To whom it may concern, I am writing in regards to a piece of research I am involved which looks into clustering stations in specific categories. Could you please let me know which main types/categories of stations LU uses so far? Do you have a specific way of categorising stations e.g. based on characteristics of their surrounding area, their ridership etc.? Thanks in advance

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TfL Ref 2168- 2021

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27 January 2021 asking for information about London Underground station categorisation..

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.

As well as categorising our tube stations by Zones and Tube Lines (which can be seen on our tube map on our website http://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf), we also classify our London Underground stations by the following categories. Please see below for the descriptions and an explanation of the rationale:

GATEWAY - these stations are the main visitor entry points to London, such as King’s Cross St. Pancras and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 & 3. They are used by a high proportion of people unfamiliar with the network, who are likely to need to purchase a ticket. In addition, Gateway stations have dedicated Visitor Centres that provide travel and tourism information to visitors to London. These stations have fully staffed control rooms.

DESTINATION - these stations, such as Embankment, are typically located in central London, have high volumes of customers, and include commuter rail termini and tourist destinations. These stations tend to have fully staffed control rooms and regular platform duties and detrainments are part of the daily operations.

METRO - these stations, such as Clapham South and Southwark, serve predominantly inner London communities and therefore the majority of users are commuters who are familiar with the network. However some stations, such as Covent Garden and Tower Hill, will also have unfamiliar users and hence tend to be busy throughout the day.

LOCAL - these smaller stations, such as Chiswick Park and Rickmansworth, are located in outer London or beyond, have lower customer numbers and serve mainly regular customers. These stations will tend to be quiet outside of peak hours.

Using these categories station management areas are made up of three different types of station grouping:

• Solo: An Area made up of one Gateway or Destination station (e.g. Euston)
• Twinned: An Area made up of two stations. Typically 2 Metros (e.g. Vauxhall and Pimlico) but in some instances a Gateway or Destination is twinned with a Metro, or a Destination is twinned with another Destination
• Multiple: An Area made up of between 4 and 8 stations. Predominantly Local stations but 6 multiple Areas also contain Metro stations (e.g. Acton Town Area)

The attached document shows the classification of each LU station. Please note the only planned change is that Whitechapel will become a Destination when the Elizabeth Line opens.

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Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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