TfL Ref: 1630-2425

 

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 August 2024 asking for information about our bus specifications, including the New Routemaster specification.

 

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. You asked: As there are variations of the New Routemaster, would you be able to provide documents (specifications, guidance, etc.) in relation to the modifications of the New Routemaster, including:

 

I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. However, to provide the information you have requested 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 requests 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. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would significantly exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.

There is no quick or efficient way of sourcing all of the material that falls within the scope of your questions. You are asking for a number of documents, specifications and guidance in relation to various modifications to the New Routemaster and the Wright SRM,  which would require the locating of documents dating back 7 to 10 years or more. The information you have requested is not centrally stored and so we would need to carry out extensive searches and then review a significant amount of information to locate, extract and collate all of the information you have requested. 

 

We have however published a number of previous requests and responses on our website (https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/search) which include attachments and older bus specifications, some of the suggested links which may be of particular interest to you are below for ease:

 

 

 

 

 

To help bring the cost of responding to your requests within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider refining your requests to concentrate on matters which are important to you.

 

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does 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. If you have specific questions relating to these topics we may be more easily able to respond to these than to a request for any information held.

 

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

 

Yours sincerely