Croydon Tramlink Working Timetables

Transport for London did not have the information requested.

Dear Transport for London,

I'd be grateful if you'd kindly forward the Monday
to Friday, Saturday & Sunday working timetables (time schedules) for Croydon Tramlink in PDF format.

Many thanks.

Yours faithfully,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Reynolds

TfL Ref: 2559-1314

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 March 2014.

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 25 April 2014.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

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FOI, Transport for London

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Reynolds

 

TfL Ref: 2559-1314

 

Thank you for your email received by us on 26 March 2014 asking for
weekday and weekend working timetables for Croydon Tramlink services.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can
confirm we do hold the information you require.

 

Please see the attached timetables in the requested format.

 

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

 

 

Jasmine Howard

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

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Dear Jasmine Howard,

Thank you for your response but, unfortunately, this is the public timetable.

My request was meant to be for the "Time Schedules", by which, I should have said, would include the Running Numbers,Crew Duty Numbers, Journey Numbers and to/from Depot workings,etc..

I believe the documents, as per a 2013 FOI request, should start with WTT rather than PTT.

Yours sincerely,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Reynolds

TfL Ref: 0136-1415

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 22 April 2014 asking for Croydon Tramlink Time Schedules. Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

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 21 May 2014.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Reynolds

 

TfL Ref: 0136-1415

 

Thank you for your email received by us on 22 April 2014 asking for copies
of Tramlink Time Schedules inclusive of data such as running, journey and
crew duty numbers.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. 

 

I assume you are referring to the schedules requested on the link below
and can confirm that they are the same type of schedules which were
provided for your previous request (reference 2559-1314).

 

[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

 

Unfortunately, we do not have the type of schedules that include depot
workings and crew duty numbers because they are held by operator Tramlink
Operations Ltd, rather than TfL. They can be contacted by writing to the
following address:

 

Tramlink Operations Ltd

Coomber Way
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 4TQ

 

However, please note that as a private company Tramlink Operations Ltd are
not subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and
therefore are not obliged to provide the information you require.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Jasmine Howard

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

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Dear Jasmine Howard,

You are partially correct that the FOI request (not mine) you refer to contains the file "WTT Sun 08T 101031.pdf", which is the Sunday version of the information I was seeking and does include depot workings and crew duty numbers. The other files therein were the Tramlink public timetables.

Therefore, it would seem logical if have the Sunday file then you ought to also have the "WTT Sat" and "WTT MF" versions.

Yours sincerely,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Reynolds

TfL Ref: 0136-1415

Thank you for your further email. I apologise for not getting back to you sooner.

I can advise that we are looking into this matter and will endeavour to respond in full as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

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Dear Jasmine Howard,

Can you please provide me with an update for my FOI as we are now at 21 days since your 2 June 2014 further response.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Reynolds

TfL Ref: 0136-1415

Thank you for your further email received by us on 1 June 2014 asking for
information about the response given to your previous Freedom of
Information request for copies of Tramlink working timetables. Please
accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. 
We do not hold the information you require because it is held by Tram
Operations Limited.

Furthermore, in accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply
any of the information as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the
right of access to information under section 43(1) and (2) of the Act
which protect commercial interests.

 

In this instance the exception has been applied as disclosure of the
information you have requested contains information which is a trade
secret. The working timetables are the product of our contractor’s expert
knowledge, and the disclosure of this information would allow their
competitors to imitate their approach, eroding their competitive edge when
tendering for similar contracts in the future. The contractor has invested
in development of a new working timetable which is materially different
from the previously published version.

 

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public
interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We
recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities,
but in this instance we are not aware of any wider public interest in
disclosure of this information and we believe that the public interest
supports the use of this exemption to protect the intellectual property of
the contractor

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

 

Jasmine Howard

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

 

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Dear Transport for London,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Transport for London's handling of my FOI request 'Croydon Tramlink Working Timetables'.

Given the amount of similar information that has been made available to numerous FOI requests, which have been successful in receiving similar information to that I originally asked for, on the 26th March 2014, I am unsure why my information request is so different to result in a refusal.

I refer to other FOI requests for Bus Working Schedules, of which over 2,500 documents have been released of which the vast majority contained Duty Number data, etc., never had any been refused under paragraph 4 of your 8 July response letter.

