Bus News: Late Spring, Early Summer 2015 (All companies A-L inclusive)

I'm really sorry for the lack of Bus News posts over the last few months. But we are back now! 


A huge load to recap. We will release in segments, so only certain operators will be published in each post. If you have read through our posts and checked the chatbox, you can still be kept up to date on the latest news.

Abellio London:
- Abellio are still on a winning streak, they have won route 159 from Arriva. The route will operate from Battersea (QB) garage using Borismasters. The takeover is on the 12th December. In addition, over at Beddington Cross (BC), route 367 has been won from Metrobus. New single deckers will be used on the Croydon - Bromley route. 

- Two new Enviro 400 MMCs 2532/2533 have arrived at Walworth (WL) for top-ups on route 415 between Old Kent Road Tesco and Tulse Hill Station.

- 8051 has transferred over from Fulwell (TF) to Hayes (WS) garage for route U9. The Euro 2 bus is in regular use on one of London's most scenic routes.

- 2429 (SN61 CYL) returned to normal service following a collision into the brick wall at Clapham Junction bus stand on route 344. 

- Route 350 has it's MMCs, and for quite a long while now. The Tridents have been displaced around the company, some at Battersea (QB) operating route C3, others at Beddington Cross (BC) on route 157.

- The buses from route 322, and the V-MDP buses are now withdrawn and are on sale at Southdown PSV. As a result, the oldest single decker in London is now Metrobus 334.

Arriva London:
- Unfortunately, the 135 left in May, with T20 being the last bus. The Ts have since moved to South Croydon (TC) to replace DLAs there, and in the entire fleet only 4 remain. 340 is the last fully DLA allocated route, although that is at Arriva Shires & Essex.

- T24 was involved in a minor incident around the same time it was leaving Barking (DX). The bus has since been repaired and refurbished like it's sister vehicles.

- On the subject of Ts, T59 (LJ08 CYP) has been deroofed whilst travelling under a low bridge in Norwood Junction. The bus was running light to/from the 197 route. 

HV81 is seen at Wood Green Shopping City on route 141.

- Route 73 has converted to Borismaster operation since our last post from this series. Part of the batch is the 'normal' type, whilst the other half is a new type of breed which will be standard to all new Borismasters onwards. The rear door now slides open as a result of the loss of Customer Assistants. Route N73 has also converted.

- The buses from the 73, HVs, have now been ousted out to Palmers Green (AD) for route 141, Wood Green (WN) as top-ups on route 29 and some have stayed at Stamford Hill (SF) for the 253. The move-about still proceeds. And on that note, HV81 did a one day transfer to Wood Green (WN), and did a few rounds on route W3 on the 24th July.

- The VLWs from route 253 have transferred to Wood Green to replace the older VLWs on route 221. 

- Route 159, between Streatham Station and Marble Arch, has been LOST. Definitely anyone can agree it's one of, if not the biggest blow Arriva have taken to the head. Abellio has won the contract to operate the 24-hour route. This will happen on the 12th December 2015. On the same day of the takeover, if the green light signals, then it is possible to have a Heritage Routemaster running day over the 159 route. 

- 12th December also sees another route being lost by Arriva, this time in North London. Route 307, between Barnet General Hospital and Brimsdown Station, has been lost to Metroline Travel. 

Route 307 (VLW99) at New Barnet Station. 

- Route T31, as a result of the Addington Network proposals, will be withdrawn in Autumn 2015. The buses' future has yet to be decided, although there are vacancies on route 255.

- Route 173, between Beckton Station and Goodmayes Hospital has been retained. The route will convert to double decker operation, possibly with surplus Ts or Gemini 2 DWs within the Arriva London fleet. The single deckers on the route will be released to other garages in Arriva.

- LT201 crashed on the N38 on the 8th August at around 7am whilst on a trip to Walthamstow. 

Arriva Shires & Essex:
- A large amount of single deckers, including the Dennis Dart, have made appearances on route 142 over the last few days, whilst double deckers have been dominant on routes 303, H18 and H19.

