Request ID: FOI-2942-2223 Date published: 24 February 2023
You asked
Dear FOI team,
Freedom of Information Act Request Letter
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I would be interested in all the information held by Transport for London regarding the request below e-mailed to me please.. Although I understand that I do not have to specify particular files or documents, I have identified precisely the information required; if any further clarification is required, please let me know by return.
If my request is denied in whole or in part I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the Act and reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge unreasonable fees.
I would be grateful if you could confirm that you have received this request and I look forward to your response within 20 working days as specified in the Act.
Background details of request
1. Doug Rose published on the internet a document dated August 2016 http://www.dougrose.co.uk/images/bus-blinds.pdf in which it was explained that he had been commissioned by the MD of Surface Transport at the time, Leon Daniels, to design bus destination displays of greater legibility than some which were appearing on bus destination blinds being produced by McKenna Brothers for use on TfL services.
2. This follows an earlier paper in 2004 by TfL’s Market Development Manager, Bob Crowther (not attached) in which research had shown that potential customers were mostly interested in the ultimate destination and the route number and that intermediate points provided clutter. This recommendation was adopted in the revised standard 1160mm x 330mm destination aperture sight width and depth TfL specification.
3. However, problems remained according to Doug Rose. He explained that the problem related to a need from the provisions of the EA 2010 and the DDA before it to maintain a minimum character height and that this meant that longer text names were being ‘squashed’ to reduce character width to fit in the information required on one line. Paraphrasing Doug’s narrative, the squashing distorted the stroke width in the axis perpendicular to the direction of squashing and this reduced legibility.
4. As a result, Doug produced for TfL a set of new typefaces called Johnson DR Medium, Johnson DR Condensed, Johnston DR Extra Condensed and Johnston DR Ultra Condensed.
5. I believe that these typefaces belong to TfL and are used to specify recommended display layouts for use by McKenna Brothers and any other suppliers in order to make up destination blinds as required for each depot, according to the routes and agreed stands and turning points.
Requested documentation
A. A print out on pdf of the entire character set (i.e. including letters, numbers, punctuation signs etc. for each of the four ‘DR’ typefaces specified above and any others which may be been developed subsequently to those covered by Doug’s 2016 paper. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not requesting the typefaces themselves as ‘vector fonts’, true type files (.ttf) or in any other soft format, only a pdf showing in print the full gamut of each of the new typefaces. These do not have to be ‘life size’ as they appear on bus blinds since I can appreciate that this would be unwieldly. A point size of 72 point (1”) would be satisfactory.
Best regards,
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2942-2223
Thank you for your email of 9th February 2023 following up your earlier request of 4th January 2023.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked for the following, in relation to the ‘Johnson’ typefaces found on bus destination displays: “A print out on pdf of the entire character set (i.e. including letters, numbers, punctuation signs etc. for each of the four ‘DR’ typefaces specified above and any others which may be been developed subsequently to those covered by Doug’s 2016 paper. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not requesting the typefaces themselves as ‘vector fonts’, true type files (.ttf) or in any other soft format, only a pdf showing in print the full gamut of each of the new typefaces. These do not have to be ‘life size’ as they appear on bus blinds since I can appreciate that this would be unwieldly. A point size of 72 point (1”) would be satisfactory.” I am informed by our buses division that we do not hold the exact information you require (i.e. a pdf of the entire character set). However, note also that we have been asked for similar information in the past, such as in the case that can be seen published on our website here:
As you can see, the information that is held in relation to these fonts is, in any case, exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. The same rationale for the application of the exemption applies now as it did then.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
