London now has 1,500 hybrid buses operating on its network.
The diesel-electric hybrid vehicles – including almost 600 New Routemasters – make up almost a quarter of London’s bus fleet and the figure is expected to rise to 1,700 next year. Transport for London (TfL) said that having 1,700 hybrid vehicles in service by 2016, compared with standard diesel buses, will reduce CO2 emissions in the capital by around 98,000 tonnes a year.
London has the largest hybrid bus fleet in Europe, as well as a fleet of eight hydrogen fuel buses which run on route RV1 between Covent Garden and Tower Gateway. London’s electric bus fleet is also growing at an accelerating rate, expected to expand from around 10 buses now to more than 300 by 2020.