Arriva Kent Thameside:
- You won't believe that Arriva won something in their lives for once. Route 347 has been awarded to them, along with route 469, AND route 229. Route 347 and 469 will use brand new buses, whilst route 229 awaits a decision on it's vehicle type. Route 347 will run from Grays (GY) whilst routes 229 and 469 will run from Dartford (DT).

- Route 499 was lost to Stagecoach London in June. The older single deckers have since been withdrawn from service (3971-3). 

- Route B13 from Dartford (DT) was also retained by Arriva. The route, which uses 12 year old 1-door Wright Cadets, will get brand new single decker buses. 


CT Plus:
- The small Hackney based company managed to retain route 385 between Waltamstow* Crooked Billet and Chingford Station. The route will continue to use existing buses in the CT Plus fleet, however the ex-Travel London Dart will not, on contract, be allocated, but instead Enviro 200s and Optare Solos who are younger in age.

*We know that's the correct spelling. TfL can assure you. 

Go-Ahead:
- Route 229 has been lost from Bexleyheath (BX) garage to Arriva Kent Thameside. The buses on the route will be replacing older buses in the fleet.

- Route 88 will convert to Borismaster operation within the next few days from Stockwell (SW) garage. The Enviro 400 Hybrids on the route will be replacing older rolling stock. Perhaps they'll go back to where they were needed on the 87?

- Wright Streetdeck WSD1 (SN64 CTV) at Camberwell (Q) has made a ridiculous amount of rare workings. Originally allocated to the 12, before the route went Borismaster, the bus is now allocated to the X68. The bus has appeared as 'rare' on the 45, 345, 432 crosslink, N68, 468 and 185.

© EastLondoner

- The new Enviro 400 MMC hybrid bodied Volvo B5LHs (EHV1-16) have all entered service on route 135 at Silvertown (SI) garage. The allocation with these vehicles has genuinely been strict, although on a few occasions the buses have been known to end up on the two school routes 150D and 673. Our very own EastLondoner has caught up with the workings on both routes unintentionally!

©EastLondoner

- New Gemini 3 Streetdecks are being ordered for routes 119, 202 and 405 for the contract renewal. These buses will run from Croydon (C) garage. They have not been delivered yet, however they will arrive somewhat soon. The buses will replace the Scania OmniDekkas on the aforementioned routes.

- Some of the Enviro 400s from route 135 that were on loan went onto the Wimbledon Tennis shuttles, however they have transferred to Croydon (C) for route 127. This will replace the Scania OmniDekkas. 

- Route 367 has been lost to Abellio London. It is planned that the Esteems on the route will be withdrawn, as part of Go-Ahead's 'uniform' project.

- Route T32 should be withdrawn in Autumn, and the MAN Enviro 200s will then transfer to route 359. The MCV Evolutions from route 202 will transfer to route 246 which is the next operator change in September. The other Evolutions will more than likely go to replace older stock. One could suggest the 130, which has London's oldest single decker bus at the time of writing, 334 (W334 VGX).

- One of the two Irizar i2e electric buses have entered on the Red Arrow routes 507 and 521 from Waterloo (RA). From many enthusiasts, they have been given positive reviews and are said to be better than the BYD buses also operating on the same routes. To what seemed to be disappointment from the result, it seems that 51 of these buses will not be ordered to form the allocation, but instead a partnership between BYD and ADL to make 51 electric buses for the new Red Arrow contracts which Go-Ahead have successfully retained. BYD will manufacture the engine, whilst ADL will manufacture the body. The body is suppose to be of a 'special' breed, as it is 'similar', but not exactly an Enviro 200. 

Loans: WS36 is one of them. Seen on route 192, Little Park
Gardens.

