30 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in November 2024
1) In a typical month (April 2024) TfL issued 29,767 Under 16 Oyster Photocards, 6992 16+ Oyster Photocards, 6028 18+ Oyster Photocards and 269 Apprentice Oyster Photocards. 2) The social media management tool used by TfL is called Sprinklr. The current two-year contract costs £309,435. 3) During long-term trials prior to the rollout of 4G/5G mobile services on the London Underground, testing found average field strength between 0.43 and 2.36% and peaks between 0.61 and 3.92% of legal limits (as per Directive 2013/35/EU) at distances of around 20 inches, which is within the limits set by international and TfL standards. 4) In 2023 the total number of times a ramp was requested on the London Overground was 23,747. There were 12,413 prebooked passenger assists on the Underground but it's not known how many of these required a ramp or mini-ramp. 5) Over the last five years TfL spent £49,084,627 on advertising, of which 23% went on digital, 20% on radio, 18% on posters, 14% on TV, 12% on video on demand, 8% on press, 4% on social media and 2% on cinema. 6) In 2014 the London Underground Ventilation, Cooling and Power team were commissioned to carry out a Computational Fluid Dynamics study on the cooling system for New Routemaster buses to assess the existing thermal conditions with the aim of exploring options to enhance performance. A decision was made to initiate a retrofit campaign and install sliding opening windows on both the upper and lower decks, resulting in increased air movement around the passenger saloon area (to reduce temperatures), reduced humidity (less steamy windows) and passengers having some control over interior temperatures. 7) The longest delay on the tube this year was 1313 minutes on 15th August when District line services were suspended between High Street Kensington & Edgware Road from 4.30am for the rest of the day due to points failure. 8) When a passenger refuses to pay a bus fare, the driver presses a button to report fare evasion. This has been the case on all buses since the iBus system was introduced over 10 years ago. 9) The current fixed salary for a full-time Tube driver is £68,096. 10) Bus Stop M at Bow Church closed on 12/09/2019, 22/10/2019, 06/02/2020, 27/03/2020, 06/04/2020, 06/07/2020, 05/09/2020, 11/09/2020, 14/11/2020, 26/02/2021, 14/06/2022, 13/08/2022, 09/03/2023, 29/08/2023, 19/04/2024, 12/05/2024, 16/10/2024, 27/06/2024 and 23/09/2024.
11) Since 2014 TfL have planted 100 trees along the length of Gunnersbury Avenue to replace the 102 trees removed because they were either dead or in a condition that could cause damage to the highway or harm its users. 12) There are 1229 individual retail units available within TfL-managed stations, of which 24% are currently vacant. The most recent change of occupancy is the shop on the westbound platform at Sloane Square station (12th October 2024) and the longest tenancy is the Black Boy Public House at Stepney Green station (since 25th December 1901). 13) £250,949 has been spent branding Superloop bus stops and shelters. The route on which the most has been spent (£47,200) is the SL6 (the peak-hours route with by far the fewest number of passengers). 14) Of the 20,000 bus stops across the TfL network, 2972 are fitted with real time visual information and ten with real time audio information (9 on route 63 and 1 on route SL10). 15) Since 2021 there have been 94 reports of unattended dogs at tube stations and 7 reports of unattended cats. The stations with the most reports are Burnt Oak and King's Cross St Pancras with four apiece. 16) There are 673 licensed TfL Ambassadors and a further 2965 non-licensed TfL Ambassadors. 17) So far this year there have been 1483 prosecutions for contravention of TfL byelaws, 155 of which were for ‘Bringing & Possessing A Potentially Dangerous Item on the Railway’ (for example an e-scooter). 18) During the financial year 2023/24, 388,296,134 completed Oyster journeys were made on all rail modes, bringing in £756,529,536 of revenue. Of these, 28% of journeys were made using Travelcards. 19) Of TfL's 27,378 employees, 2.8% are over 65 years of age, 0.4% are under 20, 57% are White, 2027 are Muslim, 74% are male, 0.07% are non-binary and 28% live outside London. 20) During the financial year 2023/24, only 25% of lost property items were returned to their owners. Of the items catalogued 17% were bags, 16% clothing, 11% mobile phones, 5% keys, 4% eyewear and 3% jewellery. Losses included 1848 umbrellas, 344 passports, 118 bicycles, 44 cameras and 2 drones. Nobody claimed the cufflinks handed in at Mile End on 4th September 2023.
21) Trains on the Mildmay and Windrush lines have 186 seats and a standing capacity of 520. Trains on the Liberty, Lioness, Suffragette and Weaver lines have 177 seats and a standing capacity of 392. Capacity doubles on the Weaver line at peak times. 22) During the financial year 2023/24, TfL reported 147 data breaches. Of these 24 were data posted to the incorrect recipient, 21 were data emailed to an incorrect external recipient, 8 were verbal disclosure of personal data, 7 were failure to redact, 5 were loss/theft of paperwork or data left in insecure location and 2 were failure to use Bcc. 23) There are 3661 Oyster Ticket Stops in shops and outlets beyond the TfL network. During the last financial year they serviced 32,079,385 transactions with a total value of £408,849,428 (down from £574,535,576 in 2019/20). 24) In the last financial year TfL used 1,835,274,429.6 kWh of electricity. Of this 67% was used by the Underground, 17% by the Elizabeth line, 8% by the Overground, 3% by the DLR, 3% by surface transport and 0.006% by Dial-A-Ride. 25) The Waterloo & City line is the least-cancelled tube line. Of the others, the two tube lines with the fewest cancellations are the Northern and Victoria lines, and the two most cancelled are the Central and Piccadilly lines. 26) Four London Overground stations have Station Assistant Dispatch staff. They are Euston, Liverpool Street, Norwood Junction and West Croydon. 27) TfL refuse to reveal their longlist of potential Overground line names "as the information requested is intended for future publication later this year". 28) The axonometric drawing for Charing Cross station with reference to the Bakerloo line platforms has (finally) been released. 29) TfL buses don't have two wheelchair spaces because priority seats would need to be moved just after the middle doors resulting in a reduction in the number of fixed seats in the low-floor area of the bus which would disproportionately affect a greater number of customers. 30) Since ULEZ expansion, residents of Enfield have been issued with more ULEZ charges than residents of any other borough (approx 87,000). Not very close behind are Croydon (63,000), Hillingdon (60,000), Barking and Dagenham (58,000) and Haringey (55,000). Richmond is the outer London borough with the fewest ULEZ charges. Taking account of population, Camden has the fewest ULEZ charges overall.
