Friday 25 March 2022

London Bus Tender Awards: Route 149 To Continue Using New Routemasters – Also, Bus Types To Be Commenced For Other Routes

This is a brief London Bus news update as TfL have recently announced new London Bus tender awards.

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

Route

Current Operator

New Operator

PVR

Vehicles

80

London General

London General

15

Double deck (details TBC)

91/N91

Metroline

London General

15

Existing hybrid double deck

93*

London General

London General

26

Double deck (details TBC)

149*

Arriva London North

Arriva London North

29

Existing New Routemaster

151

London General

London General

14

Double deck (details TBC)

154*

London General

London General

16

Double deck (details TBC)

163

London General

London General

12

Single deck (details TBC)**

164

London General

London General

TBC

Single deck (details TBC)

187

Metroline West

Metroline West

10

Single deck (details TBC)

297*

Metroline

Metroline

16

Double deck (details TBC)

384

Metroline

Metroline

8

Single deck (details TBC)

470

London United

London General

TBC

Existing diesel single deck

487

Metroline West

Metroline West

11

Single deck (details TBC)

N97

London Transit

London General

n/a

Existing hybrid double deck***

W5

HCT Group

HCT Group

7

Single deck (details TBC)

* 24 hour routes (154 at weekends only).

** One bus is double deck.

*** Night only route using buses from day routes.

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

Start and end dates for the above contracts will be as follows:

Route

Contract Start Date

Contract End Date

80

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

91/N91

4th February 2023

1st February 2030

93

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

149

15th October 2022

15th October 2027

151

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

154

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

163

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

164

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

187

4th March 2023

1st March 2030

297

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

384

22nd October 2022

19th October 2029

470

3rd December 2022

30th November 2029

487

4th March 2023

1st March 2030

N97

4th March 2023

1st March 2030

W5

4th February 2023

1st February 2030

The abbreviation for TBC is ‘To Be Commenced,’ which means we could see existing buses used for the route contracts or new zero-emission buses provided by a range of manufacturers:

We’ll have to wait and see which buses will be selected by bus operators once their new route contracts start.

The three-door, two-staircase New Routemaster (NRM) manufactured by Wrightbus is expected to continue to operate on route 149 until their contract ends in October 2027; the contract may extend by two years depending on the service performance by bus operator Arriva London. Hopefully in the near future we’ll see a new range of zero-emission buses from manufacturers to potentially replace the NRMs.

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