Zip Trip mobile app information

Summary

A request for information regarding the ZipTrip mobile app usage, costs, and features was partially upheld following an internal review, which found that the Department of Infrastructure incorrectly applied a 'not held' exemption to all questions. The review ordered a re-processing of the request to disclose specific financial data that should have been available in government accounting systems.

Key Facts

• The internal review found it inappropriate to apply the 'information not held' exemption to all elements of the request.
• Costs associated with the Ticketer system were identified as information that should be held in the Government accounting system.
• The original request contained seven questions, but only three were deemed answerable by producing held information.
• The Department of Infrastructure was instructed to provide a completely new response to the request.
• The review noted that early communication to refine questions into 'requests for information held' would have improved the outcome.

Data Disclosed

• 2018-04-24
• 2018-07-09
• 2 July 2018
• 449033
• 15
• 3
• 7
• s11(3)(a)

Exemptions Cited

• s11(3)(a) - the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that the applicant has requested

Original Request

1. How many Isle of Man users have installed the ZipTrip app since it's release on the island for Bus Vannin? 2. How many Isle of Man users use the ZipTrip app on each week? 3. Although the ZipTrip app has been stated as a free Bus app, what is the cost of using and maintaining the Ticketer system each year and other costs associated with it such as the internet on the buses and engineers and project managers used to maintain it. 4. When will the ZipTrip app allow users to purchase tickets through contactless payments? please supply a date? 5. Will the ZipTrip app be able to show Electric Tram, Horse Tram and Steam Train Time Tables? please supply a date? 6. A recent publication on IOM Today website and newspaper, Ray Harmer stated the Zip Trip app would give passengers access to a real-time journey information. Other than the real-time Twitter feed, what information is real-time about the app? The timetables are pre-compiled off-line. Do the buses move on the display in real-time? 7. What does the current ZipTrip app offer that the previous Bus-Man app didn't offer?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: Maggie Farmer Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: foi.doi@gov.im

Our ref: 449033 2 July 2018

Dear ### I am writing further to your request for an internal review of the Department of Infrastructure’s response to your request under the Freedom of Information Act.
Having not been involved in the original request, I carried out the internal review. Is the Internal Review request adequate?
Your internal review request appears to be adequate, although it does include a new question “What further government departments and outside contractors have been involved in the installation and maintenance of the system which is running on the Isle of Man Bus fleet”. This is out of scope of this review and will be disregarded. In addition, when a new response to the original request is requested, the author will be advised not to include this question with the original seven. You do however, have the right to submit a new request at any time. This is an opportune point to clarify that an FOI request is ‘a request for information held’ and not a medium for asking questions (these can always be dealt with as business as usual by an approach to the appropriate Division of the Department).
Your original request took the form of 7 questions, only 3 of which could be answered by the production of information which is held, or may reasonably be expected to be held. The majority of your questions would require officers to respond based on their pre-existing knowledge which is not within the remit of the Act. However, this review concentrates solely on the quality and accuracy of the original response.

Summary and findings Your request was dealt with well within the required timescales. No clarification was sought from you. I find that an early communication with you to better refine your questions into ‘requests for information held’ may have assisted in providing a better outcome to your request. You were not provided with any of the information you requested; a practical refusal reason was applied - s11(3)(a) ‘the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that the applicant has requested’. I find that this was an accurately applied exemption for some elements of your request. I find that it was inappropriate to apply this exemption to all elements of your request. Alternative exemptions were proposed by the Division, but not pursued.
For example, the costs associated with the Ticketer system could be expected to be held in the Government accounting system. If this information is not to be disclosed, it will require a different exemption(s) and any associated prejudice and/or public interest tests. I find that the reasons given for the refusal could have included a more expansive explanation of the reasons why the information was not held or was not being disclosed. Again, some additional information was provided by officers but not included in the response. You were advised of the internal review process and your right of appeal to the Information Commissioner. Decision

The final decision of this review is that it upholds some parts of your complaint. For this reason, I have asked the owning Division to re-process your request and provide a completely new response, taking into account the feedback from the internal review.
You will receive the new response separately. In the meantime, if you have any queries regarding this review, or when you receive the new response, please do not hesitate to contact me direct and I would be happy to discuss it with you in greater depth.

If you are not satisfied with the result of this review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision.

