Essex takes to the Stage(coach)

Romford in East London a quiet suburban town, famous for its night life and famous among bus enthusiasts for hosting First London's final routes before their departure. Two routes which operate there recently have passed operator, routes 498 and 499.

© GloriousWater

Route 498 is known for leaving the London boundary and going out to Brentwood in Essex. The route operates between Brentwood and Romford, Queen's Hospital. Co-incidentally this route was operated by First London for most of its contract, using Enviro200 buses as the route was fully single deck operated at the time. However when First London decided to sell their operations this route then transferred to Go Ahead London at Rainham (BE) garage using three existing Enviro400s from First London and the rest of the PVR being made up of vehicles cascaded from elsewhere in the operation. Once Go Ahead lost routes 54 and 75, the Optare Olympus buses from those routes came to Rainham (BE) in order to modernise the fleet on the 498. However, route 498 and Go Ahead London was not a mix which was hugely successful and the route wasn't treated that well at the garage, with the buses frequently having inappropriate blinds, or no blinds at all. Therefore it was no huge surprise when it was announced in December 2014 that the route was to pass to Stagecoach London. During its contract with both First London and Go Ahead London the route saw many bus types, so below we have pictures of most of the bus types which operated the route.

Back with First London, the route originally used Alexander Dennis Enviro200s
© LondonBusBreh

© LondonBuses72
Optare Olympuses formed part of the main allocation in the final months of route 498's operation at Rainham (BE)

Wright Eclipse Geminis were cascaded from other Go Ahead London garages when route 498 was originally taken over from First London. These have since departed from Rainham (RM)

© EastLondoner
Three Enviro400s EN25, 26 and 27 were transferred from Dagenham (DM) garage when First London left in order to aid the allocation of route 498. Now these buses are in the process of being transferred up to Northumberland Park (NP) garage to work on the routes there.

© EastLondoner

Route 499, unlike route 498 stays within the London boundaries, operating between Heath Park Estate in Becontree Heath and Gallows Corner, Tesco. The route was allocated a mix of Wright Cadets and Enviro200 buses and was operated by Arriva, Southern Counties from their Grays (GY) garage. Like route 498, this route wasn't treated wonderfully by its operator with buses frequently being sent out without any proper blinds. This route is pretty unique in London for being a route with a partial loop in it, however the whole route itself is not a loop, effectively shaping the route like one big lollipop. This does confuse people every now and again, and despite me actually living near the route I am still not 100% confident with it, not to mention the fact that having unblinded buses running the route wasn't going to help at any point. A few Enviro200s were transferred to Grays (GY) during the last few months of the route's operation with Arriva, but as you probably guessed...these buses never got blinds for the route. Therefore the tender result of this route wasn't that surprising either as many people expected the route to be lost. Below we have a few pictures of the route's operation with Arriva: Southern Counties.

© GloriousWater

©LondonBuses72

On the 27th of June 2015, these routes were due to leave their old operators and move onto pastures anew, Stagecoach London at Romford (NS) garage. It was announced that Stagecoach London were ordering brand new Enviro400 MMCs for route 498 and introducing the Enviro 200 MMC to London on route 499. However it was then announced that the buses would not arrive on time in order to start off the contracts, therefore Tridents made available from route 177 getting new buses would be used to release 55reg Tridents for route 498. The 55reg Tridents at Romford (NS) received brand new White on Black Blinds about a month before the new contract. Route 499 was planned to use Enviro200s made available from routes 62 and 296 with double deckers covering on those routes.

© EastLondoner

On the 27th of June, Stagecoach London took over the operations as planned. The 498 used Dennis Trident 2/ALX400 buses while the 499 used Alexander Dennis Enviro200s and route 296 went fully Double Deck. I went to cover the changes early morning on Sunday and despite the 30min frequency I managed to get pictures of the buses. They were sporting their new White on Black blinds, but both routes had actually seen similar vehicle types back with their previous operators. Route 498 had previously used ALX400 bodied Tridents back when it was operated by First London whereas route 499 was already allocated with Enviro200s while it was operated by Arriva Southern Counties.

© EastLondoner
36261 is seen at Romford station on a Sunday morning while regulating on the 499 to Gallows Corner, Tesco

© EastLondoner
18476 is seen at it's last stop at Romford, Queen's Hospital before going on stand and starting another rounder to Brentwood.

The new buses slowly started to enter service on the 9th of July, with 10301 being the first MMC out of Romford garage. The following day 10302 entered service and the other Enviro400 MMCs slowly followed.

© EastLondoner

I went out on the 20th of July to take a ride on the 498s new buses. Upon arrival at Queen's Hospital I was greeted by a Trident standing there. I was in for a 20 minute wait until the next MMC and I was hoping the time spent waiting for the MMC would be made up by its performance in service. An MMC eventually turned up, being 10304. In the picture to the right, you can see that the rear is pretty much identical to the rear on the 177s MMCs at Plumstead bar the fact the battery on the buses is absent on these buses due to them being diesel versions, this in turn allows for a full lower deck rear window instead of the half window design on B5LH variants of the bus. Apart from that the rest of the bus looks pretty much identical to the B5LH and E40H variants of the bus.

