Request ID: FOI-0571-2122 Date published: 29 June 2021
You asked
• network-traffic-controller
• bus controller
• between 1999-2021 what number of male hired did not have
• Experience in a transport operating or highway management environment
• Experience at supervisory or management level
eg 2002 5 bus controller male hired did not have Experience in a transport operating or highway management
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0571-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 20th June 2021 asking for information about the recruitment of network traffic controllers and bus controllers.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
network-traffic-controller
bus controller
between 1999-2021 what number of male hired did not have
Experience in a transport operating or highway management environment
Experience at supervisory or management level
eg 2002 5 bus controller male hired did not have Experience in a transport operating or highway management
I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. However, it will not be possible to souce it within the costs limit for responding to FOI cases as set out under section 12 of the FOI Act. Under section 12, TfL is not obliged to respond to a request if it would cost more than 18 hours to determine if the requested information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract that information from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work.
In this case, while it is difficult to estimate exactly how long it would take to source the information, we believe it would far exceed the costs limit. This estimate is based on the number of staff currently in these roles, which gives an indication of the level of effort that would be required to answer for the 20+ year period covered by your reqeust. Currently, we have 83 Network Traffic Controllers and 76 Bus Station Controllers in total - so 159 current staff that would be covered by the request if it just related to the present day. In order to determine what experience they each had on joining TfL we would need to source and review each individual’s HR records at a rate of one every 6-7 minutes. We do not believe this would be achievable in practice, and clearly to work back to 1999 would require far longer still.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to considering reframing it to narrow its scope, taking into account the comments above.
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,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
