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Thursday, May 29, 2025

25 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in May 2025

1. Last year 712 trips and falls were reported on the stairs of buses in London, of which 52% led to a minor injury and 3% led to a serious injury.
2. The paint codes used to coat the exterior of tube rolling stock are RAL 3020 (Traffic red), RAL 9002 (Grey White) and RAL 5002 (Ultramarine Blue).
3. Since the launch of the ULEZ, more Penalty Charge Notices have been issued to drivers living outside London (4 million) than inside London (3½ million).
4. Last year the tube stations with the most reported injuries on escalators were Waterloo (116), Kings Cross (101) and London Bridge (91). In total there were 1521 injuries of which 33 were major.
5. Of the 18,038 bus stops across London, 93.79% are deemed accessible. This relates to the raised height of the kerb in relation to the floor of the bus.
6. Aboard new buses, in addition to wheelchair users and priority seat occupants, a minimum of 51% of seated customers must have an unobscured view to at least one digital screen.
7. Last year 13,263 ULEZ Penalty Charge Notices were cancelled after the vehicles were identified as having cloned plates.
8. Last year TfL issued 253 permits to film or take photographs on the network, including 52 on the Underground and 2 on the cablecar. The majority of permits applied to roads and buses.
9. Last year TfL spent £22,093.35 on name badges. Each badge costs £4.50 with a pin/clip or £2.50 with a magnet. There is no additional cost for adding pronouns.
10. Since the start of 2024 bus drivers on route 17 received more passenger commendations than on any other route. In second place was route 1 and in third place route 111.
11. Within the 'Legible London' wayfinding scheme, maps and signs assume a walking speed of 1.3 metres per second.
12. Regarding street lighting, TfL are responsible for a total of 34,862 lighting points.
13. During the six months since bus routes W12, W13 and W14 were restructured, route W12 averaged 3900 passengers per day, route W13 2900 passengers and route W14 just 280.
14. During the year 2023/24, 130 lost smart watches were found on buses, 112 on the Underground, 6 on the Overground and one on the cablecar.
15. 58% of bus fare payers use contactless, 41% use Oyster and less than 1% use paper tickets (these are mostly one day Travelcards).
16. The axonometric diagram for newly-step-free Knightsbridge station is availablehere.
17. No passengers have been prosecuted for vaping on buses because vaping is not included in the current legislation that would allow for prosecution.
18. In the last six years no prosecutions have been brought by TfL under 'Using Instrument to Produce or Reproduce Sound' within the Railway Byelaws.
19. The three Elizabeth line ticket offices which sold the fewest tickets last year were Acton Main Line (3343), Hanwell (3410) and Maryland (4882).
20. On the Overground the least used ticket office last year was Caledonian Road and Barnsbury with 25 sales, followed by South Hampstead with 91 and Brondesbury Park with 151. 15 ticket offices sold on average less than one ticket a day. I've made this map to show 2024 ticket sales.
21. On digital bus blinds, the screen displaying the route number on the front or rear of the bus should have minimum dimensions of 450mm x 330mm.
22. In its first year of operation 7,326,963 passengers rode Superloop route SL8. During the previous twelve months, when the same route was numbered 607, total passenger numbers were 6,340,632.
23. 92 million Oyster cards have not been used in the last 12 months, with a combined total unspent balance of £268m.
24. Reducing the frequency of route G1 from four buses an hour to three is expected to save over £700,000 per annum.
25. In the last financial year, the estimated level of fare evasion on the London Underground was 4.8%. This compares with 4.7% on the DLR, 3.3% on the Overground, 2.6% on buses and 7.2% on trams.

Posted 08:00: London's Natural Landscape Hierarchy National Parks none National Nature Reserves

• Richmond Park: Charles I's royal hunting park, an enormous roamable oasis of ancient woods and wide-open grasslands, perhaps best known for its historic herds of deer but also home to a multitude of birds, fungi, wildflowers and looping cyclists. Also a European Special Area of Conservation and listed at Grade I on Historic England's Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [2500 acres]
• Ruislip Woods: The largest block of ancient, semi-natural woodland in Greater London, including one of the most extensive oak/hornbeam coppice woods in southeast England. The UK's first urban NNR, designated in 1997. Busier near Ruislip Lido, blissfully quiet out west. [755 acres]
• South London Downs: An arc of dense woodland and chalk grassland, designated in 2019, stretching from Coulsdon to Sanderstead via Farthing Downs, Happy Valley, Kenley and Riddlesdown. London Loop section 5 threads though most of the NNR so if you've ever walked that you'll know how upliftingly gorgeous it is. [1030 acres]

National Nature Reserves within 10 miles of London [map N] [map S]

• Ashstead Common (Surrey) [495 acres]
• Broxbourne Woods (Herts) [590 acres]
• Burnham Beeches (Bucks) [540 acres]
• Chobham Common (Surrey) [1620 acres]
• Swanscombe Skull Site (Kent) [10 acres]

