An update on the
hybrid bus scene in London.
From
LOTS
1)
CT Plus now has about half of its new
E400H-City buses and the first
(2501) entered service on route 26 on 10th June. Delivery began in the past week of the batch
of E400H-MMCs (batch 12365-400) for
Stagecoach Selkent route 53.
2)
The current Volvo hybrids at Plumstead
are to stay there and thus more
routes (eg the 51) will gain hybrid buses and diesel E400s are to move to
Romford. Delivery has also started of the final batch of LTs from the original
order (batch LT789-811) due for Metroline
route 189 and a small pvr increase
on route 16.
So the all new Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City, which
is bought by CT Plus is entering service early on route 26. A photo has emerged of the Enviro400H City buses
lined up in CT Plus’s Ash Grove (HK) garage which will shortly commence service
on the route.
The Enviro400H City
uses designs based on the New Routemaster, such as the glazed staircase and the
Enviro200 MMC.
We will soon be seeing
the end of the 3 door 2 staircase hybrid bus called the New Routemaster, but
there’s no news update on the final 195 New Routemasters. If the previous London
Mayor, Boris Johnson hadn't of ordered the final batch to make the fleet up to
1,000 then Route 189 would have been the last route to convert to New
Routemaster. We may see the final route being converted to New Routemasters by
mid 2017. With the shortened New Routemaster (ST), there’s no update and I
believe they will be mixed with the final batch from the final orders.
I’m aware of the
window openings being installed on New Routemaster buses and they will be
completed by September 2016.
At the moment there’s
no new meetings of the TFL Board and Surface Transport panel this month, so we'll have
to wait until mid July to see their latest board papers.
Thankfully
the New Routemaster designs have their own successor which is the Son of Routemaster (SRM),
the new model uses a Volvo B5LH chassis and it has 2 doors and 1 staircase. The
deliveries are very slow but six of these are due to appear on route 13 by
September 2016. The SRM’s will be bought by the private operating companies
upon new route tenders instead of directly by TfL.
That’s the update on
the hybrid bus; for more information on the next hybrid bus conversion, check
out my previous article here.
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Image Attribution
James Prince https://flic.kr/p/HjxwyD
