Year of the Bus News: August 2014

There's another, rather quiet, month that has just gone by. Summer's drawing to a close, with Winter creeping up extremely quickly. Time to do the most recent round up.

Arriva London:
- One contract loss, with Arriva seeming to have gone through a rough patch, of route 432 between Anerley and Brixton stations. This time to Go-Ahead London.

- On the upside, Arriva have won new school route 663 between Pampisford Road and Thornton Heath using one existing bus with the route starting this week.

Arriva Shires & Essex:
- Route 321, which runs Luton to Watford, was converted to Sapphire operation on Sunday 31st August 2014. New StreetLites have entered service on route, alongside 3 existing Mercedes Citaros. A post on this will come soon.

Arriva Southern Counties:
- Route 66 was converted to double decker operation on Saturday 30th August using DWs ex-route 38 before the LT conversion. The buses have been renumbered 6201-6212.

Abellio London:
- Not many losses this year for Abellio, however there is one to note from this month of route 322 between Clapham Common, Old Town and Crystal Palace which has been lost to Go-Ahead London.

- Route 112 passed to Metroline at the start of the month, with 8440 (RX51 FGP) and 9767 (YN51 KWB) being the last Abellio buses on route. The last Caetano Nimbus was 8468 (HX04 HTT) leaving the 112 at Ealing Broadway around 2230. A post on this is coming soon.


- Abellio have put the new buses for route 49 on other routes for the coming week until 6th September, when 49 leaves London United for Abellio. Bar 2465 (SL14 LOA) and 2466 (SL14 LOD), the new buses are 64-reg and on 1st September, when 64-reg vehicles are legally allowed on the road, 2467 (SN64 OER), 2469 (SN64 OET), 2473 (SN64 OEX) and 2475 (SN64 OEZ) entered service respectively on routes 3, 344, 414 and C2. They should also appear on route 156 as well. The fleetlist for the buses should be SL14 LOA/D then from 2467, SN64 OER/S/T/U/V/W/X/Z and SN64 OFL. More buses to be confirmed of their registrations in the upcoming week.

Go-Ahead London:
- The following routes have been retained: G1, 191
- The following routes have been won: 322, 432

Route 322 and G1 has been won/retained with new 'flybrids', a Flywheel hybrid system installed on the buses.

Route 191 has been retained with existing Enviro 400s to be refurbished.

Route 432 has been won with double deckers, the type confirmed later although one journey to be crosslinked with route 468.

- There's a new V6, this one replaces BF63 HFE and IS NOT the same one as some may have thought. It's also a Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TL.

London Sovereign RATP Group:
- Buses have not gained any logos. However, VH20 (BT13 YWS) was the first to make it onto route 292 on the 11th August 2014.

- DLE26 has still not arrived yet, and route 582 continues.

London United RATP Group:
- Route 49 is to be lost, and the last bus is to run just after midnight on the 6th September 2014. What is the last bus? We won't know, with the amount of buses that can be found on route 49 from VEs to ADHs and everything inbetween (SPs, TAs, SLE44) remains to be a mystery until the last day. The SPs will then move to Fulwell (FW) for routes 71 and 281.

- Two unusual workings happened on route 94 - SLE44 and ADE65 both appeared on route 94, the route usually allocated TLAs and ADHs, with the odd TA and SP.

Metroline Travel:
- Route 112 now runs from Cricklewood (W) garage, with the new vehicles arriving into London, 10.8m Enviro 200s (DEL2062-71) now. They should be out on the route by the end of the next fortnight. These have 64 plates, and are LK64 Exx plated.

- Route 395 is to have it's last buses run later than 2200, to around 0015 now. The route is now allocated 58-reg DEs, ex-245 which none have been refurbished.

- 16 MMC Enviro 400s, with no known destination are on order, for the New Year of 2015. 

- The buzz of the week has been about the start of 640 on Wednesday 3rd September 2014, with buses VW1243-8 allocated to it, the first of the type at Harrow Weald (HD). These buses will run both 140 and 640, of which 140 has had a frequency increase to every 7 minutes and the PVR to 28 and two journeys to be crosslinked to route 640. These buses DO NOT replace any vehicles at Harrow Weald (HD).

- Three 11-reg VWs have been spotted on route 7 this week. The SEL conversion on route 297 is done, and seems to be doing well on route 79 too. However the conversion isn't done yet, although some VWs have left for HT, 1196, 1205, 1207-1216, 1198 and 1201. The buses moving out should be 1193-1216.


Metroline West:
- Route 282 is a pretty much TE route (using ex-E1/3 buses), with the TPs now withdrawn (except 1508 which showed up randomly once again) with 3 TPs fleeing off to Uxbridge.

Stagecoach London:
- Some more Enviro 400 Hybrids are coming in, registered as SN64 Oxx. These are for Plumstead (PD) garage, as part of Stagecoach Shambles.

- Whilst on the topic of PD, also route 177 has been retained by Stagecoach with brand new hybrids. 

Tower Transit:
- WSH62292 (LK60 HPN) is to be returning back to London service soon, on route RV1 between Tower Gateway and Covent Garden.


Some of the next tenders to be announced are:
T32: New Addington - Addington Village. This route is operated by Metrobus. This route may be withdrawn, however should be confirmed at tender.
353: Addington Village - Ramsden Estate. This route is operated by Metrobus.
654: Ramsden Estate - Addington Village. This route is operated by Metrobus.

331: Uxbridge Station - Ruislip Station. This route is operated by Metroline West.
A10: Uxbridge Station - Heathrow T1, 2 and 3. This route is operated by Metroline West.

Thanks for reading this edition! Last updated: 18:56 05/09/2014.

3 comments:

  1. DLE26 may be the first LS vehicle to gain the new logo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Route 350 will be getting a few E400 MMC

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your information..

    ReplyDelete