Suggestion for the New Routemasters After London Service: Repower Them as Electric Vehicles for Bus Rapid Transit Services

Repowered New Routemaster LT11

This is a follow-up to my article from last year regarding the New Routemasters being phased out in favour of new zero-emission buses in the near future.

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.

In Defence of the 'Tram-style' Designed Single-deck Buses

Photo by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

I'm aware that on social media there have been objections to the 'tram-style' buses, whether they are articulated (bendy) or not, which also includes 'trackless trams' Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART).

Recently, the Liverpool City Region Mayor unveiled a tram-style bendy bus (Van Hool Exqui.City) leased from Translink in Northern Ireland for demonstration of a new bus rapid transit service in Liverpool, which is part of the Steve Rotheram mayoral manifesto commitment. I'm also aware there's a similar concept in Brisbane, Australia, where they expect to launch a new rapid transit service on 21st October 2024, branded as Brisbane Metro.

Making A Case For New Rapid Transit Lines (Including New Tram Lines) By Increasing Bus Priority Measures

To tackle traffic congestion and pollution, London is in dire need of more bus priority measures and light rail services, including trams (also known as streetcars for North American readers), as it will help improve the economy.

The first generation of trams operated from 1860 to 1952, serving most of the London County Council area except for the west end of London. The type of trams London had were double-deck.

Then came trolleybuses, which served the London Passenger Transport Area from 1931 until 1962, as they were replaced by the diesel-engined AEC Routemaster.

Why Are Bus Lanes And Bus Priority Roads Beneficial To Emergency Services, Especially Non-Emergency Ambulances?

Non-emergency ambulance using the bus lane in London.
Image by TfL

I have spotted on Twitter/X that a local authority in Hull made a decision to degrade bus priority measures, and another is in America, where the State of Indiana General Assembly is trying to pass a bill to restrict bus lanes in Indianapolis, including the IndyGo Blue Line, a Bus Rapid Transit service.

The purpose of this article is to show my research on how bus lanes and priority measures are beneficial to emergency services, including non-emergency service ambulances.

Transport for London’s 2023 Consultation Reports for Bus Service Changes Reveal Popularity for the New Routemaster and Tram Buses

Last updated: 5 August 2024

New Routemaster and Irizar Ie Tram

Some of my readers have seen on Twitter/X posting certain pages of various consultations about the proposed London bus service changes, especially with the proposed new routes for the Superloop express bus network. According to the comments TfL received on their consultations, there have been requests to use New Routemasters and Tram Buses on various bus routes in London. What is bizarre is that the Tram Buses haven’t been launched on route 358.

TfL Publishes Average Dwell Times for New Routemasters (All-Door & Open Boarding) To Compare With Other Bus Types in London

It’s been a while since I posted an article on my website and some of my followers on Twitter may have seen my tweets linking to some interesting Freedom of Information requests that I found on the Transport for London (TfL) website.

The FOI requests worthy of an article are the ones concerning the average dwell times for New Routemasters in comparison to other buses on the London Bus network.

What are dwell times?

The definition from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Glossary states: “The period in which a vehicle or train discharges and takes on passengers at a stop, including opening and closing doors and time spent standing.”

Let’s take a look at the Freedom of Information releases published by TfL:

My Response To TfL’s Bus Action Plan, Published In March 2022 - Does London Have The Largest Bus Rapid Transit System? And Bus Improvement Plans In The UK And Ireland

I realise I’m rather late with my report covering this news but I’ve been writing this article in my spare time. I have also included the news from Manchester and Ireland about their bus improvement plans.

On 11th March 2022, Transport for London unveiled their new Bus Action Plan to help improve bus services in Greater London.

From TfL Press Release

Bus Action Plan sets out TfL's priorities for faster journeys, an improved customer experience, and the decarbonising of the network.

Ireland’s NTA reveals tender process for 800 pure double-deck electric buses and proposal on DLR extension to Thamesmead approved

News update for Ireland once again.

It has been revealed that Ireland’s governing body National Transport Authority have commenced a tender process to purchase 800 double-deck electric buses for services in the Republic of Ireland.

From National Transport Authority

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has today commenced the procurement process for up to 800 double-deck battery electric buses as part of a shift towards greater sustainability in the public transport fleet.

The process is part of a continued effort to transition to low and zero emission buses as provided for in Project Ireland 2040 and the Climate Action Plan. The NTA intends to purchase up to 800 buses under this Framework Agreement over a period of five years, with the first buses expected to arrive in the second half of 2022.

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.

TfL consultation on re-routing route 96 via the Fastrack busway

TfL is proposing a change on route 96 to reroute the section between Dartford and Bluewater to serve Darent Valley Hospital and to use the Fastrack busways to reduce journey times.

From TfL consultations

We’ve been working with Kent County Council to improve bus services to Darent Valley Hospital, whilst also improving the journey time and reliability of route 96. We are now proposing improvements to route 96 between Dartford and Bluewater shopping centre, and would welcome any comments you may have on the proposals.

January 2017 bus purchases for First Bus and London Bus tender awards

More investments made by First bus, to increase the usage for their services.

First up - the new bus purchases for their West of England services.

From First Group

First West of England invests £750k in brand new 'Severn Express' buses

Bus Rapid Transit for Sheffield opens - and more news for London

This is going to be a compilation of recent articles that I’ve selected from various sources about Transport in Britain - a mixture of good and bad news.

First off, Sheffield opens up their own Bus Rapid Transit scheme:

New Routemasters for East London Transit!

A couple of weeks ago I published an article suggesting that New Routemaster routes should have a branded bus service, then out of the blue TfL decides to have East London Transit routes with New Routemaster buses that have 3 doors and 2 staircases.

Route 48 is also listed for New Routemaster conversion and a follow up with various routes converting to standard hybrid buses.

London Buses route 96 and Fastrack between Dartford and Bluewater

On this article, I’ll be explaining about the section of Route 96 which goes from Dartford to Bluewater Shopping Centre non-stop.

New Routemaster routes branded as their own network?

This is a follow up to my previous article showing the list of routes served with New Routemaster (NRM) routes.

As the number of New Routemaster routes has increased to 25, I do think they should have a specific branded service which is similar to the East London Transit and Fastrack Bus Rapid Transit scheme and the old Red Arrow service.

Fastrack: Kent Thameside’s bus rapid transit

Fastrack is a bus rapid transit scheme in the Thames Gateway area of Kent which consists of two routes. It was first founded on 26th March 2006.

Their routes are as follows:

·         Route A serves Bluewater, Greenhithe, Temple Hill and Dartford

·         Route B serves Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International Railway station, Swanscombe, Ingress Park, Greenhithe, Bluewater, Dartford and Temple Hill

Both of these services are operated by Arriva Kent Thameside on behalf of Kent County Council.