Request ID: FOI-0740-2425 Date published: 12 June 2024
You asked
I am writing to request bus occupancy data, and boarding / alighting data TfL for the following stops and routes?
• Hilldene Avenue Shopping Centre - routes 174, 256, 346, 497, 499
• Gooshays Drive (stops GV and GP) – routes 256 and 294
• Farringdon Avenue (stops FH and FG) – route 496
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0740-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 4th June 2024 asking for bus occupancy and boarding and alighting data.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“I am writing to request bus occupancy data, and boarding / alighting data TfL for the following stops and routes?
• Hilldene Avenue Shopping Centre - routes 174, 256, 346, 497, 499 • Gooshays Drive (stops GV and GP) – routes 256 and 294 • Farringdon Avenue (stops FH and FG) – route 496”.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, as TfL is planning to publish bus occupancy and boarding / alighting data in the near future (for the entire bus network, broken down by route, stop and time of day), the information is exempt from disclosure at the current time under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act, which can apply to information that is ‘due for future publication’.
Section 22 is a ‘qualified’ exemption, meaning we have to consider whether the greater public interest rests in the exemption applying and the information being withheld, or in releasing it now. We appreciate the need for openness and transparency in the running of our business, and the fact that you have requested the information is in itself an argument in favour of immediate release. However, we have to balance this against the need to make the most effective use of our resources, which come at a cost to the public purse. In this case, with the data planned for publication in the next 1-2 months anyway, we believe the greater public interest rests in the exemption applying, and the information being released according to the pre-determined schedule.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
