Dear TfL, Further to my email this morning, I just wanted to provide some clarity on my questions below. 1. Please can you tell me how man PHV are a) fully-electric?, b) hybrid? and c) fully combustion? 2. Please can you tell me a) how many private hire vehicles are M1 vehicles? b) how many private hire vehicles are not M1 vehicles? C) What other vehicle categories are currently licensed by TfL and how many private hire vehicles are in each of these other vehicle categories?

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TfL Ref: FOI-0460-2021

Thank you for your email received on 22 June asking about the private hire vehicle (PHV) fleet.

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. Please can you tell me how many PHV are a) fully-electric?, b) hybrid? and c) fully combustion?
2. Please can you tell me a) how many private hire vehicles are M1 vehicles? b) how many private hire vehicles are not M1 vehicles? C) What other vehicle categories are currently licensed by TfL and how many private hire vehicles are in each of these other vehicle categories?

1. The information requested is in the table below, it is correct as of 30 June 2020.

Fuel type	Number of vehicles	Percentage of the PHV fleet
Fully electric	1,426	1
Combustion engine	43,517	46
Hybrid	50,355	53
Total PHV fleet	95,298	100

2. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. However, to provide the information you have requested for this part of your request 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 requests 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. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.

We license both M1 and M2 category vehicles for use as private hire vehicles, however, we do not record the vehicle category in a reportable format and would need to manually review all the records PHV vehicle records (shown in the table); we estimate that  it would take between 5 – 10 minutes per record.  Even if we filtered PHV vehicle records by make and model for all M2 class vehicles, this would still exceed the cost limit to review the records identified by applying this further filter.

To help bring the cost of responding to your requests within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider refining your request.  Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does 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. If you have specific questions relating to these topics we may be more easily able to respond to these than to a request for any information held.

We can advise that we are introducing new private hire vehicle requirements in a phased approach which will ensure that by 1 January 2023 all vehicles granted a private hire licence for the first time will be zero emission capable, regardless of the vehicle age. There are several milestones to be aware of:

1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019

All PHVs licensed for the first time during this period must have a Euro 6 petrol or diesel engine, or a Euro 4 petrol-hybrid engine.

1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022

All new (less than 18 months old) PHVs licensed for the first time will have to be zero emission capable.

PHVs over 18 months old will need to have a Euro 6 engine when licensed for the first time

From 1 January 2023

All PHVs (of any age) will need to be zero emission capable when licensed for the first time.

Further information on PHV licensing standards and ULEZ requirements are available on our website at the following location: www.tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/emissions-standards-for-phvs.

The impact of current circumstances on TfL’s resources means we are not able to answer FOI requests readily and we ask that you please do not make a request to us at present.

Answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. In any event, please note that our response time will be affected by the current situation and so you may wish to reconsider the timing of this request. Please notify us as soon as possible if you would like to withdraw your request at the current time.

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.

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.

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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