Request ID: FOI-2170-2223 Date published: 23 December 2022
You asked
Dear Sirs
Under the FOI act please supply the details of the 4 systems that you will use as follows
1 how many voted
2 how many for
3 how many against
Also explain why distances between bus stops in black spot areas cannot be increased thanks
We answered
TfL Ref: 2170-2223 Thank you for your emails received by Transport for London (TfL) on 28 November 2022 and following clarification, 1 December 2022, asking for information about the Central London Bus Review consultation. 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. You asked for: details of the 4 systems that you will use as follows 1 how many voted 2 how many for 3 how many against We would like to clarify that in the consultation we did not ask a specific question regarding support or opposition for the Central London Bus Review proposals. A consultation is not a referendum on a binary question, instead its purpose is to ascertain the thoughts, feelings, views and feedback from those most likely to be impacted by our proposals. This information is then shared with our decision makers to give due consideration before they make a decision on how to proceed. Our consultation report is available here: https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/15359/widgets/58597/documents/34491provides This report explains how we consulted on these proposals, the questions we asked and the analysis of the feedback we received. The consultation ran from Wednesday 1 June to Sunday 7 August 2022, and our report shows that 21,247 members of the public and 281 stakeholders responded to our consultation. In total, we had 21,528 responses. We consulted on proposed changes to 16 ‘neighbourhood’ schemes and four night bus schemes, (categorised as north, south, east and west London). These proposals specifically proposed changes to 71 bus routes. We did not ask a question to ascertain if respondents supported or opposed these proposals. Support and opposition sentiments were identified as specific themes that our qualitative analysis identified when we reviewed responses to Question Five in our consultation survey. This asked “Based on your bus route selections in Question 1, please use this space to share your views about how these proposals may affect you, positively or negatively”. Our analysis of this question is explained in section 4.5 of the consultation report. The table below provides a shorter summary of these themes. Further detail regarding positive and negative feedback to our proposals is explained in section 4.5.2.1 and section 4.5.2.2 of the consultation report. Also explain why distances between bus stops in black spot areas cannot be increased. Black spots are where there are constant jams and pollution is high as mentioned so many times by Mr Khan eg Oxford St where the Island in middle of road reduces traffic to one line and emergency vehicles cannot get through quickly or the Strand . Not difficult to find black spots-ask any bus driver who now has to work extra hours due to the slowest moving traffic in the last 100 years. Come to Southgate and see what happens here on our main roads where Enfield Councils refuse to install Pollution meters. Check where the jams are so there is pollution and black spots. Increasing distances between bus stops would only have a mainly marginal impact on overall bus journey times in that while dwell time on a route would be reduced overall the main driver of low bus speeds is traffic congestion/black spots and lack of bus priority. We do review bus stop locations from time to time but this would need to be in conjunction with the highway authority in finding new suitable places for bus stops and more importantly taking into account passenger journey patterns and where customers prefer to board and alight stops. Increasing distances between stops will increase the distances people have to travel to access our bus network, which will impact more on those who are mobility impaired.
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
