Dial-a-Ride

If you are a Capital Call member, please see our Capital Call privacy page.

Personal information we hold

In order to use the services provided by Dial-a-Ride you need to become a member. This requires completion of an application form which is used to assess and review your eligibility to use the Dial-a-Ride service and to help us take into account your personal accessibility needs when travelling. The personal information we hold includes:

• Name, address, telephone number (including mobile phone number), email address
• Date of Birth
• Photograph
• Vehicle or ride preferences
• Information relating to your disability, health or long-term condition (e.g. relating to your mobility)
• Information relating to your mobility aids and special travel requirements 
• Proof of your identity (eg driving licence, passport)
• Information relating to your ethnicity (for equal opportunities monitoring purposes: this is optional)
• Emergency contact details
• Taxicard number if you have used this as proof of eligibility
• Any other personal information you supply in your supporting documentation as part of your application to become a Dial-a-Ride member
• Income information relating to benefits or allowances you receive
• Communication preferences
• Enquiries, complaints or other correspondence from you 
• Records of the journeys you have booked with Dial-a-Ride 
• Location information and any comments you provide while booking a ride
• CCTV recorded in our vehicles

If you telephone the Dial-a-Ride customer contact centre, your call will be recorded for training and quality purposes.

Legal basis for using your information

Under data protection legislation, TfL is only allowed to use personal information if we have a proper reason or 'legal basis' to do so. In the case of Dial-a-Ride, there are a number of these legal grounds we rely on, which are:

Our statutory and public functions: 

• To undertake activities to promote and encourage safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services, and to deliver the Mayor's Transport Strategy

Where you have given your consent to TfL, for example: 

• You have asked the contact centre to resolve an issue or complaint for you

Sometimes we also need to collect or store information that is defined as 'special category personal data'. In respect of Dial-a-Ride, this consists of health, disability, mobility or benefits information we collect from you, as well as any race or ethnicity information you choose to provide on your application form.

As before, there are a number of legal grounds we rely on when handling this kind of information, depending on the circumstances, which are:

• Where we have your explicit consent to do so for a particular purpose
• For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
• Where it's necessary for equality of opportunity or treatment

Obtaining and using your information

The personal information we hold is provided by you when you register to become a Dial-a-Ride member.  

TfL and the companies that process personal information on our behalf will use your personal information for the purposes of customer services and administration (including assessing and reviewing your eligibility to receive the Dial-a-Ride service), the provision of door-to-door travel services, customer research and fraud prevention.

Our Dial-a-Ride vehicles are fitted with CCTV cameras. This is to ensure your safety and security while you are travelling with us.

Using your account

In November 2023, we launched a new London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website to improve the accessibility and efficiency of the service, alongside the overall customer experience. For more information, visit the Dial-a-Ride pages on our website.  

The personal information we hold is provided by you when you create an online account via our website or app and register become a Dial-a-Ride member. This includes your names, email address, mobile number and wheelchair accessibility information.

Location information

If you use London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website and have given us permission, we will access your location data (e.g. latitude and longitude) to deliver some of the app features such as to matching you with available drivers and to then track the progress of your rides.

The location data is provided by Apple's Location Services or Google's Location Services (depending on your device's operating system). For more information visit Apple's page on Location Services and Privacy or Google's page on how it uses location information. 

Personal Preferences

You can customise the app or website via personal preferences to enable accessibility features or save your favourites destinations/preferred "home address" or pickup-drop off address when you make ride requests/booking a ride.  

Communication via the app

We collect metadata from communications between you and drivers, including the date, time, and phone numbers involved in calls made through our service provider.

Device Information

We may collect information about the devices and browsers you use to access your online account via London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website. This may include your operating system, browser details., as well as information about the mobile devices you may use to access the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app.

Usage Information

We collect information about how you interact with London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website, including your User Account transactions and automatically collected log data. Usage Information may include, but is not limited to, information about when and how you downloaded London Dial-a-Ride mobile app or created your User Account; your access and login activity; your preferences; your transactions; any alerts or communications we send you in connection with your use of the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app.

Contacting you by email or text message

If you sign up for an online account via our website or app and provide your mobile number or email address, from time to time we will send you travel related information by email or text message.

These service messages contain useful information in relation to your booking, and might include:

• Booking reminder of upcoming trips and updates;
• Bonfirmation of trip booking immediately after its made;   
• Confirmation of any amendments to a trip booking, or cancellation of a trip booking;
• Travel disruption i.e service delays and service itinerary changes;
• Estimated arrival time of the driver for an upcoming trip; 
• Any changes to the estimated arrival time of the driver for an upcoming trip;
• Important changes to Dial-a-Ride service you use / service announcements;
• Changes to terms and conditions of travel.

