A New Face, and an Old One

Lately there have been two routes who have changed operator in South-East London. One of these is route 301 which runs between Woolwich and Bexleyheath and another is route 208 which runs between Lewisham and Orpington, Perry Hall Road. Both routes have been taken over by Stagecoach London.

Starting on route 301, this is a relatively new route which only commenced operation in 2019, introduced as part of an improvement to buses in the Woolwich area with the impending introduction of the Elizabeth Line. We wrote a post on this route when it was initially introduced, it's amazing how time flies! Over the years the route grew in popularity, establishing itself as a vital link between the Bexleyheath area and Abbey Wood, and has since also become the only route serving Nathan Way since the withdrawal of route 472. The route remained with Arriva out of Dartford (DT) throughout the contract, although its allocation did silently switch to Volvo B5LH buses and Enviro400s would also occasionally make appearances. 

It was announced on tender that the route would pass to Stagecoach London in July 2026 using brand new electric buses, it was going to operate out of Plumstead (PD) with new electric buses introduced, some good news for the garage coming off the back of the 96 and 472 losses. New Wright Electroliner buses were ordered for it, but a decision was taken to send some nearly new Enviro400 EV buses which had been introduced at Bromley to operate on the route instead. This was because route SL3 was also going to be moving to Plumstead off the back of the 208 win and a decision was taken to keep all of Stagecoach's Enviro400 EV vehicles together. This led to Stagecoach's first day being a majority electric operation due to the fact the buses were already well run into the fleet. 

I took a ride on the 301 around two weeks after Stagecoach had taken over operation of the route. It's quite safe to say that they had bed into the route quite well, although not too shocking as Superloop route SL3 parallels the route for certain portions and Stagecoach also operate other routes in the area which deal with similar traffic conditions. While the 301 is allocated Enviro400 EV vehicles, other vehicles are also liable to appear on it such as the variety of Enviro400 MMCs that Plumstead garage have, these have been reblinded so that they can appear on the route when required. Some spare Wright Electroliners have also been brought into the garage to run on the route, but unfortunately I don't have a picture of these to hand. 

When I wrote about the introduction of this route 7 years ago, I mentioned that it was hard to write about such a new route. 7 years later I still find myself in the same position, with the argument there's even less to write about this route as barely anything has happened regarding it. Although for a commuter that is probably the best news you can have, no needless tinkering and alteration of the route, it's a good example of a route that's worked well since its introduction and fulfilled its purpose. 

This brings us nicely onto the second change that this post covers, and that's route 208 which has moved over from Go Ahead operation to Stagecoach operation. Route 208 has got a much more colourful history than route 301, starting operation in 1982 and operation of it being shared with Stagecoach and its predecesors between Bromley (TB) and Catford (TL) garages until Go Ahead took over its operation in 2019. Funnily enough we also covered that change on the blog 7 years ago. Although alas Go Ahead's tenure was due to be the 7 year contract and nothing more as Stagecoach won it back when the route was up for tender again. Go Ahead ran the route using Enviro400 MMC hybrid buses, although in the later years electric buses would often show up on the route, but you'll have to forgive me as the LED blind wasn't playing ball with my camera on the day I took the below picture!

Stagecoach had won back the 208 out of Bromley (TB) garage with brand new electric double decker buses. Although to make space for the route, route SL3 had a move to Plumstead (PD) planned. A delay in increasing the number of chargers at Plumstead garage meant that the SL3 couldn't move over in time for the 208s new contract and therefore the decision was taken to start off route 208s new tenure at Stagecoach at Catford (TL) using existing Smart Hybrids which had been made free from routes 261 and 372. Route 208 would then move to Bromley garage at a later date when Plumstead was in a position to start running route SL3. Brand new Electroliners are already on order for route 208 and will be introduced upon the route's move to Bromley.

Stagecoach did not hesitate to welcome the route back in style, with two special liveried buses put out into service. One of which was the Selkent Diplomat which was specially liveried to celebrate 100 years of Bromley Bus Garage, it's ironic that it's now running out of Catford garage, but is very suitably found on the 208 which as a very long association with Bromley garage. 

When I rode the 208, it was its first day back with Stagecoach and many esteemed enthusiasts will know that the first day an operator runs a route rarely sets the standard you can expect the operator to perform at and the 208 was no different. A few traffic issues and road closures south of Bromley meant that there was some displaced traffic to deal with and buses were frequently turning short at Bromley and Orpington War Memorial, although I can quite confidently say that the service will improve over the coming weeks and who knows...maybe it will be like the 208 never left in the first place. 

All photos in this post are © EastLondoner