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (map) The NNR SSSIs

• Richmond Park
• Ruislip Woods
• Old Park Wood
• Croham Hurst
• Farthing Downs & Happy Valley
• Keston And Hayes Commons
• Riddlesdown

The grassy SSSIs

• Bentley Priory
• Bushy Park and Home Park
• Downe Bank and High Elms
• Frays Farm Meadows
• Saltbox Hill
• Syon Park
• Wimbledon Common

The woody SSSIs

• Crofton Woods
• Denham Lock Wood
• Epping Forest
• Hainault Forest
• Hampstead Heath Woods
• Oxleas Woodlands

The geological SSSIs

• Abbey Wood
• Elmstead Pit
• Gilbert's Pit
• Harefield Pit
• Harrow Weald
• Hornchurch Cutting
• Wansunt Pit

The birdy SSSIs

• Barn Elms Wetland Centre
• Brent Reservoir
• Chingford Reservoirs
• Kempton Park Reservoirs
• Mid Colne Valley
• Ruxley Gravel Pits
• Walthamstow Reservoirs

The marshy SSSIs

• Ingrebourne Marshes
• Inner Thames Marshes
• Walthamstow Marshes

Local Nature Reserves There are 154 of these, from Abney Park Cemetery to Yeading Woods. You can see a DEFRA database here, a Wikipedia listhere and a maphere (the local nature reserves are in blue). The map works outside London too. Tower Hamlets' local nature reserves are Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Mudchute Park and Ackroyd Drive. Merton has the most local nature reserves (15), followed by Kingston (12), Sutton (11) and Ealing (10). Seven boroughs have only one local nature reserve, and Newham and Kensington & Chelsea have none. London's largest local nature reserve is the Ingrebourne Valley (362 acres) and smallest is Burnt Ash Pond (0.3 acres). 13 reserves are inaccessible to the public and six only open at limited times. Four are islands, four are cemeteries and at least eight are on former railway land. 9% of England's local nature reserves are in London.

Posted 07:00:Wednesday, May 28, 2025 Back in January I spotted an original 40 year-old poster at Leytonstone station. It was from January 1985 advertising the new Capitalcard and had been unexpectedly uncovered after an untimely rip. "I hope someone preserves it," I wrote, and what do you know they have! It now has a secure glass frame across the front and also one of the London Transport Museum's blue heritage posters alongside. This is a bespoke poster, specially devised for this location, showing three examples of what a Capitalcard used to look like. Further along the southbound platform are three more blue heritage posters showing fare adverts from the 1980s. I'll only show you two, so as not to ruin all the delight if you go to Leytonstone and look. But how wonderful that sometimes creative cogs whirr and the unexpected is preserved, adding a splash of delight where you least expect it.

Posted 08:00:4545 Squared 19) MARWOOD SQUARE, N10 Borough of Haringey, 120m×90m I'm trying to visit a Square in each of London's boroughs during the course of this year-long project, and by coming to Haringey I'm now halfway through the list. Today's Square lies just north of Highgate Wood on the edge of Muswell Hill, immediately opposite what used to be Cranley Gardens station. It's a relatively new square with old bits, and occupies the final site of a former hospital that started out in Moorfields. And just to confuse things the housing development is called Woodside Square but the road that threads through it (and thus everyone's address) is Marwood Square instead. St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics was founded in 1751 and was London's second asylum for the mentally ill, targeting patients who might be curable rather than locked away for ever. Its main premises were on Old Street, roughly where Aldi and Argos are today, but were sold off to the Bank of England in 1916 who used it for the printing of banknotes. In the 1920s the hospital's governors bought up land on Woodside Avenue for the construction of a 50-bed facility for treating mental disorders called the Woodside Nerve Hospital, later St Luke's Woodside Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders. Three existing Edwardian mansion blocks were repurposed for staff use and are still present on site. But everything else was demolished after the hospital closed in 2010 and the site then sold to a housing developer who replaced it with a loop of upmarket townhouses, which'd be Marwood Square. It's a private development so wandering in is discouraged, and if you're driving it's strictly clockwise only. But follow the tiled road past the heritage frontage and you find yourself in a very modern estate comprising densely-packed blocks of flats and townhouses. They have a very contemporary aesthetic, all redbrick and timber with just enough irregularity to soften the overall vibe. The townhouses are particularly substantial, assuming you don't want a decent sized garden or indeed anything more out front than a scrap of shrubbery. They came Highly Commended in the Development of the Year (More Than 100 Homes) category of the Sunday Times British Homes Awards in 2018, thus as you can guess they don't come cheap. And therein lies the sadder and greedier side of this story. When certain older Haringey residents found out that the hospital site was to be redeveloped they decided to work together with the planning process to promote the concept of co-housing. This is where the elderly choose to live in close proximity rather than move into a retirement home, supporting each other and sharing key facilities like laundry, thereby keeping costs down. It's been done successfully elsewhere in London and the hope was to follow that example and integrate co-housing into one corner of Woodside Square. Dozens of people expressed an interest, even setting up their own blog to explain the potential benefits and encourage others. 2013: Cohousing Woodside met again on Sunday March 17 and welcomed around a dozen visitors who came for the first time to enquire into the project and have supper with us. In an informal get-together it became clear that most were looking both to downsize and to find congenial neighbours and a sense of community. A number said that this would be their final move and last home if they join us. They succeeded in getting a communal 'Common House' incorporated into the design with space for meetings and food preparation, also the provision of tiny allotment strips in raised beds. They debated how best to set up a car share scheme and strongly supported the developers with their planning application. But when it was finally revealed how much each flat would cost they got a shock - it was a third more than expected - and most of the group realised they could never afford the flat and the service charge. 2016: As the number of members dropped, the apportioned cost of our Common House became correspondingly more expensive for those that held fast. Reluctantly the residual membership recognised that Cohousing Woodside was no longer a viable venture. By July only one member had reserved a flat on the site where we had hoped to establish our community. We have all gained from the experience of working towards our cohousing goal and regret that we have been priced out of achieving it. So was utopia dashed. A wealthier group of over 55s moved in and the Common House became a hireable meeting space rather than a daily focus. At present it's yoga on Tuesdays, gardening on Wednesdays, bridge on Thursdays and art on Fridays, plus a library that only opens once a month. Meanwhile at the other end of the development one of the 4-bed townhouses is currently on the market for over £2m, which to be fair is also the going rate for one of the Edwardian terraces on the avenue round the back. It does feel wrong that a prime development site on former NHS land has ended up this way, but that's 2013 land sales for you. Reassuringly the former care home across the street is currently being redeveloped into '32 council homes and 9 private sale homes' as Haringey council now have a better grip on housing tenure hereabouts. But Woodside Square stands as testament to profit-focused acquisition, most definitely somewhere nice to live but a dream snuffed out all the same.

