The new London Bus tender awards have been announced and only three routes will be getting new electric buses; they are routes 184, 484 and 616.
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:
Route | Current Operator | New Operator | PVR | Vehicles |
162 | Metrobus | Metrobus | 11 | Existing diesel single deck |
184 | Arriva London North | London General | 20 | New electric single deck* |
229 | Arriva London North | Arriva London North | 20 | Existing diesel double deck |
367 | Abellio London | Abellio London | 10 | Existing diesel single deck |
469 | Arriva London North | London Central | 9 | Existing diesel single deck |
484 | Abellio London | London Central | 11 | New electric single deck |
492 | Arriva London North | Arriva London North | TBC | Existing diesel double deck |
616 | London General | HCT Group | 2 | New electric double deck** |
B12 | Arriva London North | London Central | 7 | Existing diesel single deck |
* One vehicle is an existing hybrid double deck.
** Operationally exchanged with 2 existing hybrids from route 20.
All the diesel & hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.
The above contracts will commence on the following dates:
· 23rd January 2021: Routes 229, 469, 492 & B12
· 6th February 2021: Routes 184 & 616
· 20th March 2021: Routes 162, 367 & 484
In addition, it is confirmed that Route 200, the award of which to London General was announced on 23rd April 2020 for commencement on 20th February 2021, will now be operated by new electric double deck vehicles.
In all cases, new electric vehicles may enter service later than these dates owing to infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.
Rear door modifications for New Routemaster buses
Half of the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemaster buses are expected to have their rear doors modified.
On page 53 of the Supplementary Agenda and Papers (PDF), in the Emergency Budget section of the document, you can see the rear door modification listed for the New Routemaster buses as part of the Surface Capital Programme.
I believe New Routemaster buses from LT516 and below will have new doors because the inward opening was used to enable the open platform operation (with conductor,) which only served six routes (9, 10, 11, 24, 38 & 390) up until September 2016. The New Routemaster builds from LT517 and above have the outward sliding door, which is similar to the middle doors.
The entire New Routemaster project cost £346 million for 1,000 vehicles. This was not without controversy. You can read more about the NRMs in my previous articles:
Route 106 now served with Enviro400EV City buses
We have recently seen the launch of the Alexander Dennis-BYD Enviro400EV City on London Bus route 106. Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the contracted start was postponed until the 6th June with agreements made between Arriva London (previous operator), Go-Ahead London and TfL.
Route 106 serves from Whitechapel to Finsbury Park via Hackney; the service is operated by Go-Ahead London from Northumberland Park (NP) garage.
Upcoming routes to be served using Enviro400EV City buses are routes 173, 174, 230, 319, 357 and 673.
As said in my previous articles, The Enviro400 City takes its external styling from the New Routemaster bus.
Route 23 is due to convert to double-deck Optare Metrodecker EVs and they are expected to enter service on the 25th July 2020. The service is operated by Tower Transit from Westbourne Park (X) garage.
Unfortunately, there’s still no update on the double-deck hydrogen’s manufactured by Wrightbus and Ryse Hydrogen; they are expected to operate on London bus routes 7, N7 and 245. I believe the project is delayed again due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
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Image attribution
By Martin49 from London, England - The modified rear door of Arriva London New Routemaster LT 534 (LTZ 1534), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59119785