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| Ready for departure at Liverpool Street Station |
The first New Bus for London on route 11 entered service Friday night. LT59 left Liverpool Street Station at 1821 for Victoria.
This is the start of a progressive conversion of the route which will be complete in the next 10 days adding a further 27 or so vehicles to the existing fleet.
Surprised passengers were again delighted to hop on & off, and many tourists were scrambling aboard London's latest icon.
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| My thanks to George Odlum for this photo This and more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/88992756@N06/9841077453/ |
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Why hasn't a one day full conversion happened on the 11?
ReplyDeleteAnd once all the LTs are in service will other existing buses from SW also be used on the 11 or will it. Be solely the LTs?
will the 9 and 390 be phased in too or will you convert all in one day and stop fretting what people think when the obvious teething difficulties are possible on anything new.
ReplyDeleteThe overnight conversions are really hard on the operator. Large numbers of new vehicles all to be commissioned and all the driver training to peak at the same day. (People trained two weeks ago can forget!)
ReplyDeletePhasing it gives them some time and both staff and vehicle introduction rates can flex depending on circumstances. This is planned for future conversions but over as short a period as we can manage- we hope for 10 days in the case of route 11.
Thank You for responding. I'd like to make a suggestion, when TfL chooses a day for the NBfLs to start operation can it be one were there are no major roadworks, no long term diversions or no city-wide events. I say this because the bus will already be in high demand due to the fact that there'll now be a small amount of buses so anything else will cause even more delays. The less problems there are the better service they can run.
DeleteExcept there aren't any days like that!
DeleteLOOOL ok!
DeleteAre all the route conversions you have in mind less than 30 vehicles on the route? Do you have plans to convert any routes with a big pvr requirement?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate things take time but for example the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush had the demonstration of the NB4L two years ago,seems by the time a route gets it that serves white city it will be known as the old bus4London!!!!!
No not at all. The first two or three routes are deliberately small ones so we get several routes converted this year. Next year the production rate increases and we will be tackling routes with much higher peak vehicle requirements
ReplyDeleteOk thanks for that..the four routes so far allocated NB4L are good routes and well chosen,i do hope with extra crew and additional entrance you will appreciate the vehicle has potential to complete the timetable quicker and with this in mind I do wish you would consider giving some routes extensions much nearer to original length routes used in previous crew days. The 390 could so easily have been extended 15 mins to westfield for example and pvr reduced on the 94 that is struggling to have NB4L in place at the moment as you previously have said.
ReplyDeleteAlso the 13 is an ex routemaster RT route with a conductor but recently allocated a fleet of new vehicles so not considered? Who made decision that route 13 would not get NB4L?
ReplyDeleteMe
ReplyDeleteWas that based on other routes having more passengers? What influenced that decision?
ReplyDeleteSo Mr Leon Daniels, Any chance of them appearing on the 498 any time soon, I would love to see them turn up instead of a clapped out 13 Year old B7TL
ReplyDeleteblimey Romford on the 498? NB4L are favoured by Boris on west end routes although it appears 13 is not a busy route anymore ;)
ReplyDeleteBut I feel left out, The most greenest thing we have are when the Hybrids appear on the N15 and Early/Late 5's
DeleteWhat's wrong with Romford, You can't just just have Hybrids in Central London Routes, I feel that TFL should do a route outside of Central London, I know the 498 is pushing it (I really want some new buses on the 498 because Go-Ahead's operation is terrible) But the 128 would not be that bad would it ?
The priority to put new buses on routes in Central London (both Euro 5, Euro 6 soon and hybrid) is in order to help deliver air quality targets.
DeleteLondon is in breach of EU air quality targets and faces a massive fine if improvements are not delivered.
