When will Hounslow Blenheim Centre (AP) bus stop reopen into service?
Request ID: FOI-1810-2223 Date published: 01 November 2022
You asked
Hey TfL,
I just wanted to ask about the reopening of bus top in London.
The last terminal stop of the H37 Bus Route from Richmond to Hounslow is at the 'Hounslow Blenheim Centre' bus stop (stop AP) - but if I have not lost my count, the bus stop has been officially closed since at least 4 years now (probably since late 2017) - due to a large construction behind.
Now that most of the project's construction is ready and completed by now, the road is getting rid of the scaffoldings and hoardings and is again becoming wider for buses to stop, so I just wanted to ask you when is this bus stop going to finally resume stopping passengers by the flagpole of the Bus Stand itself (right now since the past 4 years, the buses has been taking a U-turn and dropping us on the other side of the road in one of the parking bays for the buses to terminate upon)?
Secondly, I just wanted to request you at TfL to resume to 24-hour service H37 used to provide on Fridays & Saturdays before the Covid-19 pandemic until 2020 - as I believe the bus provides an important connection connecting the Town Centres of 2 West London boroughs with one another.
We answered
TfL Refs: FOI-1808-2223; FOI-1809-2223; FOI-1810-2223 AND FOI-1819-2223
Thank you for your requests of 26th, 30th and 31st October 2022 - all detailed below - asking various questions about TfL services. Your requests have 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, we note that these four requests are further to nine earlier requests all received since 12th September 2022, referenced as follows:
1430-2223 - received 12/09/2022 1431-2223 - received 13/09/2022 1493-2223 - received 20/09/2022 1494-2223 - received 20/09/2022 1568-2223 - received 03/10/2022 1569-2223 - received 03/10/2022 1602-2223 - received 05/10/2022 1629-2223 - received 10/10/2022 1652-2223 - received 10/10/2022
In total, therefore, we have received 13 separate FOI requests from you in a period of around 7 weeks.
Your four most recent requests are being refused under section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act, which provides an exemption to the disclosure of information where answering requests will impose a disproportionate burden on the responding authority. In reaching this conclusion we have drawn on guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), both in relation to the specific application of section 14 and in relation to FOI-handling more generally.
As you can see, this guidance includes the following advice to public authorities:
“Section 14(1) is designed to protect public authorities by allowing you to refuse any requests which have the potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress.”;
“It is common for a potentially vexatious request to be the latest in a series of requests submitted by an individual. The greater the number of requests received, the more likely it is that the latest request is vexatious. This is because the collective burden of dealing with the previous requests, combined with the burden imposed by the latest request, may mean a tipping point has been reached, rendering the latest request vexatious.”
“The duration over which previous requests have been made may also be telling. Where requests have been submitted over a long period, possibly years, this may indicate that requests will continue to be made in the future. Therefore, even if the latest request appears entirely reasonable, when viewed in isolation, you may take into account the anticipated burden of those future requests when assessing burden.”
“The key question to consider is whether the value and purpose of the request justifies the distress, disruption or irritation that would be incurred by complying with it.”
And:
“When you are dealing with a series of requests and developing pattern of behaviour, you may arrive at a tipping point. This is when you decide that, whilst it was appropriate to deal with a requester’s previous requests, the continuation of that behaviour has made the latest request vexatious.”
With all of this in mind, when considering each of your requests in isolation it is unlikely that we would find that any of them would meet the criteria outlined under the guidance. However, the guidance also makes it clear that public authorities should take into account the context and historyin which requests are made. In determining that the exemption applies we have taken into account the number of requests you have made over a very short period, and the subject matter of many of them which are not necessarily of greater public interest. This leads us to conclude that the frequency of your requests is creating an aggregated and unjustified burden. The cumulative effect of these requests is that it ultimately creates a disruption to our colleagues across the organisation whose principal function is the running of transport services or the support services required to make that happen. Providing input to respond to FOI requests requires the re-allocation and diversion of their resources and places a burden on a small number of personnel. All of this leads us to believe that answering your latest requests, further to the nine requests already answered, is not a justified and proportionate use of our time.
Please be assured that our application of the section 14 exemption does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your deliberate intention to place an undue burden on TfL, and we will consider any future request for information on its merits and in accordance with the requirements of the FOI Act and the expectations of the ICO. However, in making any future request I would ask that you consider carefully what information is of most importance to you, and to take into account the guidance and advice provided by the ICO on how best to access information from public bodies, such as the “dos and don’ts” published on its website here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information/
You will note that the table halfway down that page includes the following advice to FOI applicants:
Do….“Give the authority ample opportunity to address any previous requests you have made before submitting new ones”; Don’t… “Submit frivolous or trivial requests; remember that processing any information request involves some cost to the public purse”; Don’t… “Disrupt a public authority by the sheer volume of information requested. Whether you are acting alone or in concert with others, this is a clear misuse of the Act and an abuse of your ‘right to know’”.
We would therefore encourage you to prioritise any future requests around the information that is of most importance to you to ensure that you are able to make the best use of our resources under the FOI Act.
Please also note that TfL proactively publishes a large amount of information on our website (https://tfl.gov.uk/) and some of the information you seek may already be published. Finally, note that requests for explanation (as opposed to recorded information) should be made via our Customer Services team (https://tfl.gov.uk/help-and-contact/).
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
