London Bus Tender Awards: New Routemasters To Continue On Route 73 And New Electric Buses For Route 425

Transport for London (TfL) has announced in a new London Bus Tender Awards that route 25 will continue to use double-deck hybrid buses, and route 73 will continue to use three-door, two-staircase New Routemasters and route 425 will use new double-deck electric buses.

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

Route 25/N25
Retained By: Stagecoach East London
Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR): 31
Vehicles: Existing hybrid double deck
Contract Start Date: 24th May 2025
Contract End Date: 24th May 2030

Route 73/N73
Retained By: Arriva London North
PVR: 24
Vehicles: Existing New Routemaster
Contract Start Date: 30th August 2025
Contract End Date: 30th August 2030

Route 425
Retained By: Stagecoach East London
PVR: 21
Vehicles: New electric double deck
Contract Start Date: 5th July 2025
Contract End Date: 2nd July 2032

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.

The hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

I would like to see a new double-deck electric bus with three-doors, two staircases, and two wheelchair spaces to help improve accessibility for the disabled, wheelchair and pushchair users.

They can be ideal for routes 25, 73, 390 (as the contract renewal has been reported in my previous article) and other busy routes in London to help improve loading and unloading and to provide ease of access for wheelchair users boarding the bus, especially with two wheelchair spaces. This is where TfL and other transport authorities (such as Greater Manchester's Bee Network) should progress to improve accessibility for their bus services, and it will help improve customer satisfaction.

Here are the highlights of my posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) and BlueSky. If you have an account on X and BlueSky, you are welcome to like and retweet my posts.

23 Yutong Battery Electric Buses Hit the Streets of Como, Lombardy, Italyhttps://t.co/YUjJimsfWy pic.twitter.com/DJES9TzFEb

— CLondoner92 (@CLondoner92) September 19, 2024

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