Today’s feature here on #AYearOfBuses has a strong accolade – it’ll be the first route in London to be run purely by all-electric Optare Metrodecker EVs.
31 of Optare’s double decker battery-electric buses are on order for Metroline’s Potters Bar garage, part of an order for 68 electric buses for the 134 and 43 (Friern Barnet – London Bridge, which will receive ADL/BYD 10.9m Enviro400EV Citys).
The Metrodecker, though it hasn’t sold in huge numbers just yet, is an impressively light and airy bus – both on the surface and underneath. With Optare’s integral space frame design, they’ve managed to create an electric double decker weighing in at only a few kilos heavier than a standard diesel bus, capable of carrying 90 passengers with a range of over 150 miles on a single charge.
The 134 itself runs from North Finchley, right into the heart of central London at Tottenham Court Road station, with a PVR of 28 buses. The Metrodeckers will replace the fleet of (still not terribly old) MCV EvoSeti-bodied Volvo B5LHs currently on the route.
