Wednesday, 13 May 2015

New Completion date for 600 New Routemasters revealed

The original plan for the New Bus for London (yes their original name) rollout was to have 600 vehicles deployed by April 2016, but the the Surface Transport Panelhas revealed on their 2015/16 Surface Plan and Update on Performance Targets paper that their target for 600 New Routemasters has been moved forward to 31stOctober 2015.
What is also interesting is that their 2015/2016 budget is £110 million for the New Routemaster vehicle purchase which includes the extra 200 vehicles.
The completion date for the total of 800 New Routemasters is by March 2016. The Estimated Final Cost for the New Routemaster project is £286 Million. I will emphasise again that the project is nearly £300 million! The original cost for the project, with the fleet of 600 buses was £224 million.
The order for the extra 200 buses, which brings the total to 800, started in October 2014. The reason why they want to order them is because TFL board members were advised to remain on target to achieve the Mayors 2020 vision of 2,000 vehicles. But TFL haven't made a decision to order an extra 1,000 New Routemaster vehicles as other manufactures are planning their own double decks with NRM features.
I found from Bus Lists on the Web on the New Bus for London list page that it revealed that the NBfL Durability Vehicle is listed. Their chassis number isSA9DDRXXX14141266 and their body number is AH 529. The notes column says NBfL durability trial vehicle. Wright show as model DD2D. There is no full explanation on what the initials DD2D means? Enthusiasts reported the initials stand for Double Deck 2 door which would mean that the New Routemaster will be two door.
According to the TFLs Surface Transport Panel Managing Directors Report, on Paragraph 3.1.10 it states
We plan to roll out 800 New Routemasters by 2016 including 200 negotiated at a lower unit price with manufacturer Wrightbus. All additional vehicles will benefit from the more expensive and lower emission Euro VI engine, an enhanced wheelchair ramp and rear door modifications.
It's probable that the extra 200 New Routemasters are going to have two doors, but I dont know if its going to be at the front and rear like a Volvo Alisa V3 or at the front and middle like the conventional buses have in London. It will be interesting to see what the extra 200 NRMs will feature.
If anyone knows about the NBfL Durability Vehicle please let me know in the comments section below.
By June 2015, Route 73 will be served by New Routemasters which means that the roll out will reach 500 vehicles. But it's unusual that the route already has Hybrid buses and is being replaced by another hybrid type which is the New Routemaster.

In other news there will be more hybrid buses, but the individual bus operating companies order the buses themselves instead of TFL. The operator buys them under new contract which TFL requires them to operate the route with hybrid buses. There is no mention on how much the hybrids cost as it brought and paid for by the private operating companies contracted to London Buses.
So here is the quick list of the routes which will be served by hybrid buses as reported from London Bus Routes.
Route
Operator
Bus type
Commences on
78
Arriva London
unknown
14th November 2015
135
Go Ahead Docklands Buses
Volvo B5LH/E400MMC
23rd May 2015
177
Stagecoach London
Volvo B5LH/E400MMC
30th May 2015
285
London United
Volvo B5LH/Gemini 3
27th June 2015
295
Metroline (West)
unknown
31st October 2015

It also mentions that Route 6 (operated by Metroline) will get a partial allocation of hybrids (Volvo B5LH/Gemini 3) which were originally ordered for routes 245 and 460.
By 5th September 2015, Route 312 will have single deck electric buses operated by Arriva London. I think TFL should move on to purchasing electric buses because hybrids need to use diesel which do emit emissions and is still harmful to the public, so it will be interesting to see the future of the London Bus fleet turning into low emission and no emission buses.
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Also see:
Board Papers:
New Bus for London Roll Out (20th September 2012)
200 New Routemasters (5th November 2014)
Managing Directors Report (13th May 2013)
Image Attribution
"York Way bus stand, Kings Cross, 26 April 2014 (2)" by Au Morandarte from London, Middlesex, England - The Two Halves of the 10. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:York_Way_bus_stand,_Kings_Cross,_26_April_2014_(2).jpg#/media/File:York_Way_bus_stand,_Kings_Cross,_26_April_2014_(2).jpg

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