Covid19: TfL start to restore fare payments on London buses (including list of routes)

TfL has recently announced that they are restoring fare payments on London buses as part of the funding and financing package provided by the UK Government to keep London Transport services running.

From TfL Press release

Transport for London (TfL) announced today that it will begin the phased re-introduction of the requirement for passengers to touch in on buses with their contactless, Oyster or concessionary card, starting with routes served by single-door and New Routemaster buses.

From Saturday 23 May, customers on 85 routes, served by more than 1,200 of these buses, will need to touch in on the card reader by the doors as they board.

This is the first step to returning all of London's buses to being able to accept payments once further safety measures have been introduced to protect bus drivers.

The requirement to touch in will follow on more routes over the coming weeks, with announcements and signage in place on bus doors to inform passengers of the requirement.

TfL enters procurement for hydrogen fuel cell buses

TfL has given out a formal invitation to search for a supplier to build double and single deck hydrogen buses.

From EU Tenders Electronic Daily

TfL is conducting a competition to establish a multi supplier, multi lot framework for the purchase of single and double deck buses which use hydrogen fuel cells as their primary source of drive-train power, which will also allow for the capability to provide support services such as maintenance.

An objective of this Framework is to encourage local, national and international collaboration in an attempt to generate large scale deployment, standardisation, and ultimately commercialisation of fuel cell buses. A number of UK city transport authorities and transport operators have expressed their desire to use this Framework.

TfL updates on the London Bus ‘Hopper fare’ scheme

London Buses’ one-hour Hopper fare was launched back in September 2016 and now TfL have given us an update in their news section on the continuing success of the scheme.

From TfL news

The fare, which was introduced on 12 September, enables passengers to take a £1.50 bus or tram journey and then change onto another bus or tram for free within an hour. The Hopper fare is automatically given to anyone who uses pay as you go with a contactless bank payment or Oyster card.

Ride the classic AEC Routemaster on Route 15 – they’re still running!

Not many commuters and tourists are aware that the vintage ‘AEC Routemasters’ are still operating on route 15 between Charing Cross and Tower Hill/Tower of London.

TfL haven’t given much publicity to the AEC Routemasters on route 15, but they do mention them in the last paragraph on the New Routemaster page on their website and also the ‘where can I use contactless’ page.

Share of the London Bus Market

Different companies, same service

Please note: I won't be showing any political bias here as this article is solely for informational purposes only.

Back in early 2015, I wrote an article about the private companies contracted to TFL; in this article I will be explaining about the operational share of the London bus market based by share from European, International and British companies.

50 years of the Red Arrow bus service

MEC50 repainted to the classic Red Arrow livery.

Am I referring to the Red Arrow service by Trent Barton? No, but there is one in Central London which is still regulated by London Buses today, currently they are routes 507 and 521.

Here is a brief history of the Red Arrow bus service.

The Red Arrow service was first formed in 1966 as part of the Bus Reshaping Plan. Their purpose was to have long single deck buses with a reduction of seats to enable increased passenger standing capacity.

10 years of the Enviro400

First of these entered service on route 24

First of all, I'd like to wish all my readers and followers a very Happy New Year. 2016 is the 10th  anniversary of the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in London bus service. Please note, I do not know much about the Enviro400, if I miss anything important out then please let me know in the comments section below. This article is mostly aimed at the Enviro400 operation in London.

10 Years of route 15H and also the "Enviro400H" City launch

Having returned from my trip now, I will update you on the latest bus news including the Route 15H anniversary. The following events are happening on 14^th November 2015.

10 years of Heritage route 15

The contract of routes 15H and 9H started on 12^th November 2005, but the official operation began on 14^th November 2005.

The 'Heritage Routes' buses are AEC Routemaster buses which had been refurbished with new engines and lighting by Marshall back in 2001. This is why they sound like Dennis Darts, because of the refurbishment.

The main Route 15 had full operation of AEC Routemasters which started on the 1st April 1964 and ended on 30th August 2003. They were replaced by ALX400 Dennis Tridents as part of TFL’s policy to make 100% of bus services low floor and accessible. Before the mainstream withdrawal of AEC Routemasters the route also had preserved Routemaster buses such as the green RMC1461 (461CLT) which featured a rear door instead of an open platform.

New Routemaster project now costs over £300 million, time for electric buses?

According to TFL’s board paper to be presented at the 24th September 2015 meeting and titled “Operational and Financial Performance and Investment Programme Reports,” the Estimated Final Costs have now increased to a whopping £302.5 million!

Also, the target date for 600 New Routemasters has moved to the 31st October 2015. And their final target to have all 800 NRM buses is by the 30th April 2016 which means the New Routemaster deliveries are finished.

Taking a look at one of the TFL board papers from 24th September 2015, it says:

TfL’s Green Bond, so more New Routemasters?

Taking a look at the 1^st July TFL’s Commissioner’s report, I can reveal that TFL has issued a £400 million ‘Green Bond’ fund on 17^th April 2015.

