Closure of bus stops and organisation of bus diversions.
Request ID: FOI-1772-2122 Date published: 14 December 2021
You asked
Please can you provide the amount of money that was requested via invoice from Streetworks promoters/event organisers for the provision of services relating to temporary changes to the bus network - ie the closure of bus stops or organisation of bus diversions.
Please provide data for the last five years, and a breakdown of charges for works/events in each London Borough.
Clarification: When a utility company, individual or other entity requires TfL to close a bus stop temporarily or organise a bus diversion they are charged for this by TfL.
I would like to know, broken down by London Borough as per the timescales below, the value of invoices submitted to these entities.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-1772-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 5th November 2021 asking for information about bus stop closure and diversion charges.
Specifically you asked:
“Please can you provide the amount of money that was requested via invoice from Streetworks promoters/event organisers for the provision of services relating to temporary changes to the bus network - ie the closure of bus stops or organisation of bus diversions.
Please provide data for the last five years, and a breakdown of charges for works/events in each London Borough.”
On 19th November 2021 this was clarified as follows:
“When a utility company, individual or other entity requires TfL to close a bus stop temporarily or organise a bus diversion they are charged for this by TfL.
I would like to know, broken down by London Borough as per the timescales below, the value of invoices submitted to these entities.”
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 the information you require. However, it is not possibe to source the requested information within the costs limit for responding to FOI cases as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12 TfL is not required to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if the information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract that information from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work. The costs exemption applies in this instance because the information requested has not previously been collated in the format requested. The systems for instructing a bus stop closure and the system which processes the invoices are separate and it is not possible to refence one against the other without conducting a manual trawl of records. We estimate that there are approximately 15,000 bus stop closures per year, and in order to provide the data requested, by borough, we would need to look at the different records for each and every closure to extract the information. This is not possible within the 18 hour limit.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to reframe it to narrow its scope and to focus on the information that is of most importance to you. For example, I understand it may be possible for us to supply the total value of such invoices by year if this is of any value to you.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
