In this article I will be concentrating on the cost of the
New Routemaster which includes the cost of converting routes to the full New
Routemaster operation.
You may already know that the New Routemaster was originally
called 'New Bus for London', also abbreviated as NBfL/NB4L and colloquially as
the 'Borisbus' or 'Borismaster', a portmanteau of the name of the Mayor of
London, Boris Johnson.
In 2010, Londonist worked out that the New Routemasters would
cost £1.6 million each. But in late 2011, BBC News reported that the prototypes
cost £1.3 million each. There were original plans to have five prototypes in
service which cost £7.8 million (from Londonist’s figures.) But instead they
brought 8 prototypes which cost a total of £11.3 million which also includes
research and development.
Originally TFL planned to have the smaller batches of
production buses ordered and bought by private bus operators, but instead they
bought it in a block of 600 buses. The first figure was estimated to be £160
million but Londonist estimated that it cost £266,000 each. The second figure
is from BBC News where their figure is estimated to be around £180 million.
In 2013, the figure for 600 New Routemasters had increased
towards £212 million. But today the buses cost around £326,000, which is more
expensive than the standard conventional diesel double decker bus. But the
price is competitive to the standard 'off the shelf' hybrid bus because of
extra features like the rear door, rear staircase and the design of the bus.
The average price for the New Routemasters over the life of their contract will be £354,500 which includes inflation, technical upgrades,
mandatory changes and also the legal requirement to fit Euro 6 engines to new
vehicles built in 2014.
Table of routes that converted to New
Routemaster
Route
|
Garage
|
Original bus type
|
PVR
|
Tendered bid/cost per annum
|
Date commenced
|
Total cost of route conversion by PVR
|
Notes
|
38
|
Clapton Pond (CT)
Ash Grove
(AE)
|
Wright Gemini 2 VDL DB300
(DW)
|
68 DW
7 LT
|
£14,850,000
|
First LT entered on 27th
February 2012, the last 8th prototype entered on 13th
July 2012.
|
8 prototypes cost £11.3 million
|
The first route where prototype LT’s
operate as supplementary to the main 38 route between Victoria to Hackney
Central.
|
24
|
Holloway (AE)
|
Wright Gemini 2 Volvo B9TL (VW)
Wright Gemini 2 Volvo B5L Hybrid (VWH)
|
27
5 at night
|
£6,480,595
|
22nd June 2013
|
£9,571,500
|
Mid contract conversion.
|
11
|
Stockwell (SW)
|
Wright Eclipse Gemini Volvo B7TL
(WVL)
|
25
|
£5,975,000
|
21st September 2013
|
£8,862,500
|
Mid contract conversion. Not available
on route N11
|
9
|
Stamford Brook (V)
|
East Lancs Myllennium Vyking Volvo B7TL
(VLE)
|
22
|
£5,500,000
|
26th October 2013
|
£7,799,000
|
Mid contract conversion. The
supplementary 9H operated by Heritage Routemasters was withdrawn on 25th
July 2014. Also not available on route N9.
|
390
|
Holloway (AE)
|
Plaxton President Volvo B7TL (VPL)
|
20
3 at night
|
£4,723,256
|
7th December 2013
|
£7,090,000
|
Mid contract conversion
|
148
|
Shepherd's Bush (S)
|
Scania OmniCity (SP)
|
25
5 at night
|
£5,453,000
|
15th February 2014
|
£8,862,500
|
Mid contract conversion, first route to
have LT’s in One person operation.
|
10
|
Stamford Brook (V)
|
Scania OmniCity (SP)
|
23
4 at night
|
£5,409,000
|
26th April 2014
|
£8,153,500
|
Mid contract conversion
|
38
N38
|
Clapton Pond (CT)
Ash Grove
(AE)
|
Wright Gemini 2 VDL DB300
(DW)
|
55 (CT)
5 (AE)
26 at night
|
£14,850,000
|
10th May 2014
|
£19,497,500
|
Mid contract, full conversion to
production LT’s whilst the remaining prototypes operate from AE Garage.
|
8
N8
|
Bow (BW)
|
ALX400 Dennis Trident
|
30
19 at night
|
Unavailable
|
28th June 2014
|
£10,635,000
|
New contract
|
453
|
Mandela Way (MW)
|
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 (E)
|
35
11 at night
|
£7,651,860
|
4th October 2014?
|
£12,407,500
|
Mid contract negotiation
|
55
N55
|
Leyton (T)
|
ALX400 Dennis Trident
Alexander Dennis Enviro400
|
34
11 at night
|
Unavailable
|
28th February 2015
|
£12,053,000
|
New contract, PVR increase from 30
buses.
|
The total cost of converting the routes to the New
Routemaster as listed on the table is £116,232,000 which also includes
prototypes.
Notes:
The £354,500 figure is estimated per bus for the full
contract period, the total cost does not include spares so the actual figure
might not be accurate. This does not
include the PVR for night services.
PVR stands for Peak Vehicle Requirement, it means the number of public transport vehicles required to operate the highest frequency service on a route in public transport planning.
PVR stands for Peak Vehicle Requirement, it means the number of public transport vehicles required to operate the highest frequency service on a route in public transport planning.
There may be future routes yet to be announced, but I've only
listed the routes that are currently operating, whilst routes 453 and 55 are
not converted to New Routemasters.
When TFL converted Routes 24 and 11 to the New Routemaster,
they had been promoting the services by 'door drop mailing' a postcard of the
New Routemaster. Then they promoted the services by issuing posters to
commercial sites that they had access to.
The full cost of promoting the New Routemaster is as follows:
Media - £97,147
Design, print and production - £62,699
Total: £159,846
Design, print and production - £62,699
Total: £159,846
If you think it’s a waste of money or even value for money
for London, then post a comment below and let me know.
Also don't forget to follow me on Twitter to keep updated with my latest articles from my website.
Comparing
the New Double deck bus types
Also don't forget to follow me on Twitter to keep updated with my latest articles from my website.
Related New
Routemaster Articles
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TFL Plans
to have 200 more New Routemasters
References:
From What Do They Know:
Answers from Mayor’s question time
about the New Routemaster: