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| Route 313 is retained with single decks built in 2011. |
This is a very quick
news update; LOTS have updated their news page showing that TFL have
announced the tender awards for their London Bus routes.
Friday 4 March
The
following contracts have been awarded by TfL:
Tranche 534
·
276
re-awarded to Docklands Buses with 2011
Euro V diesel single decks, PVR 19. Start date 17 September.
·
376
re-awarded to Blue Triangle with 2011
Euro V diesel single deck, PVR 8. Start date 17 September.
·
D3
re-awarded to Stagecoach East London with existing 2009 Euro IV diesel single deck, PVR 14. Start date 17 September.
·
D7
re-awarded to Docklands Buses with 2011
Euro V diesel double deck, PVR 13. Start date 17 September.
Tranche 535
·
346
awarded to Blue Triangle (currently Arriva Kent Thameside) with 2015 Euro VI single deck (from W19),
PVR 3. Start date 1 October.
·
W19
awarded to CT Plus (currently Blue Triangle) with new Euro VI single deck, PVR 15. Start date 26 November.
Tranche 538
·
279/N279
re-awarded to Arriva London North with 2011
Euro V double deck, PVR 33. Start date 15 October.
·
313
re-awarded to Arriva London North with 2011
Euro V diesel single deck, PVR 8 with one double deck. Start date 5
November
·
W3
re-awarded to Arriva London North with 2011
Euro V diesel double deck. PVR 23 +1 crosslinked from 29. Start date 15
October.
Interestingly, Arriva won route 347 last year from Go Ahead Blue Triangle and this year Go
Ahead won route 346 off of Arriva. Since route 346's length is 3 miles with a
Peak Vehicle Requirement of 2 buses, they could have rolled out electric buses
for this route.
Regarding the
zero-emission buses, I'd like to bring to your attention that Simon Harris
(a senior correspondent for ITV London News) stated on his ITV London news article that the main candidates
for the upcoming Mayoral election won’t
be buying any more 3 door 2 staircase hybrid buses called the New Routemaster.
Here are their quotes:
"My
ambition if elected on May the 5th is to ensure the entire fleet moves electric
as quickly as possible."
Zac
Goldsmith MP, Conservative Mayoral Candidate
"What
we should be doing is thinking about either proper hybrid buses or by 2020 all
the buses we order should be either electric or powered by hydrogen cell."
Sadiq
Khan MP, Labour Mayoral Candidate
I don’t want to turn
this into a political article, but it's amazing how my predictions have been
shown to be correct as others now are saying London should move on to buy zero
emission buses for the London Bus routes. I like the New Routemaster bus
because of the innovative design such as the glazed staircase and the rear
platform. Ever since TFL decided to convert routes to New Routemaster without
the second crew member, this has lead to the modification of the rear door which opens
outwards like the middle doors.
Times always change
and as manufacturers like Alexander
Dennis have designed their own bus which has features based on the New
Routemaster bus, then hopefully we may see more buses with similar designs in
the coming years. Currently there is the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City which has
similar features like the glazed staircase. They are currently on route 78 and
soon to be on route 26; the bus operating companies ordered those buses for
their contracts as opposed to TFL buying them.
Going back to the
electric buses - routes 507 and 521 will be getting electric buses which are
expected to commence service on 27th August
2016. The type will be a BYD eBus with the Enviro200 MMC bodywork. Parts
of the bodywork are based on the Enviro400H City which shows a more modern
design for the electric buses. There are currently a small number of electric
buses on those routes. I should also mention that Go Ahead London paid £19 million for those electric buses.
Currently routes 312,
H98, RV1* 507 and 521 have single deck electric buses.
*RV1 is currently
served by hydrogen buses which are zero emission buses.
The
reason why TFL should move on to buy more zero emission buses (battery electric
or hydrogen) is because of the dangers of diesel emissions which contribute to
Climate Change. We'll wait until 2020 to see how many changes have been made to
the London Bus fleet.
As
always, you can follow me on Twitter,
Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus
for all the latest transport news which is @CLondoner92
Image attribution
By Tom Page from London, UK - IMG_2065, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32064230