TfL Ref: FOI-0783-1718

Thank you for your email received on 29 June 2017 requesting various information about Transport for London.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our Information Access Policy. I can confirm we do hold some of the information you requested. You asked for:

1.A copy (in PDF format, or other electronic format) of the current London Underground (LU) Rule Book, together with all of the relevant appendixes relating to Stations, Operations, Trains and Track, on the Piccadilly Line?

We are not obliged to provide you with the current  LU Rule Book as it is subject to statutory exemptions to the right of access to information, under Section 38(1)(b) of the FOI Act – Health and Safety.

In this instance the exemption has been applied as disclosure of the information you requested would be likely to adversely affect the safety and security of TfL employees and the travelling public.

Whilst we make no suggestion that you would use this information for anything other than you own interest, disclosure of this information to you has to be regarded as a disclosure to ‘the public at large’. The LU Rule Book details how LU respond to operational incidents and operates the railway. It would not be appropriate for this information to be in the public domain, which could then be used to cause incidents or disruption on the network. It also contains information on how LU responds to emergencies.

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance the public interest in applying the exemption, in order to minimise risks to operational resilience, and the welfare of staff outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

2.We understand there will be no further printed copies of the quadrant Bus Maps. Can I please see copies of any councillor/assembly meetings and decisions on these? Are any other publications affected? Also, would you be able to supply me with a copy of the policies (where TfL restricted casual enquirers to a total of seven maps per order – with five to ask for) and any similar authorization/decisions for the last five years?

The decision to stop printing the quadrant Bus Maps was an internal TfL decision and wasn’t required to go to the councillor/assembly meetings for the decision to be made.

3.By the 1990’s, Essex County Council gave financial support to London Underground Limited (now Transport for London) in relation to subsidising the fares. Whereas now, for example, Amersham/Chesham remain in Zone 9 (was C), Epping is Zone 6. Can you please confirm if this still happens, how much is given to TfL by ECC? If not, when did this stop?

No fares subsidy have been received from Essex County Council since the inception of TfL in 2000 and we are not aware of any payments being made in the 1990s.  The Epping branch was moved into Zone 6 in 1997 as a TfL initiative. The Metropolitan Line to Amersham/Chesham continues to have stations in zones 7 to 9 because this is a joint line with Chiltern Railways and fares have to reflect the fact that the line extends beyond Amersham.

There was an arrangement with Epping Forest District Council (not Essex County Council) from 2001 to give elderly and disabled residents of EFDC reduced fares on local buses and the central line. This ended in 2008 with the introduction of the existing scheme under which all elderly and eligible disabled people receive free local bus travel in England.  This was financed by EFDC.

If this is not the information you are looking for,  please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London