Sustainable transport just got a hypeworthy hydrogen boost.
Last time TfL announced a new update to London buses, it’s fair to say things didn’t go all that well. Still, we’ve got high hopes that these new buses will be received much more warmly, because they’re rather special. Twenty brand new, hydrogen-powered double-decker buses – which produce no exhaust pollution – have just been ordered, and they’re set to arrive next year.
See also: The Piccadilly line is getting some fancy new trains.
With London’s air quality in a pretty dismal state, the hydrogen buses are making a rather timely arrival, adding to what is already Europe’s largest zero-emission bus fleet. The new buses are extremely environmentally-friendly, which will help immensely in the quest to make London’s transport zero-emission. Plus, they’re quieter, require less time between refuelling, and feature onboard USB charging points for the technology-addicted amongst us.
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From next year, you’ll find them on the 245 (Alperton-Golder’s Green), 7 (East Acton-Oxford Circus), and N7 (Northolt-Oxford Circus) routes. All well and good, but with only twenty buses running across three routes, it’s a drop in the ocean at this stage – and at £500,000 apiece, buying a load more would currently be a tad beyond TfL’s budget.
See also: London is the UK’s most plastic conscious area.
Still, they’ve got grand plans to keep rolling the technology out, having shared it with the ‘Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe’ – a project happily shortened to ‘JIVE’. Hey, if it leads to cleaner air in the capital, we’ll be the ones jiving…