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Friday, 22 December 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: RATP Dev Retains Route 411 And Abellio London Wins Route 465 With Existing Single-Deck Buses

I assume this is the last tender award of the year (2023), as we see two London bus route contracts awarded with diesel single-deck buses.

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

Tuesday, 5 December 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Arriva Wins Contract To Operate Superloop SL5 and Metroline Retains Route U4 With New Double-Deck Electric Buses

As we are in December 2023, the latest London Bus tender awards have revealed that Arriva London has won the Superloop Route SL5 contract with existing single-deck diesel buses, and Metroline won Route U4 with new double-deck electric buses.

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

Tuesday, 7 November 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Route C1 Retained by RATP Dev London United With Single-Deck Electric Buses

The latest London Bus tender awards have revealed that route C1 has been retained by RATP Dev London United with existing single-deck electric buses.

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

Saturday, 28 October 2023

The One Day Travelcard Is Saved!

I know this news is slightly overdue, but I would like to specifically mention on my website that the One Day Travelcard is saved as Transport for London (TfL) and the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operating companies, agreed to retain the One Day Travelcard.

Rail Delivery Group:

Rail Delivery Group, Department for Transport and Transport for London reach agreement to save Day Travelcards for train passengers

Train companies, represented by Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and Transport for London (TfL) have reached an agreement which means Day Travelcards can continue to be bought by customers as part of their train tickets to London.  

Friday, 20 October 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Huge Retains For Arriva London With New Electric Buses For Routes 50, 194, 250, 255, 289, 663 & 689, And An Update On Superloop Routes SL2 And SL3

The latest London Bus tender awards have revealed that routes 50, 194, 250, 255, 289, 663 & 689 have been awarded to Arriva London with new electric buses, and Arriva won Superloop route SL2 and Stagecoach won Superloop route SL3.

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

Thursday, 12 October 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Routes 131, 280, 314, 320 & R70 Will Be Served Using New Electric Buses

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the new London Bus Tender Awards, where routes 131. 280, 314, 320 and R70 will be served using new electric buses.

Route 130
Retained by Abellio London
Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR): 12
Vehicles: Existing diesel single deck
Contract Start Date: 24th August 2024
Contract End Date: 23rd August 2030

Friday, 29 September 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Metroline Retains Routes 260 & 302 With Existing Hybrid Double-Deck Buses

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the new London Bus Tender Awards, where routes 260 and 302 are retained by Metroline with existing hybrid double-deck buses.

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

Friday, 22 September 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Arriva Retains Route 243 With New Double-Deck Electric Buses

Bus livery drawing of the 1,000th electric bus for London

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the new London Bus Tender Awards, where route 243 will be converted to brand new double-deck electric buses by next year.

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

Friday, 15 September 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Go-Ahead London Wins Silvertown Tunnel Routes 129 And Superloop Route SL4 With New Electric Buses

Map of routes 108, 129 and X239/SL4 from the Silvertown Tunnel Bus Network Proposals

Here's the second London Bus tender Awards of this week, and it has revealed that routes 129 and Superloop route SL4 (formerly X239) have been awarded to Go-Ahead London with new double-deck electric buses.

From Go-Ahead London on Twitter/X

We have been awarded two electric bus contracts by Transport for London (TfL), as follows:

Tuesday, 12 September 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Electric Buses for Route 242/N242 - Superloop routes X34/SL1 & X183/SL10 to launch soon


Transport for London (TfL) has announced the new London Bus Tender Awards, where route 242/N242 will be converted to brand new double-deck electric buses by next year.

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

Sunday, 27 August 2023

My Suggestions To Help Create The Most Accessible Zero-Emission Bus For London And Elsewhere!

Last updated 12th March 2024


As the UK Government is currently undergoing a consultation to review the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000, to which the deadline for submissions is 11:45pm on 4 September 2023, I have decided to write a response, not just to the consultation but also to inspire transport authorities, bus manufacturers, bus operators, etc. to improve accessibility for new buses in London, the UK and elsewhere. Bear in mind though, I’m not an expert at vehicle design.

