This is one
of my spontaneous articles going into great detail about London Bus operations.
Ever since
London Bus services were privatised during the mid-1990’s, to competitive
tender, I’ve been watching closely and have found out they’ve talked about the Cost-Per-Mile on the route contract.
I won’t go
into detail about the contracting, but TFL have hosted a document on their
website which is titled ‘London’s Bus Contracting and Tendering Process’.
Here’s the
selected routes I’ve listed, the calculations may not be accurate so please
forgive me if there’s any errors on this:
Route 96
Woolwich -
Bluewater
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £5,570,750
Cost per
mile £4.82
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 24
Length of
route (miles) 13
Total cost
of a single journey £62.66
Total cost of
single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £1,503.84
Total cost
for 5 years £27,853,750
Route 11
Fulham
Broadway – Liverpool Street Station
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £8,215,976
Cost per
mile £10.37
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 26
Length of
route (miles) 7
Total cost
of a single journey £72.59
Total cost of
single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £1,887.34
Total cost
for 5 years £41,079,880
A brief comment:
Since route 11 uses the New Routemasters, the conductors will be withdrawn on 2nd September 2016. With the high cost per
mile, they should have retained conductors throughout the route contract. Also,
bus operators pay £1 per New Routemaster bus per year for rental from TFL.
Route 149
Edmonton
Green - London Bridge
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £7,942,000
Cost per
mile £6.76
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 38
Length of
route (miles) 9
Total cost
of a single journey £60.84
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £2311.92
Total cost
for 5 years £39,710,000
This route
also uses 3 door 2 staircase hybrid buses called New Routemaster.
Route 365
South
Hornchurch – Havering Park
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £2,672,997
Cost per
mile £4.22
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 11
Length of
route (miles) 9
Total cost
of a single journey £37.98
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £417.78
Total cost
for 5 years £13,364,985
Route 370
Romford
Market - Lakeside
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £2,233,500
Cost per
mile £3.87
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 11
Length of
route (miles) 12
Total cost
of a single journey £46.44
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £510.84
Total cost
for 5 years £11,167,500
Route 15H
Trafalgar
Square – Tower Hill
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £1,222,000
Cost per
mile £25.40
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 5
Length of
route (miles) 3
Total cost
of a single journey £76.20
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £381
Total cost
for 5 years £6,110,000
This route
uses crew operated AEC Routemasters which is a short working of the main route
15.
Route 25
Oxford
Circus - Ilford
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £18,170,049
Cost per
mile £7.77
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 60
Length of
route (miles) 11
Total cost
of a single journey £85.47
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £5,128.20
Total cost
for 5 years £90,850,245
Busiest bus
route of the London Bus network.
Route 507 (Red Arrow)
Victoria Bus
Station – Waterloo Station
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £2,672,859
Cost per
mile £9.17
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 15
Length of
route (miles) 2
Total cost
of a single journey £18.34
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £275.10
Total cost
for 5 years £13,364,295
Joint bid
with Red Arrow route 521 totalling £7,033,839 per annum, multiplied by 5 gives
a total ofto £35,169,195. This will cover the cost of £19 million for the purchases of new Enviro200 MMC/BYD Electric buses.
Route 193
Romford
Queen’s Hospital – County Park Estate
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £2,368,557
Cost per
mile £4.43
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 12
Length of
route (miles) 7
Total cost
of a single journey £31.01
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £372.12
Total cost
for 5 years £11,842,785
Route 347
Romford -
Ockendon
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £125,500
Cost per
mile £4.07
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 1
Length of
route (miles) 12
Total cost
of a single journey £48.84
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £48.84
Total cost
for 5 years £627,500
Route 674
Harold Hill
– Romford
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £75,000
Cost per
mile £36.66
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 1
Length of
route (miles) 6
Total cost
of a single journey £219.96
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £219.96
Total cost
for 5 years £375,000
Route X26 (express)
Heathrow
Central – West Croydon
Cost per
year (from accepted bid) £2,176,178
Cost per
mile £3.55
Peak Vehicle
Requirement (PVR) 9
Length of
route (miles) 24
Total cost
of a single journey £85.20
Total cost
of single journeys from Peak Vehicle Requirement £766.80
Total cost
for 5 years £10,880,890
Compare this
to outside of London where there are deregulated bus services in which bus companies
have to rely on fares as their income.
With the
income they get from the contracts, they have to pay for drivers, insurance, administration,
maintenance, purchase/lease of new buses and many other things.
With the
length of the route and peak vehicle requirement, I’ve taken the information
from London Bus Routes’ operational details page.
Again, this
information may be inaccurate but feel free to correct me in the comments
section below.
As always,
you can follow me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
Image attribution
By Felix O - First London BJ11 DVT VN36138 Wrights Volvo, 25 route., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16805794