I am reliably informed that Transport for London undertook a comprehensive review of all the bus routes - 52, 187, 28, 452, 302, 6 and 316 serving Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10. I understand a number of factors were considered: 1) Passenger trips along this road 2) Bus frequencies for each route 3) Alternative route options From this review, a decision was made to curtail the number of services for route 52; this done on the basis that passenger demand for this route along Chamberlayne had declined. Grateful if you could provide me with the following information: 1) The full written copy of this review along with the passenger demand data relied on to inform the decisions made in respect of the 7 Chamberlayne Routes; 2) All written emails, minutes, and documents relating to the decision to reduce services on route 52 and not the other chronically underutilised routes - 452 and 28; 3) Loading profiles for each bus along and for each of the seven Chamberlayne bus routes. I want to understand the average passenger loads at each stop along each bus route - where passenger demand really occurs. Please can you provide me with the loadings data for the following Chamberlayne Routes - 52, 6, 452, 28, 187 and 302 - and these should be based on the same "typical week in April 2018" that was used to assess the review undertaken for route 52, and should also be based on keypoint data from 2017 and 2018.

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TfL Ref: FOI-0292-1920

Thank you for your emails received on 26 April and 12 May asking for information about bus routes on Chamberlayne Road.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

1) The full written copy of this review along with the passenger demand data relied on to inform the decisions made in respect of the 7 Chamberlayne Routes;

2) All written emails, minutes, and documents relating to the decision to reduce services on route 52 and not the other chronically underutilised routes - 452 and 28;

3) Loading profiles for each bus along and for each of the seven Chamberlayne bus routes. I want to understand the average passenger loads at each stop along each bus route - where passenger demand really occurs.

There has not been a recent comprehensive review of bus routes 52, 187, 28, 452, 302, 6 and 316 serving Chamberlayne Road. The changes to route 52 were part of a retendering exercise which focussed on route 52 (and included route 452 due to the long parallels it shares).

Route 52 was revised as part of a tendering programme - tranche 664 and the frequency reduction was approved in late September 2018. Therefore the information we have provided in response to your email relates to this tranche only, specifically route 52. Please also note the loading profile data does not exist as a review was not undertaken of routes 52, 6, 452, 28, 187 and 302.

The only loading data we hold are in the attached single files which were used to assess capacity on routes 52 and 452, which is also summarised in the BSM paper which we are providing. No other loading profile type data was used.

Please find the attached emails, bus services meeting (BSM) paper and minutes relating to the reduced service on bus route 52. However, we are not obliged to provide you with the operator’s financial information, as it’s subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2). In this instance the section 43(2) exemption has been applied as disclosure would be likely to prejudice ours and the operator’s commercial interests. Bus routes come up for regular retendering and releasing this information could jeopardise TfL’s ability in obtaining the most competitive rates possible.

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, particularly where the expenditure of public money is concerned, but in this instance the public interest in ensuring that we are able to obtain the best value for public money outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of our processes.

Furthermore, in accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.

This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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