Forum Topic

Is this the beginning of the end... ...of  Route E8?

On the front page of Ealing Today an article regarding hybrid buses on route E8.I quote from part of the article :Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “... Londoners that travel on buses with the green leaf livery can rest comfortably in their seats and enjoy clear environmental consciences; safe in the knowledge that their journey will guzzle far less fuel and expire a whopping forty per cent less carbon dioxide than a regular bus...”Can any bus be decked (pun?) with green leaf transfers and called environmentally friendly (coz it looks nicer)? In which case paint them in urban camouflage colours so we can't see them.Does this mean more seats will be available on the bus? Difficult unless the buses are double deck or articulated.Does this mean that the route E8 timetable is to be scrapped or at least become erratic? Buses will only running when there are sufficient queues at bus stops.There are others questions but I'll leave it at three for the moment.

Alan Brainsby ● 6509d5 Comments

By Hybrid I had visions of a Bus where there were holes in the floor for you to run a long to power it. Just the the Flintstones.

Peter Chadburn ● 6509d

Has anyone seen one of these hybrid buses on route E8 yet?Perhaps there aren't enough passengers to propel them up the slope in Hanwell, à la Flintstones?

Alan Brainsby ● 6498d

Today, Friday, actually saw a hybrid bus on Route E8!Have TfL started naming buses as in Brighton! The hybrid bus I saw had "Mayor of London" written on the offside.

Alan Brainsby ● 6360d

To answer people's questions.The term "hybrid" refers in this case to the engine - it can run on either diesel or vegetable oil, and it is this which gives the buses their environmental credentials, the livery is simply to promote this fact.There won't be more seats on the bus; in fact there will soon be slightly fewer seats on the route overall as the double-deck vehicles which currently operate certain shoulder-peak and school time journeys on the E8 are due to be withdrawn when the contract is renewed at the end of this month. Frequency will stay the same though.Issues with keeping to time are to do with traffic delays and loading, not the fuel used to power the bus. The timetable is not erratic (or widely published) - the ability to keep to it perhaps is! There is no current policy of naming buses by TfL as far as I am aware; the "Mayor of London" strapline is applied to everything which the Mayor's office has a financial hand in - from letterheads to the street clutter currently needlessly distracting motorists on the Mall. These hybrid buses are part-funded by the Mayor's office, hence the strapline.

Keith Raeburn ● 6353d

"The term "hybrid" refers in this case to the engine - it can run on either diesel or vegetable oil".That's what hybrid means? That makes the engine dual fuel, the Welsh have being doing for years in their diesel cars. One could tell from the malodour of the exhausts. And I suppose there might be dual fuel dragons (coal and oil) too.The fact that the driving force is an electric motor and it doesn't matter whether the electricity comes from mains charged batteries, on-board diesel chargers or whatever, is the hybrid part.Probably the resulting environmental benefits could be achieved by lightening the existing single deckers by removing all the seats, replacing them with perches, grabrails, and straphangers.The livery is irrelevant. As a passenger I don't care what the method of propulsion of the bus is or how efficient it is in terms of operating cost, thermal efficiency, or environmental benefit.We will probably find that the first year of savings is wiped out because of the application of the livery and subsequent years by the additional cost and energy involved in building the bus in the first place.

Alan Brainsby ● 6352d