Ireland’s NTA reveals tender process for 800 pure double-deck electric buses and proposal on DLR extension to Thamesmead approved

News update for Ireland once again.

It has been revealed that Ireland’s governing body National Transport Authority have commenced a tender process to purchase 800 double-deck electric buses for services in the Republic of Ireland.

From National Transport Authority

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has today commenced the procurement process for up to 800 double-deck battery electric buses as part of a shift towards greater sustainability in the public transport fleet.

The process is part of a continued effort to transition to low and zero emission buses as provided for in Project Ireland 2040 and the Climate Action Plan. The NTA intends to purchase up to 800 buses under this Framework Agreement over a period of five years, with the first buses expected to arrive in the second half of 2022.

Ireland’s National Transport Authority unveils eye-catching ADL’s Enviro400ER City buses as they order 180 more

More news from Ireland this month; the Republic of Ireland’s governing body National Transport Authority has unveiled the Enviro400ER City vehicles manufacturered by Alexander Dennis and announced an order of 180 more buses.

This follows on from last week when the Northern Irish Department for Infrastructure announced a £66 million order for 100 zero and 45 low emission buses manufactured by Wrightbus - you can read more in my previous article here.

Northern Ireland Invests £66 million for 145 Zero & Low Emission Buses. Also, The Latest London Bus Tender Awards

Good news for Wrightbus, the Northern Irish Department of Infrastructure have announced an investment of £66 million for 100 zero and 45 low emission buses, manufactured by Wrightbus.

From Department for Infrastructure

The decarbonisation of public transport in Northern Ireland has taken a significant leap forward with a new contract for 145 zero and low emission buses.

Electric buses rollout continues with announcement of mid-November London Bus tender awards

TfL has announced the latest London Bus tender awards for November 2020 with more routes converting to double deck electric buses. This is a followup to my previous article.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

November 2020 London Bus Tender awards with route conversions to Electric Buses

At last the London Bus tender awards have finally been announced. This is a surprising announcement because 10 routes have been awarded using electric buses.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

New era for Wrightbus as Birmingham City Council orders double deck hydrogens - delivery commences for Aberdeen…

It’s been a year since Wrightbus went in to Administration and were taken over by Jo Bamford.

This week, there has been progress in Wrightbus with their double deck hydrogen rollout.

From Birmingham City Council News Release

Birmingham City Council has purchased 20 new hydrogen double decker buses as part of their Clean Air Hydrogen Bus Pilot.

The Clean Air Hydrogen Bus Pilot looks to ‘kick-start’ the hydrogen market as a viable zero-emission fuel with the procurement and deployment of 20 hydrogen buses in Birmingham. The buses, which are made by Wrightbus and are the world's first zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell double deckers, will be introduced with National Express West Midlands from April 2021.

It’s intended that pilot will be the catalyst for the next generation of hydrogen buses, hydrogen production and re-fuelling infrastructure development. The council have also collaborated with ITM, who will be producing and dispensing the hydrogen fuel from the new re-fuelling hub at Tyseley Energy Park.

5 years of the Enviro400 City!

It's been five years since bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) unveiled their eye-catching double deck variant, the Enviro400 City!

The body design of the Enviro400 City is based on the New Routemaster (NRM), designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufactured by Wrightbus. Thomas Heatherwick, the founder of Heatherwick Studio, praised the Enviro400 City as a "back-to-front compliment".

TfL confirms route 313 to be served using New Routemasters – Delays to electric bus rollout

I know it’s been a while since I posted a new article on my site but here’s a round-up of the latest London Bus news:

The Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) reduction of New Routemasters (NRM) on London Bus route 38 has led to the conversion of one route.

TfL to push forward their zero-emission bus fleet plan to 2030

I’ve been looking through the board papers on the TfL website, and at the recent papers which were published for the July 29 meeting. I discovered that there are plans to accelerate the zero-emission bus fleet plan, also known as MTS (Mayor Transport Strategy) to 2030 in order to achieve the ambition of making London Transport carbon neutral.

The extracts from the board papers:

Mid-July 2020 Tender awards: London Bus route 69 to be served with double deck electric buses

TfL have recently announced new London Bus tender awards for mid-July 2020.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

TfL resume New Routemaster conversion to front door only boarding and the launch of Enviro400EV City for West Midlands

The fares for London buses have now been fully restored and TfL mentioned in their press release that they are finishing off converting the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemasters to front-door only boarding.

London Bus Tender Awards for June 2020 and Rear Door Modification for New Routemaster Buses

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:

Front door boarding reinstated on London Buses

Since the number of Coronavirus cases in the UK are falling and lockdown measures are easing, TfL have drawn up plans to reinstate front door boarding to increase revenue, whilst also imposing limits on the number of passengers using the bus.

Extracts from the TfL press release

Analysis by UCL (University College London) has found that safety improvements made to screens by TfL has made it possible to return to front-door boarding along with collaborative work with UNITE and bus operators

Covid19: TfL start to restore fare payments on London buses (including list of routes)

TfL has recently announced that they are restoring fare payments on London buses as part of the funding and financing package provided by the UK Government to keep London Transport services running.

From TfL Press release

Transport for London (TfL) announced today that it will begin the phased re-introduction of the requirement for passengers to touch in on buses with their contactless, Oyster or concessionary card, starting with routes served by single-door and New Routemaster buses.

From Saturday 23 May, customers on 85 routes, served by more than 1,200 of these buses, will need to touch in on the card reader by the doors as they board.

This is the first step to returning all of London's buses to being able to accept payments once further safety measures have been introduced to protect bus drivers.

The requirement to touch in will follow on more routes over the coming weeks, with announcements and signage in place on bus doors to inform passengers of the requirement.

