New Routemaster: LT1, LT & L3's world tour

Images of the New Routemaster buses on their world tour in 2013.

Having been established in London service with eight pre-production prototypes in trial service on route 38 (allocated to Arriva), in May 2013, a month before the first production buses entered service, two of the prototypes (LT1 & LT2) were taken back from Arriva and loaned to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, for use on a world tour, to promote the technology and British business as part of the wider GREAT Britain campaign. LT1 was shipped to the Americas, officially launching the tour on 14 May 2013 in New York City. LT2 was shipped to Europe. A third of the prototypes, LT3 later joined the tour, visiting Hong Kong and Macao in October & November 2013. The buses remained in their red livery with Arriva logos, although for the Singapore leg, LT3 was altered to look like a Metroline example (in deference to Singapore based ComfortDelGro, Metroline's parent company). LT2 & LT3 have since returned, while LT1 remains in storage in Abu Dhabi.