Friday, 14 March 2025

London Bus Tender Awards: Go-Ahead London Central Retains Route 12 with New Routemasters, and Route S1 to Use New Electric Single-Deck Buses

Transport for London (TfL) has announced in the London Bus tender awards that the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemasters will continue to operate on Route 12, and Transport UK London has won Route S1 with new single-deck electric buses.

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

Route 12 (24h)
Retained by: Go-Ahead London Central
Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR): 15
Vehicles: Existing New Routemaster
Contract Start Date: 1st November 2025
Contract End Date: 1st November 2030

Route 699
Retained by: Uno
PVR: 4
Vehicles: Existing electric double deck
Contract Start Date: 22nd November 2025
Contract End Date: 19th November 2032

Route R5/R10
Retained by: Go-Ahead Metrobus
PVR: 1
Vehicles: Existing diesel single deck
Contract Start Date: 6th December 2025
Contract End Date: 8th December 2028

Route R7
Retained by: Go-Ahead Metrobus
PVR: 4
Vehicles: Existing diesel single deck
Contract Start Date: 6th December 2025
Contract End Date: 8th December 2028

Route S1
Current Operator: Metrobus
New Operator: Transport UK London
PVR: 13
Vehicles: New electric single deck
Contract Start Date: 29th November 2025
Contract End Date: 26th November 2032

Route S4
Current Operator: Transport UK London
New Operator: Metrobus
PVR: 7
Vehicles: Existing diesel single deck
Contract Start Date: 29th November 2025
Contract End Date: 1st December 2028

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.
The diesel and hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

It's interesting to see that Route 12 will continue to use the New Routemaster buses, which were designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufactured by Wrightbus.

I outlined in my previous article the importance of adapting bus designs to the specific needs of different routes, and in relation to that, I suggest a new zero-emission double-deck bus with three doors and two staircases to improve seating capacity and enhance boarding and alighting flows at bus stops, particularly on high-frequency urban routes in inner London and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes.


As for Route S1, it will be interesting to see which make and model of single-deck electric bus is chosen, as Transport UK London has won the contract to operate the service.

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