent and to socialise, she wishes the service ran with a bit more consistency.
“When services are late, take into account that disabled people also want to get to places on time. They have a life too. They want to do things as well. Just give them that same kind of priority,” she said.
Featured image credit: Alessio Ferretti on Unsplash.
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