TfL has announced that the next route to be entirely served by the new ultra low emission New Routemasters will be route 73.
A conversion of this route – which is operated by Arriva London – will be phased in between now and July. The route runs between Victoria and Stoke Newington, travelling via Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Euston, Kings Cross St Pancras, Angel and Essex Road.
The late-night N73 service along the same route will also by served by the new vehicles.
53 of the buses will be in service at peak times on the route carrying the 35,000 passengers who use the route daily.
The buses will operate with the rear platform door closed when the vehicle is in motion, with passengers able to quickly alight and board using both sets of stairs and all three doors at bus stops.
Currently there are 13 bus routes in London operating the Wrightbus-manufactured New Routemasters. Once route 73 has fully converted there will be over 500 of these buses in passenger service. It marks another step towards the delivery of 800 New Routemasters on London’s streets by 2016.
All buses entering the TfL fleet since January are equipped with Euro 6 engines and there are now over 500 in service. On average, around 700 new buses enter London’s fleet each year.
TfL has also recently awarded contracts to convert routes 149 and 168 to New Routemasters, with exact dates for conversions to be set later this year.
A customer satisfaction survey conducted in November 2014 revealed that customers who travel on the New Routemasters are more satisfied than those who travel on standard buses – scoring 87 points out of 100, compared to 84 points out of 100 respectively.