10 year anniversary of the New Routemaster design – How it has improved bus designs over the years

It has been 10 years since TfL, the London Mayor (now currently Prime Minister) Boris Johnson and Heatherwick Studios unveiled the final design of the most controversial three-door, two-staircase hybrid bus known as the New Routemaster,back in 2010.

We take a look at the press release from TfL when they unveiled the final design of the New Routemaster on 17^th May 2010.

From TfL press release

The final design of the New Bus for London, based on the much-loved Routemaster, was today unveiled by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and London's Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy.

Pioneering design

The bus will use the latest green technology. It will be 15 per cent more fuel efficient than existing hybrid buses, and 40 per cent more efficient than conventional diesel double decks and much quieter on the streets.

Optare and Wrightbus unveil their Hydrogen Bus plan

As Britain and many areas around the world are still under lockdown and bus manufacturers have their production on hold (except for essential spare parts), Optare and Wrightbus have unveiled their plan to rollout a fleet of hydrogen buses for Britain and Ireland.

The London Bus Tender awards, an update from Crossrail, the UK Government’s Coronavirus Transport support package & TfL to place staff on furlough

Here’s a brief transport update with regards to the Coronavirus pandemic.

First of all, the new London Bus Tender awards have finally been announced and it seems to be a huge ‘retains’ by various bus operators using existing hybrid double decks and Euro VI single deck buses.

London Buses follow various cities worldwide on restricting front door boarding during Covid-19 pandemic

It has been a while since I’ve posted a new article on my website so here’s the recent news update for London Buses.

After the tragic deaths of 21 London Transport workers, including 15 bus drivers from the Coronavirus, bus union ‘Unite’ has pressured TfL to restrict boarding to middle doors only to maintain social distancing between drivers and passengers.

Arriva orders ADL-BYD Enviro400EV City for route 319. Stagecoach Manchester unveils Enviro400EV Citys - Plus COVID-19 update

Today I have more news regarding the new double deck electric buses for London.

The unofficial London Bus Routes website has announced that bus operator Arriva London have placed an order for 19 Alexander Dennis-BYD Enviro400EV City vehicles for their route 319 contract which is expected to enter service this September 2020. (subject to delay due to COVID-19)

New Trains for Overground - London Bus tender awards and more NRM routes convert to front door only boarding

This is a short article covering two recent transport related news items.

First of all, the new Class 710 is now serving the Lea Valley lines which are operated by London Overground.

Transport news roundup for February 2020 – Electric buses for Los Angeles & stylish biogas buses for Bristol

This is a selection of various transport news which occured during the month of February 2020.

First of all, my prediction turned out to be correct in a article I wrote back in November 2019 when Tower Transit won routes 23 and C3; I expected them to use Optare Metrodecker EVs for their new route contracts.

The UK government have announced plans today for an all-electric bus town

The government have said that local authorities can apply to become the UK's first all-electric bus town by funding bus companies to enable them to use zero-emission electric buses serving a specific town in Britain.

Extracts from UK government website

Local authorities can now apply to become the UK’s first all-electric bus town, setting the ‘gold-standard’ in environmentally friendly public transport, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (6 February 2020).

January 2020 Transport news roundup: New trains for Nexus Tyne and Wear Metro and the rise of electric buses for Europe!

First of all, due to the lack of articles during the last month, I’ve decided to feature most of this months transport news in one article.

Nexus has placed an order for new trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro in North East of England.

Extracts from Nexus

28 January 2020

Nexus today announced a chosen manufacturer for its contract to build new trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro, as part of a £362m investment which will transform performance and passenger experience, deliver huge energy savings and secure and create hundreds of jobs in the UK supply chain.

The first zero emission Enviro400EV City enters service on London Buses Route 94!

The process of converting London Bus Route 94 to double deck electric buses has finally begun.

London Vehicle Finder has revealed that the first Alexander Dennis BYD Enviro400EV City entered into service is:

Double-Deck Hydrogens and “New Routemaster spin-off” plug-in hybrid buses for Ireland!

Good news for Wrightbus as they are a few months in to the new ownership from Jo Bamford; the Northern Irish transport authority Translink is set to roll out double deck hydrogen buses for Belfast.

Stagecoach unveils their new branding for bus services in Britain!

Bus operator Stagecoach has started a major rebrand with new logos and new exterior liveries for their services in Britain.

Extract from Stagecoach group

Electrifying win for Stagecoach as London Bus routes 173 and 174 will be served using zero-emission double-deck electric buses!

Two routes serving Beckton, Dagenham, Chadwell Heath, King George’s Hospital, Romford and Harold Hill will be served with new zero-emission double-deck electric buses!

Notification of Tender Results
16th January 2020

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

TfL prepares to change New Routemasters to front-boarding only - Plus an update on negotiations with the Bamford Bus Company

We have some news regarding the three-door, two-staircase hybrid bus known as the New Routemaster (NRM).

This is a brief news update as TfL has unveiled plans in a press release to phase out open-boarding on routes serving New Routemaster buses.

From TfL press release

The real reason why TfL and the Mayor ended the New Routemaster rollout in favour of legacy vehicles containing NRM design cues

First of all, welcome to 2020 and I wish all of my readers a very Happy New Year.

The purpose of this article is to show how the 'London' bus design has evolved from the New Routemaster (NRM) bus to the pure battery-electric and zero-emission Enviro400EV City, jointly manufactured by Alexander Dennis and BYD.

Ten years ago, the New Routemaster design with three-doors and two-staircases was first unveiled back in May 2010 and designed by Heatherwick Studios; the prototypes entered service in February 2012 and the full production of the New Routemaster commenced in September 2012. The original purpose of the New Routemaster project was to reinstate the rear open platform with conductor and the arrangement only served on six routes up until September 2016.