Number of complaints and issues raised about the new high specification electric buses for route 63
Request ID: FOI-1505-2223 Date published: 10 October 2022
You asked
Dear Transport for London
I'm creating a project about your new high specification electric buses for London Buses route 63, which have been in service since late last year (2021).
I'd like to obtain the number of complaints and issues raised (including comments) about the design, layout, accessibility and various high specification features used on the new electric buses for route 63.
The dates for the requested information start from December 1st 2021 to most recent.
We answered
TfL Ref: 1505--2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 22 September 2022 asking for information about bus route 63. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. You asked: Number of complaints and issues raised about the new high specification electric buses for route 63: I'm creating a project about your new high specification electric buses for London Buses route 63, which have been in service since late last year (2021).I'd like to obtain the number of complaints and issues raised (including comments) about the design, layout, accessibility and various high specification features used on the new electric buses for route 63. The dates for the requested information start from December 1st 2021 to most recent.
We received a further 40 contacts commenting on the design of the new electric buses. The majority of these state a preference for the design of the New Routemaster buses. We are also able to provide a summary for each contact for date range 28 April 2022 to 24 September 2022 – please see attached. The most common themes are as follows:
1. No glazing next to the stairs making area too dark. 2. Don’t like interior colour design. 3. Seat Moquette – not TfL standard 4. Phone holders - unnecessary 5. Seats too large. 6. Lack of handrails on the upper deck. 7. No Bench-style seating. 8. No Information screen at the rear for wheelchair users. 9. No three doors and two staircases.
One further contact questioned if the buses have a different mechanism when they lower the ramp, whether they are not as effective as the other buses at doing this or if the driver has not had training. However, please note that unfortunately there is limited scope to change the features of the vehicles already in service on the route, but we are monitoring all feedback (both positive and negative) to include in future engagement and development work as part of the Bus Customer Action Plan.
However, we are refusing part of your request under section 14(1) of the Act to provide some of the information you have requested, specifically we are refusing the complaint comments submitted by members of the public over the time period requested which you have asked for – this would provide a significant burden to our resources and therefore we are not obliged to provide this information in accordance with section 14 of the FOI Act.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance states that one of the indicators of a request which may fall under section 14(1) is that it “appears to be part of a completely random approach, lacks any clear focus, or seems to have been solely designed for the purpose of ‘fishing’ for information without any idea of what might be revealed.”
The ICO guidance provides the following examples of a ‘fishing expedition’ request which may fall under section 14(1) if it:
- Imposes a burden by obliging the authority to sift through a substantial volume of information to isolate and extract the relevant details;
- Encompasses information which is only of limited value because of the wide scope of the request;
- Creates a burden by requiring the authority to spend a considerable amount of time considering any exemptions and redactions.
By their very nature, comments and complaints submitted to us are unique and personal to the individual submitting them and can often contain biographical and other descriptive terms and comments which could enable individuals to become identifiable, should the information be placed into the public domain. We consider the burden of reviewing the comments we received from members of the public and applying any necessary personal data redactions would be disproportionate to the benefit of providing it. Therefore, due to the volume of complaint comments covered by your request and the resources required to answer in full, we are refusing this element of your request under section 14 of the FOI Act. This is primarily due to the significant volume of material that we would be required to manually review in order to identify and redact any personal data or details which could enable the identification of any individual, in accordance with our statutory obligations under section 40 of the FOI Act. We consider that any broader public interest is met by the summarised comments which enable you to determine and understand the recurring issues that arise without the risk of individuals being identified through their correspondence with us.
Our principal duty is to provide an effective transport service for London and we consider that answering this request would represent a disproportionate effort. It would be a significant distraction from our work managing the TfL network, requiring re-allocation of already limited resources and placing an unacceptable burden on a small number of personnel. We do wish to clarify that whilst we consider that your request falls under section 14(1) of the FOI Act, this does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your intention to deliberately place an undue burden on our resources and we hope that the information provide is of value to you.
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
Sara Thomas FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
