A
couple of weeks ago I published an article suggesting that New Routemaster routes
should have a branded bus service, then out of the blue TfL decides to have
East London Transit routes with New Routemaster buses that have 3 doors and 2
staircases.
Route
48 is also listed for New Routemaster
conversion and a follow up with various routes converting to standard
hybrid buses.
Below
is the TfL London Bus tender awards:
TfL intends to enter
into the following contracts:
·
48 awarded to Arriva
London North (currently Stagecoach East London) with new Euro VI New Routemaster, PVR 22. Start date 25 February 2017
·
58 re-awarded to Tower
Transit with 2010 Euro V diesel double deck including 3 new Euro VI hybrids, PVR 17. Start date 4 March 2017
·
97
re-awarded to Stagecoach East London with 2009 Euro IV diesel double deck, PVR
22. Start date 4 March 2017
·
215
re-awarded to Stagecoach East London with 2011 Euro V diesel double deck. Start
date 4 March 2017
·
242 (24 hour) re-awarded
to Arriva London North with Euro VI
hybrid double deck, PVR 20. Start date 25 February 2017
·
273
re-awarded to Stagecoach Selkent with new Euro VI diesel single deck, PVR 9.
Start date 14 January 2017
·
277 (24 hour) re-awarded
to Stagecoach East London with 20 new
Euro VI hybrid double deck and 5 2011 Euro V diesels. PVR 25. Start date 25
February.
·
325
re-awarded to Arriva London North with 2010 diesel Euro V diesel single deck,
PVR 12. Start date 4 March 2017
·
380
re-awarded to Stagecoach Selkent with new Euro VI single deck, PVR 14. Start
date 21 January 2017
·
388 re-awarded to CT Plus
with new Euro VI double deck, PVR
15. Start date 21 January 2017.
·
EL1 re-awarded to Blue
Triangle with new Euro VI New
Routemaster, PVR 17. Start date18 February 2017
·
EL2 re-awarded to Blue
Triangle with new Euro VI New
Routemaster, PVR 15. Start date 18 February 2017
·
EL3 awarded to Blue
Triangle (currently Stagecoach East London, route 387 renumbered) with new Euro VI New Routemaster, PVR 14.
Start date 18 February.
This
is quite interesting; a bus rapid transit service with 3 door 2 staircase
hybrid buses will certainly make a difference to boarding times. The drawback
however is that the open boarding system will encourage more fare evasion,
which is why it’s important for TfL to increase revenue protection.
It's
going to be a long wait for the East London Transit routes to have 3 door and 2
staircase hybrid buses as the contract start date is on 18th February 2017.
This
will be the first time that the New Routemaster bus will be serving the outer
East London Borough routes as it goes nowhere near Central London.
Here’s
a quick table of next New Routemaster conversions:
Route
|
Operator
|
Expected
date
|
21
|
Go
Ahead London Central
|
8th October 2016
|
48
|
Arriva
|
25th February 2017
|
76
|
Go
Ahead London General
|
28th January 2017
|
EL1,
EL2 & EL3
|
Go
Ahead Blue Triangle
|
18th February 2017
|
The
New Routemaster rollout is coming to the end, but the design will live on as
Wrightbus has unveiled the two door design which uses Volvo B5LH hybrid
technology. The bus type is known as Wright SRM and six of these will see service on
route 13 by this September; they are purchased by RATP-Dev.
We
better wait and see how it all pans out.
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