London Bus Tender Awards: Go-Ahead London Retains Routes 507 & 521 with Single Deck Electric Buses

This is a quick news update for London Buses.

The new tender awards have revealed that Go-Ahead London General retained their routes 507 & 521 contract with existing electric single-deck buses.

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
308	Tower Transit	Tower Transit	13	Existing hybrid double deck
413	Metrobus*	Metrobus	8	Single deck (details TBC)
507	London General	London General	TBC	Existing electric single deck
521	London General	London General	TBC	Existing electric single deck
646	Blue Triangle	Blue Triangle	2	Existing diesel single deck

* Contract to be novated from Quality Line on 3rd July 2021.

All diesel and hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The above contracts will commence on the following dates:

· 28th August 2021: Routes 507 & 521.
· 4th September 2021: Route 646.
· 4th December 2021: Route 413.
· 5th March 2022: Route 308.

It’s interesting to see Go-Ahead Metrobus has retained route 413, I presume they could be using new single-deck electric buses because RATP Quality Line will operate the route before the new contract for Go-Ahead Metrobus starts. This could allow the operator to set up their new electric vehicle infrastructure before the new contract starts on December ‘21.

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