TfL to push forward their zero-emission bus fleet plan to 2030

I’ve been looking through the board papers on the TfL website, and at the recent papers which were published for the July 29 meeting. I discovered that there are plans to accelerate the zero-emission bus fleet plan, also known as MTS (Mayor Transport Strategy) to 2030 in order to achieve the ambition of making London Transport carbon neutral.

The extracts from the board papers:

Mid-July 2020 Tender awards: London Bus route 69 to be served with double deck electric buses

TfL have recently announced new London Bus tender awards for mid-July 2020.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

TfL resume New Routemaster conversion to front door only boarding and the launch of Enviro400EV City for West Midlands

The fares for London buses have now been fully restored and TfL mentioned in their press release that they are finishing off converting the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemasters to front-door only boarding.

London Bus Tender Awards for June 2020 and Rear Door Modification for New Routemaster Buses

The new London Bus tender awards have been announced and only three routes will be getting new electric buses; they are routes 184, 484 and 616.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Front door boarding reinstated on London Buses

Since the number of Coronavirus cases in the UK are falling and lockdown measures are easing, TfL have drawn up plans to reinstate front door boarding to increase revenue, whilst also imposing limits on the number of passengers using the bus.

Extracts from the TfL press release

Analysis by UCL (University College London) has found that safety improvements made to screens by TfL has made it possible to return to front-door boarding along with collaborative work with UNITE and bus operators

Covid19: TfL start to restore fare payments on London buses (including list of routes)

TfL has recently announced that they are restoring fare payments on London buses as part of the funding and financing package provided by the UK Government to keep London Transport services running.

From TfL Press release

Transport for London (TfL) announced today that it will begin the phased re-introduction of the requirement for passengers to touch in on buses with their contactless, Oyster or concessionary card, starting with routes served by single-door and New Routemaster buses.

From Saturday 23 May, customers on 85 routes, served by more than 1,200 of these buses, will need to touch in on the card reader by the doors as they board.

This is the first step to returning all of London's buses to being able to accept payments once further safety measures have been introduced to protect bus drivers.

The requirement to touch in will follow on more routes over the coming weeks, with announcements and signage in place on bus doors to inform passengers of the requirement.