TfL Ref: 1528-2021

Thank you for your request received by us on 5 November 2020 asking for information about entry and exit data for London Underground, Overground, Tramlink, TfL Rail and National Rail networks.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:

daily entry, exit and PVal statistics of all rail stations (Underground, Overground, DLR, TfL Rail, National Rail, Tramlink) split by time split by time (e.g. 08:00-08:15, 123 Entries, 456 Exits, 789 PVals).

The days I would like to request the specified data above for would be between 31/05/2015 and now. If easier

I can advise that we do not hold this information in relation to National Rail services. You may find it useful to see the National Rail passenger usage statistics published on the Office Of Rail and Roads (ORR) website here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/passenger-rail-usage/

However, we can provide the information you asked for from 2017 to 2019 covering the rail modes managed by Transport for London (TfL); London Underground, Overground, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Tramlink and TfL Rail. This is categorised at a 15 minute frequency basis on a daily level via the following link: http://crowding.data.tfl.gov.uk/

In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information for the last three years as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.

Also, in accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply the data requested for 2020 at this time as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under Section 22 of the Act.  In this instance the exemption has been applied as this information is intended for future publication.

We will be publishing a full breakdown of our rail passenger usage statistics for 2020 in the New Year at: http://crowding.data.tfl.gov.uk/ as per our normal publishing schedule.

Nevertheless, we do provide daily entry and exit statistics for London Underground stations from 13 January 2020 to 21 November 2020 under the ‘Network demand reports and data’ section at the top of the page here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/coronavirus-publications?cid=coronavirus-publications#on-this-page-0

By following the arrows to the ‘Demand by Travel Mode’ page and clicking on ‘Demand by Station Type’, select the London Underground station of your choice and this will produce a graph illustrating the ‘Number of Taps Per Day’ for the chosen location. Additionally, by hovering your mouse along the base of the graph, a pop-up message will feature stating the date and number of daily taps recorded for the selected station.

Weekday and weekend passenger usage figures from 2015 onwards for London Underground and other TfL rail modes can be accessed via the link below, although this does not provide the granular daily detail you are seeking: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-performance-reports

In the meantime, I can advise that to provide the entire dataset for TfL managed rail services 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.

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. 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 until we receive your revised 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.

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