Request ID: FOI-2678-2122 Date published: 15 March 2022
You asked
Since the commencement of route 456 in March 2021;
• The dates that the route has been on any form of diversion
• For each occurrence of a diversion;
o The reason for the diversion
o The route taken for the diversion
o The difference in route length in miles (as a plus/minus) against the overall operating length of the route. Please clearly indicate if this is calculated on a single direction of travel or as a return trip
o The calculated impact in minutes on the estimated route running time (as a plus/minus in minutes)Please clearly indicate if this is calculated on a single direction of travel or as a return trip.
o How many fixed bus stops where rendered out of use by the diversion. Please confirm if this figure is for a single direction of travel or as a return trip
o How many temporary bus stops (if any) were provided on the diversion. Please confirm if this figure is for a single direction of travel or as a return trip
o If the bus operator was paid any additional monies as a result of the diversion (please provide basis of the calculated sum)
o If the bus operator was required to provide any additional vehicles as a result of the diversion (please confirm number of additional vehicles in operation per day or if for part of a day the number of additional hours each day the additional vehicle(s) were in operation
o If the diversion had an impact on the bus operators performance (for example failure to comply with the routes timetable)
o If as a result of any diversion the timetable was amended
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2678-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 February 2022, asking about Route 456 diversions.
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 some of the information you require.
There have been no long term bus diversions since the route 456 commenced. There have only been short term diversions as a result of road works, local events, blockages (e.g. collisions) and other instances outside of TfL’s control in the area.
TfL and our bus operating companies are sometimes required to introduce temporary diversions at short notice in the event of unplanned road closures. Such events are outside of TfL’s control but can impact bus passengers if performance and reliability are effected by increases in running time. While worsened reliability, an increase in gaps in service and an increase in journey time for through-passengers are undesirable, temporary diversions tend to be introduced on a short-term basis only, impacting passengers for a limited period of time. Long-term diversions with a permanent increase in running time may require the introduction of additional operational resource at significant cost in order to maintain a reliable service. Unfortunately, to provide the specific information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, because not all of the information you asked for is readily available.
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.
We have estimated that it would exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because we do not normally carry out such detailed analysis for short term diversions (some of them only lasted less than an hour). It would involve people across different teams to manually extract and collate some of the information you require as they would have to manually review every single diversion and work this out. For some short diversions the difference in mileage, time taken and temporary stops are not even recorded.
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.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does 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
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
