Usually on Christmas Day there are no London Transport services, so
for those that need to travel, I hope you have made prior arrangements.
I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by as we had a lot of
surprises during the year 2016.
2016 has been an eventful year for London Transport and we saw many
events and news itemswhich I’ve listed below:
January
More Hydrogen buses for London route RV1, no update on the VanHool hydrogen bus
TFL to buy another 30 New Routemasters, then extended by another 165 NRMsfor a grand total of 1,000!
February
10 years of diesel-electric Hybrid operation for London Buses
CT Plus purchased 21 Enviro400H City buses for their route 26 contract
London Mayor Boris Johnson confirms order to extend New Routemaster fleet to 1,000 before he
leaves office, as he didn’t run for re-election
March
BYD double deck electric bus set to operate on route 98
Surprise unveiling of the two-door one-staircase New Routemaster design named the SRM which is purchased by private bus operating companies
April
Route 148 NRMs- the first batch to have window openings
May
BYD double deck electric bus enters service on route 98
Sadiq Khan wins the London Mayoral election
Announcement of the One Hour hopper fare as part of the new Mayor’s promise
New Mayor announced he won’t be purchasing any more three-door two-staircase
New Routemaster buses
July
Surprise announcement of the removal of conductors for New Routemasterbuses
August
Launch of Weekend (Friday and Saturday night) Night Tube for Central
Line (between Ealing Broadway and Hainault, and between White City and Loughton
except the West Ruislip branch) and Victoria Line (entire line)
September
Tower Transit wins new route 13 contract leaving the real route 13 to be
withdrawn and route 82 being renumbered to 13
Withdrawal of conductors from New Routemaster Buses
1 hour London Bus hopper fare finally launches, but not unlimited transfers.
Announcement of London Bus route 360 to use electric buses
October
Routes 133 & 333 to be served with Enviro400H City buses
Media names the wrong bus in the 2nd October 2016 bus fire near Liverpool Street
station
Launch of Night Tube service for the entire Jubilee Line
10 million London Bus journeys made with the new ‘hopper fare’
November
Volvo surprisingly launches the B5LHC double-deck electric hybrid with SRM (2
door New Routemaster) body!
Launch of Night Tube for the Northern Line, except the Mill Hill East
and Bank branches.
Announcement of the Mayor’s policy of four-year fare freeze
Proposed changes to the 23 London Bus routes in Central London
TFL and Wrightbus unveils the hydrogen double-deck bus
December
New government railway reforms which has caused dispute with TFL’s takeover of the South London railway branches
Launch of Night Tube
service for Piccadilly Line between Cockfosters and Heathrow Terminal 5 (except
for Heathrow Terminal 4 and Acton Town to Uxbridge branches)
-----------------------------------------------
Next year will be interesting as we will see more zero emission buses being launched in London, not to mention the
new Crossrail Class 345 train is
expected to launch in May 2017.
The final routes to convert to the three-door two-staircase New
Routemaster buses are:
Route 76- operated by Go Ahead London General - expected date
28th January
East London Transit routes EL1,
EL2 and EL3 - operated by Go Ahead Blue Triangle- expected date
18th February
Route 48- operated by Arriva London- expected date 25th
February
Route 254- operated by Arriva London- expected date 3rd June
There’s no need to worry though as the New Routemaster design will
live on as the two-door one-staircase design called the SRM; they will be
ordered by the private operating companies as and when they win new route
contracts.
Also, here are my reviews, opinions and essays which I wrote during
the year 2016:
London Buses route 96 and Fastrack between Dartford and Bluewater
London Bus contracting: operators get paid by the mile
ULTra Heathrow Pods PRT – we need them everywhere!
London Bus Oddity – Mixed operators on route 60
Ride the classic AEC Routemaster on Route 15 – they’re still running!
My videos
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updates. I am on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus
which is @CLondoner92
I'll finish off by featuring various transport videos which I filmed
during 2016 and most importantly, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to
all my readers and followers. Thank you for reading my website and I'll
continue to keep you all informed as we roll in to 2017 and beyond.
Buses at Hackney Central January 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Oxford Circus London January 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Tower Bridge, London 19th January 2016 by clondoner92
Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City on London... by clondoner92
Buses outside Bank Station, City of London... by clondoner92
Buses at Brentwood, Essex May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Hammersmith May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Tower Of London May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses in Canary Wharf Estate May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex August 2016
FUTURISTIC Buses at Westminster, Central London...
London Underground Piccadilly Line Heathrow...
#DRIVERLESS ULTra #Heathrow Pods - Business...
ELECTRIC BUS BYD D9UR Enviro200 MMC on London...
Buses at North Greenwich & The O2 Bus Station
Image attribution
London Central - K307FYG by ndl642m https://www.flickr.com/photos/ndl642m/13308533374/
Buses at Hackney Central January 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Oxford Circus London January 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Tower Bridge, London 19th January 2016 by clondoner92
Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City on London... by clondoner92
Buses outside Bank Station, City of London... by clondoner92
Buses at Brentwood, Essex May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Hammersmith May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Tower Of London May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses in Canary Wharf Estate May 2016 by clondoner92
Buses at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex August 2016
FUTURISTIC Buses at Westminster, Central London...
London Underground Piccadilly Line Heathrow...
#DRIVERLESS ULTra #Heathrow Pods - Business...
ELECTRIC BUS BYD D9UR Enviro200 MMC on London...
Buses at North Greenwich & The O2 Bus Station
Image attribution
London Central - K307FYG by ndl642m https://www.flickr.com/photos/ndl642m/13308533374/