I don't have precise numbers (no one researched it properly) but if you want to trust TFL drivers, apparently they mentioned many times before Routemasters were taken off London roads, that old Routemaster was most efficient in terms of mpg - ~ 9 mpg - and by fuel burning alone produced less CO2 than newer Euro3 engines. All that because it was much lighter than any of the newer buses. Same with Layland Olympian - because they are lighter and don't have all the extra mod cons - active suspension, TFT screens, halogen interior lighting, climate control etc - it is effectively poluting less. However, Mad Ken and Transport for London worked under impression that if they rolled out bendy buses everywhere they would take more passengers and as such polute less per person carried. Of course this is stupid approach, because number of passengers on given route remains the same regardless of the bus and is currently nowhere near full capacity. Effectively any Euro4, smaller, lighter bus could do the same job at 30% of price of bendy bus, without clogging small streets and junctions, in much faster fashion with just as many modern advances onboard. But someone cashed in on the contract and convinced Ken to go for 18 metre monstrocities which are, de facto, most poluting bus ever driven on London roads... in process killing one of the last London icons - doubledecker bus. It is, from all angles, equivalent of running Airbus A380 on commuter route between Manchester and Birmingham.
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