There doesn't appear to have been an erosion of "competitive edge" with Bus service contracts so why should Tramlink be an exception?

As I stated in my 19 May response the Sunday Tramlink working timetable has already been released under an October 2013 FOI request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

Our ref: IRV 041-1415

 

Dear Mr Reynolds

 

Request for internal review

 

Thank you for your request for an internal review which was received by
Transport for London (TfL) on 11 July 2014. I am sorry for the delay in
acknowledging your correspondence.

 

You have stated that you are dissatisfied with the handling of your
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

The review will be conducted by an internal review panel in accordance
with TfL’s Internal Review Procedure, which is available via the following
URL:

 

[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/doc...

 

Every effort will be made to provide you with a response by 8 August 2014.
However, if the review will not be completed by this date, we will contact
you and notify you of the revised response date as soon as possible.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me on the number given below.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Jasmine Howard

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

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Dear Jasmine Howard,

My request for an Internal Review is now well passed the 20 days and fast approaching 40 days.

An early response/update would be appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

David Reynolds MILT

FOI, Transport for London

 

 

Ref: IRV-041-1415

 

Date 12 September 2014

 

 

Dear  Mr Reynolds

 

 

Subject: Outcome of internal review

 

The internal review of our response to your request for Croydon Tramlink
Working Timetables has been completed. The review was carried out by an
independent Review Panel (‘the Panel’) consisting of individuals who were
not involved in the handling of your request.

 

On 26 March 2014 you made your request for Tramlink working timetables.
Our response to you on 22 April 2014 contained the public timetable. You
again requested the working timetables on 22 April 2014 and on 19 May 2014
we advised you that the working timetables were not held by Transport for
London (TfL) and suggested that you contact the operator Tramlink
Operations Ltd. You questioned this response, referring to previous
occasions when working timetables had been disclosed in response to FOI
requests.

 

On 8 July 2014 we responded saying that the information was not held by
TfL and that the information was exempt from disclosure under s43(2) of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, which provides an exemption to the
right of access to information where disclosure would, or would be likely
to, prejudice the commercial interests of TfL or a third party. On 11 July
you challenged this refusal.

 

The panel considered whether the information was held by or on behalf of
TfL and, if it was held, whether it was exempt under s43(2). The panel
also considered the inconsistency between the response to your FOI request
and previous responses to request for bus and tram working timetables.

 

Tramlink is operated as a concession by Tram Operations Limited, part of
FirstGroup. The concession is operated under an output specification
contract, which specifies the outcomes that are to be delivered, but not
the means by which they are to be achieved.

 

Transport for London do not hold and have no authority to require
disclosure of the Working Timetable that FirstGroup have developed. As the
working timetable is not held by, or on behalf of TfL, it is not subject
to the right of access under the FOI Act. Consequently s43(2) does not
apply.

 

Consideration was given to the response provided to similar FOI requests.
In the past some requests for Tramlink working timetables were answered
using information voluntarily provided by FirstGroup at the request of
TfL. However, FirstGroup have reviewed their position and have decided
that disclosure could be detrimental to their commercial interests and
have advised that they will not supply TfL with copies of the Working
Timetable. Bus working timetables are held by TfL and are therefore
subject to the FOI Act.

 

The panel upholds the decision to refuse your request on the basis that
the Tramlink Working Timetable is not held by, or on behalf of TfL.

 

The panel has noted a number of ways in which our response to your request
could have been better. Our initial response sent on 22 April 2014 should
have made clear that Working Timetables were not held by TfL. Furthermore,
your email of 19 May 2014 should have been treated as a request for a
review of the response we had sent to you earlier that day. It is
unfortunate that our response sent on 8 July 2014 caused further confusion
by erroneously referring to s43(2). Please accept our apologies for the
inconvenience caused.

 

I hope this information is of assistance. If you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of this internal review, you can refer the matter to the
independent authority responsible for enforcing the Freedom of Information
Act at the following address.

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

A complaint form is available on the ICO’s website ([1]www.ico.gov.uk).

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Simon Guild   

Information Access Manager

[2][TfL request email]

 

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References

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1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[TfL request email]
3. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/