Request ID: FOI-1182-2223 Date published: 06 September 2022
You asked
Can you please provide your current policy with regards to escooters on TfL including the overground and the dlr Can you please provide the information you give to your staff in regards to policing the policy.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-1182-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 12th August 2022 asking for information about the policy on the carriage of e-scooters on TfL services.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Can you please provide your current policy with regards to escooters on TfL including the overground and the dlr Can you please provide the information you give to your staff in regards to policing the policy.”
I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
The TfL ‘Conditions of Carriage’ - which can be found online here https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-conditions-of-carriage.pdf - set out the policy in regard to the carriage of e-scooters on TfL services. As you can see, the Conditions of Carriage include the following entry:
9.6 You cannot take an electric scooter or electric unicycle on our bus, Tube, Tram, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and Emirates Air Line services.
The rationale beind the policy is explained in the following Press Notice:
In terms of enforcing the policy, Front Line Teams (such as station staff) are encouraged to remind customers of the ban but will not be expected to deny customers access to the system or to direct someone to leave. This is instead a role for TfL enforcement officers.
Enforcement Officers have been briefed to adopt a four-step approach to enforcing the ban on our public transport networks: Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce. Our Enforcement Officers (and the enforcement staff employed by our contracted service operators) are asked to enforce the ban using the 4E approach above, and have the option of denying a customer access to the system, directing a customer to leave the network or reporting them for prosecution. Officers use the same processes as for reporting other byelaw offences, and our Investigations, Appeals and Prosecutions Team will consider the evidence and decide whether to prosecute, in line with TfL’s enforcement and prosecution policy.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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
