Part of Sadiq Khan’s flagship Superloop route is to be operated using ”Boris buses” that he rejected seven years ago due to their lack of green credentials, it can be revealed.
Transport for London has awarded a £5.95m contract to bus firm Stagecoach Selkent to operate the SL3 route, which will link Thamesmead and Bromley when it launches next April, using the controversial so-called “New bus for London”.
The mayor appeared not to know that the much-maligned double deckers - about 1,000 of which were bought by his predecessor Boris Johnson - would form part of his clean air initiative to encourage people out of their cars.
The SL3 will help to complete the circular “loop” that links outer London town centres as a “payback” to the suburbs following the expansion of the Ulez to the Greater London boundary in August.
Tender documents published on the TfL website state that this section of the Superloop will be operated using “existing New Routemasters”.
This is despite Mr Khan describing the double decker buses, which were based on the classic Routemaster London bus but dubbed the “Roastmaster” due to onboard heat, as the “most expensive in the world” with “ludicrous” windows.
Prior to decreeing in December 2016 that no more of the buses - which were manufactured in Northern Ireland - would be ordered by TfL, he said: "Their batteries are too expensive to replace and their diesel engines cause too much pollution."
Soon after taking power, he also axed their conductors to save money.
Me Khan said on Friday: “We are making sure every single bus we use is Ulez compliant.
“We are making sure, where we can, they’re electric buses. Where they’re not, they are hybrid buses.
“As we get more support from the Government we will be making sure they’re all electric buses [on the Superloop].”
Mr Khan added: “I’m not aware of what particular buses are on which particular bus routes. The key thing is every bus is Ulez compliant.
Another new section, the SL4, will be operated using fully electric buses when it launches in 2025, linking Grove Park and Canary Wharf via the Silvertown tunnel.
The SL2 will use “existing hybrids” - buses that run on diesel and battery power.
City Hall said on Friday that all buses on the SL3 would be “ULEZ compliant euro VI hybrid buses”.
A spokesperson said: “They are refurbished New Routemasters. Using these buses ensured that diesel buses wouldn't be used on this route.”
In 2016, a spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “Sadiq will not be making any further purchases of the New Routemasters.
"Londoners deserve a bus fleet that is greener, more affordable and more functional than these vanity buses.
"That is why he is investing in the next generation of ultra-low and zero-emission buses as part of his hard-hitting measures to clean-up London’s toxic air."
Commenting Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon said: “This is yet another example where the Mayor has pretended to be greener than he actually is, allowing older more polluting buses to operate in Outer London despite his pledge to clean up the region’s air with ULEZ. The Superloop should be using zero-emission buses throughout."
