"Stagecoach 12139 on Route 15, Charing Cross" by Au Morandarte - Flickr: Stagecoach 12139 on Route 15, Charing Cross. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Transport for London have confirmed that Route 15 will be converting to New
Routemaster buses; in fact they already have hybrid buses in service.
Their press release
Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that the next bus routes to
be served entirely by New Routemaster buses will be the 55 and the 15.
A phased conversion of route 55, which is operated by Stagecoach, is
underway and will be completed by the end of the month. The route runs between
Oxford Circus and Leyton via Tottenham Court Road Station, Old Street,
Shoreditch High Street, Cambridge Heath, Hackney Central and Clapton.
During peak hours, 34 of these state of the art buses will be in passenger service
to carry the 27,000 people who travel on the route each week day.
Route N55, which runs from Oxford Circus to Woodford Wells via Bloomsbury,
Clerkenwell, Old Street, Shoreditch High Street, Cambridge Heath, Hackney
Central, Clapton, Leyton (Bakers Arms), Wanstead, South Woodford and Woodford
Green is also being converted to New Routemaster buses.
Route 15 will begin its phased conversion at the beginning of February and
will be entirely with New Routemaster buses by the end of the month. The route,
which is also operated by Stagecoach, runs from Trafalgar Square to Blackwall
DLR via Aldwych, St Paul's, Mansion House, Cannon St, Monument, Tower Hill,
Aldgate, Aldgate East and Limehouse DLR.
During peak hours, 22 of these state of the art buses will be in passenger
service to carry the 14,500 people who travel on the route each week day.
Both routes will operate with the rear platform closed when the bus is
moving, with large numbers of passengers able to quickly board and alight using
all three sets of doors and two staircases at bus stops.
Every London bus route is different and as these buses are rolled out
across the capital TfL will consider the best possible operating arrangements
on a route by route basis. As the Mayor has previously made clear, there will
not be a requirement to have a conductor on every bus at all times. New
Routemasters already operate without a conductor on routes 8, 9, 137, 148 and
453.
To date, ten bus routes in London are being served by more than 300 New
Routemasters. The conversion of routes 55 and 15 will see the 400th New
Routemaster bus enter passenger service - marking the half-way point to the
delivery of 800 of New Routemasters on London's streets by 2016, reducing CO2
emissions in the capital by around 27,500 tonnes a year. All New Routemasters
now entering service will operate with ultra low emission Euro VI engines. New
Routemaster buses also deliver significant fuel savings with new buses on the
first 6 routes that were converted delivering almost 50 per cent better fuel
economy that the buses that they replaced.
The introduction of New Routemaster buses is part of a comprehensive
programme to reduce emissions from London's bus fleet which includes 1,700
hybrids on the street by 2016, accelerating the introduction of ultra low
emission Euro VI buses and retrofitting 1,800 older buses to reduce their NOx
emissions by up to 88 per cent.
There is no mention of the night service N15 converting to New Routemasters
because most of the service operates from Barking Garage (BK).
This will be the second time that the Routemasters from 15H will run
parallel with the New Routemaster bus, however, this time the Route 15 New
Routemasters will not have a second crew member. If you want to jump on and off
between stops in the City of London, the 15H will still be operating because
the 2nd crew member is retained. Route 55 will not have 2nd
crew members on the route though.
Route 15 already has hybrid buses which are the Alexander Dennis
Enviro400 Hybrid's, which have been in service since 2012. The only
difference being is the upgrade from a two door single staircase bus to an open
boarding three door and two staircase bus. On the same note, Route 55 will not
be having 2nd crew members either.
TFL re-released their fuel consumption figures via their new
press release and the figures are identical to the ones originally posted on 2nd
October 2014.
Route 15 had been surveyed without any problems as I originally posted on my previous article titled TFL Plans to have 200 more New Routemasters.
Do you think the Route 15 conversion is ideal to have the New Routemasters?
or maybe you think it's a waste of money and rather pointless because they
already have hybrid buses? Either way, feel free to express your opinions in
the comment section below this article.