You can update your communication preference via the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app or website, or by emailing Dial-a-Ride. 

We may send you information from time to time on issues relating to Dial-a-Ride and our other Assisted Transport and public transport services that TfL or London Councils operate in London, such as:

• Welcome pack and information on how to use Dial-a-Ride
• In Touch magazine
• Availability of services at certain times of the year (eg bank holidays)
• Other important updates or changes to Dial-a-Ride
• Information about improvements to Taxicard or mainstream bus services
• Consultations about TfL's plans for accessible travel in London

If you have registered as a Dial-a-Ride Friend, we will send you a regular electronic copy of our In Touch magazine plus any other updates about Dial-a-Ride and related transport services that you might find useful.

Length of time we keep your information

If you are successful in your application to become a Dial-a-Ride member, your paper application form will be retained for one year. We will keep an electronic record of your personal information for as long as you're a member of Dial-a-Ride.

Supporting documentation such as proof of identity and evidence of eligibility will be securely disposed of immediately after your application has been processed onto our system. Unsuccessful applications will be retained for one year.

If you submit any enquiries to Dial-a-Ride either by letter, telephone, email or fax, these will be retained electronically in accordance with TfL's information and records disposal policy. After you stop being a member, we will keep your information including online customer records and trip booking information for up to five years. This is for the following reasons:

• To respond to correspondence, concerns or complaints
• To maintain records according to rules that apply to us
• To establish and defend any legal rights

Keeping personal information secure

We take the privacy of our customers very seriously and a range of robust policies, processes and physical and technical measures are all in place to control and safeguard access to, and use of, personal information associated with TfL's management and operation of the Dial-a-Ride transport service.

We also publish guidance on the steps you can also take to protect your personal information.

Automated processing and profiling

Under data protection legislation we have to let you know when we use your personal information do something 'automatically' using our computers or other systems, or make an automated decision (without human intervention) that significantly affects you.

In the case of Dial-a-Ride, TfL does not make decisions based solely on the use of automated systems, databases or computer applications.

Occasionally TfL may use aggregated or depersonalised Dial-a-Ride information to carry out research and analysis, for example, to assess the usage of our service. We may also use it to identify improvements we might need to make to the service (or other assisted travel options in London) in future. Individuals will not be identified using this information.

Sharing personal information

TfL uses external service providers to assess eligibility for Dial-a-Ride membership, provide a computerised booking and scheduling system, to undertake customer satisfaction surveys, to distribute in-house information about the Dial-a-Ride service and to provide a small proportion of journeys.

If you have a query about your application or use of the Dial-a-Ride services and would like a third party to contact us on your behalf, we will only deal with them with your permission. This is the case even if the person is your carer, partner or spouse, a member of your family, living at the same address as you, or your legal representative.

We may also share your personal information with other public bodies such as your local authority for the purposes of safeguarding and with London Councils, who operate the Taxicard and Freedom Pass Schemes, for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraud and the monitoring and planning of assisted transport provision in London. Any such information sharing will be carried out in accordance with privacy and data protection legislation and with the appropriate written agreements in place.

In some circumstances, disclosures of personal data to the police (and other law enforcement agencies) are permitted by data protection legislation, if they relate to the prevention or detection of crime and/or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. Before any such disclosure takes place, the police are required to demonstrate that the personal data concerned will assist them in this respect. Each police request to TfL is dealt with on a strict case-by-case basis to ensure that any such disclosure is lawful and in accordance with the data protection legislation.

Overseas processing

TfL and its service providers may process your personal information in the UK and authorised countries including those within the European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries recognised by the UK Government as providing equivalent protection for personal information. Any such processing will be carried out in strict accordance with UK privacy legislation and the appropriate contractual safeguards which TfL has put in place.

Your information rights

Under data protection legislation you are entitled to ask to see any personal information that we hold about you. Please see our page on how to access your data and select the option for Dial-a-Ride for further details.

If you use the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and wish to delete your account, you can follow instructions from within the app to submit a request.  

You also have a number of other information rights which include:

• The right to question any information we have about you that you think is wrong or incomplete
• The right to object to how we use your information or to ask us to delete or restrict how we use it.
• In some cases, the right to receive a copy of your information in a format that you can easily re-use
• The right to complain to our Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted by email
• The right to complain to the independent regulator - the Information Commissioner's Office

Changes to this page

It's likely that we'll need to update this statement from time to time, so check back here regularly to find out more. Your continued use of the site will mean that you accept those revisions. This page was last updated in November 2023 to include details of the new website and Dial-a-Ride app.