We eventually set off from Queen's Hospital. The bus wasn't very crowded as it was midday. We went through Romford Town Centre before escaping onto Main Road which would take us to Gallows Corner. The road itself was pretty empty, with there barely being any traffic on it. However don't be fooled into thinking that this gave a fast journey, we were crawling all the way down the road. The bus wasn't working to its full potential and this made a pretty unpleasant journey aboard the bus. However one good aspect was that the aircon on the bus was working and on a hot day it was nice having a blast of cold air coming out of the bus. 

10304 leaves its stand at Queen's Hospital
© EastLondoner

© EastLondoner
10303 takes some stand time at Queen's Hospital

I alighted the bus at Gallows Corner and crossed the road in order to board 10303, which was coming in the opposite direction. This time I opted for a lower deck journey after having rode on the upper deck last time. This bus was pretty jerky and I can assure you that anyone standing on it will have a good time trying to keep themselves from toppling over. The journey was slightly faster than the previous journey on 10304 but it still felt like the bus could do much more. This led me to believe that upon Stagecoach takeover, the route had been given far too much running time as many people who had ridden the route had reported that they had slow journeys. We eventually arrived back at Queen's Hospital where I had started my journey and from where I could start making my journey home again.

Upper Deck interior of 10304
© EastLondoner

Overall, I think these buses have some great potential but if you live far away I would not recommend coming all the way to Romford solely to ride the Enviro400 MMCs, at least not on the 498 where the route has too much running time and you would probably get mocked by a slow journey on a bus which could clearly be much faster if it was given the chance to be. Below you can find the fleetlist for the new Enviro400 MMCs now at Romford garage allocated to route 498.

10301 - YY15OYS

10302 - YY15OYT

10303 - YY15OYU

10304 - YY15OYV

10305 - YY15OYW

10306 - YY15OYX

10307 - YY15OYZ

While the 498 was introducing its new buses, Route 499 had continued to carry on using the Enviro200s it had borrowed from route 296. Its Enviro200 MMCs had started to be delivered to West Ham garage on the 14th of July. However their entry into service was extremely delayed due to the fact they used a different type of blinds to previous buses and therefore they had to wait for new blinds to be ordered and fitted.

The first Enviro200 MMC eventually entered London service on the 30th of July 2015, being 36601. Introduction of buses after that remained relatively slow and steady. 

© EastLondoner
36606 passes Romford Station

I went out on the 7th of August to have a ride on these buses and to get a feel of what could potentially be the face of many single decker routes in London for many years to come. I boarded 36601 at the Civic Centre in Dagenham. Just with a first glance you can see some major differences to the original Enviro200. Like its double decker counterpart, the Enviro400 MMC the colour black is used in the body's design however the front isn't symetric like the Enviro400 MMC. Many people have warmed up to the new design despite originally some people having doubts over the vehicle's appearance. Again like its double decker counterpart the dashboard is a standard grey colour no matter what the interior colour scheme looks like.

Inside, the bus has changed a lot from the original Enviro200. The seats above the front wheel no longer face sideways and instead face forwards. The seats above the rear wheels are now all a single level so none are placed higher up than the ones behind it. The CCTV screen is placed directly underneath the iBus screen having it out of the way yet still in a location where all the passengers can see it. (Helpful for out of London operations where the CCTV screen is generally used to provide information). Some styling features such as the grey panels bear a resemblance to the Enviro400 MMC and give the family feel to the bus that you get with the Enviro400 

©EastLondoner
36601 takes some stand time at Gallows Corner

Once my bus started moving I immediately noticed the much more smooth experience of the bus. The standard Enviro200 was known for rattling while moving at high speeds and going over speed bumps but I can assure you that you won't have any of that on the Enviro200 MMC. We went through Romford Town Centre where the bus had a driver changeover. We then moved onto the much more residential parts of Havering near Harold Hill and North Romford. Despite these buses being in service for a couple of days now they still managed to gain some attention from passers by.

However, similar to my journey on route 498 the bus didn't feel like it was performing as well as it could. On empty roads the bus felt like it could do much more but it just didn't want to. We eventually reached Gallows Corner Tesco where it marked the end of my journey. 

© EastLondoner
Rear of the Enviro200 MMC

So how would I sum up my Enviro200 MMC experience with route 499? Similar to route 498 they get the job done, but I would not recommend coming to Romford solely to do the Enviro200 MMC as it is just not worth it, especially if you live far away as you'd probably be left pretty disappointed. However the service has improved greatly with the service being much more consistent and reliable.

Here is the fleetlist for all the buses allocated to route 499 for the next 5 years:

33601 - YY15OWU

33602 - YY15OWV

33603 - YY15OWW

33604 - YY15OWX

33605 - YY15OWZ

33606 - YY15OXA

33607 - YY15OXB

33608 - YY15OXC

Both route 498 and 499 have become much more reliable under their new operator and have settled in well. From a passenger's point of view the routes are much better now. But for the bus enthusiast it completely depends on what you enjoy and look for in a bus.

© EastLondoner
36606 and 10304 at Romford Station

And now, what do you think? Do you want to ride Romford's new MMCs?