TfL Ref: FOI-2474-1617

Thank you for your email received by us on 11 March 2017 asking for information about data on printed advertising at TfL Underground sites and vehicles.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm we hold the information you require. You asked:

I am writing to request information on printed advertising displayed in Transport for London Underground sites and vehicles.
I would be most grateful if you could provide at minimum the following:
Site name/location and number of possible printed advertising slots;
Vehicle line, quantity of vehicles using the line by day and number of possible printed advertising slots per vehicle/vehicle model;
The locations/lines, date range displayed, campaign/printed advertisement title, company responsible for the advertisement, and (if possible) cost of displaying the campaign at the site/in the vehicle.
I would appreciate at least ten years of data on the above.
Furthermore, if there are any resources concerning the display of advertising at TfL sites - particularly around form, format and content - I would be most grateful for those resources.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

This information is not recorded centrally so we would have to locate and collate all of the information requested. On the London Underground alone we accept over 12,000 adverts per year. Over 10 years this number could be in access of 100,000 adverts. In addition, we would have to look at all routes and stations, for the last ten years, to determine what stock/vehicles were running and what advertising sites were available on the stock as well as at our stations.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

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.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely
 
Paulina Tuffour
FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London