From the 1st July 2015 Commissioners report

Green Bond

On 17 April we successfully issued a £400m Green Bond for 10 years following a series of meetings with investors. The proceeds of the Green Bond will be allocated to projects from five different programmes with various environmental benefits, such as reduced carbon emissions, improved air quality, noise mitigation and others. The project categories include capacity improvements and station upgrades on Rail and Underground, New Routemaster buses

Alexander Dennis and BYD build electric buses for London Buses routes 507 & 521

The front design looks familiar....

Go Ahead London buys 51 all-electric single deck buses manufactured by Alexander Dennis and BYD at a cost of £19 million.

Press release from BYD and Alexander Dennis

BYD and ADL partner to supply Go-Ahead London with capital's first, pure electric bus fleet

New Completion date for 600 New Routemasters revealed

The original plan for the ‘New Bus for London’ (yes their original name) rollout was to have 600 vehicles deployed by April 2016, but the the Surface Transport Panelhas revealed on their ‘2015/16 Surface Plan and Update on Performance Targets’ paper that their target for 600 New Routemasters has been moved forward to 31^stOctober 2015.

What is also interesting is that their 2015/2016 budget is £110 million for the New Routemaster vehicle purchase which includes the extra 200 vehicles.

Tower Transit wins Singapore LTA’s bus contract

London Bus operator Tower Transit, a subsidiary company of Transit Systems from Australia won a contract to operate bus services in Singapore.

They will be operating 28 bus routes in Singapore from a fleet of 380 buses under contract to Land Transport Authority, a governing body from Singapore.

Their operations will commence in the second quarter of 2016.

London Buses route 382 to get extended after a consultation response from few months ago

"Summers Lane - geograph.org.uk - 1264313" by Martin Addison. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

TFL have issued the following press release about the changes to London Buses route 382:

“Local bus services in north London are to get a boost from this Saturday (4 April), as Transport for London (TfL) extends route 382.

2015 London Tour bus prices (Big Bus Tour, The Original Tour, City Tour London & Golden Tours)

This is a follow up to my previous article which was titled ‘2015 prices for tour buses in London.’

I decided to write another article on this subject because in the last article I left a tour bus out, which was the ‘City Tour London.’

London Buses were on the verge of being deregulated

During the early 1990’s, London bus services were being privatised, and came close to be

deregulated by the government.

What privatisation means:  London Buses was split into 12 business units, in preparation for sell-off. In late 1994 the separate London Buses' business units were sold off to private ownership which also meant that the routes were tendered off to private operating companies to operate under a concession for London Transport.

What deregulation means: the power to create and maintain

London Buses 'Route 15' to convert to New Routemasters

"Stagecoach 12139 on Route 15, Charing Cross" by Au Morandarte - Flickr: Stagecoach 12139 on Route 15, Charing Cross. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Transport for London have confirmed that Route 15 will be converting to New Routemaster buses; in fact they already have hybrid buses in service.

Their press release

Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that the next bus routes to be served entirely by New Routemaster buses will be the 55 and the 15.

A phased conversion of route 55, which is operated by Stagecoach, is underway and will be completed by the end of the month. The route runs between Oxford Circus and Leyton via Tottenham Court Road Station, Old Street, Shoreditch High Street, Cambridge Heath, Hackney Central and Clapton.

During peak hours, 34 of these state of the art buses will be in passenger service to carry the 27,000 people who travel on the route each week day.

Route N55, which runs from Oxford Circus to Woodford Wells via Bloomsbury, Clerkenwell, Old Street, Shoreditch High Street, Cambridge Heath, Hackney Central, Clapton, Leyton (Bakers Arms), Wanstead, South Woodford and Woodford Green is also being converted to New Routemaster buses.

Route 15 will begin its phased conversion at the beginning of February and will be entirely with New Routemaster buses by the end of the month. The route, which is also operated by Stagecoach, runs from Trafalgar Square to Blackwall DLR via Aldwych, St Paul's, Mansion House, Cannon St, Monument, Tower Hill, Aldgate, Aldgate East and Limehouse DLR.

#TFL London #BusStrike advice

I give you some basic advice during the Bus Strike.

If you like to know what bus route is running on your bus stop or to see how many buses are running on your route. I recommend you to use London Vehicle Finder which I reviewed.

You can use London Vehicle Finder on your smartphone, then enter in the route number and press go.

Video: Buses at Romford 12th January 2015

The day before the London Bus services go on strike which is on the 13th January 2015.

London #BusStrike on 13th January 2015

On 13^th January 2015, London bus drivers to hold industrial action over pay and conditions.

TfL issued a press release.

Transport for London (TfL) has today advised bus passengers to check the TfL website for the latest information about planned strike action by members of the Unite union, who work for London's bus companies, which could affect bus services on Tuesday 13 January.

The planned strike, the result of a dispute between Unite and the bus companies over driver pay and conditions, is planned to take place between 00:01 and 23:59 on Tuesday 13 January. This would affect services throughout Tuesday 13 January and also night bus services operating on the Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Bus services during the day on Wednesday 14 January should operate as normal.