Comparing Transport for London's Research (Survey Results) For High-Spec Buses With The New Routemaster And Bendy Buses

Some of my followers on X (formerly Twitter), BlueSky, and Mastodon may have noticed that I have been posting research such as survey results for the high-spec buses, the New Routemaster, and bendy buses.

 

I have decided to post some of the text in my article to widen the outreach for researchers.

 

To start off, a Freedom of Information request to Transport for London (TfL) has published the customer research for the high-specification double-deck buses that are used in relation to the New Bus Vehicle Specification.

 

Customer experience research for new buses with high-spec features

Belfast Rapid Transit unveils new Glider vehicle and launch of new Abbey Wood Station building

This is a follow up to my previous article about the Belfast Rapid Transit project in Northern Ireland.

From Department for Infrastructure Northern Ireland

The new Belfast Rapid Transit Glider vehicle has been unveiled today at the Busworld Europe exhibition in Belgium.

The new Glider service will come into operation in September 2018 and is set to transform public transport in Belfast. It will offer passengers a modern, efficient public transport service with shorter, more reliable journey times and high frequency services.

A response to the London Assembly’s report on reinstating bendy buses

First of all, this is not a political blog and this article is a response to the London Assembly’s report on the bendy buses.

From London Gov

With over two billion passenger journeys a year, bus usage is around double that of the London Underground. But bus passenger numbers are in decline.

Between 2014/15 and 2016/17, the number of passenger journeys made on buses fell by six per cent.[1]

UK debut for Euro 6 bendy buses and end of June 2017 transport news roundup

Just to wrap up the end of the month, here’s some transport news relayed from other sites.

First off, Gatwick and Bristol Airports are now operating the new Mercedes-Benz Citaro artic with Euro 6 engines.

From Route-One:

The UK’s first Euro 6 articulated buses are now running, thanks to orders from two airport operators.

Right-hand drive versions of the latest 18m Citaro G model are now in operation at Gatwick and Bristol airports. Internally, they have luggage racks, along with the trademark floor-to-ceiling ‘wardrobe’ on the rear nearside interior, housing the engine bay.

Fare evasion on New Routemaster buses

This is going to be a controversial topic about the New Routemaster bus because of the fare evasion issue. Please bare in mind, it is not my intention to make this a political or biased article in any way. The only purpose of this article is to compile information from various sources into one article.

Photos of Bendy Buses in London

Taking a trip down memory lane to the decade of the 2000’s, twelve London Bus routes operated with articulated buses. The type of articulated bus was the Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro G artic.

The photographs are taken from Wikimedia Commons.

London Buses route 12

Go Ahead London Central MAL91 BX54UDZ

By oyxman - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2141681

Operated from 06th November 2004 till 05th November 2011

The Oddities of London Buses

This article will be about the more obscure moments of London Buses. The mainstream history of London Buses revolves around the red buses, so I have researched and compiled some of the histories that I've found.

The general public only knows the London Bus service as the red bus in London, but there are several oddities when taking a closer look at the history of London Buses.

Bus services in Limerick Town Centre, Ireland

In a previous article I said that I was preparing for a short holiday and promised that upon my return I would be writing a ‘first hand’ report on the bus services in Limerick, Ireland. I aplologise for the delay as I have been rather busy since then but finally, here is that report.

Limerick has a small number of bus routes linking to the Town Centre and their bus services are still regulated and operated by Bus Éireann which is owned by Transport for Ireland. It’s interesting to note how most of the bus services in Ireland are still owned and run by the government compared to Britain where the bus services have been privatised and deregulated.

Belfast Rapid Transit and some London Bus News

Just a missing piece of the puzzle; I found out in Northern Ireland that Belfast is having its own rapid transit scheme using bendy buses.

Recently, we have seen Van Hool being awarded the contract to build buses for the Belfast Rapid Transit scheme.

From Department of Regional Development (Northern Ireland)

Transport Minister Michelle McIlveen has announced the award of a £19 million contract to supply a fleet of 30 vehicles for the new Belfast Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

Belgian-based company Van Hool won the contract and will be supported locally by Road Trucks Limited of Larne.

Two former bendy bus routes to be served by New Routemasters (Routes 12 & 149)

Routes 12 and 149 are to be served by New Routemasters.

According to London Bus Routes, it says “Route 12 - New bus for London double deckers introduced. Expected Date: March 2015.” I think these new buses will start in late March because the New Routemasters are still being delivered to Bow Garage for route 15.

LOTS have reported that Route “149 re-awarded to Arriva London North with New Routemasters, PVR (Peak Vehicle Requirement) 38, start date 17 October 2015.” This seems a long time to wait for the users of route 149 to have New Routemaster buses.

The tale of the 'open boarding buses' (Bendy Bus and New Routemaster)

Same route, same destination, different bus types, different capacity

In this article I'm going to look at the differences between two open boarding buses such as the bendy bus and the New Routemaster.

Brief History of the Bendy Bus

Open Boarding buses officially started with articulated buses on 2^nd June 2002 on Red Arrow Routes 507 and 521. Shortly after, the first main routes to convert fully to articulated buses were routes 436 and 453, early in 2003.

The final route which was converted to articulated buses was route 29, back in early 2006, which makes it the twelfth route. 

Route 453 was the only route to have change operators from Stagecoach London to Go Ahead London with new Citaro buses whilst the remaining number of Stagecoach Citaros moved to Route 25 and various other routes.

As of 2008, there were approximately 416 Mercedes Benz Citario Artics operating on 12 London Bus routes with a total daytime Peak Vehicle Requirement of 356 bendy buses.

Route 453 conversion to New Routemaster finally announced by TFL

"London General bus MAL117 (BP57 UJY) 2008 Mercedes-Benz Citaro, route 453, 10 June 2011" by Darren Hall Uploaded by Ultra7. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

London Bus route 453 has been experiencing delays in converting the route to New Routemaster operation. TFL released a press statement (on 2^nd October 2014) regarding the fuel consumption, which I have previously published.

Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that the next bus route to be served entirely by New Routemaster buses will be the 453.

From 18 October there will be phased conversion of the route, which is operated by London General, and runs 24-hours a day between Deptford Broadway and Marylebone station, via Baker Street, Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross), Westminster, Lambeth North, Elephant & Castle and New Cross Gate. The route will be running entirely with New Routemaster buses by mid November.

New Routemaster conversion for Route 453 is delayed again!

"London General bus MAL117 (BP57 UJY) 2008 Mercedes-Benz Citaro, route 453, 10 June 2011" by Darren Hall Uploaded by Ultra7. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) have reported that route 453 has missed two target dates, so the route conversion to New Routemasters will now commence on the 18^th  of October 2014.

This is not the first time the route has experienced delays converting to a specific bus type. 

The first delay occurred on the 15th of February back in 2003

Open boarding returns on Route 453 in form of New Routemasters

Creative Commons image by Ultra7

Route 453, which is an 11 year old London Bus Route will have an open boarding service for the first time in 3 years. The New Routemaster buses are due to have 3 doors and 2 staircases. The route runs from Deptford bridge DLR station in South London to Marylebone station via Westminster Bridge and Oxford Circus.