Electric buses and New Routemasters

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Dear Transport for London,

1. What are the running costs, reliability and performance of the double-deck electric bus (Enviro400EV City for route 43) in comparison to the diesel hybrid New Routemaster?

2. Does TfL plan to directly purchase electric buses and lease them to operators in a similar arrangement with the New Routemasters?

3. Does TfL plan to convert/replace New Routemaster routes to electric buses?

4. Does TfL plan to use (or extend) electric buses with three doors and two staircase with the similar spec to the New Routemaster bus?

5. What are the future plans for the New Routemaster project?

6. Why TfL wanted the New Routemasters to be a low emission diesel hybrid but not a zero emission battery-electric and/or hydrogen bus?

7. Why TfL wanted the New Routemaster bus to have three doors and two staircase instead of the standard two doors and one staircase layout?

8. Does TfL plan to speed up the rollout of electric buses?

9. Can you list the routes currently served using New Routemaster buses?

10. Can you list the routes currently served using electric buses?

Yours faithfully,

Isaac Davis

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Isaac

 

TfL Ref: FOI-3192-1920

 

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 21
January 2020.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
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A response will be sent to you by 18 February 2020.

 

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In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

 

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Isaac

 

TfL Ref: FOI-3192-1920

 

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 21
January 2020.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can
confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

 

1.    What are the running costs, reliability and performance of the
double-deck electric bus (Enviro400EV City for route 43) in comparison to
the diesel hybrid New Routemaster?

 

As private bus operators run and maintain vehicles for bus routes they
contract to provide for TfL, we do not hold costs or records of vehicle
reliability. We do collect and publish route performance on our website at
[1]http://bus.data.tfl.gov.uk/boroughreport... and this
shows excess wait time and scheduled reliability of high frequency
services. The following bus routes website
[2]http://www.londonbusroutes.net/ which is not produced or updated by us
will give you an indication of the vehicles contracted to routes. This
reflects the type of vehicle you might see but operators can and do
substitute vehicles as they regularly maintain, repair, refurbish and
upgrade buses.

 

2.    Does TfL plan to directly purchase electric buses and lease them to
operators in a similar arrangement with the New Routemasters?

 

No, at the current time operators are responsible for providing the
vehicles, and we continue to include vehicle operating and support costs
in the contract price and operators choose whether they lease or buy them,
and how they reshape their garages.

 

3.    Does TfL plan to convert/replace New Routemaster routes to electric
buses?

 

No, we envisage hybrid buses such as New Routemasters continuing to be an
integral part of our fleet and being joined by rising numbers of
pure-electric buses.

 

4.    Does TfL plan to use (or extend) electric buses with three doors and
two staircase with the similar spec to the New Routemaster bus?

 

No, we expect most new buses to be two-door single and double-deck
vehicles and similar to what you see across the network.

 

5.    What are the future plans for the New Routemaster project?

 

There are no plans for further New Routemaster vehicles, and the contract
for the 1000 buses has been completed an can’t be extended.

 

6.    Why TfL wanted the New Routemasters to be a low emission diesel
hybrid but not a zero emission battery-electric and/or hydrogen bus?

 

Hybrid buses like New Routemasters came onto the market many years before
pure electric vehicles in the bus sector and offered a proven and
affordable way to reduce emissions such as CO2. While hydrogen fuel-cell
technology was successfully trialled in the London fleet much earlier, the
hydrogen industry was a long way from full commercialisation. One of the
reasons for trialling such technologies in London and other European
cities was to demonstrate there was an emerging market and encourage
producers to move towards larger scale production. As they continue to be
produced in small numbers, the capital costs of vehicles are much higher
than conventional low-emission diesel buses.

 

7.    Why TfL wanted the New Routemaster bus to have three doors and two
staircase instead of the standard two doors and one staircase layout?

 

One of the electoral commitments of the Mayor of London from that time was
to bring a modern version of the Routemaster back to London.

 

8.    Does TfL plan to speed up the rollout of electric buses?

 

We plan to increase the number of zero emission buses to 2,000 by March
2025 and make the entire fleet zero emission by 2037. We envisage this as
being the quickest and most affordable transition, taking account of the
further improvements in battery technology that are forecast over the next
few years.

 

9.    Can you list the routes currently served using New Routemaster
buses?

 

3

8

9

11

12

15

19

21

24

27

38

55

59

67

68

73

76

87

91

137

148

149

159

168

176

189

211

253

254

267

390

415

453

EL1

EL2

EL3

 

10. Can you list the routes currently served using electric buses?

 

The following routes are fully electric:

507

521

360

153

70

C1

46

214

 

The following routes are being converted to electric from now and 2021.

43

134

100

94

323

212

444

C10

P5

106

230

357

23

C3

312

319

358

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

 

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