TfL Ref: 0239-1920

Thank you for your email received by us on 23 April 2019 asking for information about the number of ticket inspections undertaken on each London Buses route and how many penalty fares were issued accordingly from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. You asked for the following:

For the period of between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 i would like to know how many ticket inspections were carried out on each TFL bus routes and how many penalty fares were issued on each TFL bus routes.

For example:

• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many ticket inspections were carried out on route number 1?
• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many penalty fares were issued on route number 1?

• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many ticket inspections were carried out on route number 2?
• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many penalty fares were issued on route number 2?

• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many ticket inspections were carried out on route number 3?
• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many penalty fares were issued on route number 3?

• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many ticket inspections were carried out on route number 4?
• Between 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018 how many penalty fares were issued on route number 4?

etc etc etc

And so on for each and every TFL bus route.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London