Green buses

First a thank you to all those people who persuaded me to buy an iMAc rather than other Windows PC. It is just sensational and I am now using my computer rather than spending 50% of the time persuading it to work.

There is some internet chatter going on about our Citaros used on route RV1 in London. Just to clarify what is going on the existing vehicles are nearly eight years old and are progressively being stood down and replaced. Some Enviro200s are being deployed but by the end of the year we expect to be in a position to progressively introduce the hydrogen hybrid vehicles which have been built by Wrights and which are currently being delivered and tested. The Enviro200s will, in the main, then take up their intended duties at Uxbridge.

Hydrogen buses are nothing new to RV1 - the original trio of hydrogen buses in London operated on it after they finished their duties on route 25 some years ago and they were retired after doing rather longer service than the experiment ever intended. Of the trios of hydrogen buses used across Europe many of the left hand drive examples have ended up in Hamburg which was one of the original cities involved in the experiment.

London continues to demonstrate a real enthusiasm to host experiments to deliver major air quality improvements.

Nationally this week the Government announced a further £15m worth of funding for greener buses.Operators and authorities will be able to bid for funding for up to 150 new buses which will use at least 30% less fuel and emit nearly a third less carbon than a conventional bus. This is in addition to the £30m announced in December 2009.

A rare hydrogen fuel cell bus is this model, presented by MercedesBenz to Darren Johnson, the leader of the Green Party in the London Assembly in First livery, in 2001. The trio didn't actually carry that livery, of course.

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