So here are my suggestions to create the most accessible zero-emission bus for London and elsewhere.

Tuesday, 15 August 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Zero-Emission Electric Buses For Routes 206, 210, 306, 379, 382, C11, S3, W7 & W8

Thames Gateway Transit livery on a double-deck bus. Image by TfL.
Thames Gateway Transit livery on a double-deck bus. Image by TfL.

As we are in the middle of August 2023, Transport for London has announced the new London Bus Tender Awards where routes 206, 210, 306, 379, 382, C11, S3, W7 and W8 will be using new electric buses by next year (2024).

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

Monday, 31 July 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Electric Buses For Route 143 And New Routemasters To Continue On Routes 253/N253 and 254

As we are approaching the end of July 2023, the London Bus Tender Awards have revealed that route 143 will convert to new single-deck electric buses, and routes 253/N253 and 254 will continue to use New Routemasters.

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

Friday, 14 July 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Electric Buses For Routes 58, 113/N113 & 277/N277, And New Routemasters For Route 215

As we are in the middle of July 2023, the London Bus Tender Awards has revealed that routes 58, 113/N113 and 277/N277 will be served using new double-deck electric buses, and route 215 will be converted to a three-door, two-staircase hybrid bus named New Routemaster.

Monday, 3 July 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Electric Buses For Routes 101, 262, 396, 439, 473 & E6

Route branding livery for London Bus Express Route X26

As we are in July 2023, Transport for London has announced on the new London Bus Tender Awards that routes 101, 262, 396, 439, 473 and E6 will be using new electric buses by next year (2024).

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

Sunday, 2 July 2023

Suggestion: I Believe It’s Time for a New Regional Transport Body for the South East of England?

I've had this idea in my head for the past few years, and I’ve been saying it on Twitter for the past several months.

I would like to suggest that it’s time for a new transport authority for the South East of England (including Greater London and the Home Counties) to subsume TfL (including all their responsibilities listed below), various transport responsibilities by the local authorities (London Borough, Local, County Councils etc.), certain sub-national transport bodies (i.e. England’s Economic Heartland, Transport East & Transport for the South East), and the railway services of the former Network SouthEast.

Tuesday, 6 June 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Zero-Emission Electric Buses For Routes 39, 325, S2 & W11

The first London Bus Tender Awards for June 2023 have revealed that the New Routemasters will continue on routes 19, 76, and 259, while routes 39, 325, S2, and W11 will be served with new electric single-deck buses.

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

Friday, 19 May 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Routes 133, 279 & 333 To Convert To New Electric Buses And New Routemasters To Continue On Routes 59, 137 and East London Transit Services

Drawing of the New Routemaster with East London Transit livery

The new London Bus Tender Awards have revealed routes 133, 279, and 333 will soon be using brand new zero-emission electric buses, and the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemasters are retained on routes 59, 137, and the East London Transit services.

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

Saturday, 13 May 2023

List of London Bus Routes Accepting Certain Non-TfL Tickets, National Rail’s PlusBus and English National Concessionary Companion Passes (2023)

A Freedom of Information request to Transport for London (TfL) reveals that London Buses accept certain non-TfL tickets and concessionary companion passes for bus routes that are usually outside the Greater London boundary. Unfortunately, TfL does not publicise this on their Bus and Tram fares page. There’s also no information regarding the use of English National Concessionary Companion Passes on the free and discounted travel page on the TfL website.

Wednesday, 3 May 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Bus Operator Uno Gains School Routes 628 and 688 From Sullivan Buses

Here's a quick London Bus Tender Awards, as we see bus operator Uno taking over routes 628 and 688 from Sullivan Buses.

 

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

Wednesday, 26 April 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Double-Deck Electric Buses For Routes 321, 381/N381 & D7

A new announcement of the London Bus Tender Awards has revealed that routes 321, 381/N381, and D7 will be using new double-deck electric buses, and the existing New Routemasters will continue to be used on routes 32/N32 and 349.

Tuesday, 11 April 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Stagecoach Retains Route 388 With Existing Hybrid Buses

Transport for London (TfL) has released the London Bus tender awards for the 11th April 2023.

