Request ID: FOI-2330-2122 Date published: 09 February 2022
You asked
I am writing to request information about a change to the Number 75 bus timetable which occurred at some point between October 2020 and September 2021.
Up until at least October 2020, bus journeys from Clifton Road (stop 6571) to Portland Road (stop 6576) were scheduled to take 5 minutes at peak times Monday-Friday. Since September 2021 or earlier, the same journey is now scheduled to take 8 minutes - an increase of 3 minutes.
For example, the 08:03 from Clifton Road was previously scheduled to reach Portland Road at 08:08, but is now scheduled to arrive at 08:11.
Please can you provide the following information about this change:
1) On what date did the change in timetable come into effect?
2) What were the specific reasons for making this change? For example, was it due to increased traffic congestion or some other specified reason?
3) If it was due to an increase in traffic congestion, was any analysis done to identify the cause of this congestion? Please provide details of the analysis and any conclusions.
We answered
TfL Ref: 2330-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 January 2022 asking for information about a change to the Number 75 bus timetable which occurred at some point between October 2020 and September 2021.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. Your questions are:
Up until at least October 2020, bus journeys from Clifton Road (stop 6571) to Portland Road (stop 6576) were scheduled to take 5 minutes at peak times Monday-Friday. Since September 2021 or earlier, the same journey is now scheduled to take 8 minutes - an increase of 3 minutes.
For example, the 08:03 from Clifton Road was previously scheduled to reach Portland Road at 08:08, but is now scheduled to arrive at 08:11.
Please can you provide the following information about this change:
1) On what date did the change in timetable come into effect?
2) What were the specific reasons for making this change? For example, was it due to increased traffic congestion or some other specified reason?
3) If it was due to an increase in traffic congestion, was any analysis done to identify the cause of this congestion? Please provide details of the analysis and any conclusions.
We do not hold the information you have requested. This is because we have not located the timetable change you have asked about in your request.
We can advise that in October , the schedule change “New schedule due to change of Forest Hill school finish time on Mondays” occurred; however we have reviewed the schedules in particular the time between SELHSN (6570) to NDJNCT (6575), (which is the closest we can get to the stops you have specifically mentioned) and it appears there wasn’t a change that affected the stops you’ve asked about resulting from this schedule change.
Route 75 did have special COVID schedules in place during the dates in question which were used to remove surplus capacity during lockdown. However the new schedule shouldn’t have seen that much of a difference in running times as you have mentioned - the school holiday schedule was used instead of the schools open schedule. We have compared the two schedules closely and the run times are different in the AM peak by a minute or so in certain places but not as much as 3 minutes. These special COVID schedules were implemented on 16 January 2021 and then reverted back on 6 March 2021.
Another service change then occurred on 27 November 2021 in order to accommodate the change to school finish time at Forest Hill School. This change was the reinstatement of Monday Only and Tuesday to Thursday service at the request of Forest Hill School who reverted to their original departure times post lockdown, which involves only the departure time of a certain trip from the school, so again shouldn’t have affected the timings you have referred to.
The timetable at both stops you asked about is generic at 10-14 mins between 6am and 8pm with the journey time between the 2 stops indicated at 3 mins. The only mention of 0811 on the timetable that we can locate is on a Saturday Service at Clifton Road.
We have also looked at the run time on 2 February 2022 between the stops and the observed times do look slightly longer than scheduled at around 0800 between the stops but again not to the extent you’ve mentioned.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
