A constituent has raised concerns with me that buses on Route 135 have been renewed with existing diesel and hybrid buses, rather than with electric buses. I know you have committed to all new double deck buses being hybrid, electric or hydrogen. When do you envision the majority of buses being truly zero-emission?

In September I announced an acceleration by three years of the default date for the entire bus fleet to be zero emission from 2037 to 2034, made possible by changes in processes and efficiencies and suppliers’ responses. My desire is to bring this date forward to 2030 if feasible, to accelerate as far as possible London’s and the UK’s transition to net zero carbon emissions. This would require additional Government funding and matched ambition from manufactures and operators.

Transport for London (TfL) has set out options for achieving a fully zero emission fleet in its Financial Sustainability Plan, but these are dependent on funding certainty from government. If TfL is forced to implement cuts to the bus network, as is anticipated under the managed decline funding scenario, this would impact its ability to introduce new electric buses, delaying the completion of a zero emission bus fleet beyond 2034