New Bus For London - Production

Production

A static mock-up was unveiled at Acton depot on 11 November 2010: the first engineering prototype was driven by Boris Johnson at a public demonstration on 27 May 2011. The first working prototype was unveiled in December 2011 and driven from City Hall to Trafalgar Square. Within days of its unveiling, the first prototype was reported to have broken down on the M1 north of London however this was due to human error - a lack of diesel. The first new bus (fleet number LT 2) entered service on 27 February 2012, on route 38. During the 2012 London Mayoral Election, former Mayor of London and Labour Candidate Ken Livingstone said that, if elected, he would buy no more New Buses for London because of the price. However, Boris Johnson won the election and in September 2012 approved the order for 600 of the new buses. It will cost about £160 million for the production bus from taxpayers' money. The first batch entered service on 22 June 2013 on Route 24. The rest of the 600 production buses are due to enter service by 2016 as part of the Mayor's election promise.