Sunday operation on bus route B12 vs 233

The request was successful.

Dear Transport for London,

Please could you provide any calculations, figures and other details which are used to justify not providing a Sunday service on the B12 bus route.

Please could you then also provide the equivalent calculations, figures etc. for bus route 233, which will enable comparison between the two routes' Sunday-operating business cases. If the exact same metrics have not been calculated for the 233 route, please provide any figures you do hold for the route which I could use to do the calculations myself.

If you hold any other data that could be used to compare the usage levels and business cases of the two routes, please provide these as well.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Speller

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Speller
 
TfL Ref: FOI-0406-1213
 
Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 8 June
2012 asking for information about bus routes B12 and 233.
 
Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and TfL’s information access policy. 
 
A response will be provided to you by 6 July 2012.
 
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Eva Rozmahelova
FOI Case Officer
 
FOI Case Management Team
Corporate Governance Directorate
General Counsel
Transport for London
 
 

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Speller

 

TfL Ref: FOI-0406-1213

 

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 8 June
2012 asking for information about bus routes B12 and 233.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and TfL’s information access policy.  I can
confirm TfL holds some of the information you require. You asked for:

 

1. Please could you provide any calculations, figures and other details
which are used to justify not providing a Sunday service on the B12 bus
route.

 

Usage on the B12 on a weekday is approximately 2,800 passenger journeys
per day and on a Saturday about 1,800. Similar routes serving Bexleyheath
including the B15 and 229 have a Sunday to weekday trip ratio of around
35%. This would result in an estimate of around 980 trips on route B12 on
a Sunday if it is assumed that the ratio of usage would be the same. 

 

The estimated cost of a Sunday service running at 2 buses per hour would
be approximately £80,000 per year, for a service that would start at
around the same times as other local routes, i.e. around 7am and finish at
the same time as last buses on this route on weekdays/Saturdays, around
12.30am.

 

Proposals for additional expenditure on bus services by TfL are normally
required to produce benefits worth at least twice the net cost before they
are considered for funding.  The net cost is the cost of the providing the
service after revenue is taken into account, and the benefits are the time
savings for passengers, and other benefits, expressed in monetary terms. 
In this case the net cost is about £63,000 per year, which would represent
an on-going subsidy.  The benefits to passengers are about £89,000 per
year, which gives a benefit to net cost ratio of about 1.8 to 1. 

 

We are undertaking a review the route B12 and this will include options
for a Sunday service.  As part of this review we will be updating the
usage and revenue forecasts quoted in this response and we will report on
our findings and any proposals to stakeholders later in the year.

 

2. Please could you then also provide the equivalent calculations, figures
etc. for bus route 233, which will enable comparison between the two
routes' Sunday-operating business cases. If the exact same metrics have
not been calculated for the 233 route, please provide any figures you do
hold for the route which I could use to do the calculations myself.

    

If you hold any other data that could be used to compare the usage levels
and business cases of the two routes, please provide these as well.

 

Usage on the 233 on a weekday is approximately 3,200 trips per day. Sunday
usage on the 233 is 1,600 trips per day, this is 50% of the weekday trips.
This is similar to other routes paralleling the 233 including the 321
(once scaled to reflect the relative frequencies).  The routes are broadly
similar in terms of weekday frequency and length of route, however the
links provided are completely different. We do not have the actual costs
of the Sunday service on the route 233 separate from the full cost, which
is available here:

 

[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/businessandpar...

 

Providing a Sunday service on the 233 and B12 on Sunday would have roughly
the same cost, but the usage of the route B12 is likely to be
proportionally lower.

 

Please note that where a link to some of the requested information has
been provided this is in accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act,
whereby TfL is not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested
information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Rozmahelova

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

Corporate Governance Directorate

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

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