Bus News: 28th April 2013
- First have announced publicly on the 9th April that they will be selling 8 garages in London.
- 5 garages will be sold to Metroline, the list is as followed below:
1. Alperton (ON)
2. Greenford (G)
3. Hayes (HS)
4. Uxbridge (UX)
5. Willesden Junction (WJ)
- The remaining 3 garages will be sold to Tower Transit, a new company which is based in Australia. The list is as followed below:
1. Atlas Road (AS)
2. Westbourne Park (X)
3. Lea Interchange (LI)
These leaves First with one garage, Dagenham (DM).
- On the topic of DM, First have lost 4 routes to Stagecoach this September. Routes 165, 179, 252 and 365 will no longer be with First after September as they have lost the contract to Stagecoach.
Metroline:
- Metroline have purchased 5 garages off First: HS, G, ON, UX and WJ. It will be interesting to see what Metroline will class the DMC's and SN's as they have never had such vehicles of this type before. These garages will be underneath the branding of "Metroline West".
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| New TE's on the 82. |
- The TEH's bound for 189 have not been kicked into service yet and are still at CELF which is located in Perivale.
- The TE's are almost done entering service on route 82 at Potters Bar (PB) which will allow the TP's to be withdrawn.
- VW1468 has been re-directed to HT instead of AC.
- Some LT's for route 24 are now being delivered and one is already at the CELF.
- The VW's on route 24 will move to route 91 whilst the VWH's move onto route 4. This phase will happen on 22nd June 2013.
- The MM's at PA are going under a refurbishment. MM782 and MM789 have already been refurbished.
Arriva London:
- Some T's are transferring to Palmers Green for route 329. They do make a large appearance on route 102 however most have now been moved to their "New Home",
- DW's have arrived, some 62reg and some 13reg. They are on routes 29, 121 and 144.
- Arriva is pleased to say they have won the contract for route 106. The route will be using buses in form of DB300/ Gemini 2's. This phase will kick in on 27th April.
- Arriva is pleased to say they have won the contract for route 67. The route will be using buses in form of DB300/ Gemini 2's. This phase will kick in on 27th April.
Arriva Shires & Essex:
- The Cadets for route 268, 288, 303 and 305 are currently (Some) in refurbishment. Some Y reg Darts have transferred over to Garston to cover the Cadets.
Tower Transit:
- A new Australian based bus company. They have bought out AS, X and LI. More of this can be seen in "Sold".
Go Ahead London:
- Five brand new EH's have arrived, supposedly for route 87 have 13 reg and are numbered between EH21 - EH26.
Transdev London:
- It is now known that 21 Gemini 2's on a Volvo B5LH chassis have been ordered for route 13 in time for the contract start on the August 31st.
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| Route 391. Good colour contrast here.... |
- Some of the Omnidekka's from 13 will move onto route 292 when the new contract starts. These buses will be on route 292 for the first two years of the contract, then brand new buses will be ordered.
London United RATP Group:
- London United are pleased to announce they have retained the contract for 391. They have retained the route with existing buses although there will be one new single deck. A new Citaro/ Versa/ Tempo/ E200? That's what is left to be seen...
Information correct at 17th April 2013, 5:33pm.
Cannot wait to see how Transdev London Sovereign will do with their first Volvo B5LHs. Route 13 should have shared operations with the East Lancs Olympus' (if only Transdev didn't get sell their batch of Olympus') and Volvo B5LHs.
ReplyDeleteThe 13-reg TEHs need to hurry up on the 189, although existing 60- and 61-reg run on the route at night. The new TEHs will be very fast and fun to ride on in North Cricklewood.
It's a shame that Tower Transit could not take over all of First London's operations. It is going to be confusing with Metroline taking over some First operations, with all the different models and classes and liveries.
And maybe EH21-EH26 are for the 36, but probably the 87 as they did say new hybrids were being ordered for the route. But then why would the 36s be using solitary odd-working EHs from the 436 regularly recently? They could be testing them out before ordering ones of their own ...
Great post.
Thanks LondonBusBreh! Also, I am waiting for the TEH's on 189 to get into service so that I can cover them.
DeleteIts gonna be a Metrocity, the new bus.
ReplyDeleteAh, the Optare Metrocity - The one they showed on Leon Daniels a few weeks back, right?
DeleteYh. The Metrocity sorta looks like a Versa body with a TempoSR front, literally. And I like the TempoSR. So it'll be good. OM class, I see?
Delete