LDN: New E400H for route 3 from today

It is very cold in London, with icy conditions overnight...
From today, route 3 uses 24 E400H tridents -operated from Battersea garage by Abellio.

Here is one of them- 2419- seen at Whitehall on it's first day in service.

if you look closely- towards the rear of the bus- and at the roof -you can see some ice which has not yet melted[see above the half window!]- photo was taken at mid day

regards

Yoram

follow today's shot of 2432 @ 3

also, there are 9500 @ 3 and 2429 @ 414

I think the British have a  more enthusiastic approach towards hybrid than their European counterparts. May be their hybrids are more reliable than others

原帖由 ME 於 2012-2-18 05:00 發表
I think the British have a  more enthusiastic approach towards hybrid than their European counterparts. May be their hybrids are more reliable than others

I'd rather say the British government is more enthusiatic than their European counterparts.
Most non-London operators across the country only get hybrids because of the Green Bus Fund,
while the purchase of London buses is solely the government's decision.

That is true!

in London, TfL 'owns' the bus route network, and they pay operators to run bus routes;
this cost includes the cost of new vehicles.
Hybrid buses cost much more than diesel buses [to lease or buy]- about 45-50% more.
To be fair, once the hybrid buses are in service, they consume less patrol, so they are cheaper to run than diesel buses.

As long as TfL agree to pay the extra costs of getting hybrid buses, the bus companies would be happy to get them.

Where is the money coming from? TfL gets money from the govn't = tax payers, and some money from the the council tax paid by residents, business taxes paid by businesses, and from fares.

At the end of the day, hybrid buses are financed by the taxpayer'- inside and outside London!: Lol


Mind you, the big problem in London has been that the buses in London tend to have a relatively short working life in London- about 10-12 years at most.
It is very difficult to sell those buses once they are retired from London service- because of the rear exit door, the central staircase [for the early models] ... there are over 300 unsold d/d buses in storage around the country awaiting buyers!

A big potential issue for hybrid buses is the battery- this where the power 'generated' is stored.
The battery would have to be changed, and the toxic materials will have to be dealt with.
Nobody thought about is seriously: how do you do it, what will you be doing with the toxic materials, and who will be paying for it!

The other big issue is finance: if the service bus of a London bus is 12 years instead of 17-18 years, then in real terms the capital costs of the vehicle are higher per year. This probably applies to the hybrid buses too.

regards

Yoram