Santander Cycles
Request ID: FOI-4691-1718
Date published: 20 March 2018
You asked
1.) Number of bikes available at each station when a bike is checked out. This would mean an extra column in the trip history excel files that shows how many bikes are available at a specific station when a bike is checked out.
2.) Number of bikes operating in each borough for each hour of the day since the scheme started (if this time interval is too small then per day is also fine).
We answered
Our ref: FOI-4691-1718/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 February 2018 asking for information about Santander Cycles.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.
I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. However, 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 requests 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. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.
You have asked for data showing how many bikes are available at each station (over 700 stations) every time a bike is checked out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since the scheme started. It would be impossible to provide this information within the 18 hour ‘appropriate’ limit and we are not even certain that we would be able to produce this information in this form.
For the second part of your request, we do not record which boroughs bikes are operating in. Whilst we could check where bikes are checked in/out & combine this with the information of which borough a docking station is in, this would take even longer than compiling the information requested in your first question.
To help bring the cost of responding to your requests within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider refining your requests to concentrate on matters which are important to you.
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. If you have specific questions relating to these topics we may be more easily able to respond to these than to a request for any information held.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
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