Know Your Routes: Route 173
In early 2015, route 173 which runs between Goodmayes, King George Hospital and Beckton Station was retained by Arriva London.
Before I actually get onto its service change, a lot of you might have never heard about route 173 before. So let me give you some quick bites about the history of the route.
The routing itself is pretty unique and the route provides some really unique but useful links. So let me give you a quick brief on the roads and areas that this route serves.
The route starts off at Beckton Bus Station and takes a left onto Woolwich Manor Way. It then exits onto the A13 road, also known as Newham Way or the East Ham and Barking By Pass. It continues straight down past East Beckton, Sainsbury's and Gascoigne Estate. It then continues past Greatfields Park and Movers Lane continuing on the A13 to Lodge Avenue. It then passes Arriva Barking (DX) bus garage and continues straight down to Dagenham Asda. From Dagenham Asda the route takes a left onto Dagenham Heathway and continues straight down the road past Dagenham Heathway Station to Becontree Heath. The route takes a right onto Wood Lane and then continues straight onto Whalebone Lane South. The route then takes another left onto Chadwell Heath High Road and continues down to Chadwell Heath Lane. The route then follows Chadwell Heath Lane down to Little Heath. From Little Heath the route goes down Barley Lane to take a right into King George Hospital.
In 2015, route 173 was retained by Arriva London from Barking (DX) with existing Double Deckers with the new contract to start on the 17th of October. This followed TfLs recent trend in converting well used single decker routes to double decker operation. For local users, the 173 was known as a really crowded route popular with a lot of people and a pain to use in the peak rush hour so a forthcoming double decker conversion was very welcome indeed.
There was quite a bit of speculation on what buses the 173 would end up using as Arriva were going to have quite a few spare buses in October following the loss of route 168 and routes 149 and 78 getting new Hybrids. Only on the 26th of September did anyone know what buses the 173 would get as Enviro400s had been taken out of service from Ash Grove (AE) garage and were soon spotted at Barking (DX) garage later.
The newly transferred Enviro400s didn't sit around in the garage for long. By Monday the 28th September they were already out in numbers. More started joining throughout the week. This allowed the ENLs from the route to go south to Thornton Heath (TH) garage in order to convert route 255 to the type. Below is a fleetlist of all the ENLs that were used by route 173 between 2010 and 2015. These buses were shared with route
 |
© EastLondoner |
Before I actually get onto its service change, a lot of you might have never heard about route 173 before. So let me give you some quick bites about the history of the route.
- - The route started back in 1973, running between the Blackwall Tunnel and Becontree Heath and spending the majority of its route on the Dual Carriageway known as the A13.
- - In 1978 the route was cut back to Canning Town and later rerouted to Stratford.
- - In 1993 the route was extended to Little Heath followed by an extension to King George Hospital a few months later
- - Towards the end of 1993, the route was withdrawn between Stratford and Beckton.
- - In 2000, the route was converted to low floor operation using ALX200s
- - In 2005, Plaxton Pointer buses were introduced
- - In 2010, Enviro200 buses were introduced.
 |
| The Enviro200s have been the route's main allocation since 2010 © EastLondoner |
The route starts off at Beckton Bus Station and takes a left onto Woolwich Manor Way. It then exits onto the A13 road, also known as Newham Way or the East Ham and Barking By Pass. It continues straight down past East Beckton, Sainsbury's and Gascoigne Estate. It then continues past Greatfields Park and Movers Lane continuing on the A13 to Lodge Avenue. It then passes Arriva Barking (DX) bus garage and continues straight down to Dagenham Asda. From Dagenham Asda the route takes a left onto Dagenham Heathway and continues straight down the road past Dagenham Heathway Station to Becontree Heath. The route takes a right onto Wood Lane and then continues straight onto Whalebone Lane South. The route then takes another left onto Chadwell Heath High Road and continues down to Chadwell Heath Lane. The route then follows Chadwell Heath Lane down to Little Heath. From Little Heath the route goes down Barley Lane to take a right into King George Hospital.
