A London Assembly member has attacked the ‘shambolic’ rollout of the first all electric bus fleet on the Transport for London bus network.
Thomas Turrell, LA member for Bromley and Bexley claims that the 358 suffers from electric gauge malfunctions that cause the driver to operate on less charge than what appears on the bus.
Transport for London (TfL) introduced its first fully electrified fleet of buses on the Crystal Palace to Orpington route in 2024, one of London’s longest routes.
Turrell said: “I witnessed an incident whereby the bus broke down because while the charge gauge told the driver he had 60% charge, it suddenly dropped down to 0% after he pulled out the bus stop.
“The driver couldn’t put his hazards lights on because there was no power and what transpired was a member of the public beginning to divert traffic.”
Turrell said that he raised the issue in the London Assembly, saying that a civilian being responsible for managing public safety ‘cannot happen.’
Ciaran Lamptey was a member of the public who used the 358 bus on Halloween when it suddenly broke down without warning.
Lamptey said: “It broke down because it didn’t charge properly, the driver said it didn’t have any charge left and when I asked him how, he said the charge gauge said it was full.”
Turrell detailed how the rollout of the 358 has been cursed since the beginning, with the electric bus rollout having been delayed by 18-months.
TfL and Network Rail had a legal dispute over who owned the land to build the pantographs on.
Pantographs are chargers used on route to charge the bus without needing to go back to the garage.
Turrell said: “TfL didn’t do their research on who actually owns the land, themselves or network rail, to build the pantographs on.
“On its first day, the day of the launch, it came out of the bus stop at Crystal Palace and ploughed into the car of one of the guests.
“It seems that this rollout has just been a complete shambles.”
Transport for London were hoping that choosing the 15-mile route between Crystal Palace and Orpington would show that the fleet of electric buses would be reliable enough to be rolled out across the capital.
But as Turrel said: “Based on the current results, I don’t gather they will be rolling this out across London.
“While I think the technology is there for these buses to be implemented, there are faults with the charge gauge that need do be dealt with.”
A TfL spokesman said: “We are running a trial involving innovative tram-like buses powered by pantograph chargers, which allows the vehicles to stay out on the road for longer without the need to return to the garage to charge.
“We have chosen one of the longest routes in London, around 15 miles, to rigorously test the reliability of the technology.
“From the close monitoring during this trial we have been able to improve performance as it has progressed and will continue to use findings to inform our operation of electric buses in the future.”
Featured image credit: James Hurley.
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