TfL Ref: 0358-1718

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 13 May 2017asking for information about the 251 bus route.

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

You asked for:

1. The average time between 251 buses on Monday-Friday.
2. The average time between 251 buses on Saturday.
3. The average time between 251 buses on Sundays.
4. The number of 251 buses which were late over the preceding week.
5. Whether or not funding for the 251 route has changed over the last 5 years.

Please find attached a spreadsheet containing the information you requested in your points 1-4.  We have provided the data for the latest finalised period which is 01/04/2017-28/04/2017.

Since the 251 service is a “High Frequency” route the buses are regulated to run at equal intervals i.e. maintaining a consistent “headway” between the vehicles.

The key performance indicators for High Frequency routes (incl. the 251) are SWT, AWT and EWT.

• SWT (Scheduled Waiting Time) is defined as the time customers would wait, on average, if the service ran exactly as scheduled during indicated period. This is equivalent to half the scheduled interval between buses.
• AWT (Actual Waiting Time) is defined as the time customers wait, on average,  during indicated period. This is equivalent of half the observed interval between buses.
• EWT (Excess Waiting Time) represents the amount of time that customers had to wait on excess of the time that they should expect to wait based on the schedule.

In addition to key performance indicators there is also secondary indicator, Chance of Waiting, which provides the percentage of chance of customers waiting longer than x minutes for a bus.

The attached document contains four tables:

• Mondays to Fridays (excl. Bank Holiday and Good Friday) performance by hour;
  
  
• Saturdays and Good Friday performance by hour;
  
  
• Sundays and Bank Holiday performance by hour;
  
  
• Performance by day.

SWT figures shown in the tables demonstrate that buses on route 251 are scheduled to run with intervals of 10 to 30 minutes, dependent on day type and time of day. Very low EWT figures mean that the majority of buses were running at intervals close to the scheduled intervals. Chance of Waiting figures show the chance for each customer to wait over 10, 20 and 30 minutes.

We do not directly fund routes as we tender bus contracts openly to operators to bid on.  However we can advise that the route 251 contract was awarded on 3 September 2016 and was retained by London Sovereign whose previous contract began on 3 September 2011.

You can view our tender results online and view for example what we have paid for the route by visiting our website at https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/13796.aspx?btID=844

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any 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

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London