Our ref: FOI-0488-2425

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10 May 2024 asking for information about the iBus system.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. 

I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. You asked:

Technical Specifications of the iBus System: Including but not limited to hardware interfaces, data formats, communication protocols, and power requirements.

Integration Guidelines: Any existing documentation on integrating third-party hardware with the iBus system.

Operational Requirements: Information on the operational environment of the iBus system such as temperature ranges, vibration tolerance, and other physical constraints.

Compliance and Safety Standards: Details of any specific safety and compliance standards required for equipment integrated into the iBus system.

Future Upgrades and Modifications: Information about planned upgrades or modifications to the iBus system that might affect integration.

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 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’.

The data that you seek on the iBus system covers a period of nearly 20 years. To try an address all of your questions would require the input of many individuals and take a considerable amount of staff time. However, we can provide some information on the new iBus system – iBus2, which is aimed to be up and running in the next few years. The tender information can be found in here - ICT13013: Procurement of iBus2 Services - Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk). Attached are also documents which address the majority of the information requested. With respect to the question regarding future upgrades and modifications, the iBus2 substantively addressed all of TfL’s requirements and therefore TfL does not envisage any significant modifications or upgrades in the foreseeable future.

To help bring the cost of responding to your requests within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider refining your requests to concentrate on matters which are important to you. 

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.

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Tahsin Prima

FOI Case Officer

General Counsel

Transport for London