Request ID: FOI-1299-2223 Date published: 26 September 2022
You asked
In each of the last three financial years please state what the income was to TfL from fines levied to people who breached bus lane regulations?
In the last financial year (21/22) which ten roads bus lanes were responsible for the issuing of the most tickets for breaches of bus lane regulations? Please give the name of all ten roads and the number of tickets issued in the year for those roads.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-1299-2223
Thank you for your request received on 30 August 2022 asking for information about bus lane contraventions.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:
In each of the last three financial years please state what the income was to TfL from fines levied to people who breached bus lane regulations
TfL issues penalty charge notices (PCNs) for contraventions on the TfL Road Network (TLRN), which accounts for 5% of London’s roads but carries 30% of its traffic. Bus lane penalties on other roads are issued by the London boroughs.
Buses offer one of the most affordable, available and inclusive forms of transport in London and account for around one in five of all daily journeys in our City. They are a highly efficient way of moving people around, with a double decker bus carrying up to 80 times as many people as a car. Bus lanes play a key role in ensuring bus passengers experience reliable journeys, and so it is vital that they are enforced appropriately.
We issued 19,200 PCNs to drivers who contravened the bus lane restrictions on the TLRN between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The net income attributed to those PCNs is £1,020.609.
The information for the previous years is available on our website using the following link:
In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.
In the last financial year (21/22) which ten roads bus lanes were responsible for the issuing of the most tickets for breaches of bus lane regulations? Please give the name of all ten roads and the number of tickets issued in the year for those roads
In accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply the information requested as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 31 of the FOI Act, which relates to law enforcement. Specifically, we are refusing your request under section 31(1)(b), which relates to information whose disclosure would be likely to prejudice the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, and section 31(1)(g), which relates to information whose disclosure would be likely to prejudice the exercise by any public authority of its functions or any of the purposes listed in subsection 31(2) of the FOI Act. In this case, this is section 31(2)(a) – the purpose of ascertaining whether any person has failed to comply with the law.
The release of the requested data could enable drivers to conclude that some locations are less likely to be enforced, which would let those who drive in restricted bus lanes avoid penalty charges for doing so, and so be likely to prejudice the purposes described above. Disclosure of this information to you has to be regarded as a disclosure to ‘the public at large’.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance consider that balance lies in favour of withholding the information to ensure that we are able to manage traffic on the TLRN. It would be strongly against the public interest to release any information that would undermine this. We consider that the release of this information would lead to increased traffic problems as some motorists may seek to take advantage of the information by using bus lanes in areas that we do not currently enforce, and therefore delaying bus services. This would in turn have a further effect that TfL would have to divert further resources to enforcing more zones, which would be likely to involve increased staff and direct costs. It would not be in the public interest to limit TfL’s ability to make the most efficient use of its limited funds in this manner.
You may be interested to note that the application of this exemption to a request for very similar information has recently been considered by the Information Commissioner who upheld its application: https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/decision-notices/2021/2620057/ic-69434-n9n7.pdf.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
