Tuesday, April 01, 2025
25 things we (genuinely) learnt from TfL FoI requests in March 2025
1) Only two refurbished Central line trains have so far entered service. Three more are planned to enter service by January 2026. The overall programme is planned to complete in 2029.
2) Seat cushions on Victoria line trains are made up from moquette, firebarrier, anti-vandal mesh and graphite foam.
3) There are no current plans to re-open the Waterloo and City line on Saturdays.
4) TfL currently owns 998 New Routemaster vehicles because two have been withdrawn. LT174 was withdrawn in May 2022 after being involved in a fire and LT045 was withdrawn in July 2022 after being involved in an accident.
5) TfL's bus fleet includes 1750 single decker diesels and 1400 double decker diesels. 700 electric single deckers are in use, with about 300 more due to enter service over the next 12 months.
6) TfL is responsible for 6500 sets of traffic signals, of which 248 have fixed traffic light cameras.
7) Excluding schoolbuses, nightbuses and mobility buses, the ten buses most likely to run late are the 492, 273, 228, 42, 246, 225, H28, 223, S1 and 367.
8) Over the last year, the lift with the most outages was Lift 8 at Stratford station (103 outages) and the lift with the most time out of service was Lift 1 at Canary Wharf Crossrail station (3216 hours).
9) Since the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, traffic flow on Putney Bridge has remained stable, traffic flow on Kew Bridge has recovered to 2018 levels and traffic flow on both Chiswick and Wandsworth Bridges has experienced a steady decline.
10) Last year only one passenger travelled from Amersham to Emerson Park, from Enfield Town to North Dulwich or from Ickenham to Chessington North.
11) During 2023 there were 652 'soiled saloon' incidents on the Underground (spillages, vomit, glass, etc) which required the train to be cleaned or taken out of service. 32% of these were on the Northern line and 25% were on a Saturday.
12) TfL has no plans at present to stop printing the pocket tube map. The next is due to be issued in early July 2025 and will have a 12 month life span.
13) TfL hopes to proceed with the introduction of a permanent female voice on the refurbished Bakerloo and Central line fleet as soon as possible to replace the current test voice. This female voice "will better reflect our customer research findings".
14) In 2023 the Lost Property Office recorded one set of false teeth, six sex toys and 23 wigs.
15) In 2024 TfL enforcement officers reprimanded two individuals for singing or playing music without permission. In one case a warning was issued and in the other no further action was taken. Neither was prosecuted.
16) In 2024 passengers on the Central line made 1906 complaints about the temperature, more than on any other line. January was the peak month for complaints.
17) In the financial year 2023/24 the total sale of paper One Day Bus & Tram Passes from Tube stations was 84,661. They are now only available from Oyster Ticket Stops.
18) TfL are considering integrating Oyster with Apple wallets but do not yet have a viable business case. Card readers on buses and in stations would need to be updated. This project is in-flight but will take a further 3-4 years to deliver. There are no plans to integrate the 60+ card with Apple Pay.
19) £1.27m has been spent improving Walthamstow Bus Station after "the incident" that took place last year.
20) There are no plans at present to replace the diversity pedestrian green signals installed around Trafalgar Square. A thorough risk assessment deemed them safe for use as they only apply to the green aspect.
21) Seats across the Underground fleet are brushed and checked daily prior and post going into service. The seats are also further cleaned and hoovered every 28 days, with the Northern Line also receiving an annual steam clean due to the levels of dirt and dust being seen.
22) Celebrations marking TfL's 25th anniversary are expected to cost around £90k and will be funded via sponsorship. The cost to produce 40,000 pin badges was £23,965 +VAT and is covered through TfL's normal Employee Communications budget.
23) On the DLR, direct trains between Stratford International and Beckton only run on weekdays between 10am and 4pm and between 7.30pm and 11.30pm.
24) As far as TfL are aware, they did not exercise any compulsory powers of purchase pursuant to the Croxley Rail Link Order 2013.
25) The Silvertown Cycle Shuttle bus will have space for four standard bikes, one adaptive bike, four folding bikes and five folding e-bikes. If no adaptive bikes are present, up to four standard bikes can use its space.
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