FOI request detail

Number of scheduled bus services operating on Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10

Request ID: FOI-1261-2021
Date published: 29 October 2020

You asked

Dear Transport for London, Grateful if you could provide the number of bus services by route (52, 187, 6, 316, 302, 28 and 452) operating daily on Chamberlayne, Monday through to Sunday. This should cover both northbound and southbound services and for the months of February, March, April and May 2020. Numbers should also be provide for night services. Please provide the requested data in an excel spreadsheet, using the table headings of previous foi requests on the same subject. I look forward to hearing from you.

We answered

TfL Ref 1261-2021

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 5 October 2020 asking for information about the number of scheduled bus services operating on Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10.

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 some of the information you require.

You asked for

The number of bus services by route (52, 187, 6, 316, 302, 28 and  452) operating daily on Chamberlayne, Monday through to Sunday.  This should cover both northbound and southbound services and for the months of February, March, April and May 2020. Numbers should also be provide for night services.  Please provide the requested data in an excel spreadsheet, using the table headings of previous foi requests on the same subject.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested 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 significantly exceed the appropriate limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because in order to extract the information for observed trips, (the actual number of trips run), a system report would need to be run for each route, in each direction you’ve asked about. However for scheduled trips, i.e. the schedule pre-agreed with the operator, we would need to identify the correct report we need to run for each part of each of the bus routes you have asked about and for each direction of travel. This would be a trial and error process to make sure the correct parameters are applied for each report to extract the specific information you have asked for, eg. by trying to figure out the timing points on either side of Chamberlayne Road, and in each direction for each route.

For the period  you have asked about – February, March, April and May 2020  - covers both pre & post Covid lockdown periods. Post lockdown, we had to make a number of changes to the scheduled services, and these were sometimes without schedules, in order to keep the services running for essential workers. During this time, some bus drivers were self-isolating and some bus services were reconfigured at short notice where this was a necessity.  Even if we were to try and run the reports necessary, there is no guarantee that we would be able to provide all the information you have asked for.

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. For example we may be able to provide information on the observed trips within the timeframe you’ve asked about for the routes you’ve mentioned.

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.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

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

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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