30 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in December 2024
1) TfL expect to introduce both peak and off-peak Stratford International-Beckton DLR services on a permanent basis once sufficient new trains are available to permit this. 2) Touchless push-button signage has been trialled at pedestrian crossings in Wolverhampton, Cambridge, Canary Wharf and in Wales. 3) According to pension records, there is no evidence that the Yorkshire Ripper was ever employed as a bus driver on routes 125, 263 or 26 at the end of the 1970s or 1980s. 4) You can all stop asking how much renaming the Overground lines cost because they answered that question back in March. 5) All new Overground signage was manufactured and installed by AJ Wells and Links Signs. Pindar Creative were the cartographers for the online and printed maps, which were printed and distributed via CDS. 6) There are pitches for buskers at 31 TfL stations. All are in zone 1 apart from at Canary Wharf, Hammersmith, Maida Vale, North Greenwich and Stratford. 7) So far this year the Woolwich Ferry has stopped operating 63 times for a total of 216 hours. In 2018 it was 135 times for 2151 hours. 8) Pdf versions of all the updated Overground line diagrams are available in this zip file, if that floats your boat. 9) The cooling system in every Victoria line carriage is set to MINIMUM when the internal saloon temperature is below 22°C and falling or below 26°C and rising, or MAXIMUM when above 35°C and rising or above 33°C and falling, or MEDIUM otherwise. 10) TfL owns 917 commercial units in railway arches, with a current occupancy rate of 77%. Only 1.66% of tenants are in arrears. 11) By the end of October TfL's customer contact centre had recorded 36,936 cases relating to issues with Oyster/contactless payment cards and the recent cyberattack. It's anticipated 67% of these will result in a refund of all or part of their fare being issued. 12) TfL has not carried out a risk assessment into what might happen to dockless e-bikes during a hurricane because dockless e-bike services are not regulated by TfL. 13) Since 2018, across all tube lines, 1,102,165m of rail have been ground. The most ground line is the Central line (261,831m) followed by the Jubilee line (159,089m). 14) The TfL Bus Routes normally operated with single door buses are 124 138 146 162 192 233 273 318 315 322 336 352 354 356 367 379 383 385 394 424 434 456 463 464 470 B14 E10 E11 G1 H2 H3 H20 H26 K1 K4 K5 R1 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R10 S3 S4 SL7 U9 W4 W5. 15) TfL is not responsible for cleaning roads and clearing litter, so if leaves and rubbish are not removed regularly from the footway outside your property on Thurlow Park Road you should ask Lambeth council about it. 16) A recent speed restriction on the eastbound track of the Circle/H&C lines in the Westbourne Park area was linked to a 'tight 6ft clearance' which could have caused a minor collision of passing trains if the speeds were higher. It was implemented on 21 June and removed on 29 November. The speed restriction had no impact on the wider service as there is sufficient recovery time built into the timetable. 17) Pdf versions of all the latest tube maps are available in this zip file, including the version with 'line' missing after Mildmay. 18) Over the last three years there have been 186 passenger incidents classified as 'Fall between Train and Platform (gap)' at Baker Street station. The second-place tube stations (Bank, Waterloo and Victoria) each had only 27 such incidents. 19) The new Piccadilly line trains will be 30mm lower than current rolling stock, which will cause issues with access humps on platforms perhaps needing to be at different heights in different places depending on which kind of train is arriving next. TfL are onto it. 20) Pdf versions of six 'Poems on the Underground' leaflets are available in this zip file. 21) So far this year, of the Elizabeth line trains scheduled to depart Ealing Broadway for central London between 8am and 9am, 5% have have been cancelled and 36% have been delayed. 22) Regarding staff usage of ballpoint pens, endorsing tickets with a pen has not been a London Underground procedure for gateline staff since at least before the introduction of the Underground Ticketing System (UTS) in the 1980's and possibly not even prior to this. 23) Pantone 252 is the designated colour for the Thameslink line on the tube map. 24) TfL are responsible for maintaining 392 bridges, 10 tunnels/underpasses, 229 subways, 3 vaults and 444 retaining walls. 25) TfL owns 75 car parks. Of these the most expensive is at Hatton Cross (weekday tariff £13) and the cheapest is at Eastcote (£3.50). On Sundays the cheapest is at Theobalds Grove (£1). 26) The first TfL employees to start to transition to the new uniform will be those on the Underground and DLR, imminently, and the last will be those on the Overground in Summer 2026. Cablecar staff will not be switching. The new quilted jacket doubles up as liner for the overcoat. 27) On only six occasions in the first half of this year did more than 5 passengers board bus route 969 at any particular stop. Roehampton Vale Asda is the busiest stop, relatively speaking. 28) If the unfunded Bakerloo line extension is ever further extended to Hayes, it's anticipated that as least 18 trains per hour would be extended south of Lewisham onto the Hayes branch. Of these, at least 12 trains per hour would serve Hayes, with the remaining six trains per hour serving Beckenham Junction. 29) So far this month over half of complaints to TfL have been fares-related. The next most popular categories of complaint were gaps in service, refusal to pick up, refusal to stop, dangerous driving and curtailed journeys. 30) If you submit 14 FoI questions, the 12th of which is "can you let us know whether the announcements currently voiced by the female announcers on the current Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central, W&C & DLR lines will remain or will they be replaced by newly-recorded announcements by a different set of women/men now?”, TfL will refuse to answer any of them citing cumulative burden of vexatious requests over a sustained period.
