Various questions about Dial a Ride service

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TfL Ref: 1232-1718

Thank you for your letters dated 3 June and 5 August 2017 received by us on 5 August 2017 asking for information about our Dial-a-Ride service. Our Dial a Ride services will reply to the remainder of your letter as this letter will address only the FOI part.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested in your point 1 would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would greatly exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take 168 hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested in your point 1.

We receive a high level of driver feedback items relating to passengers carrying excessive shopping, but we do not produce any statistics on this.

We estimate that the cost of manually collating the number of driver feedback forms that relate to excessive shopping would be in the region of 168 hours. The total number of driver feedback forms that we have on file going back for the last five years is 10,120, and we estimate that it takes approximately 1 minute to manually check a form to note whether it relates to excessive shopping.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

We can however confirm that there have been no instances of a suspension or cancellation of a membership in the last five years related to carrying excess shopping and, as there were no instances of suspension or cancellation of a membership there were also no reinstatements.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, 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

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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