LOTS
have issued the following news updates regarding London's Buses:
Thursday
3 December
·
New
bus deliveries to London in the past week or so
have included more new E20Ds
(batch SE 268-287) and B5LHs (batch WHV 81-110) for London General. In a change of plan, six of each will now be
allocated to Sutton rather than all going to Merton. In due course it should result in WHVs on the
whole of route 155 and about one quarter of the 93, with SEs on the 164 and part of the 80.
·
The
second and third Enviro400-VE has been delivered to Tower Transit. From the
coming week and subject to availability, two (of the three) are scheduled for
route 69 for the next couple of months at least on Mon to Fri only. One bus works from Walthamstow Central at 0758, 1013, 1325
and back from Canning Town at 0904, 1216*, 1429. The second bus starts at the other end, from
Canning Town at 0800, 1016, 1320* and
from Walthamstow at 0910, 1125, 1430.
(* = departure time after a one
hour break).
·
All
the LTs for Abellio route 159 are now delivered and those for Metroline route
168 are starting to arrive. From the
12th December contract date therefore, the 159 would have a full complement and
the 168 should have a mix of LTs and TEHs.
The same date sees Metroline (PB Garage) take over route 307 from Arriva
using TEs. Other than more LTs, the
next batch of new buses later in December and into January should be the start
of the 21 Volvo B5LH - E400MMCs for Stagecoach route 47.
The
majority of the report is in regard to various routes upgrading to double deck
hybrids, but it's good to see that all the Wrightbus New Routemasters have been
delivered for use on route 159, which commences operation by Abellio on 12th December 2015.
Friday
4 December
1) New TfL Tender
Awards announced today from Tranches 517, 525. 528 and 529. Start dates are
30th April (315), 3rd September (the rest except for the 83/483 on 10th
September. Within these tranches, routes
171/N171, 196, H12, H14 and H17 received two year contract extensions with the
present operators.
·
83/N83 Retained by Metroline West (pvr from 28 to
19) with existing Euro-IV diesel
double-decks. Day route 83 to be shortened (see 483) to run Golders Green-
Alperton Station. The present ’24 hour’ service Golders Green- Ealing Hospital
to be renumbered N83.
·
114 Awarded to Metroline Travel (pvr 17 to
18) with new Euro-VI battery hybrid
double-decks. Currently operated by London Sovereign from Edgware (BT)
Garage.
·
117 Awarded to Metroline Travel (pvr 9) with new Euro-VI flywheel single-decks. Currently with Abellio London from Fulwell
(TF) Garage.
·
140 Retained by Metroline Travel (pvr 28 to 29)
with new Euro-VI battery hybrid double-decks.
·
182 Retained by Metroline Travel (pvr 22 to
23) with new Euro-VI battery hybrid
double-decks.
·
183 Retained by London Sovereign (pvr 22 to
23) with a mix of existing Euro-IV
diesel double-decks and 6 new Euro-VI diesel double-decks.
·
203 Retained by London United (pvr 7) with existing Euro-V diesel single-decks and 1
new Euro-VI diesel single-deck.
·
251 Retained by London Sovereign (pvr 12 to
13) with existing Euro-IV and V diesel
single-decks.
·
315 Retained by G-A London General (pvr 4,
but with a possible increase once the result of a possible route extension (see
TLB611 page 10) is decided. Existing Euro-V diesel single-decks.
·
340 Retained by Arriva the Shires (pvr
9) with new Euro-VI diesel double-decks.
·
398 Retained by London Sovereign (pvr 3) with
existing Euro-IV and V diesel
single-decks.
·
483 New route awarded to Metroline West (pvr
25) with a mix of existing fleet Euro-IV
diesel double-decks and 5 new battery hybrid double-decks. Ealing Hospital
via route 83 to Wembley Hill Road, then via 245 to East Lane and via 182 to
Harrow Bus Station.
·
697 Retained by London United (pvr 4) with
existing Euro-III double-decks.
·
698 Retained by London United (pvr 4) with
existing Euro-III double-decks.
·
H9/H10 Retained by London Sovereign (pvr 15 to 16)
with existing Euro-IV and V diesel
single-decks.
·
H11 Retained by London Sovereign (pvr 7) with
existing Euro-IV and V diesel
single-decks.
Big
news about the hybrids as they are certainly an improvement over 100% diesel
buses. It's worth noting though that these vehicles are just a stepping stone
in combating diesel emissions as they do still emit pollutants. Give it 5 years
and hopefully we'll be seeing a move towards full-on battery-electric buses.
Also,
in other news the UK government has said that it requires all single deck buses
to be low floor and accessible by 2016, New Years Day.
Taken
from Bus and coach accessibility page from Department
of Transport:
“All full size single deck buses over 7.5 tonnes will
be fully accessible from 1 January 2016,
and all double deck buses from 1 January 2017. New buses weighing up to 7.5
tonnes and coaches will be required to have wheelchair access from 1 January
2005. All buses weighing up to 7.5 tonnes will be fully accessible from 1
January 2015 and coaches by 1 January 2020.”
So
this will mean the end of an era for non low floor buses as bus services
progress to new designs making them accessible for wheelchair users. The
question is though, what about diesel emissions? TFL is imposing the Ultra Low
Emission Zone (ULEZ) which requires single deck buses to be zero emission and
double decks to be hybrid. London Transport are progressing, but what about the
rest of Britain?
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