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

Friday, 7 April 2023

Suggestion: Why Inclusive Surcharge-free Data Roaming on Smartphones is Important for Overseas Tourists (& Vice Versa) to Navigate Public Transport, and To Purchase E-Tickets etc.

In this article I’m going to look at the technology which is heavily used for public transport by staff and passengers themselves.

As technology keeps advancing, increasing numbers of people are becoming dependent on smartphones for a range of different uses, such as journey planning (TfL Go), navigation (Google Maps), messaging (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.) and purchasing e-tickets, etc.

This article is in response to the London TravelWatch campaign on Digital Exclusion, as they stated that "1 in 6 people in London say they are unable to buy a ticket as they can’t use or don’t have access to a smartphone or internet connection".

Wednesday, 29 March 2023

Mayor of London Unveils The Superloop Brand To Launch New Orbital Express Bus Services In The Outer London Boroughs

A few days ago, the Mayor of London unveiled the new Superloop brand to launch new orbital express bus services for the Outer London boroughs, in an attempt to encourage more people to travel by bus.

From TfL press release:

• A major expansion of outer London’s bus network, the Superloop, would be made up of limited-stop express bus routes around outer London

• The Mayor has already committed to an increase of over one million kilometres in outer London ahead of the expansion of the lifesaving ULEZ in August

• The Superloop has been made possible by the extra £6m provided by the Mayor of London for even more improvements in outer London bus services

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today (Tuesday 28 March) announced plans for a network of limited-stop express bus routes that circle the entire capital - connecting outer London town centres, railway stations, hospitals and transport hubs, faster.

Monday, 27 March 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: RATP London Transit Retains Route 23 And Abellio London To Take Over Route C3 With New Electric Buses

This is a short article unveiling the latest London Bus Tender Awards, as we see route 23 retained by RATP London Transit with existing electric double deck and Abellio London to take over route C3 with new double deck electric buses.

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

Friday, 10 March 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Arriva Loses Route 78 To Go-Ahead London And New Routemasters To Continue On Route 189

Alexanser Dennis Enviro400H City on route 78

The recent London Bus Tender Awards have announced route 78 have been awarded to Go-Ahead London with existing hybrid buses.

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

Monday, 6 March 2023

Transport for London launches consultations to restructure bus services in Barnet, Brent, Havering, and Wandsworth


Transport for London (TfL) has launched multiple consultations to restructure bus services in the outer London boroughs.

From TfL press release:

TfL sets out further new proposals for more than 400,000km increase in buses services in outer London

Consultations have been published on proposals to improve buses in Barnet, Brent, Havering and Wandsworth

Friday, 24 February 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: Metroline Takes Over Route 9 With Existing New Routemasters

A recent London Bus Tender Awards has revealed that bus operator Metroline is set to take over route 9 by next year (27 January 2024), and will continue to use three-door, two-staircase hybrid buses known as the New Routemaster.

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

Saturday, 18 February 2023

Mid-February 2023 Transport News Round-Up: UK Government Extends £2 Bus Fare Till June, New DLR Trains Unveiled, TfL Fare Rises From March, All-Electric Bus Towns for Athlone, Ireland & Inverness, Scotland, Ensignbus Sells to First Group and More

Since I haven’t posted an article for a month. I’ve decided to post a round-up of various transport news stories that happened during this month and last month (January).

Firstly, here’s the news recently published by the Department for Transport extending their £2 bus fare scheme in England till the end of June 2023.

From Department for Transport

Friday, 27 January 2023

London Bus Tender Awards: New Electric Buses For Routes 157, 228 & 363

Here’s the first new London Bus Tender Awards for the year 2023, with more routes converting to zero-emission electric buses.

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

Monday, 2 January 2023

My Brief Review On The New Enviro400EV Product By Alexander Dennis, And Why Creativity Is Important For Bus Manufacturing

First of all, I wish my readers a Happy New Year. I hope we see some interesting developments in the year 2023. :)

In this article, I'm doing a brief review on the new Enviro400EV product by Alexander Dennis and explain why creativity is important for bus manufacturing.