- So that leaves us with the question of where the 51 Mercedes Citaros will go. There has been talk over the vehicles to transfer to route 293 to replace the Scania OmniCities there. And then there's the obvious talk over the vehicles going to routes 108 and 170 to help with the capacity issues on both routes, especially the 108 who uses the Blackwall Tunnel. Last weekend, Citaros did do the 108U, between North Greenwich and Stratford to supplement the corresponding Jubilee line closure and also the Blackwall Tunnel closure due to a open cycling event. 

- New StreetLites have replaced.....new StreetLites. Yes, that's the story on route 192 as the Cummins 64-plated StreetLites are replaced with Daimler 15-plated variants. The 64-plates have been revealed to be loans, hence flywheel technology is absent. The buses will go back to Wright to have modifications done to them. I could reckon that this is not the last we'll see of them. The new 15-plates are WS49-64, and do have flywheel technology. 

- At the time of publishing, it was worth mentioning that route 364 had SE234 (YX15 XMM) running the route, considered to be a very rare working. SE234 is part of a small batch of 3 Enviro 200s ordered as top-ups on route W19.

London Sovereign RATP Group:

- Edgware (BT) garage took over operations on route 326 on 25th July using existing Enviro 200s from route 285. DE1-16 are now the allocation, however not all buses are in use as some are still being refurbished. As a result, a few of H13's YX59 plated DEs are in cover for them. Buses from route 251 have been spotted on 326 and vice versa. DE1-16 have also been spotted on 324. 


- Route 183, on 25th July, transferred the main bulk of around 16 buses from it's PVR to Harrow (SO) garage. The new running numbers are SO #31+. The buses transferred are only the SPs, but they will still be maintained at Edgware (BT). The YN08 SPs have remained at Edgware and will not transfer to Harrow (SO).

- SP114 (YR59 FYV) transferred for a fortnight to Edgware (BT) and worked on route 183. The bus only was equipped with front number blinds, however elsewhere had 'banditry'. The bus since has returned home to Fulwell (FW).

- Harrow (SO) have sent some YX11s to Edgware (BT) too, which weirdly in return has gotten BT to send some YX58s to Harrow (SO). These buses have ended up on H9 and H10. Here is a photo of DE95 (YX11 FZY) on route 251 at Burnt Oak.

London United RATP Group:
- Scania OmniCities are now becoming a part allocation on route 57 at Tolworth (TV) garage. These SPs are ex-49 and ex-482. They will replace the 51-reg and 02-reg TAs on the route. 

- It seems RATP's fleet smacked themselves back to normal. The mess caused by the closure and roadworks on Hammersmith Bridge resulted in loads of single decker loans across the garages, including Darts, Enviro 200s and Versas. The pigsty in allocations, especially on Fulwell (FW) route 391 was cleaned up yesterday morning. 440 is now a fully Enviro 200 route again, and so should 391. Route 216 and 419 are also getting their Darts back. 

- DE17-21 are transferring to various garages to replace SN51-plated Darts.

- More and more double deckers are appearing on routes 110 and 203, in the form of both Enviro 400s and Scania OmniCities. Both routes run from Hounslow (AV) garage.

- 116's Gemini 3s have yet to arrived, but all have settled on route 285 at Hounslow Heath (HH). As a result, the 116 remains as a single decker route using Darts, however the buses when released will go and displace older Darts. The Gemini 3s have been on 116 nonetheless, and on H91 too. 

- Route 216 transferred to Hounslow Heath (HH) garage yesterday. The route is using Enviro 200s DE68-73 and surplus DPS buses.

- Routes H32 and H91 were also retained by London United with the current allocation. The current OmniCities on the route will be refurbished. However, N97 has been lost to Tower Transit unfortunately. 

Well.....that's it for now. Take a break and stay tuned, the rest of the companies will come up in a following post which should be released in the next week. Although if anyone is interested, Metroline start operating new temporary route 558 as of tomorrow (10th August). The route runs between Chingford Mount and Seven Sisters and will be operated from Cricklewood (W) using TPs.

Unless marked, photos are taken by LondonBuses72 and are copyrighted. Please seek permission before use. 

Thanks for reading this post, stay safe and keep on spotting.