Please will you forward to me the rationale that you use for disabling the call buttons if the motion detectors are not picking anything

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Our ref: FOI-1297-2021/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 6 October 2020 asking for information about pedestrian call buttons.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.

Our research confirms that pedestrians will often press the wait button and then choose to cross against the red man when there is a gap in the traffic flow, even if the wait time is quite short

To ensure our traffic lights work efficiently for both pedestrians and road traffic, including buses it is helpful to cancel the pedestrian sequence if the pedestrian has pushed the button and then crossed the road before the green man appears.

To do this a sensor is installed above the pedestrian waiting areas which will detect a pedestrian is waiting there, if the button is then pushed to call the pedestrian sequence then so long as the pedestrian remains in the detection area then the crossing will operate as normal; only if the pedestrian steps outside of the detection zone will the demand to cross be cancelled. If there are two pedestrians at the crossing and one leaves the detection zone and one doesn’t, the crossing will still operate as normal. If another pedestrian arrives at the crossing after the sequence has been cancelled and presses the pedestrian wait button the sequence will begin again. The wait button is not at any point disabled, it is the sequence that is cancelled.

We have measured the benefit of this technology over the past three years and found that it typically grants an extra 1 minute 45 seconds of green time to road users every hour. London’s adaptive signal control system (SCOOT) can harness that extra capacity and reduce the waiting time for pedestrians by lowering the time the lights take to run their cycle to cross the road benefiting all road users through shorter journey times and less delay.

A copy of the kerbside detector specification is attached for your information.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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 you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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