In his TfL Transport Commissioner report for March, Peter Hendy has detailed the environmental improvements being made to the London fleet.
The number of buses in the TfL fleet fitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment has risen to 1,100 (including those funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority) out of a planned upgrade of 1,800 Euro III-generation buses due by the end of 2015.
This leaves the number of unmodified Euro III buses in the fleet at around 900, ahead of this number being reduced to zero by the end of the year.
The SCR kit developed for London is stated to cut individual vehicle exhaust NOx by up to 88%.
Remaining un-retrofitted Euro III buses in the fleet will be replaced with the new ultra-low emission buses fitted with Euro 6 engines, which will cut individual vehicle exhaust NOx by up to 95% compared to a standard Euro III vehicle.
The two measures combined will deliver a 20% cut of NOx per year from the bus fleet by 2015 compared to 2012 levels.
There are currently 1,200 hybrids in the fleet against a target of 1,250 by the end of March. The total will grow to 1,700 hybrids (including a revised target for 800 New Routemasters) by 2016, when they will represent around 20% of the fleet.
There are currently eight zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell and eight all-electric, single-deck buses in the fleet. The number of all-electric vehicles will reach 15 by autumn this year, when seven join the existing two vehicles of this type on route 312. The number in the capital is then expected to increase steadily to more than 300 vehicles by 2020.
TfL will also be introducing rapid inductive-charging and range-extended diesel-electric hybrid buses in east London from late 2015. The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses will operate on route 69 between Canning Town and Walthamstow bus stations.
