Request ID: FOI-0747-2223 Date published: 14 July 2022
You asked
Could you please provide me a list of all bus routes that were introduced after the year 2000?
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0747-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26th June 2022 asking for information about bus routes created since 2000.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Could you please provide me a list of all bus routes that were introduced after the year 2000?”
I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. However, I am afraid that it is not possible to source the information to respond within the costs limit set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not obliged to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if that 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 the exemption applies because the information has not been collated before and there is no quick or efficient way of doing so. While it is not possible to give an entirely accurate estimate of how long it would take to compile (and note that we may not hold information covering the entire 22-year span of your request), we believe the time required would be well in excess of the 18 hour limit. Any attempt to compile such a list would require a manual check - probably of well over 1000 different records - in order to differentiate permanent changes from other changes including temporary routes, mobility routes, schools variations and night services. Any information held by TfL would also omit non-TfL bus routes - i.e. commercial routes that serve London.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to narrow its scope to focus on the information that is of most importance to you. For example, you may wish to narrow the timeframe to which it relates. However, note that even trying to compile the information for the last few years alone is liable to take some considerable time.
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
