More night services for London Buses, but Night Tube is postponed

TFL have just released their consultation update in which they received 3,300 responses from members of the public and 40 responses from Stakeholders.

They have received overwhelming support for extended night bus services which means that TFL will introduce new services in phases.

More New Routemasters for Route 88 and 16, plus more news…

Yes, you see the new rear door layout, it's no longer a 'hop on, hop off' bus.

I have a lot to cover on the New Routemaster in this article, so here we go…

News on London Buses Route 88 and 16 and more route conversions

LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) have issued a report detailing their latest news:

Deliveries of new LTs (batches 478-487 and 501-516) to London General for route 88 (pvr 24) are now well under way and entry of the first few into service is imminent.  The LTs (batch 543-563) for Metroline route 16 (pvr 18) should not be far behind for service during September. Next after that, to take us up to December, would be the large batches for  Arriva 149 (pvr 38) and Abellio 159 (pvr 34) 

Light Rail systems in London (DLR and Trams)

Transport for London (TfL) currently have two Light Rail systems, the automated light rail which serves the City of London, East London and the Docklands, and the tram system which serves the South of London.

Docklands Light Railway

The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light rail system, it carries almost 140 million passengers (from April 2014 to March 2015 annual report).

London Buses Route 88 to get New Routemasters

The original double deck bus with dual staircases.

Just some quick news as it’s a follow up from my previous article.

According to LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) they reported:

The very first E200MMC to enter service in London was Stagecoach 36601 on the 499 on 30th July. The rest of the batch are all here so should follow soon. Other operators in London (e.g. Metroline, Universitybus and Tower Transit) are continuing to take the ‘classic’ E200 bodies. The first of 26 x LTs  (478) for London General route 88 has just been delivered.

TfL’s Green Bond, so more New Routemasters?

Taking a look at the 1^st July TFL’s Commissioner’s report, I can reveal that TFL has issued a £400 million ‘Green Bond’ fund on 17^th April 2015.

From the 1st July 2015 Commissioners report

Green Bond

On 17 April we successfully issued a £400m Green Bond for 10 years following a series of meetings with investors. The proceeds of the Green Bond will be allocated to projects from five different programmes with various environmental benefits, such as reduced carbon emissions, improved air quality, noise mitigation and others. The project categories include capacity improvements and station upgrades on Rail and Underground, New Routemaster buses

Alexander Dennis and BYD build electric buses for London Buses routes 507 & 521

The front design looks familiar....

Go Ahead London buys 51 all-electric single deck buses manufactured by Alexander Dennis and BYD at a cost of £19 million.

Press release from BYD and Alexander Dennis

BYD and ADL partner to supply Go-Ahead London with capital's first, pure electric bus fleet