In 2015, route 173 was retained by Arriva London from Barking (DX) with existing Double Deckers with the new contract to start on the 17th of October. This followed TfLs recent trend in converting well used single decker routes to double decker operation. For local users, the 173 was known as a really crowded route popular with a lot of people and a pain to use in the peak rush hour so a forthcoming double decker conversion was very welcome indeed.
 |
| Route 173s new buses were sourced from the loss of route 168 © LondonBuses157 |
The newly transferred Enviro400s didn't sit around in the garage for long. By Monday the 28th September they were already out in numbers. More started joining throughout the week. This allowed the ENLs from the route to go south to Thornton Heath (TH) garage in order to convert route 255 to the type. Below is a fleetlist of all the ENLs that were used by route 173 between 2010 and 2015. These buses were shared with route
ENL49 - LJ10CSF
ENL50 - LJ10CSO
ENL51 - LJ10CSU
ENL52 - LJ59LVL
ENL53 - LJ59LVM
ENL54 - LJ59LVN
ENL55 - LJ10CSV
ENL56 - LJ10CSX
ENL57 - LJ10CSY
ENL58 - LJ10CSZ
ENL59 - LT10CTE
ENL60 - LJ10CTF
ENL61 - LJ10CTK
ENL62 - LJ60ATY
ENL63 - LJ60AYF
ENL64 - LJ60AYG
ENL65 - LJ60AYH
ENL66 - LJ60AYK
ENL67 - LJ60AYL
ENL68 - LJ60AYM
ENL69 - LJ60AYN
ENL70 - LJ60AYO
ENL71 - LJ60AYP
ENL72 - LJ60AYS
ENL73 - LJ60AXV
ENL74 - LJ60AXW
In my opinion, the 173 had some of the best Enviro200s in East London. They would always provide you with a nice journey and a fast one. They were powerful vehicles and were always a pleasure to ride on. Below is a short ride on ENL66 while it was in regular service on route 173.
Now, let's move onto the service change. As I mentioned earlier the 173 had some Enviro400s in service on the 28th of September with more following in the days after. Many people welcomed this service change as the route was known to serve many schools and it was really popular to link the residential areas of Dagenham to the London Underground and Dagenham Heathway, TfL Rail at Chadwell Heath and the DLR at Beckton.
Below I have a few pictures of the newly transferred Enviro400s in service showing off their new white on black blinds, and this is how the 173 will hopefully look like for the next 5 years.
 |
| © EastLondoner T73 is seen at Chadwell Heath High Road. The route double runs this section to serve Chadwell Heath Station. |
 |
| © EastLondoner T72 is seen on Stand at Beckton Bus Station |
 |
| © EastLondoner T69 is seen on the A13 at Barking passing Gascoigne Estate. A lot of the route is situated on the A13 road. |
These buses have made a good first impression. A lot of them are quite a pleasure to ride on and hopefully they will live up to the wonderful standards that the Enviro200s had previously provided on the route. Below is a video of T74 running between Dagenham and Barking.
Below is a slide show of all the different types of buses that have appeared on route 173 over these past few years.
ADL Enviro200
Enviro200s have been the main allocation on route 173 since 2010
Alexander Dennis ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TLs
These have appeared on route 173 from time to time over the past few years
ADL Enviro400
This will be the main stay on route 173 for the next few years.
As per usual below there is a fleetlist on the buses that the route shall be using, however allocations at Barking (DX) garage are not strict all the time and from time to time buses route route 150 and 128 are also likely to appear on the route.
T66 - LJ59ACY
T67 - LJ59ACZ
T68 - LJ59ADO
T69 - LJ59ADV
T70 - 70CLT
T71 - LJ59ADZ
T72 - LJ59AEA
T73 - LJ59ABF
T74 - LJ59ABK
T75 - LJ59ABN
T76 - L59ABO
T77 - LJ59ABU
T78 - LJ59ABV
T79 - LJ59ABX
T80 - LJ59ABZ
Most importantly, what do you think about route 173s change?
Finally, do you feel inspired to ride the route? Or is it one you would like to stay away from? Please let us know in the comments section!
It sounds quite nice, but it's a long way away from where I am, so I probably won't ride it unless I happen to be in the area, but I'm happy for a route to have more capacity and passengers can experience better journeys. I'm a bit sad these excellent buses aren't a bit closer to me, but I'm happy for the people in East London.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I also welcome the extra capacity. It was much needed!
DeleteI think ENL49-60 need to be refurbished because they look quite old.
Delete