More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. Yours sincerely

Maggie Farmer PCdp FOI Co-ordinator

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: FOI Co-ordinator Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: foi.doi@gov.im

Our ref: 449033 9 July 2018

We write further to your request which was received on 24 April 2018 and which stated:

"1. How many Isle of Man users have installed the ZipTrip app since it's release on the island for Bus Vannin? 2. How many Isle of Man users use the ZipTrip app on each week? 3. Although the ZipTrip app has been stated as a free Bus app, what is the cost of using and maintaining the Ticketer system each year and other costs associated with it such as the internet on the buses and engineers and project managers used to maintain it. 4. When will the ZipTrip app allow users to purchase tickets through contactless payments? please supply a date? 5. Will the ZipTrip app be able to show Electric Tram, Horse Tram and Steam Train Time Tables? please supply a date? 6. A recent publication on IOM Today website and newspaper, Ray Harmer stated the Zip Trip app would give passengers access to a real-time journey information. Other than the real-time Twitter feed, what information is real-time about the app? The timetables are pre-compiled off-line. Do the buses move on the display in real- time? 7. What does the current ZipTrip app offer that the previous Bus-Man app didn't offer?"

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested; the reason(s) and statutory exemption sections are shown as part of the corresponding answer(s) below 1. How many Isle of Man users have installed the ZipTrip app since it's release on the island for Bus Vannin? 2. How many Isle of Man users use the ZipTrip app on each week?

Under s11(2)(b) referring to s11(3)(a) ‘the public authority does not hold… the information that the applicant has requested’, we are unable to answer these two questions.
Because the ZipTrip app is a beta version and its usage has been for test purposes only, the department does not consider usage statistics important at this stage and has never requested them - hence this information is not held. However, in the spirit of offering assistance, you may find the below information regarding use of Traveline (our web based system) to be of interest. These figures are for February, March and April of this year. 2018 Number of journeys researched on Traveline in the month February 18,468 March 21,491 April 22,084 3. Although the ZipTrip app has been stated as a free Bus app, (a) what is the cost of using and maintaining the Ticketer system each year and other costs associated with it such as (b) the internet on the buses and (c) engineers and project managers used to maintain it. (a) With regard to the costs of the Ticketer system, in this instance the information is absolutely exempt under section 26 of the Act, as disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence.
To explain this we attach (as Appendix 1) a redacted extract of the pertinent parts of our contract with Ticketer, showing the clauses which specifically relate to confidentiality. In addition we attach (as Appendix 2) letters from September 2017 when we approached Ticketer to see if they would agree to waive this clause (as part of dealing with an earlier FOI request), at which time they were clear that they would not agree, and set out their clear view that such disclosure would cause them harm in the competitive market place. Signatures and contact details of individuals have been redacted in order to comply with our obligations under current data protection legislation with regard to personal data. (b) The Ticketer system has no connection with the bus WiFi system and does not use it. (c) The department does not employ anybody specifically to maintain Ticketer; maintenance is part of the contract we have with Ticketer. 4. When will the ZipTrip app allow users to purchase tickets through contactless payments? please supply a date? Mobile ticketing is part of the ZipTrip development programme which has not yet been released and no timescale has been announced.

5. Will the ZipTrip app be able to show Electric Tram, Horse Tram and Steam Train Time Tables? please supply a date? The app will be able to show electric trams, horse trams and steam train timetables.
Again, no date has yet been agreed. 6. A recent publication on IOM Today website and newspaper, Ray Harmer stated the Zip Trip app would give passengers access to a real-time journey information. Other than the real-time Twitter feed, what information is real-time about the app? The timetables are pre-compiled off-line. Do the buses move on the display in real- time? The current ZipTrip app shows real time information for the departure of buses from the next stop. The last upgrade to ZipTrip on 26 June put the moving buses on the map with their route numbers, and we anticipate the next upgrade will add the destination. 7. What does the current ZipTrip app offer that the previous Bus-Man app didn't offer? ZipTrip will offer you journey planning Give you your location so you can find your nearest bus stop Use phones, tablets or smart watches to view an instant departure board or track your planned journeys Find your way home with a single tap Explore 3D route maps for all Isle of Man and UK bus routes Save favourite stops, routes and places for easy access We should clarify that ZipTrip is an integral part of the Ticketer offer and we would receive no discount for not taking it. In your request for an internal review you raised two new points: The first one, which is an observation by you was as follows: “Ian Longworth can clearly indicate whether the ZipTrip app can be modified or upgraded for Isle of Man transport”. While this observation was not in your original request (and incidentally is not a request for information held), we are happy to explain that a principle of the Ticketer contract is that when any operator requests an upgrade of any item, it is offered to the other operators at no charge for that upgrade; it is included in the maintenance contract.

The second one was the following question: What further government departments and outside contractors have been involved in the installation and maintenance of the system which is running on the Isle of Man Bus fleet”. This question is additional to your original request and therefore outside the scope of both that request and the internal review, so has not been considered.
However you can always submit a new request if you wish to do so. If you do, would you please bear in mind the advice given in our acknowledgement of your internal review request; that is to change this from a question into a ‘request for information’ as stated in the Act and be specific about the information you are hoping to find.

Please quote the reference number 449033 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and we will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. we will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

FOI Response Team