Freedom of information question: Providing seats at bus stops for the elderly and disabled passengers
Request ID: FOI-2291-2223 Date published: 13 January 2023
You asked
To Whom it May Concern,
A great number of bus stops in London don't have any seating and are therefore much less usable for disabled and elderly people who can't stand for long. It can be a real problem for many, and dissuades some people from being able to use their local bus. We're told how London's busses are accessible because wheelchair users can use them. But people who can't stand for long but don't have wheelchairs, or can't use them, are put off. And if they all started using wheelchairs there would be no room on buses! So, my request is as follows please:
1. I'd like to see an Excel spreadsheet of all TfL bus stops (with name and location) and whether they have seating or not. Also, please include how many bus routes serve each bus stop and/or which ones. I'd also like it to show the number of passengers who use each bus stop annually. I realise this is a lot of information but it must be something you have stored on your computers.
(Do you include if there is a wooden bench nearby rather than proper 'bus shelter seating'?)
2. Are there plans to improve the numbers of 'accessible' bus stops by adding seating to those that don't have them, and if so what are the targets? are bus stops with lots of passengers but no seats a priority? how do you decide which stops get seating? If there is no space to put a shelter next to a stop, will you consider at least putting seating? Does TfL have an equal opportunities obligation to provide seating at bus stops? do you record how much seating is available at a bus stop - for example, do know if a bus stop has seats for 3 or 6 people? or that is has a 6 foot long bench or a 12 foot long bench?
Many thanks in advance.
We answered
TfL Ref: 2291-2223
Thank you for your emails received by us on 8 December 2022 and 13 December 2022, providing clarification to your request for information about bus stops and network demand.
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 some of the information you require. You asked for the following information:
A great number of bus stops in London don't have any seating and are therefore much less usable for disabled and elderly people who can't stand for long. It can be a real problem for many, and dissuades some people from being able to use their local bus.
We're told how London's busses are accessible because wheelchair users can use them. But people who can't stand for long but don't have wheelchairs, or can't use them, are put off. And if they all started using wheelchairs there would be no room on buses! So, my request is as follows please:
I'd like to see an Excel spreadsheet of all TfL bus stops (with name and location) and whether they have seating or not.
(Do you include if there is a wooden bench nearby rather than proper 'bus shelter seating'?)
Please see the attached ‘Shelters and Seats’ spreadsheet inclusive of all stops and their locations, with or without seating. Please note that each shelter can contain more than one seat. However, we do not hold information of nearby wooden benches.
Also, please include how many bus routes serve each bus stop and/or which ones.
Please see the attached ‘Routes on Stops’ file for further information; please also note that each stop may accommodate more than one route.
I'd also like it to show the number of passengers who use each bus stop in the most recent, up-to-date 12 months of information that you have. I realise this is a lot of information but it must be something you have stored on your computers.
Attached is a Weekday Passenger Data spreadsheet for the month of June 2022, providing the number of boarders and alighters at each bus stop, which is the most recent snapshot of data we hold for the data you are seeking.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do 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 and therefore we have provided the attached snapshot of passenger data, as this is the most comprehensive dataset we already hold.
To complete the data extraction for the requested 12 month period may exceed the £450 cost-limit needed for the necessary extraction, ‘cleaning of data’ needed for public disclosure, reviewing and implementation of necessary adjustments, which in contrast have already been carried out with the snapshot provided. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described
In the meantime, please note the following factors to consider with the dataset provided:
Some stops are only used at specific times of the day or week, or only during special events such as for concerts, or rail replacement services. These may be missed from a snapshot dataset, as this is dependent on the date range that is used.
There are also some technical issues which have affected the extraction of data, for example the zero boarders and alighter figures at Abbey Wood Station.
Data shown in rows 19717 to 19720, represent bus stops that are used only at the first stop of their respective routes at Golders Green and Liverpool Street stations, hence why only boarding figures are shown. The dataset system we use makes sure that boarding only stops do not show any alighters that have disembarked, and vice versa
Every route has its own scaling factor for each hour of the day it operates, so stops that only have demand some of the time will still get included. Furthermore, if there was one person boarding at a bus stop on a Friday, for example and our data extraction covers a weekday average of Monday to Friday, then the final boarding figure will be a fraction less than one, but greater than zero because we have divided by the total number of weekdays to get an average weekday figure.
The attached passenger data for June 2022, shows that there were 117 stops that genuinely have zero boarders and alighters. Of these, 77 were Hail and Ride stops; unfortunately boarders and alighters are not accurately captured on the iBus ticket machines for Hail & Ride, given that passengers can board and disembark anywhere along these parts of the journey. Demand is instead allocated to the next fixed stop along the route.
Bus stops at Mortlake Station and Threadneedle Street are served only by very low frequency routes. Mortlake Station is served by bus number 969 which only operates on Tuesdays and Fridays, whilst Night Bus service N242 serves Threadneedle Street.
Given that we manage a bus fleet of around 9,300 vehicles, operating across 675 routes, which undergo various changes throughout the year such as temporary bus stop closures, diversions, curtailments, or other operational reasons, our software systems can sometimes encounter difficulties in updating and incorporating the impact of these changes as they occur, especially when at short notice, which can lead to some data failures in places. For example, Abbey Wood Station is shown as having zero boarders and alighters, due to technical errors involved with extracting such considerable volumes of data from across the London Buses network and various software systems involved in formulating this data.
are there plans to improve the numbers of 'accessible' bus stops by adding seating to those that don't have them, and if so what are the targets
are bus stops with lots of passengers but no seats a priority? how do you decide which stops get seating? If there is no space to put a shelter next to a stop, will you consider at least putting seating? Does TfL have an equal opportunities obligation to provide seating at bus stops? do you record how much seating is available at a bus stop - for example, do know if a bus stop has seats for 3 or 6 people? or that is has a 6 foot long bench or a 12 foot long bench?
We can advise that each bus stop design is unique and takes its environment into account; shelters are provided where there is space to do so, value in doing so - based on boarder numbers, and other local considerations.
TfL’s current standard shelter is the Landmark London design, which includes bench seating as an option for the design, and a bench will be built as part of the shelter unless there are specific reasons not to, for example, a history of vandalism of the seating.
The Shelters and Seats attachment includes the information we hold on seating at each shelter. You may also find the TfL Accessible Bus Stop Design Guidance of interest, via the following link to our website: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-stop-design-guidance.pdf
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
