www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/260508/
Some interesting photographs of the new Hybrid London bus including the first drive/test by Autocar.
The 4.5-litre Cummins turbodiesel generator provides power to an air compressor (for the brakes and steering), a 75kWh battery and the Siemens electric motor- which does all the driving; the diesel generator is tuned to sit at optimum revs and provide all the power the batteries need, and it runs only when those batteries need topping up.
J
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That's the one that ran out of fuel on the M1:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16244634
You have to hope that it doesn't go too far off route in normal use, given the following quote:
"...when the bus undertakes long, non-stopping motorway journeys, such as its journey to Bedfordshire this morning, it can lose charge and the driver is briefed to pull to the side of the road to allow the battery to recharge..."
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One does have to wonder why it does not have a fuel gauge. Hardly high tech!
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I was surprised to learn many buses don't have fuel gauges. It seems they're brimmed at the end of each working day when they're cleaned and inspected.
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>> One does have to wonder why it does not have a fuel gauge. Hardly high
>> tech!
Its a bus, A london bus no less. It will do prescribed routes, with known distances at a known MPG, stopping at a fuelling depot on every return trip.
Who needs a fuel gauge?
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Given what's happened, it needs one. Indeed there is argument for putting one on the prototype/demo versions, even if the service ones don't have them.
I've not got one on my vintage car, but I do have a dip stick.
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I saw this bus broken down on M1 yesterday. Why it was going to Befordshire by the way?
Not having fuel gauge is daft IMHO.
On think link, there is a comparison chart among many other buses. Suddenly bendy buses look very good value for money. More capacity at a cheaper price.
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>> On think link, there is a comparison chart among many other buses. Suddenly bendy buses
>> look very good value for money. More capacity at a cheaper price.
So much capacity they don't fit on the streets.
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"Why it was going to Befordshire by the way?"
From PeterS's link above:
"The bus, which runs on a hybrid diesel-electric motor, was not refuelled before being driven from London to Millbrook Testing Ground, Bedfordshire."
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Tue 20 Dec 11 at 16:15
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>> I've not got one on my vintage car, but I do have a dip stick.
>>
>> Well...I've got one on my classic car !!
But it don't not work and I've got a dipstick too !
Ted
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Who needs a fuel gauge?
Not even a train has a fuel gauge they run at 1 litre per mile roughly & minimum 800ltr tank on the small units 14x.
AEC Routemaster still the best bus 8 mpg & looks the part.
Preffer the cadburys double decker myself. :-)
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I was thinking of expanding my youtube channel into buses, just for you BigTee.
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That would be nice can you also do Fork lift trucks and Tractors please i love them.
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Fork Lifts? Hmmm Ok I will see what I can do.
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Yes used to work for Nissan main dealer years ago re building them did a few tractors and JCB too.
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>> Not even a train has a fuel gauge they
Diesel locos have them. You don't need them in electric locos.
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No fuel gauge is quite honestly unbelievable, relies totally on previous users doing everything by the book and restricts the use a vehicle can be put to.
Stupid design overlook.
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Should have made it more clear............
They do have fuel gauges but there on the fuel tanks a sight glass with fuel readings in litres, Not in the cab like a fuel gauge of your car.
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>> They do have fuel gauges but there on the fuel tanks a sight glass with
>> fuel readings in litres, Not in the cab like a fuel gauge of your car.
>>
Used to have those on my first trucks (no foreign tat like litres mind..;), nothing to go wrong either, a faulty gauge could only be exactly that and not a wiring or connection or dashboard issue.
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I hope the Government transport spend scandal will soon become very wide spread knowledge and TFL will come crashing down with Boris finally being hung in public.
This bus is a stupid waste of money considering the situation the country is in. Mean while the North and the South West has to make do with clapped out 25 year old Pacer trains.
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>> This bus is a stupid waste of money considering the situation the country is in. Mean while the North and the South West has to make do with clapped out 25 year old Pacer trains.
No doubt it will be your turn next when those trams stop working. They are only buses Sheikha. Naturally they cost a lot.
The thing that bothered me was the text said it had a jump-on jump-off rrear platform like a real bus, not one of these namby-pamby modern things. But the publicity photos of the one that looks like a very expensive Hollywood dress showed that the platform seemed to be glassed in with lovely slinky curved goddam 'caring' perspex.
Is nothing sacred, Sheikha, that's what I'm asking? The British commuter has a human right to dice with death.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 22 Dec 11 at 04:17
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>> I hope the Government transport spend scandal will soon become very wide spread knowledge and
>> TFL will come crashing down with Boris finally being hung in public.
>>
>> This bus is a stupid waste of money considering the situation the country is in.
>> Mean while the North and the South West has to make do with clapped out
>> 25 year old Pacer trains.
>>
>>
>>
I'm struggling to reconcile your position on the huge sums wasted on trams in your area (which you defend on a regular basis) with the statement above on busses for London Rattle...
Trains are a different matter; if you've got clapped out trains in the North or SW then there's obviously not the return to warrant franchisees replacing them, or sufficient users to justify more subsidy. Here on the South Coast we have lovely new trains running up to London and along the coast ;-) Still can't always get a seat though :-(
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The Pacers are over crowded, in fact dangerously so in rush hour. Growth has been around 100%+ in the past 10 years, the government told the franchise there would be no growth, hence they are not required to replace.
