Spin Me Round
What seems like a merry-go-round turn of tenders in North London lately, sees various companies lose a route, only to be compensated with another route.
Post 250 - what a milestone!
The first two routes starting this chain of change are routes 217 and 382.
Route 217 operates daily between Turnpike Lane Station in the upcoming and buzzing North London and Waltham Cross Bus Station, out in Hertfordshire across the border using the A10 Great Cambridge Road for just about the whole length of its route.
June 3rd called an end to Metroline's days on the route. Having been operated from Potters Bar (PB) for well over a decade, they ceased their contract using 2008 built Enviro 400 buses. But the route was subject to an upgrade, getting brand new diesel Enviro 400 MMC buses from Mr Sullivan's (that's right, an independent!) South Mimms (SM) base as they embrace their new flagship route.
Now I purposely put diesel in italics because in 2017, a London that seems to be embracing hybrid and other various forms of cleaner and greener technology for the double decker market, it was nice (from my view anyways), that we saw what may be one of the last double decker diesel orders for London. Nonetheless, Transport for London still had to make emission cuts of some sort, even with these 11 buses, so these buses were built with 'stop-start' technology - the same mechanisms found on parallel, and more recently series circuit based hybrid buses.
The new buses are numbered E70-81, 'E' representing 'Enviro 400'. Not too sure why they've started with 70-81 instead of 6, hopefully someone can enlighten us about that! Although, Sullivan have continued with the lovely tradition of getting custom registration plates for the buses in this batch, each plate representing a respected employee within the company, personal relationships or bus garages that supported Sullivan's growth.
One July morning, I took a brief ride on two 217 each way between Turnpike Lane Station and Carterhatch Halfway House. The service was a bit questionable that morning, I felt I had to wait slightly longer than I should have for a 217. Nonetheless, a bus in the form of E71 (Alan Wells) rocked up soon enough having only taken about 3 minutes on stand.
The stop-start feature obviously was one of the first features to hit me as I embarked on the bus. On a diesel, it's quite weird especially as the engine works poorly hand-in-hand with this system and I still stand by my thought that it was, quite bluntly, a stupid implementation. But obviously, that isn't Sullivan Buses' fault, but rather Transport for London and their new regulations that all diesel buses must be equipped with stop-start technology in a bid to cut emissions whilst a bus is idle (hence, for example, Abellio and Metroline's Enviro 200s have this as well).
Nonetheless though, my bus was picking up pace quite quickly - it is remarkable how quick MMCs can accelerate sometimes, I had the same experience with the 498 MMCs (don't shoot me!) several moons ago.
I then caught a few weeks later, a Scania OmniCity, one of [now 12?] that Sullivan Buses have acquired off the second-hand market - all of these are ex-Stagecoach London now the buses have been released from their glory days at Leyton (T) garage. All of these are now used on school services such as the 692, 699, 617, 629 and 605 that have recently been won, but very often stray onto the 217 and 298 when there is no work for them to do, alongside 5 ex-Abellio Enviro 400s.
I'd say that my journey with DS54, which I did end to end accompanied by a good friend from the London Buses blog (please do read it, it's pretty good!) was more fun than the Es that I had gotten a few weeks earlier. But that could simply be that these buses are, in my opinion, better suited to dual carriageway work - something that I've said with a lot of Scanias. They handle much better and can accelerate off the mark just like that!
The bus had pulled into Turnpike Lane at the height of the evening rush hour, with only sparing about 3 or 4 minutes stand time before pulling out again, there was no other bus on stand and E70 had left a short while ago. Disappointingly, the buses are not refurbished, only deep cleaned and can make a poor passenger doing end to end suffer 45 minutes on sitting on a rock, which I can tell you is not pleasant on your rear end!
We were traffic free and constantly moving up until Cambridge Roundabout, until traffic slowly started to build up the A10. I was quite enjoying the journey, without the stop start and with a bus better suited to the requirements such as speed and agility that this route demands. Traffic wasn't so much a major issue, as it was moving as opposed to crawling until Church Street where it turned out that a lane had been shut due to roadworks in both directions and that we, along with several other motorists, were trying to navigate a concourse with cones and reflective signs for a few minutes. A seasoning of extra traffic was added here as the A1010 Hertford Road was closed near Ponders End for highway works for the length of the summer holiday, sending routes such as the 279 and 349 via the A10 as well from Edmonton Green.
Nonetheless it wasn't too long until we were flying over the railway bridge that links you with Bush Hill Park station, and at Enfield Retail Park, several passengers alighted. This journey I had done all the way to Waltham Cross, and although we gathered good speed and time, unfortunately we were forced to regulate by iBus control by Turkey Street Station for a couple of minutes. This allowed traffic to overtake us and eventually start building, making way for a very slow exit off the A10 and onto Bullsmoor Lane.
Slightly baffled by why we were regulated, the answer would soon be shown when we made it to Waltham Cross - turns out 6 out of 11 or so buses on the 217 route were 'stranded' on this end of the route, our bus being at the end of the conga line. Even when writing this now a few weeks later, I'm not sure why or how so many buses were there at the time, but the bus station was at full standing capacity with about 4 217s in there and another 217 in service, however regulating ONE stop in by Waltham Cross Lidl towards Turnpike Lane.
Nonetheless it was an enjoyable ride, and the service has dramatically improved since the first week of operation, however a few glitches here and there. It may be worth noting that Sullivan Buses seems to be a bit reluctant to dish out any curtailments on route 217, more than likely in a bid to keep mileage on this route high hence the odd gap here and there but as a company they're doing a great job once again, and they certainly deserved this win.
The buses were delivered frameless, just like most other Sullivan Buses, but it's also worth noting they actually have history about the 217 inside them on a poster, which I will round this segment of the post off with:
After that brings us to now, 2017. Metroline in the latest round of tenders involving the 382 route has decided to bid for the route using existing 2012 built Enviro 200s for the 382. These DEMs were released as a result of a major PVR reduction on route 384 around Barnet, but four DEMs also joined from Alperton (ON) route 223, who in turn was part-allocated DEs ex-195 and ex-U5 which were both lost to Abellio. In terms of operating restrictions, this was lifted following slight modifcations to parking (such as implementation of yellow lines) to allow slightly larger vehicles to comfortably handle the route.
Post 250 - what a milestone!
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| Metroline TE934 (LK58 KGY) takes stand time at Waltham Cross on route 217. |
Route 217 operates daily between Turnpike Lane Station in the upcoming and buzzing North London and Waltham Cross Bus Station, out in Hertfordshire across the border using the A10 Great Cambridge Road for just about the whole length of its route.
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| Metroline TE937 (LK09 EKO) on route 217 at Turnpike Lane Bus Station. |
June 3rd called an end to Metroline's days on the route. Having been operated from Potters Bar (PB) for well over a decade, they ceased their contract using 2008 built Enviro 400 buses. But the route was subject to an upgrade, getting brand new diesel Enviro 400 MMC buses from Mr Sullivan's (that's right, an independent!) South Mimms (SM) base as they embrace their new flagship route.
Now I purposely put diesel in italics because in 2017, a London that seems to be embracing hybrid and other various forms of cleaner and greener technology for the double decker market, it was nice (from my view anyways), that we saw what may be one of the last double decker diesel orders for London. Nonetheless, Transport for London still had to make emission cuts of some sort, even with these 11 buses, so these buses were built with 'stop-start' technology - the same mechanisms found on parallel, and more recently series circuit based hybrid buses.
The new buses are numbered E70-81, 'E' representing 'Enviro 400'. