25 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in October 2026
1) Over 600 buses now have air-conditioning in the passenger saloon, with approximately 700 more on order.
2) The key unresolved issues with digital Oyster wallets are around the user experience to ensure that the right wallet is used by the reader. How this will work needs to be proven before TfL can progress with a digital Oyster proposition.
3) In the last financial year 2395 passengers made a DLR journey from Canary Wharf to West India Quay and 3132 made a journey from West India Quay to Canary Wharf (the UK's shortest rail journey)
4) If you've ever wondered how many times an Overground train passed Hackney Downs in the space of one week, it was 2140 times in June 2019, 2149 times in June 2021 and most recently 2069.
5) The word 'misbehaving' should not be part of an on-train Digital Voice Announcement script nor a pre-recorded station message.
(if you're the reader who read my Unblogged September post and submitted this FoI request, next time perhaps hold back if you don't know all the details)
6) The 13 tube stations categorised as "close to impossible" with regard to step-free access are Arsenal, Barons Court, Cannon Street, Chalk Farm, Charing Cross, Clapham Common, Clapham North, Great Portland Street, Lambeth North, Mansion House, Mile End, Regent's Park and West Ruislip
7) TfL are the owners of 10 reinforced concrete half-joint structures, including Perivale Lane Footbridge, Bexley Golf Course Footbridge, Blackfriars Bridgehead and the Croydon flyover.
8) The bus shelter adjacent to Postal Close, Bexley, is owned by the London borough of Bexley.
9) Plans to boost frequency on the Overground include a) increasing the service between Crystal Palace and Highbury & Islington from 4tph to 6tph (expected May 2027) b) increasing the service between Liverpool Street and Enfield Town/Cheshunt from 2tph to 3tph (expected July 2028) c) increasing the service between Clapham Junction and Dalston Junction from 4tph to 6tph (not before May 2029).
10) TfL can't tell you if your Vauxhall Zafira 7 seater qualifies for Uber (obviously).
11) TfL own the bus garages at Ash Grove, Brixton Tramshed, Brixton Hill, Edgware, Henley Road, Twickenham, Uxbridge, Walworth and West Ham (leasing them to the relevant bus operator).
12) The current plan for introducing the new DLR fleet is that Stratford-Woolwich be 100% operated by new trains by 10th Jan 2027, Bank-Lewisham by 30th May 2027, Bank-Woolwich by 31st October 2027, Tower Gateway-Beckton by 5th March 2028, and Stratford-Lewisham by 16th April 2028. (fully blogged here)
13) Between 5th August and 9th September only seven passenger incidents were recorded on the Underground in the category "Faint/Illness due to heat condition" (at London Bridge, Knightsbridge, Camden Town, High Barnet, Parsons Green, Euston and Clapham South).
14) The cameras on buses are not used to enforce bus lane restrictions, therefore no bus lane Penalty Charge Notices have been issued from evidence recorded by these cameras
15) There are 19159 fire extinguishers on the Underground, 892 on the Overground and 835 on the Elizabeth line.
16) The upholstery on London Underground train seats is vacuumed every 28 days, swept nightly for dust and debris and given a yearly shampoo.
17) The last five special Oyster card issues were the Adidas Oyster collaboration card 2012, The Year of the Bus card 2014, Adidas Arsenal Collaboration card 2022, Elizabeth Line Opening card 2022 and Oyster 20th Anniversary card 2023.
18) Last year the cycle hire docking station that was most often full was Royal Avenue, Chelsea (1400 hours). Last month it was Exhibition Road, South Kensington (87 hours).
19) The TfL advertising estate includes 966 digital escalator panels, 30 escalator ribbons, 238 digital platform edge doors and 4 sites categorised as "Premium iconic". The projector units on tube platforms are in the process of being phased out. There are no digital screens on the tram network.
20) 89 London bus routes include a Hail & Ride section. The lowest numbered of these is the 138. Over half the Hail & Rides are lettered routes. Four of them are school buses.
21) Music is played in a passageway at King’s Cross St Pancras station as part of ‘Music on the Underground’, a program where brands who purchase all the advertising space in the passageway can add music to enhance the customer experience. The music is restricted to Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For example Channel 5 chose Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed.
22) Last year 93,256 holders of 60+ Oyster cards failed to renew their cards in time, 91,174 had their cards stopped, 67,231 reapplied and 59,835 were successful.
23) TfL sent out 4,983,464 emails alerting people that the Silvertown Tunnel would be opening on 7th April 2025, and a further 2,537,146 emails to say that it had opened.
24) Seven refurbished Central line trains have now re-entered service, the seventh of these yesterday. It comprises cars 91319, 92319, 93082, 92082, 93110, 92110, 91339 and 92339.
25) And finally confirmation that the FoI team sometimes go the extra mile...
Q: As a child in 1958, I used to take the bus from The Surrey Tavern, on Trinity Road Wandsworth, to Tooting Bec. How much was the 'half fare' at that time for this distance. The choice of two buses were the No. 19 and the No. 49.
A: Fares for London bus journeys around this period operated on a distance-based system, with children paying half-rate. Colleagues at the London Transport Museum have been able to check a 1960 fare chart for route 19 and the specific journey you cite was one fare stage (0.5 miles) and the child fare would have been 1½d.
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