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Westminster Abbey. London. UK April 18, 2020.Originally from Cote d'Ivoire, where he was a bus driver from 1988-2000. He has been driving buses in London since 2005. He says it's been very difficult to go to work but he needs to earn a living for his family and he also sends money to his mother. While I spoke to him on the phone he got a call from his son, anxious that he was OK. He carries all his own protective gear- gloves and masks and he is using a scarf he bought for the winter months now as protection. He understands that they will be starting to board passengers from the back only, but some only have front doors. He hasn't experienced being treated as an essential worker, he was told he couldn't avoid the queues to get into food stores like Aldi/Lidl/Sainsbury's/Tesco, Co-Op like NHS workers and the police can- but the drivers also have limited time to shop after a long day at work...General Intro Text:.There were 2.2 billion journeys on London's buses in the year to March 2019, far more than the 1.37 billion in the same period on the London Underground. Although service frequencies have been substantially cut during the pandemic, London's bus network still reaches further than other modes of public transport into the peripheral estates that house many critical workers. ..Yet drivers faced management's reluctance to make changes in dealing with the dangers posed to drivers by the virus. Up until late April, passengers were still boarding via the front doors, and tapping their Oyster cards ( transport payment cards) on electronic readers close to the driver...Some drivers started unilaterally blocking off the front few seats by their cabs and telling passengers to enter by the exit doors in the middle of the vehicle. In response, a manager at Arriva – one of the private companies that owns and operates the buses on contract to Transport for London (TfL) – warned drivers they could face disciplinary action over such steps, although the company later apologis (KEYSTONE/VII Photo/Seamus Murphy)