London’s New Routemasters in Service Today – Number 38

If you happen to travel on the number 38 bus between Victoria and Hackney in London you may have noticed that you were on a spanky new Routemaster.

Today saw the first of London’s new Eco-Routemasters ferrying passangers around a section of the capital.

The Eco-Routemasters signed on and took their first passengers at midday today and ran the number 38 route.

The buses were designed in London and built in Ireland and today’s historic trip marked the end of a journey which started back in July 2008.

A further seven of the hybrid buses will arrive at a rate of one a fortnight (kinda like the N5 then :P) until the fleet (of eight out of the 68 needed for the route) is complete at the end of May.

The fuel-efficient vehicle gets 11.6mpg which is pretty decent when you realise that London buses generally return half that!

With the new Eco-Routemasters the Bus Conductor makes a come-back! Unfortunately these aren’t like the clippies of old. They’re there to ensure people board and exit safely from that legendary rear open door as well as making sure you’ve got a ticket from the driver or swiped your Oyster card.