 |
| Route 13 will be using buses of this design |
As the real route 13
will be withdrawn soon and route 82 will be renumbered to 13 in order to retain
the route 13 identity, London Bus Routes
has revealed the bus type for the new route 13 contract.
According to the London Bus Routes Service Changes page, Tower Transit has purchased 31 new Volvo B5LH MCV EvoSeti
hybrid buses for their new route 13 (formerly 82) contract which commences on 1st
April 2017. The bus type will also be added on routes 58 and 308. They will be
operating the route from Westbourne Park (X) garage where they used to run the route 9H from with the old Routemasters between 2005 and 2014.
The Volvo B5LH MCV
EvoSeti (fleetcode MHV) is also on route 63 from Peckham (PM) garage and routes
40, 42 and 185 from Camberwell (Q) garage - they are operated by Go-Ahead London General.
I thought Tower Transit
was going to purchase the SRM’s for the new route 13 contract. Currently, RATP-Dev London Sovereign have six of
the Volvo B5LH SRMs (fleetcode VHR) from Edgware (BT) garage as they usually
appear on route 13. When RATP-Dev’s contract ends, it’s unknown which routes
the SRMs will next appear on - we better wait and see as surprises always
happen.
Moving on to route 360, Go Ahead London has placed
an order for 14 BYD eBuses with Enviro200 MMC bodywork.
From Alexander Dennis
6th January 2017
BYD-ADL
partnership scores again in London: Go-Ahead chooses to go electric on TfL
Route 360
Just
weeks after the inauguration of Europe’s biggest electric bus fleet, Transport
for London operator Go-Ahead has selected the winning BYD-ADL (Alexander Dennis
Ltd) partnership to supply a fleet of 14
10.8m BYD ADL Enviro200 EV buses to operate its 360 route. This is the first
order BYD and ADL have won for the new 10.8m model.
The
360 route passes through some of the UK
capital’s most prestigious areas, connecting South Kensington with Chelsea,
Sloane Square and Vauxhall before terminating at the Elephant and Castle.
The buses will be based at Go-Ahead’s
Camberwell garage where BYD will install 14 of its own design charging posts.
Richard
Harrington, Engineering Director at Go-Ahead Group, said about the decision to
order the 10.8m BYD ADL Enviro200 EV: “The experience gained in electrifying
routes 521 and 507 out of Waterloo was pivotal in deciding who to work with on
route 360. Having the confidence that the product can operate on London’s
streets and is capable of running a whole day without the need to recharge put
this product to the front of what is becoming a very competitive market”.
Announcing
the new order, for which BYD is again prime contractor, BYD’s UK Country
Manager Frank Thorpe said: “This underlines the strength of our joint offer and
we again look forward to working with Go-Ahead London on this exciting project.
We anticipate delivering the vehicles in
the second half of 2017”.
Robert
Davey, ADL’s Group Commercial and Business Development Director, commented:
“Along with our recent order from Merseyside this latest order illustrates the
attractiveness of the BYD ADL Enviro200EV from an operational and passenger
perspective, not to mention the benefits it provides to pedestrians and city
dwellers with zero emissions. The stylish British-built ADL bodywork mounted on
BYD’s well proven chassis, and underpinned by the best aftermarket support in
the business is truly a winning combination.”
According to the London Bus Routes service changes page,
they are expected to appear in October 2017.
Also, looking on the
same page, CT Plus has placed their order for more Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City buses for their new route 388 contract which runs from
Stratford City to Blackfriars via Hackney Wick and Bethnal Green. The new
contract is expected to start on 21st January 2017. The Enviro400H
City uses design cues based on the New Routemaster bus. Routes 133 and 333 are expecting to convert to these buses and is due to start on
21st January 2017. The Enviro400H City buses are currently in
service on routes 26 and 78.
A quick recap regarding
the three-door two-staircase New Routemaster - the final routes to be converted
to those 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
And lastly, a news
update from LOTS:
This
weekend duly saw the takeover by Metroline of route 235 with a large batch of
new ADL E20Ds (DEL 2244-2265). In turn Abellio has withdrawn a considerable number
of older Darts in the 02/52=reg batches. Some more will come off once the
new E20Ds (8162-70) already delivered actually go into service on routes U9 and
H26.
As always, I invite you
to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
Multimedia
London Buses route 26 Enviro400H City by clondoner92
ELECTRIC BUS BYD D9UR Enviro200 MMC on London... by clondoner92
Image attribution
Julian Walker https://www.flickr.com/photos/wirewiping/30095222126/