Posted 07:00:Tuesday, May 27, 2025 London Football Update It's been an excellent yet disappointing season in London football, but mostly excellent. Premier League 2024-25

2nd	Arsenal
4th	Chelsea
10th	Brentford
11th	Fulham
12th	Crystal Palace
14th	West Ham United
17th	Tottenham Hotspur

It's been a disastrous season for Arsenal who were merely the top performing London team, ten points adrift of Liverpool who were Premier League champions. Second place is a disastrously uncelebratable position and there was much rending of shirts. Arsenal were also the top performing London club in the Champions League, outstaying Aston Villa's run in the competition, but going out in the semi-finals is heartbreakingly calamitous and absolutely nobody was pleased. Second place in the Premiership does of course mean Champions League qualification for next season but past form suggests only near-excellence which will undoubtedly be utterly disappointing for everyone concerned. Chelsea had an excellent year, ending the season two places higher than last year and qualifying for Europe and everyone was very proud. Brentford had an excellent year, ending the season six places higher than last year and everyone was very proud. Fulham had an excellent year, ending the season two places higher than last year and everyone was very proud. Crystal Palace had a seriously excellent year, winning the actual FA Cup for the first time in the team's history. They were also the first south London team to win the FA Cup since 1988, plus they qualify for the Europa League next year, also they held a big open-topped parade through Selhurst yesterday while waving the silverware from the top of a bus and everyone was unutterably proud. West Ham had an excellent year, winning no great honours but finishing comfortably mid-table so the money rolls in again next year and everyone was very proud. Tottenham had an excellent year, sinking embarrassingly to only one place above relegation but utterly redeeming that by winning the Europa League, the actual UEFA Cup as it once was, which wipes the floor with any domestic achievement and finally sticks silverware back in the trophy cupboard and everyone was very proud. Championship 2024-25

8th	Millwall
15th	QPR

Millwall had an excellent year, ending the season five places higher than last year and everyone was very proud. QPR had an excellent year, ending the season three places higher than last year and everyone was very proud. League One 2024-25

4th (P)	Charlton Athletic
6th	Leyton Orient

Charlton Athletic had an excellent year, ending the season twelve places higher than last year, thus earning a play-off place, then winning the play-off final at Wembley at the weekend and gaining promotion back to the Championship for the first time since 2020. This also means local derbies against Millwall are back on the cards, we hate Millwall and we hate Millwall, and everyone was very proud. Leyton Orient had an excellent year, ending the season five places higher than last year, thus earning a play-off place. Admittedly they didn't win the play-off final at Wembley at the weekend but they came second, plus they weren't losing for the first thirty minutes of the game so the fans could still dream of glory, and OK it all ended in heartbreak and tears but hey there's always next year and everyone was very proud. League Two 2024-25

5th (P)	AFC Wimbledon
11th	Bromley

AFC Wimbledon had an excellent year, ending the season five places higher than last year, earning a play-off place, then actually winning the play-off final at Wembley yesterday and gaining promotion back to League One for the first time since 2022. This could potentially lead to their highest ever League position next season, plus they will 100% definitely finish higher than the scum at Milton Keynes Dons in 2025/26 so everyone is currently exuberantly proud. Bromley had an excellent year, spending their very first year in the Football League and cementing their credentials with a creditably mid-table finish which is their best ever position and everyone was very proud. Generate your own 90s page here!