 |
| New Routemaster, Enviro400H City and Volvo SRM |
I enjoy comparing different
bus types so this time I will compare the New Routemaster (NRM) with the Enviro400H
City and the new Volvo SRM.
The New Routemaster first
entered service on Route 38 and since 2012 we have watched the fleet expand; it
now serves over 20 routes in Central London. The Enviro400H City buses are serving route 78 and soon they will enter
on route 26 under a new contract with CT Plus.
Back in the middle of March
2016, Wrightbus and TfL unveiled the Volvo SRM which is a two-door New
Routemaster bus, a design that enables bus companies to buy.
Below
is chart detailing the differences between the three bus types:
Bus type
|
New
Routemaster
|
Enviro400H
City
|
Volvo B5LH
SRM
|
Manufacture
|
Wrightbus
|
Alexander
Dennis
|
Wrightbus/Volvo
|
Designed
by
|
Thomas
Heatherwick
|
Alexander
Dennis
|
Heatherwick/Wrightbus
|
Engine
|
Cummins 4
cylinder iSBe
|
Cummins
ISB4.5E6 4 cylinder
|
Volvo D5K
240 4cyl 5.1 litre Euro 6 engine
|
Hybrid
driveline
|
Siemens
ELFA® II electric drive system
|
BAE
Systems HybriDrive
|
I-SAM 600
volt ac permanent magnet water cooled electric motor mounted between engine
and gearbox.
|
Overall
length
|
11.2m
|
10.4m
|
10.6
|
Overall
width
|
2520mm
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Overall
height
|
4420mm
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Passenger
Capacity
|
40
upstairs
22 lower
deck
25
standees*
|
41
upstairs
25 lower
deck
Unknown
standees
|
Is said to
have 4 more seats than the NRM.*
|
Doors
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
*Depends on the laden weight
of the vehicle which reduces capacity.
Since the Son of Routemaster (SRM) was only
recently unveiled, on the 16th March
2016, I do not have any more information on this specific bus type, but
hopefully we may see more on the Wrightbus website soon.
Here is the technical layout
of the NRM and Enviro400H City.
What
are the advantages?
New
Routemaster
·
Has three doors and two
staircases
·
Small number of routes which
have the open platform with conductor
·
Hybrid system which has
start/stop engine technology
·
Extra iBus display at the
lower rear deck of the bus.
·
wrap-round driver’s
windscreen
·
Very eye catching as its
designed by Heatherwick Studios.
·
Brought by TFL which enables
route conversions to commence fast.
·
Number plate registrations
based from Northern Ireland to match the fleet number. (example LTZ1056 is LT56.)
Enviro400H
City
·
Have window openings
·
Parts of the design is based
on the Enviro200 MMC like the wrapover sky view window at the top rear deck.
·
Two doors for a standard
boarding like with any average London bus.
·
Wrap-round driver’s
windscreen
Volvo
SRM
·
Retains majority of the
features based on the New Routemaster bus.
·
Wrap-round driver’s
windscreen
All the buses I’ve mentioned
have an iconic roundel at the front instead of a bus operating company logo.
What
are the disadvantages?
New
Routemaster
·
Open boarding (3 doors 2
staircases) can cause fare evasion as we saw with the bendy buses.
·
Various routes have no rear
platform and no conductor
·
No window openings
·
Reports of air cooling
issues during the summer
·
The front seat of the lower
deck faces to the rear.
Enviro400H
City
·
There are no disadvantages
of this bus in my view.
Volvo
SRM
·
No rear window at the lower
deck of the bus, compared to other bus types with Volvo B5LH chassis.
·
No window openings
 |
| Rear ends of the New Routemaster, Volvo SRM and Enviro400H City |
What
routes are they on?
