195 further Borismasters to join Transport for London fleet

The fleet of New Buses for London, AKA New Routemasters, AKA Borismasters is set to reach around 1,000 following the signing of a further order for the iconic buses. Mayor of London Boris Johnson has placed an order for a further 195 buses with Wrightbus of Northern Ireland. The order was confirmed as Boris visited the Wirghtbus plant on Monday last. It is reported that the order will secure the employment of 300 staff at the Wrightbus plant for a further 12 months.
The contract has been signed at a cost of £319,000 per bus, giving a total contract value of over £62 million, which the Mayor's office says is comparable with standard hybrid buses. The vehicles from the latest order will have Euro 6 engines and will also be fitted with opening windows.
Final deliveries of the first 800 New Routemasters is due to be completed by July this year. The plan is for the vehicles to have a 14-year working life in the Capital. Buses from the latest order are due to enter service in the summer of next year.

• Transport for London is de-furbishing the small fleet of original Routemasers used on the heritage service between Trafalgar Square and Tower Hill. Operated by Stagecoach they are having a number of original features refitted including tungsten lighting. The refurbishment work is being done by Hants & Dorset Trim.
  
• New Routemaster LT2, the first of the type to enter service in February 2012 has re-entered service with Arriva in a green livery, which was applied when it was loaned to First West Yorkshire, but with London Transport fleet names to resemble the livery of the erstwhile London Transport Country Area service.
  

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