@SnakeyDave
DeleteThe 498 is up for tendering by the 16/06/2014. So it will most likely to have new buses by 27/06/2015 as the new contract starts. I don't know when it will be Hybrid, NBFL or diesel. But its down to them to decide what new buses the route is having. But recently Stagecoach retained the 372 and they are ordering hybrids (most likely E400H) for the route. So Hybrids are actually coming over to the Essex region of London and it will be the first ever bus route that goes outside the London Boundary and the M25 to be served by hybrids. But you may never know that RM garage will end up putting hybrids as odd working on the routes they serve like 174, 103, 365, 252 and 248.
But with the old B7TL's, the 370, 128 and school routes in the area are still running strong. This is why the buses are never too old to operate (like the RM's) but they do enable people to travel along the bus route.
But with Central London, in my opinion and only my opinion, I would like to have all routes that serve Central London to be Hybrid, Electric and/or hydrogen only, with exception to the Heritage Routemasters on the 9H and 15H.
It would have been VERY expensive to compensate London Sovereign for the disposal of the new hybrids just purchased for route 13
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI got a question, will most of the "last" Routemaster routes a decade ago will get NBFL's like the 15, 8, 159, 23 and 38 to convert to full NBFL operation. I know the 38 have NBFL's in OPO mode. But the 15 needs NBFL's because it needs a successor to the Heritage Routemaster 15?
ReplyDeleteYou're asking me what the 'long list' is for NBfL conversions. I am afraid I can't say much since there are mid-contract negotiations to have with the operators and contract renewals for at least one of the routes you list!
ReplyDeleteI had a look on this page
Deletehttp://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/businessandpartners/buses/tenderresults/2015-2016-lbsl-tendering-programme.pdf
The 15 is up for tendering by 18/08/2014 then the new contract starts by 29/08/2015
The 23 is up for tendering by 27/10/2014 then the new contract starts by 14/11/2015
So are the NBFL's going to be the requirement for the route(s). Once the operator wins/retains the routes, will they have to pay for the new buses?
I also seen that the 11 is up for tendering, if Go Ahead London haven't received a contract extension and then later on they lost the route. Will the NBFL's get sent to the new contract along with the conductors?
Another thing, i noticed that the 15 and 23 have E400 Hybrids. I know the 15 is operated by Stagecoach and they are well connected to their manufacture Alexander Dennis so that's why they get their buses cheaper.
DeleteSo can't the operator allocate the hybrids onto another route (in which i notice there are older buses) while they get the NBFL's?
I see what you say now..London sovereign paid for their awful one man buses[sorry thats my opinion on all opo buses] ahead of the possibility you may have given them the chance to lease the nb4l. They have spent all the money they have on that 13 route and as for out of town routes like 114 they will stick 5 year old or more vehicles on them. The worst possible thing when london buses went privatised,thats how the routemasters got phased out!!!
ReplyDeleteIncidently did you agree with Mr Livingstone that all the RMs were no longer fit for london back in 2002 when the Cull of our heritage london happened?
On my last point if Stagecoachfor example have used all their budget,then the possibility is they cannot afford to hire your NB4L vehicle or am I way off track?
ReplyDeleteseen on you tube rear doors of route 11 closed during the day yesterday..seems customer assistant ditched already!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Leon, hope you're well. I have just emailed you - sent the message to your Tfl address. Please have a look in your inbox when you can. Thanks
ReplyDeleteTheres a radio dj called Edward Adoo who works at Mi-soul
ReplyDeleteBlimey it is him LOL
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/09/22/4050/ :-(more
ReplyDelete33 wvl vehicles have been used so far this week,you certainly are using the phased launch to its maximum!!!!!! hopefully these awful buses can be scrapped from next month. Boris had it spot on london needed a bus looking at these dreadful things still being used
ReplyDeleteWhat a lie this conversion was..6 vehicles used today Oct 14th not new bus for london
ReplyDeletewell currently 24 on the road and three spare,so maybe its now converted at last...no reason for the other vehicles to reappear
ReplyDeletenope three bangers are back on the 11
ReplyDeleteUp to six none nb4l vehicles running today,why dont you edit your blog? Just is so inaccurate and misleading...warning if you want a nb4l on route 11 after 8pm consider a long wait!!!!!
ReplyDelete