I'm making an FOI request about vehicles operating on London Buses. Please could you answer the following: 1) What percentage of the London Bus Fleet is operated with Hybrid/Electric buses & what routes have currently & will in the foreseeable future be operated with Hybrid/Electric vehicles? 2) Are Diesel buses being phased out of London asap? 3) When are all Diesel buses expected to be totally removed from London Buses? 4) Do Diesel vehicles have the Intelligent Speed Assistance installed on them? If yes, what routes? If not at present will the ISA be installed eventually? 5) Could bus routes be converted to Electric or Hybrid vehicles before their contract renewal in the tendering process? 6) Will every London bus route be awarded with either Hybrid/Electric for their new tender contracts?

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Our ref: FOI-1616-2021/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 15 November 2020 asking for information about buses.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.

1) What percentage of the London Bus Fleet is operated with Hybrid/Electric buses & what routes have currently & will in the foreseeable future be operated with Hybrid/Electric vehicles?

The most recent data we hold on the bus fleet is published at http://content.tfl.gov.uk/fleet-audit-report-31-march-2020.pdf . This provides details of vehicle composition compared to total numbers.

2) Are Diesel buses being phased out of London asap?

The core bus fleet will be raised to the Euro VI engine emission standard or better no later than spring 2021. The fleet comprises conventional diesel, diesel-electric hybrids and pure electric buses. We aim to steadily increase the number of zero emission buses in the fleet and to make the fleet entirely zero tailpipe emission by 2037 or earlier if we can.

3) When are all Diesel buses expected to be totally removed from London Buses?

See answer to question two.

4) Do Diesel vehicles have the Intelligent Speed Assistance installed on them? If yes, what routes? If not at present will the ISA be installed eventually?

As part of the fleet renewal process, the new buses entering the fleet have Intelligent Speed Assistance fitted as standard. Around 17 per cent of the fleet has this now and this will increasingly become a feature as more new vehicles enter the fleet and replace older diesel buses. See bus fleet data link above.

5) Could bus routes be converted to Electric or Hybrid vehicles before their contract renewal in the tendering process?

The TfL Business Plan anticipates modernising the fleet in a way that meets mayoral policy and achieves this in an affordable way. This enables our limited budget to spent in a way that achieves the greatest overall reduction in harmful emissions over a quick timeframe. This includes upgrading and replacing older diesel buses in the fleet with much cleaner conventional vehicles at relatively low cost and demonstrating to manufacturers that they should switch over to larger scale production of zero emission buses to help reduce unit costs and stimulate a faster adoption of those technologies. We cannot jump straight away as the vehicles need supporting infrastructure including rapid garage charging and significant investment in the National Grid. A different approach involving conversion of routes at mid life rather than the end of their contract term would be much more expensive and not achieve the same overall emissions reduction with the money invested.

6) Will every London bus route be awarded with either Hybrid/Electric for their new tender contracts?

No, some routes will be re-tendered with new vehicles which may be hybrid diesel electric, pure electric or hydrogen fuel-cell. However, there will be other routes that come up for retender which may continue using the same ultra-clean diesel buses for another term. Operators can bid for routes with new and existing vehicles which offers us more competitive value for money options. As we have a limited budget, affordability is also a factor.

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.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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