The C3 route from Clapham Junction to Earls Court Tesco will be replaced with fully electric buses this month.
The new buses, manufactured by UK company Optare, are expected to enter service in the coming weeks.
The move comes as part of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Low Emission Bus Zones plan.
Mayor Khan pledged that by 2037, all 9,200 buses across London will be zero emission.
More than £300 million has been allocated to transforming London’s bus routes to both hybrid and electric models.
Emeritus Professor of Transport Studies at UCL Roger Mackett said: “Using electric buses rather than diesel ones will, almost certainly, reduce carbon emissions in the area where the buses are running.”
He pointed to Cluj-Napoca in Romania, where already half of the city’s bus fleet has been replaced by fully electric models since 2018.
Professor Mackett added: “I am not sure how far £300 million will go in terms of buying electric buses.
“If we assume that the travel system will return to pandemic, there is an interesting argument whether you would reduce pollution more by investing in electric buses or by restoring the bus services that have been cut because of the lack of revenue due to the Mayor’s political decision not to increase fares in line with inflation.
“This would probably reduce the number of cars on the road, and so reduce pollution.”
Tower Transit won the tender in November 2019 for the route C3 on a zero-emission basis, replacing previous contractors Abellio whose tenure ended on October 2.
A total of 37 double-decker electric buses will be provided to serve both route C3 and route 23.
London is currently Europe’s biggest electric bus fleet, with 200 zero-emissions buses on various routes.
Featured Image Credit: wltmauc Flickr
