It’s been 10 years since the New Routemaster entered service – from a rear platform bus with conductor, to a three-door, two-staircase hybrid bus

Ten years ago, the Wrightbus New Routemaster (LT2) first entered public service on 27th February 2012, on Route 38.

The New Routemaster (previously named New Bus for London) is a three-door, two-staircase diesel-hybrid bus. It originally had an open platform design with conductor which lasted until September 2016 on routes 9, 10, 11, 24, 38 and 390.

This article features texts from Transport for London (TfL), the Greater London Authority (GLA), and Government and UK Parliament websites about the New Routemaster, including specifications.

Let’s take a look at the press release of the passenger service launch day of the New Routemaster which took place on 27th February 2012.

British Bus Operator First Bus Confirmed to Trial Arrival’s Single-Deck Electric Bus

I was checking my Twitter feed and a Tweet emerged from Arrival that their single-deck electric bus will be trialled by First Bus.

From Arrival Press Release

LONDON, Feb 22, 2021 — Arrival, the company creating electric vehicles using its radical new technologies, today announced that it will begin trials of its zero-emission Bus with First Bus, one of the UK’s largest transport operators. The trials, which will see Arrival buses navigating existing First Bus routes in the UK, will begin this Autumn. The new partnership comes just seven months after First Bus announced their commitment to purchase no diesel buses after 2022 and to operate a fully zero- emission fleet by 2035.

TfL to push forward their zero-emission bus fleet plan to 2030

I’ve been looking through the board papers on the TfL website, and at the recent papers which were published for the July 29 meeting. I discovered that there are plans to accelerate the zero-emission bus fleet plan, also known as MTS (Mayor Transport Strategy) to 2030 in order to achieve the ambition of making London Transport carbon neutral.

The extracts from the board papers: