Electric buses rollout continues with announcement of mid-November London Bus tender awards

TfL has announced the latest London Bus tender awards for November 2020 with more routes converting to double deck electric buses. This is a followup to my previous article.

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

Mid-July 2020 Tender awards: London Bus route 69 to be served with double deck electric buses

TfL have recently announced new London Bus tender awards for mid-July 2020.

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

Optare and Wrightbus unveil their Hydrogen Bus plan

As Britain and many areas around the world are still under lockdown and bus manufacturers have their production on hold (except for essential spare parts), Optare and Wrightbus have unveiled their plan to rollout a fleet of hydrogen buses for Britain and Ireland.

Transport news roundup for February 2020 – Electric buses for Los Angeles & stylish biogas buses for Bristol

This is a selection of various transport news which occured during the month of February 2020.

First of all, my prediction turned out to be correct in a article I wrote back in November 2019 when Tower Transit won routes 23 and C3; I expected them to use Optare Metrodecker EVs for their new route contracts.

The UK government have announced plans today for an all-electric bus town

The government have said that local authorities can apply to become the UK's first all-electric bus town by funding bus companies to enable them to use zero-emission electric buses serving a specific town in Britain.

Extracts from UK government website

Local authorities can now apply to become the UK’s first all-electric bus town, setting the ‘gold-standard’ in environmentally friendly public transport, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (6 February 2020).

Comparing the two double-deck EV’s for London: BYD/ADL Enviro400EV and Optare Metrodecker EV

Enviro400EV City

There are two double-deck electric buses currently operating on routes 43 and 134 operated by Metroline for London Buses.

London bus tender awards for mid November 2019 - New Electric double decks for routes 23, 319 & C3

TfL has announced the new London bus tender awards for mid-November 2019; it has revealed three routes will be served with double deck pure electric buses.

Thursday 14 November

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

Upcoming New London buses for year 2019

Using the information from the 'London Bus Routes' services changes page. I've compiled a list of routes that will be getting new buses during the year 2019.

Optare announces the rollout of the Metrodecker EV

This is a follow up to my previous article where I showed you the press release from Alexander Dennis.

Optare has recently announced a rollout of 31 electric double deck buses for London Bus Route 134 which will be operated by Metroline.

Excerpts from Optare News

Optare will supply 31 all-electric double deck buses for TFL Route 134 running from North Finchley bus station to Tottenham Court Road to start operation next summer.

Optare Metrodecker buses for Green Line 702

At last, Optare has finally placed an order for five new double-deck Metrodecker buses from Reading Buses for the Green Line Route 702.

From Optare

Optare have confirmed their first ever order for their Metrodecker Euro 6 double decker bus. The order from Reading Buses for five vehicles to operate on the Green Line 702 route between London and Windsor is due for delivery in June 2019 ahead of the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) coming into operation. ULEZ will require all vehicles operating into Central London to meet the stringent Euro 6 engine emission standards.

Subsidies for London Bus Route 465 saved!

Surrey County Council were planning to cut subsidies for route 465 which would have shortened the route which runs from Kingston to Dorking, with the shorter route terminating at Leatherhead. Thankfully though, due to a campaign held by local residents who use the route, Surrey County Council announced they will continue to fund the route for the next 5 years.

Optare reports on their Metrodecker success with Go Ahead London

Bus manufacturer, 'Optare,' has reported on the trial of  their Metrodecker which is demonstrating on selected London Bus routes from Bexleyheath (BX) garage - operated by Go Ahead London.

From Optare news

The pre-production 10.5m Transport for London (TfL) specification Metrodecker demonstrator has completed a successful trail with Go-Ahead London. The Optare double decker was put through its paces operating on routes from Go-Ahead’s Bexleyheath bus garage.

Optare MetroDecker EV comes to London Bus route 36

LOTS have published their usual weekend London Bus news and they’ve given us another update on the electric bus project for London.

From LOTS:

1) The all-electric Optare MetroDecker-EV is due to be trialled with Go-Ahead on route 36 during April.  New Cross Garage’s limited charging facilities are being upgraded to allow for this and the two Irizars (EI 1 and 2) to enable a more long-lasting overnight charging. Trustybus has a Citaro-K demonstrator (BT66 TZE) for the next two weeks, usually to be found on route 410 Harlow – Waltham Cross.

New Buses for January 2017

More to come for route 388

As we approach February, the rollout of new buses continues in Britain.

We begin with Arriva who have taken delivery of 174 Volvo B5LH double deck hybrids.

More new bus purchases for December 2016

Another news update - bus companies are purchasing new buses for their services:

Optare unveils their electric double-deck - launched at Euro Bus Expo 2016

First we saw the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMC Virtual Electric for route 69 launched at the Bus Expo, then the BYD double deck electric bus for route 98 - followed by the Volvo B5LHC with Wright SRM (2 door New Routemaster) body, and now Optare has unveiled the Metrodecker EV!

From Optare

Optare celebrated the launch of the Metrodecker EV prototype at an unveiling ceremony at Euro Bus Expo 2016 at the NEC in Birmingham. The Metrodecker EV will go into service in central London with Go-Ahead London in early 2017 to prove the concept and provide operational feedback to aid further development. The 10.5m, lightweight, fully electric, double deck has a passenger capacity of 96 and a forecast range of between 105 and 145 miles on a single charge. Optare is working on further developments to the vehicle which will increase the range in production vehicles to over 150 miles.

What happened to the Virtual Electric buses for route 69?

I'd like to announce that the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMC Virtual Electric buses haven’t been in service for a month.

According to London Vehicle Finder, one of the Virtual Electric buses for route 69 was last seen on 4th February 2016. I don’t know what's happened to them and can only guess they have a mechanical problem due to the electric hybrid system. LOTS bus news have also reported that “The electric Enviro400s DH38501-03, always very intermittent in service, have not been used since 4th February.”

10 years of diesel-electric Hybrid operation for London Buses

Wright Electrocity

This article will be a bit of a surprise for most you, in-so-far as today is the 10th anniversary of the first hybrid bus operation in London.

The first diesel-electric hybrid buses to enter London service were the Wright Electrocity buses (based on VDL SB120 chassis) which began operation on route 360 on 8th February 2006. They were then temporarily withdrawn due to engine overheating problems.

So then, let’s take a look at the old press releases from TFL about the hybrid buses.

On the 7th February 2006, TFL issued the following press release about their first hybrid bus.

Update for the electric buses for London for routes 16, 69, 312 507 & 521

On 4^th July 2015, LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) updated their news page regarding the electric buses for London.

They said:

Specs for the new BYD Double Deck Electric Bus compared to the New Routemaster

Design of the eBus is taken from the specification file.

This is another 'follow up' to my previous article. The previous article became very popular due to the images of the real double deck electric bus that I found.

BYD has unveiled the specifications for their double deck electric bus. In the table below you can see the comparison to the New Routemaster, which is hybrid diesel electric.