London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, Thomas Turrell, has challenged the Mayor of London on continued delays to the roll out of new all electric “trambus” on the 358 route, which runs between Orpington and Crystal Palace.
The new Irizar bus model (nicknamed the tramsbus) will be the first of its kind in the UK, will be fully electric, powered by a battery on the roof which is charged by two pantographs – one at each terminal at Crystal Palace and Orpington. Bromley Council granted planning permission for the pantograph in June 2021, and also granted TfL use its land in Crystal Palace to install it. However, TfL failed to properly identify the owner of the land at the Orpington side which has caused delays to the introduction of the bus.
Earlier this year TfL claimed the new bus would be in operation by June, but this has now been delayed again, prompting Thomas to submit a question to Mayor’s Question Time scheduled for the 20th June to ask:
“The all-electric 358 trambus were originally due to start operating in early 2023. This was then delayed to late 2023. When will they finally come into operation?”
Due to the purdah limitations the question has been submitted as a written question rather than a verbal one.
In addition to this, Councillor for Shortlands & Park Langley ward, Gemma Turrell, a frequent 358 user, recently submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to ask TfL about the cost of the delay and impact on local air quality of continued use of fuel based buses in the area. However, TfL did not provide the information, leading for calls for TfL to be more transparent.
Councillor Nicholas Bennett, Bromley Council's Executive Member for Transport, Highways and Road Safety has also been pressing Transport for London on the delays, and recently wrote to the Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, Seb Dance, to demand answers on TfL’s poor handling of the roll out.
Thomas said:
“The continued delays to the roll out of this new, cleaner bus model are frustrating. The technology here could be a game changer to cleaning up the London bus fleet and helping make the transport network less polluting. But TfL have dropped the ball here, the new buses are purchased but can’t be charged because TfL didn’t do its homework. Local residents and bus users deserve answers. Nicholas has been chasing TfL and the Deputy Mayor on this for over a year, so I am now escalating this to the Mayor. It just isn’t good enough.”
