All new London buses to be zero emission

From now on, all new London buses will be zero emission.

This is yet another bold step London is taking to reduce carbon emissions and clean up London’s air. It will boost the city’s green economy and help to support more jobs, too, says London’s mayor Sadiq Khan.

Buses are the busiest form of public transport in London. At over two billion passenger journeys a year, usage is around double that of the London Underground. The city has 675 bus routes, with around 9000 buses in operation and over 19,000 bus stops.

More than three million Londoners use public transport in the capital every day; without it, London would literally grind to a halt.

Moving to electric buses may not solve the issues around climate change but Londoners have waited 30 years for the answer and done very little. All steps forward now are important, but every city has to look at all options to drive the green economy.

As for the costs, electricity is a higher cost. Other countries have moved towards bikes, London still has a long way to go but is getting there.

In comparison, the Bus and Coach Association New Zealand member operators transport 153 million passengers annually in Aotearoa.

There are over 6000 buses in the association's members fleet, comprising 1900 school buses, 2000 city buses, 2000 tour and charter coaches, as well as a number of small passenger service vehicles in the limousine sector.

Taking a bus or coach is the safest way to travel on the road, more than 10 times safer than driving a car, and even safer than walking.  

Tourist expenditure on passenger transport (not including domestic air travel) has grown dramatically, increasing from $2.88 billion in 2013 to almost $4 billion in 2016. Then covid changed that.

The number of visitors using tour buses has grown dramatically since 2009, with the number of users more than doubling to reach 732,000 in 2016.