My Standards for Providing Bus Services: Tailoring Vehicle Types and Door Configurations to Meet Route Needs

NRMs with route branding
Drawings © TfL

I will be explaining and suggesting my standards for the type of vehicles used for particular bus services in London and elsewhere.

The design and deployment of buses tailored to meet the needs of different routes are essential for improving the efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability of public transport systems. This document outlines various bus configurations intended for use across a range of urban and suburban environments, from narrow residential streets to high-frequency city routes. Each vehicle type is designed with specific operational demands in mind, ensuring a seamless and reliable service for passengers. Key features such as wheelchair accessibility, zero-emission engines, and optimised door configurations are incorporated to enhance both the passenger experience and operational performance. Furthermore, the ability to apply route branding to these vehicles ensures clear identification of services, supporting a well-integrated transport network. The following sections detail the most suitable bus types for different service needs, with a focus on route characteristics, service frequency, and the capacity requirements of each bus type.

Single-Door or Dual-Door Midi Buses
For suburban routes using narrow roads, including housing estates and rural areas.

Single-Door Buses (with two wheelchair spaces)
For cross-boundary, cross-country routes, including low-frequency, express, and commercial services.

Dual-Door (at the front and centre) Buses (single or double deck, with two wheelchair spaces)
For high-frequency suburban routes (including housing estates), urban routes (such as town centres and inner London), express services, and routes utilising bus priority measures.

Tri-axle buses can be used for increased capacity.

Triple-Door Buses (double-deck, two-axle or tri-axle)
For Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, routes employing extensive bus priority measures (including express services), high-frequency routes, and built-up areas such as inner and central London. All-door open boarding can be implemented to improve boarding and alighting times at bus stops, while also enhancing revenue protection.

Triple or More Doors (Articulated/Bendy Buses)
For Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, routes using extensive bus priority measures (including express services), high-frequency routes, and those operating on trunk roads or larger roads, including dual carriageways. All-door open boarding can be implemented to improve boarding and alighting times at bus stops, while also enhancing revenue protection.

The vehicles described above can be equipped with route/service branding to promote the bus service.

All vehicles will be zero-emission, wheelchair accessible, and include high-specification features to enhance the satisfaction of bus users. The high-specification features can include the exterior bodywork of the bus, such as the tram-style for single-deck and bendy buses, and a New Routemaster-style, or a more creative design for double-deck buses.

The Glider in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Brisbane Metro in Queensland, Australia, both separate the driver from the passenger saloon, giving a tram-like experience for passengers. These buses also offer open boarding, just like trams and other transport services. They use extensive bus priority schemes, including bus lanes and bus-only roads, which classify them as Bus Rapid Transit systems.

Bus routes tend to differ, including the type of vehicles, capacity, etc. This is due to the suitability of the route, which considers factors such as road surface, street sizes, locations of interest (such as hospitals and railway stations), and bus priority measures, including new or existing bus lanes and bus-only roads.

Highlight from TfL updates agenda for London Borough of Bexley Transport Users' Sub-Committee - Tuesday, 12th November 2024:

TfL anticipates launching the consultation for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit for Woolwich and Abbey Wood stations by 2025.https://t.co/YnvLXbsnbj pic.twitter.com/KgE4BQTICL

— CLondoner92 (@CLondoner92) November 11, 2024

In addition, bus lanes and priority measures do not just benefit buses; emergency services also use them to improve their response times and save lives.

There are different types of public transport services, such as trams, light rail (such as the Docklands Light Railway and Metro Tyne and Wear), Underground (alternatively known as the subway or metro), and railways, etc.

I would like to see a similar approach, as there are different types of bus services. They need to be simplified to make it easier to identify the types of buses used, their capacity (including single-deck, double-deck, and articulated), the boarding arrangement (such as front-door entry or multi-door open boarding), and the extent of bus priority measures used to classify them as Bus Rapid Transit services. This is similar to how National Rail services announce the number of carriages to inform passengers of the train's capacity, and which carriage to board, where certain stations have shorter platforms that require selective door opening.

The current bus branding schemes in London include East London Transit (which uses New Routemasters) and the Superloop express bus services, which use a mix of double-deck buses (including New Routemasters) and single-deck buses for each of the routes.

I have been keeping this idea a secret for the past couple of years, before the Superloop brand was launched. My suggestion is to create London Busways, a BRT service for London, with their own branding. The roundel is based on the 1987–1994 London Buses Ltd. 🧵1/4

[image or embed]

— CLondoner92 (@clondoner92.bsky.social) April 4, 2024 at 11:53 AM

London has around 1,000 hybrid New Routemaster (NRM) buses with three-doors and two-staircases. Originally, these buses featured open boarding (with an open platform and conductor, which only served up to six routes until September 2016), allowing bus users to board using any door. However, in 2020, TfL converted all NRM routes to front-door-only boarding due to increasing fare evasion issues.

I have covered the reasons for these boarding arrangements in my previous article. After the 14-year lifecycle of the New Routemaster in London’s bus service, I suggest they should undergo deep refurbishment with new components, including a Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, and be retrofitted to full zero-emission electric. These buses could then be deployed to Bus Rapid Transit services throughout the UK.

As the UK Government's reform of bus services in England is underway, it is disappointing to see that franchised, contracted, and municipal bus companies (local authority-owned) are still using single-door buses. I understand that this is due to infrastructure limitations, such as bus stations being designed to accommodate single-door buses rather than dual or multi-door buses.

I have laid out my suggestions for a new zero-emission double-deck bus with enhanced accessibility and a common bus specification for London, franchised areas, and municipal bus companies.

As for creating new tram services, I suggested in my previous article that bus lanes and priority measures, and even larger roads such as dual carriageways, may provide a good case for creating new tram lines to increase capacity and improve accessibility. This could also benefit supply chains, such as the steel industry, for new rails and overhead lines.

Bus services in London and beyond do need improvement to increase usage and tackle climate change. I have published other suggestions to improve bus services in my previous articles:

Suggestion: Transport for London Should Revive the Old Speedbus Proposal From the 1970s as Part of Phase 2 of the Superloop

Why is Creativity in Public Transport Important, Including Bus Route Planning and Branding?

Suggestion: London Passenger Transport Area Including London Country Buses Should Be Revived To Enhance Cross-Boundary Connections

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