Request ID: FOI-3057-2324 Date published: 22 December 2023
You asked
News reports state that you claim that “The Ulez expansion cut the number of older, more polluting vehicles being driven in Greater London by 45 per cent”, and that “An average of 95.2 per cent of vehicles now comply with the exhaust emission rules – resulting in 77,000 fewer non-compliant petrol and diesel vehicles being driven in the capital each day, down from 170,000 to 93,000”.
They say that your “report reveals that, by the end of September, average compliance rates had increased to 95.3 per cent – up from 91.6 per cent in June”.
“Of the 1,974,000 vehicles seen driving in London on an average day, only 2.9 per cent (57,200) paid the £12.50 levy”. If 4.7% were non-compliant, why did only 2.9% pay the ULEZ road toll?
What exactly does TFL mean by “an average day” – this is not a standard statistical expression?
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ulez-expansion-revenue-costs-fines-charges-tfl-report-b1116985.html
Please supply the data that supports these claims.
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That means the locations that you used to collect the data, each of the dates that you collected the data, and how many compliant and non-compliant cars and separately vans were detected at each location.
This data should be provided in a suitable spreadsheet.
Please note: the actual precise locations used for the data analysis are essential, in order to check how typical they are of outer London as a whole.
The days and dates are similarly essential.
In order to validate your conclusions, it is necessary to examine not only the totals at each location, but also how they vary between locations, and between days surveyed.
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How does TFL distinguish cars and vans for the purpose of these assessments, given that the ULEZ camera system only determines whether vehicles detected are compliant or not?
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Please also confirm what data TFL has for compliant and non-compliant vehicles in outer London during each of the years 2016 to 2021 inclusive.
Please quote data for cars and vans separately.
This is necessary in order to assess the extent to which any change in the number of compliant vehicles is due to the ULEZ expansion, rather than the natural increase due to the routine ageing and renewal of the fleet.
What is TFL’s assessment of this impact, versus the ULEZ itself?
What is TFL’s assessment of the impact on driver behaviour of the Mayor stating with reasons in spring 2021 before the mayoral elections that expansion of the ULEZ to outer London made no sense, and then going directly against this policy announcement a year later?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-3057-2324
Thank you for your request received on 27 November 2023 asking for information about the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. You asked: They say that your “report reveals that, by the end of September, average compliance rates had increased to 95.3 per cent – up from 91.6 per cent in June”.
“Of the 1,974,000 vehicles seen driving in London on an average day, only 2.9 per cent (57,200) paid the £12.50 levy”. If 4.7% were non-compliant, why did only 2.9% pay the ULEZ road toll?
• What exactly does TFL mean by “an average day” – this is not a standard statistical expression?
Please supply the data that supports these claims. The information you have requested is available in the London-wide ULEZ First Month Report: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/environment-and-climate-change-publications/london-wide-ultra-low-emission-zone-first-month-report#:~:text=Compliance%20rates%20have%20increased%20for,per%20cent%20in%20February%202017 The First Month Report showed that London-wide compliance rate for vehicles subject to the ULEZ standards during the first month was 95.3 per cent, up from 91.6 per cent in June 2023 and 39 per cent in February 2017 when changes associated with the ULEZ began. High levels of compliance mean only a small proportion of vehicles paid the charge. On an average day, of all ULEZ non-compliant vehicles seen driving in London, only 2.9 per cent paid the charge, 1.7 per cent were non-chargeable (i.e. were registered for a discount or exemption), and 0.2 per cent were issued with a warning notice or, from 26 September, a penalty charge notice. The rest met the ULEZ standards. The average day is based on the average of daily data for the month of reporting. Table 4 in the report provides the daily average number of compliant and non-compliant vehicles and compliance rate for September 2023, whilst the data for each day is also provided in Table 19 in the appendix. • That means the locations that you used to collect the data, each of the dates that you collected the data, and how many compliant and non-compliant cars and separately vans were detected at each location. o This data should be provided in a suitable spreadsheet o Please note: the actual precise locations used for the data analysis are essential, in order to check how typical they are of outer London as a whole o The days and dates are similarly essential o In order to validate your conclusions, it is necessary to examine not only the totals at each location, but also how they vary between locations, and between days surveyed. Average day data is provided in the First Month Report (linked above). This provides the data for each day in September. In accordance with the EIR, we are not obliged to supply information on the location of the ULEZ cameras as this is subject to a statutory exception to the right of access to information under regulations R12(5)(a) – international relations, defence, national security & public safety (in this instance specifically public safety), regulation 12(5)(b) – the course of justice, the ability of a person to receive a fair trial or the ability of the public authority to conduct and inquiry of a criminal or disciplinary nature – (in this instance specifically the course of justice), and regulation 12(5)(e) – confidentially of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provide by law to protect a legitimate economic interest.
The rationale for this is explained in more detail in a published response to a previous information request which is available on our website here:
• How does TFL distinguish cars and vans for the purpose of these assessments, given that the ULEZ camera system only determines whether vehicles detected are compliant or not? TfL uses an extensive network of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to identify non-compliant vehicles and enforce the ULEZ scheme. The ANPR cameras return multi-character pseudonymised codes for each vehicle registration mark. These are compared against a similarly encrypted extract of DVLA data to reveal vehicle type. Further database rules are applied to determine compliance with the ULEZ/LEZ standards. All data, including images of Vehicle Register Marks (VRMs), is end-to-end encrypted. Further information on the use of ANPR cameras is available on our website: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/road-user-charging#on-this-page-1 • Please also confirm what data TFL has for compliant and non-compliant vehicles in outer London during each of the years 2016 to 2021 inclusive. o Please quote data for cars and vans separately o This is necessary in order to assess the extent to which any change in the number of compliant vehicles is due to the ULEZ expansion, rather than the natural increase due to the routine ageing and renewal of the fleet. • What is TFL’s assessment of this impact, versus the ULEZ itself? This information is provided in the First Month Report (linked above). • What is TFL’s assessment of the impact on driver behaviour of the Mayor stating with reasons in spring 2021 before the mayoral elections that expansion of the ULEZ to outer London made no sense, and then going directly against this policy announcement a year later? The Integrated Impact Assessment (https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/15619/widgets/58629/documents/34537) was commissioned to assess the impacts of the ULEZ expansion on the environment, health, people and the economy (with the impact on drivers considered as part of this). In addition, public consultations were carried out 20 May 2022 to 29 July 2022 to understand the views of the population on the proposed expansion and a consultation summary report is available online: https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/15619/widgets/58629/documents/34558 If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