Now the success of the tram system is purely down to Manchester, its run at a profit with the profits paying for loans to expand the system. It has got little help from the tax payer unlike the London schemes.
Anyway this is why I am so annoyed
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16235349
As for the Metrolink tram system it is run to a very strict budget and always has done which in the long run just ends up costing more because nothing lasts. In the late 80's the conservative government said we have to buy the cheapest trams, we did, 20 years later they are so rusty they need to be scrapped - they should have lasted 40 years. Although to be fair there was little choice they were still built down to a price.
Of course London should have a higher spend per person, but how can you justify spending £2500 per person per year in London on public transport and just £5 per person per year in the North East?
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Of course I realise there is a lot of tourist in London, which I assume won't be counted in the figures, but it still seems very biased towards London.
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>> Of course I realise there is a lot of tourist in London, which I assume
>> won't be counted in the figures, but it still seems very biased towards London.
>>
Not forgetting of course the millions of people who work in london but don't live there... Perhaps a better measure would be £/passenger kilomteres travelled...
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I wonder if such data exists, it would be harder to calculate but I am guessing each transport authority would have such data.
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One of the reasons London has a half-decent public transport system is Londoners have proved themselves willing to use it.
It's the only city I've lived in without a car.
It was a genuine lifestyle choice, which many others made as well.
Elsewhere, the assumption is the only reason for not having a car is because you can't afford one.
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Surely if they'd bought the more expensive metrolink trams you'd now bee moaning they were old and clapped out!! Who wants to ride on a 40 year old tram ;-)
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Of course, perhaps another reason that London can spend more is that it's not funding quangos like The Institute for Public Policy Research North, authors of that report ;-)
Be interesting to see how much moneys is spent per head in each region on job creation. I'd wager that the numbers would look a little different then... ;-)
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They would have been refurbished, just like they do on the tube, some of the Victoria stock was over 40 years old when they were scrapped earlier this year.
I think the new trams we have are designed to last 30 years.
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So the alternative to that which was purchased was not only more expensive but needed refurbing part way through its life. Might explain why they went with the 20 yr option...better value all round... :-)
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Northern Rail has just took 50 "new" extra coaches not 50 trains it's clever how it's worded but this does mean extra seating at busy times the units are 142,150/1,150/2, 332 X4 from Scotland, 156,158,
Not bad i suppose should keep me busy as some of them a wrecks safe to use just worn.
Bring on the overtime Northern!!!!
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I just wish Newton Heath would suffer a major earth quake so all our local 142 stock vanishes. I hate them but very very rarely need to travel on them, its a twice yearly thing if that.
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A new depot has re opened was EWS yard i think over Liverpool way, & run by Northern for the 142/156
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Clearly Rattle has never experienced a London Rush hour, or had to commute in such for 220 days a year,
mind it has to be said, the London rush hour is not as it once was. Its been a long time since we saw slam door stock passengers spilling out onto the terminus platforms with the train still doing 10 mph.
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Probably spend around 6-7 days a year in London so I am very used to the rush hour, well the evening one anyway. You should see the packed trains in the North West, at least as busy as any Northern Line train at rush hour. OK much much smaller volume of people is being moved, but the frequency of the passenger space is so much less.
I don't mean to be anti-london in my posts, as I love the city but I do think some unfair biases exist.
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>> Probably spend around 6-7 days a year in London so I am very used to
>> the rush hour, well the evening one anyway.
Honestly rats, you aint. You need to be on the 8:26 into London Bridge, Or Waterloo, or Victoria, then bakerloo line platforms so thick with people you cant actually get onto them.
To be fair, the London rush hour is not what it was, flexitime has flattened out the peaks.
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Yeah but that can be said about any UK city at that time, I at certain stations its impossible to catch trams at that time, you have to get one going the other way and then catch the one at the start.
One of the reasons I am so glad I drive so I can avoid the overcrowded public transport.
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Ok Think of it like this.
Push Manchester Piccadilly, out of the centre by three Miles, then add another 5 Piccadillys to that outer 3 mile ring, then expect them all to get to the trafford centre between 8 and 9.
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I fully understand why London has the vast network it does have, I am not complaining about that. I am complaining because I don't think the money is being well spent. The routermaster is a classic example, what is wrong with an Enviro 400?
That said I hope these new buses are running by Feb as I should be going to London then and it would be interesting to see how good or crap they are.
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Dangerous place, London. Wrap up warm and don't talk to strangers.
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>> I fully understand why London has the vast network it does have, I am not
>> complaining about that. I am complaining because I don't think the money is being well
>> spent. The routermaster is a classic example, what is wrong with an Enviro 400?
Nothing. The Enviro 400 is a fine bus.
However the new bus has been designed with London in mind from the start.
Compare the differences, then spend a week in London, try getting from various A to B's during different times (including real rush hour)
Please though, before you do that, take of those Mancunian rose tinted glasses....
I had better add, although I was born and bred in the South East (South Bucks Stockbroker belt) I don't enjoy London - I would prefer to live in the Midlands, partly BECAUSE of the differences!
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The Midlands has all of the bad parts and hassle of London, but none of the culture or excitement.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 12:04
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Pictures and roadtest of the new London Bus - PeterS