New
Routemaster
They currently operate on
the following routes
·
3 - Crystal Palace to
Conduit Street
·
8 - Oxford Circus to Bow
Church
·
9 - Hammersmith to Aldwych
·
10 - Hammersmith bus station
to King's Cross St. Pancras
·
11 - Liverpool Street
station to Fulham Broadway
·
12 - Dulwich to Oxford
Circus
·
15 - Trafalgar Square to
Blackwall DLR
·
16 - Victoria station to
Longley Way
·
24 - Hampstead Heath to
Pimlico
·
38 - Victoria to Clapton
Pond
·
55 - Oxford Circus to Leyton
·
59 - Streatham Hill to
King’s Cross
·
68 - West Noorwood to Euston
Bus Station
·
73 - Victoria to Stoke
Newington
·
88 - Camden to Clapham
·
137 - Oxford Circus to
Streatham Hill
·
148 - Camberwell Green to
White City bus station
·
149 - Edmonton Green bus
station to London Bridge station
·
159 - Streatham station to
Marble Arch
·
168 - Old Kent Road to Hampstead Heath
·
390 - Notting Hill Gate to
Archway
·
453 - Marylebone station to
Deptford Bridge
The
next route's to be converted to New Routemasters are:
·
91 - expected to enter late
in late April 2016
·
189 - expected to enter
service in July 2016
·
211 - expected to enter
service in June 2016
I do not have any more
information regarding further route conversions. TFL is expecting to have 1,000
New Routemasters by the Summer of 2017. A shortened variant of the New Routemaster was
built and unveiled in December 2015 but there are no news updates about the
specific type.
With the Enviro400H City, they are currently
operating on route 78 which runs from Shoreditch to
Nunhead. Arriva London owns 19 of the Enviro400H city buses. The next route to
convert to the Enviro400H City is route
26; they are bought by CT Plus and are expecting to enter service on 25th June 2016.
With the Volvo SRM, they will be introduced on
to route 13 and a fleet of 6 have been purchased by RATP-Dev. They are expecting
to enter service in September 2016.
The reason why the New
Routemaster was bought by TFL was because it increases savings for the bus
operating companies as the value decreases over the years. Plus, the bus
operators would have problems selling these buses on to the provincial bus
services around Britain. As TFL leases the New Routemasters to operating
companies, the operators have to pay a lease rental of £1 per bus, per year,
for their contracted route.
With the Enviro400H City and the Volvo SRM, they are bought by bus
operating companies; the two doors and 1 staircase layout enables the bus to
operate outside of London. Also, the bus operating company can convert their
bus to single door which is widely
used around Britain. The problem is it will take a while for a new route tender
to come up, then when the bus operator wins/retains the route it's their
decision to order the bus type required for their contract. Compared to the New
Routemaster, both the Enviro400H City and the Volvo SRM have recieved little
publicity in the mainstream media. This is because the New Routemaster has
always been controversial.
Since the successor to the
New Routemaster has been designed and built, I hope that as time progresses we
will be able to have a battery-electric
double deck with SRM or Enviro400H City bodywork. This shows that London
Bus designs are evolving as we see many new bus designs operating in London. I
do like competing bus designs because it makes bus observations interesting for
enthusiasts. The reasons why we should be moving onto zero emission buses is
because the diesel emissions contribute to pollution and Climate Change. The
technology is out there so we should take advantage of it.
What do you think of the New
Routemaster, Enviro400H City and the Volvo SRM? Let me know your thoughts in
the comments section below.
Please share this article
because the two door design of the New Routemaster (Volvo SRM) deserves more
publicity, the same goes for the Enviro400H City.
As always, you can follow me
on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus for all the latest transport
news and updates. @CLondoner92
Multimedia
London Buses Route 11
Operated by Go Ahead London (SW Garage)
Wrightbus New Routemaster LT63 LTZ1063
filmed on 23rd October 2015
Operated by Go Ahead London (SW Garage)
Wrightbus New Routemaster LT63 LTZ1063
filmed on 23rd October 2015
London Buses Route 78
Operated by Arriva London (AE Garage)
Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City
HA10 LK65BZG
Filmed on 19th January 2016
Operated by Arriva London (AE Garage)
Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City
HA10 LK65BZG
Filmed on 19th January 2016
Link to product pages:
Volvo B5LH (for SRM)
Related articles
Previous
articles on New Routemaster project:
Articles
on Enviro400H City