Request ID: FOI-3049-2324 Date published: 22 December 2023
You asked
Hi David, given that the original bus lane removal request was made on September 14, which is more than 60 days ago, and the following requests relating to it were simply clarifications of that initial request to try to bring it down within the financial limit, then I think it is unfair to add the potential cost of the other requests to that one.
Either way, to help bring down the cost, I propose to drop entirely the request about TFL's working from home practices.
I will also further refine the bus lane removal request so that it only relates to bus lanes in the 12 statutory Inner London boroughs identified below for the year 2022:
Camden
Greenwich
Hackney
Hammersmith and Fulham
Islington
Kensington and Chelsea
Lambeth
Lewisham
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Wandsworth
Westminster
I request that the cost of this request be considered in isolation from the other outstanding request.
I am also prepared to refine that other request, FOI-2896-2324, about how many deaths on London's roads in 2022 were caused by or estimated to be caused by motor vehicles travelling below 30mph in order to reduce the potential cost.
With this request, I am prepared to accept data from only Stats19 deaths, omitting the need to check nonStats19 deaths. This reduced the number of road fatalities to check in 2022 from 131 to 102 deaths. I should also make clear that I have checked the data sets you suggested looking at and this information is not available within them or in any other published data on the TfL website or elsewhere.
If you are unprepared to consider the cost of these two requests separately and you believe that they collectively still exceed the cost limit then my priority will the bus lanes request. I would then wait the 60 days to make the speed deaths FOI. But I request you look at the both individually.
I would add that I have tried to be reasonable with these requests and have made repeated attempts to refine them to bring the costs down yet so far I have not obtained a single piece of information from TfL in more than two months of trying. I should further point out that Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist applicants in making requests for information but I have yet to see any such assistance from TfL. If you are to reject any of these further refined requests I would please ask that you assist in helping me by providing what information you can within the cost limit or advise how I can obtain the best part of the information I request within the cost by refining my requests further.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-3049-2324 Thank you for your further request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 24th November 2023 asking for information about bus lanes and road safety. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. Specifically you asked: “I will also further refine the bus lane removal request so that it only relates to bus lanes in the 12 statutory Inner London boroughs identified below for the year 2022: Camden Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Islington Kensington and Chelsea Lambeth Lewisham Southwark Tower Hamlets Wandsworth Westminster I request that the cost of this request be considered in isolation from the other outstanding request. I am also prepared to refine that other request, FOI-2896-2324, about how many deaths on London's roads in 2022 were caused by or estimated to be caused by motor vehicles travelling below 30mph in order to reduce the potential cost. With this request, I am prepared to accept data from only Stats19 deaths, omitting the need to check nonStats19 deaths. This reduced the number of road fatalities to check in 2022 from 131 to 102 deaths. I should also make clear that I have checked the data sets you suggested looking at and this information is not available within them or in any other published data on the TfL website or elsewhere.” I am afraid that TfL does not hold the requested information. This is further explained below. On the first request, about the replacement of bus lanes with cycle lanes, there is no such record held at TfL. Both in regard to this latest request and its previous iterations we have been liaising with various colleagues across different teams to establish whether or not the requested information is held or can be calculated. Just trying to determine exactly what is and is not held has in itself been a lengthy process, hence the previous application of the costs exemptions. Having considered the matter further we now conclude that the requested information is not held, for the reasons set out below.
Bus lanes may be altered or removed from time to time for a variety of reasons and aspects of this work can span across different years. The fact that a bus lane was removed in a particular location during a particular year, and a cycle lane subsequently introduced, does not mean that the bus lane was necessarily replaced by the cycle lane, as other factors may be relevant. Further, at some locations shared bus and cycle lanes exist whilst at others a section of bus lane may be removed in one place but added elsewhere. All of these factors lead to a picture of ongoing change, which is simply not tracked in the manner your questions imply. It has therefore not been possible for us to specifically determine exactly how many sections of bus lane have been removed to be replaced by cycle lanes, nor the total length of that replacement, and hence we conclude that the requested information is not held. In regard to your second question, the speed a vehicle is travelling at when a collision occurs is not recorded by the police in a STATS19 record. It is not information that the Department for Transport requires in those records and it would be unlikely that these details would be available at the time a STATS19 record is compiled. When there is a fatality on the roads the police will undertake an extensive investigation to establish how the collision occurred. It may be that your question could be answered by these subsequent reports, but that would be a question to put to the police. Note that TfL proactively publishes information about road speeds and road safety, which can be seen via the following links to our website:
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/road-safety You may be particularly interested in the London Collision Map which can be found on page 4 of the Road danger reduction dashboard here: Microsoft Power BI 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
