5 September 2019: A Transport for London (TfL) press release announced today that “routes 43 and 134 will become the UK’s first bus routes to use only electric double-deck buses this autumn” and that London now has “more than 200 electric buses, making it Europe’s largest electric bus fleet, and this will grow significantly next year as Transport for London (TfL) has awarded contracts to operators for a further 78 electric double-deck buses”. The majority of electric buses presently on London’s streets are single-deck buses, but following a pilot programme testing out new electric double deck buses (see here, here and here) these are now coming on.
This news suggests that some 300 or so electric buses will be operating in the capital in 2020 – out of a total of 9,000 London buses currently in operation (a detailed breakdown of which is provided below).
The Mayor has committed to making all buses within the M25 zero emission by 2037 (as set out in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy – see timetable below) at the very latest, and this press release sets out that the Mayor has asked TfL to look at the feasibility of bringing this date forward. Further information on the Mayor’s ‘Cleaner Bus’ programme is available here.
