More night services for London Buses, but Night Tube is postponed

TFL have just released their consultation update in which they received 3,300 responses from members of the public and 40 responses from Stakeholders.

They have received overwhelming support for extended night bus services which means that TFL will introduce new services in phases.

More New Routemasters for Route 88 and 16, plus more news…

Yes, you see the new rear door layout, it's no longer a 'hop on, hop off' bus.

I have a lot to cover on the New Routemaster in this article, so here we go…

News on London Buses Route 88 and 16 and more route conversions

LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) have issued a report detailing their latest news:

Deliveries of new LTs (batches 478-487 and 501-516) to London General for route 88 (pvr 24) are now well under way and entry of the first few into service is imminent.  The LTs (batch 543-563) for Metroline route 16 (pvr 18) should not be far behind for service during September. Next after that, to take us up to December, would be the large batches for  Arriva 149 (pvr 38) and Abellio 159 (pvr 34) 

Light Rail systems in London (DLR and Trams)

Transport for London (TfL) currently have two Light Rail systems, the automated light rail which serves the City of London, East London and the Docklands, and the tram system which serves the South of London.

Docklands Light Railway

The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light rail system, it carries almost 140 million passengers (from April 2014 to March 2015 annual report).

London Buses Route 88 to get New Routemasters

The original double deck bus with dual staircases.

Just some quick news as it’s a follow up from my previous article.

According to LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) they reported:

The very first E200MMC to enter service in London was Stagecoach 36601 on the 499 on 30th July. The rest of the batch are all here so should follow soon. Other operators in London (e.g. Metroline, Universitybus and Tower Transit) are continuing to take the ‘classic’ E200 bodies. The first of 26 x LTs  (478) for London General route 88 has just been delivered.

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

Bus operator Uno operates London Buses Route 383

Since Uno operate bus services that go across the Greater London Boundary in North London, they need a ‘London Service Permit’ which is needed in order to operate routes in North London.

New Trains for London Overground

Sorry I haven’t posted for a short while. I have found some news though about the new rolling stock trains for the London Overground services. This is a follow up to my previous article.

From Global Rail News

Bombardier has released the first image of the new Aventra train it is building for London Overground.

Transport for London (TfL) awarded Bombardier a £260 million contract for 45 new four-car EMUs to replace the Class 315 and Class 317 trains TfL inherited when it took over some of the West Anglia Main Line services out of Liverpool Street.

The contract included a 35-year maintenance agreement, taking

London Buses routes 507 & 521 to be fully served with electric buses. (at last!)

Yes, more of these are coming.

TFL have issued a new press release about the Red Arrow bus routes 507 & 521, announcing that they're to have electric buses from the autumn next year.

Here is the press release:

Transport for London (TfL) has today (Wednesday 15 July) announced that two further bus routes, the 507 and 521, will operate entirely with electric buses from autumn next year, lowering carbon emissions and helping to improve London's air quality.

Reading Buses to trial the New Routemaster

Just another New Routemaster article...

Reading Buses is to trial two New Routemaster buses for their purple route 17 which goes from Tilehurst to Earley.

Local newspaper 'Get Reading' reports:

One of Reading's purple buses will be replaced with a London bus as part of a two-week trial.