Dear FOI team, As a result of a series of road closures in our area, introduced by Croydon Council, we are seeing very bad traffic congestion on our main roads which serve a number of TfL bus routes. We can see with our own eyes that buses are getting caught up in this congestion and it would appear many of these buses are getting delayed by several minutes or in many cases much longer. Please can you therefore answer the following questions under the FOI Act so that we can have some factual data showing how bus services have been impacted in our local area. 1) Can you provide detailed data, preferably in the form of spreadsheets, for delays experienced by each of the following bus routes? Preferably this data should cover a recent time period such as the last 30 days. For comparison purposes please also provide a comparable baseline data set, such as from 12 months previously. • South Norwood bus routes: 75, 130, 157, 196, 197, 356, 410 • Crystal Palace bus routes: 157, 249, 322, 358, 410, 417, 432, 450 Note: as I do not know in what format you record bus delays data in, I will accept a wide variety of formats and metrics. I have a strong preference for data which would reveal if buses are reaching individual stops late in any of the SE25 and SE19 postcode areas (South Norwood and Crystal Palace). If the data can be made available at the most granular detailed level, then please do. If it can only be made available at an aggregate level, it would be helpful if it can include the number of journeys delayed, and the average, median and maximum duration of each delay, for each individual bus stop and each route serving that bus stop. I am less interested in data that only shows whether the bus reached the final stop of its route on time or not, as this may mask delays elsewhere in the route, but if this is the only data you have then I will accept it. 2) Have there been any timetable changes to any of the above bus routes since May 2020 which have the effect of increasing the journey time on part or all of the route? What were the reasons for these timetable changes? 3) Have any of the buses on these routes been asked to take a diversion or cut short their route during the past month? As a specific example, there have been reports that the 417 bus route is now terminating at Crown Point because bus drivers would be exceeding their legal driving limits if they drove the full route into the Crystal Palace Triangle (Westow Street / Westow Hill / Church Road). This being because of the increased levels of congestion on those roads. Can you confirm that specific example in addition to answering the more general question? Please let me know if there are any limitations around the data that prevent you from answering these questions, and how I may refine my request accordingly. I look forward to your response. Thanks in advance,

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TfL Ref: 1279-202

Thank you for your request received by us on 5 October 2020 asking for information about bus services in South Norwood and Crystal Palace, south London.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  You asked for the following:

1) Can you provide detailed data, preferably in the form of spreadsheets, for delays experienced by each of the following bus routes? Preferably this data should cover a recent time period such as the last 30 days. For comparison purposes please also provide a comparable baseline data set, such as from 12 months previously.

· South Norwood bus routes: 75, 130, 157, 196, 197, 356, 410
· Crystal Palace bus routes: 157, 249, 322, 358, 410, 417, 432, 450

Note: as I do not know in what format you record bus delays data in, I will accept a wide variety of formats and metrics. I have a strong preference for data which would reveal if buses are reaching individual stops late in any of the SE25 and SE19 postcode areas (South Norwood and Crystal Palace). If the data can be made available at the most granular detailed level, then please do. If it can only be made available at an aggregate level, it would be helpful if it can include the number of journeys delayed, and the average, median and maximum duration of each delay, for each individual bus stop and each route serving that bus stop. I am less interested in data that only shows whether the bus reached the final stop of its route on time or not, as this may mask delays elsewhere in the route, but if this is the only data you have then I will accept it.

Whilst we publish estimated waiting time and scheduled mileage for bus routes in the Borough of Croydon on a quarterly basis via the link below to our website, these reports provide performance data for the entire bus route rather than a specific area within the journey undertaken.

https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/14144.aspx?borough=Croydon&nameid=croydon&boroughid=8

It is also possible to access live bus arrival times and service disruption information via our open data feeds in the ‘Bus, Coach and river’ section at:

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/open-data-users/our-open-data#on-this-page-3

However, we do not record our data in the manner you have described in Question One. To try and provide and answer to your request would require us to identify, locate and retrieve large volumes of travel data which we would then need to extract, scrutinise and reformulate to be able to respond accordingly. Unfortunately to provide what would be a bespoke dataset for the purposes of your request would be a significant burden on limited staff time and resource and would therefore 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.

To help bring the cost of responding to question one of 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.

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

2) Have there been any timetable changes to any of the above bus routes since May 2020 which have the effect of increasing the journey time on part or all of the route? What were the reasons for these timetable changes?

Please see the various changes that have been implemented for the bus routes listed below:

75: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 13 June 2020.  The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March 2020 following the Covid outbreak.

130: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 6 June 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

157: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 6 June 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

196: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 20 June 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak. A new schedule from 30 June 2020 following the end of a temporary diversion was introduced on 27 April 2020 in association with water mains replacement works in Norwood Road. The normal line of route resumed towards Elephant & Castle; no change to running time.

197: No changes.

249: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 11 July 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

322: New schedules due to the closure of Atlantic Road and diversion on 18 July 2020. The overall running time is unchanged since 1 June 2019.

356: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 11 May 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

358: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 18 July 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

410: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 6 June 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

417: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 20 June 2020. The previous schedules were special schedules based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak. A new schedule to improve reliability was introduced with revised running times on all days, plus an additional bus on Saturday between 11:00 and 18:00, leading to increased running times on Saturday only. This will also improve the departure times on the N137 bus from Crystal Palace.

432: Roadworks schedules removed and standard schedules introduced with a reduction in running time from 4 July 2020.

450: Special Covid schedules removed and standard schedules resumed on 6 June 2020. The previous schedules were special editions based on weekend running times introduced at the end of March following the Covid outbreak.

3) Have any of the buses on these routes been asked to take a diversion or cut short their route during the past month? As a specific example, there have been reports that the 417 bus route is now terminating at Crown Point because bus drivers would be exceeding their legal driving limits if they drove the full route into the Crystal Palace Triangle (Westow Street / Westow Hill / Church Road). This being because of the increased levels of congestion on those roads. Can you confirm that specific example in addition to answering the more general question?

I can advise that we currently do not have, nor recently have had any planned mitigations in place for the referenced bus routes to curtail or divert due to delays experienced in these locations.

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.

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

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

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