Notes About This Vehicle

When Boris Johnson became Mayor of London, one of his first actions was to instigate the removal of ‘bendy-buses’ and introduce new ‘Routemasters’ within four years. What he of course meant was open rear platform buses.

The press latched onto this and dubbed it with a silly name that I won’t give credibility by using here. A competition was launched in July 2008 and the winning design then handed to Heatherwick Studio to style and subsequently be built by Wrightbus of Northern Ireland.

With suitable political timing the first prototype arrived in London in December 2011 just in time to fulfil the Mayor’s pledge to have the new bus on the road within his 4-year term. Seven others followed. The first of these, LT2, entered service in February 2012 on route 38.

The reality is that the resulting bus has little in common with the Routemaster (RM). Petrol-electric vehicles have been around for over a hundred years, but when the first of the eventual fleet of a thousand came into service in February 2012, it was with much trumpeting. The difference now was that the (diesel) engine’s only job was to intervene when needed and charge the on-board batteries when in service, but never actually to drive the bus.

Comparisons with the Routemaster are dubious, just because both have an open rear platform – the new bus does not always operate in this configuration anyway and requires a second crew member, not to collect fares, but just to guard the platform at stops. Over half a century of advancement in technology, design and regulations, and very different operating conditions, further highlight this.

The vehicles carry ‘LT’ fleet numbers as required by TfL’s then Commissioner, as it was TfL who own these buses, unlike the remainder of the London fleet. LT2 originally carried the registration LT61BHT, along with similar ones on the early buses. It was later re-registered LTZ1002 in line with the rest of the fleet and with a nod to both its Irish manufacture and London Transport’s historical custom of incorporating ‘LT’ in the registration, with a number matching its fleet designation.

RMs spent five years being tested and modified before going into production; the LTs had two months. Teething troubles were inevitable, the most publicised being the noisy ventilation system. Even after what was regarded as successful testing of the prototypes and the re-elected Mayor authorizing the purchase of 600 production vehicles, the ventilation was still problematic. There were historical echoes with the bus not having any opening windows, harking back to a similar decision with FRM1 in 1967. FRM1 only lasted a few months in that guise and the same happened to the new LTs following complaints from passengers. Sliding opening windows were later fitted, as shown here.

LT2 was the first of eight prototypes to operate – by Arriva on route 38 and in Central Area red. In 2014 it was loaned to First, painted in a lighter shade than London Transport’s traditional Lincoln Green. It toured several garages in West Yorkshire but did not run in service. It returned to London and oddly still runs in green – back with Arriva.

Notes About This Drawing

The drawing is based on a general arrangement drawing. This type of black & white sketch drawing, as implied by the name, is not intended to define detail but act as a specification guide to builders.

All the fine detail has been interpreted from over 200 photographs of several LTs in 2016, and twenty general and close-up colour photographs of LT2 taken on 27th July 2019. None of the detail can be regarded as definitive.

It should be understood that all four elevations are seen here as one would see each part of the vehicle at a truly perpendicular angle. In real life this is of course impossible.