20 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in June 2025
1) Between April 2021 and March 2025, a fire alarm was activated at tube stations on 1102 occasions. 2) The final cost of installing lifts at Harrow-on-the-Hill station was £18.8m. This figure includes design and construction works. 3) Tube train doors do not open automatically. Train drivers press the door open buttons once the train has come to a complete stop at a platform. If the opening sequence were to begin prior to the train coming to a complete stop it could lead to unsafe situations. 4) The cycle lights where Bow Road meets the Bow Roundabout are connected to a Kerbside Detector, a (Radar) Stop Line Detector, a Push Button Unit and an In-Road Detector SCOOT Loop. 5) North Yorkshire police do not qualify for free travel on the TfL network. 6) Bermondsey, Cockfosters, Greenford, Hendon Central, Kilburn, Mill Hill East, Nine Elms, Oakwood, Old Street, Southfields, Tottenham Hale and Wimbledon Park are the tube stations with only one lift. 7) Five tube stations do not have push-button Passenger Help Points. 8) During the Notting Hill Carnival 14 cycle hire docking stations are suspended (a total of 314 docking points). 9) Meal vouchers with a value of £6 are issued to Train Operators on the Jubilee line during large Wembley Stadium events where 60,000 or more attend. The vouchers can only be used on selected items at staff canteens. Last year's total voucher spend was £23,000. 10) The three escalators at Woolwich station broke down 67 times last year, just ahead of the three escalators at Whitechapel (65 times). 11) Since October 2024 the daily rate at Epping Car Park has increased twice from £7.50 to £10 and then to £12. Apparently the October increase "closed the gap on market pricing" while the most recent increase "sets a standard by which we can annually review and adjust the amounts." 12) The three DLR routes that don't operate at weekends are Stratford–Lewisham, Stratford International-Beckton and Canning Town–Beckton. The only 3-car route is Bank-Lewisham. 13) There are approximately 14,000 cameras in London Underground stations and 7500 cameras onboard the trains. 14) TfL have not recorded any Birkin bags being handed into their lost property department over the past five years. 15) The ticket machines at Bow Road station can sell tickets to 803 National Rail destinations (ranging alphabetically from Abbey Wood to Yalding). 16) In the last financial year, TfL's Track Network Service cast 2436 Aluminothermic welds, 2192 MMA weld repairs and 200 Head Wash welds. TfL do not own any mobile flash-butt machines, instead manufacturing flash-butt welds inhouse at Ruislip depot. 17) The next tube map release is planned for Monday 7th July 2025. 18) Someone requested a pdf copy of the final edition of the paper TfL cycle maps that were published up to 2018. TfL's FOI Case Officer replied "I can confirm that we hold the information you require", then shared a zipfile of irrelevant cycle superhighway diagrams, sigh. 19) In the last financial year TfL issued 13,118 penalty fares on the Underground and prosecuted 3691 passengers. On the Overground they issued 12,527 penalty fares and made 3044 prosecutions. 20) Remember that TfL will only answer appropriate questions. If you ask "Do you not care about the residents having to walk through Canning Town station at night? It is so unsafe and smells like piss all the time?" TfL will reply "This is not a request for recorded information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act."
