The New Bus for London (NBfL), also known as the New Routemaster, the Boris Bus and the Tory Mayor's Entirely Shameless Vanity Project (copyright: Team Livingstone) promises a number of environmental advantages over not only its conventional diesel counterparts but also fellow hybrid buses already operating in the capital.
Transport for London (TfL) tells me that on a simulated London bus route at the Millbrook proving ground the test model NBfL emitted 640 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre compared with 864 grams for a current hybrid and 1,295 grams for a current diesel. It threw out 3.96 grams of mono-nitrogen oxides (NOx) per kilometre, compared with 7.7 grams from other hybrids and 9.3 grams from a diesel. And its fuel consumption was 11.6 miles per gallon, as against 8.6 for a a current hybrid and 5.8 for a standard diesel under similar test conditions.
Sounds pretty good, though I feel bound to point out that even the NBfL needs a bit of diesel in the tank to make its electric motor work and if it doesn't get enough, embarrassment can ensue - a matter I now pledge never to mention again. But with only eight of Wrightbus's creations ordered to join a fleet that was 8,528 strong as of March this year, how green is the capital's surface public transport these days?
Not as green as had been hoped when Boris became mayor, I'm afraid. When TfL announced in December 2008 that it was to quadruple London's hybrid count to 56 it also said that "a further 300 hybrid buses will be in operation by 2011," and that it and Boris's commitment to hybrid technology meant that "by 2012" it expected all new buses joining the fleet to be hybrids. A roll out of 500 a year was anticipated, which would have been the largest in Europe.
Come March 2010 TfL was still sticking to its commitment that by 2012 all newcomers to the fleet would hybrids, but the expectation that "a further 300" would appear by 2011 on top of the 56 previously announced had changed to 300 altogether. And last month, Green Party AM Darren Johnson was told in a written answer by Boris and TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that the target date for 300 hybrids was now "by 2012." As for all newcomers to the fleet being hybrids by then, that hope had bitten the dust. The written answer says:
TfL plans to introduce approximately 800 new buses in 2012/13, of which 52 will be hybrids.
Just 52 out of 800. The answer also said that there are 133 diesel-electric hybrids operating at the moment, with a further 184 on order.
Why the problem? As the Boris/Hendy answer also says, the price of hybrids "has not reduced as originally anticipated." A man at TfL tells me that it's basically down to the confidence of the companies that lease vehicles to the route operators. Hybrids haven't been around very long, so they've yet to prove their staying power over the dozen or more years required. That makes the leasing companies wary of investing in them, which means smaller orders for the bus manufacturers, which keeps the prices of the buses high, which puts the operators off buying them - yer basic economies of scale.
The TfL man stressed that they're doing all they can to build the confidence required to bring the price of a hybrid down from the ?300,00-315,000 mark to something nearer the roughly ?190,000 of a conventional double decker. It will be interesting to see how many additional NBfLs at ?330,000 a shout Wrightbus is asked to provide.
Further comment on the NBfL can be read at Autocar. All previous installment of Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) can be read here.
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