TfL has shared a photo of one of its long-awaited 'tram-buses', along with the news that they will start running later in summer 2024.
In 2023 we reported that in its ongoing push towards a net zero emissions network, TfL was rolling out 20 new emission-free electric buses — the Spanish-made ieTram — on the 358 route between Crystal Palace and Orpington.
The vehicles were originally due to be trialled in 2023 (even Sadiq Khan was posting about how excited he was about the news) but that was delayed due to hiccups, now cited by TfL as issues with 'power connections and land ownership'. We were subsequently told by TfL that trials would run in spring 2024, and a recent FOI then suggested the fleet would enter service by early June 2024.
Now, we're assured ieTram will begin running later this summer, and while by this point we've been primed to be skeptical about such news, at least we have photographic proof that the vehicles do indeed exist.
Game-changing.
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) November 1, 2022
As a part of our commitment to making London greener for everyone, @TfL are introducing 20 new emission-free electric buses in 2023—and they only take 10 minutes to charge.
I look forward to seeing these new buses in action. https://t.co/XLMf6yJ66r
If you think the buses — created by the Spanish manufacturer Irizar e-mobility — look somewhat tram-like, you're not wrong: the vehicle's official name is the ieTram because, according to Irizar, it combines the "ease of access and internal configuration of a tram with the flexibility of a city bus."
While most of TfL's current 850-odd electric buses are charged overnight in a garage, the ieTram gets its juice using a pantograph — an arm-like structure widely used on trains and trams, which gives a rapid, high-power charge to the bus through its roof. There'll be one of these positioned at each end of the route, and with less than 10 minutes of charging, the vehicles are then ready to travel again, along what is one of the longest London bus routes.
At 15 miles from end to end, the 358 route between Crystal Palace and Orpington is one of the longest on the network, and perhaps that's been part of the challenge here. A TfL spokesperson tells us: "A standard garage charge alone would not sustain a zero-emission bus the entire day."
While we now know hope the ieTram buses will be rolled out from this summer, TfL tells Londonist there are currently no plans to expand the trial. This is at odds with what we were first told; that if trials were successful, vehicles across more routes would likely be in the offing. It's unclear what's changed TfL's plans here — but at least the concept hasn't been — as we were starting to fear — scrapped altogether.
The tram-buses then, might not quite be the future of London transport. But they could be the future of one particular bus route in southeast London. And we'll be hopping on one, whether we need to get to Orpington or not.
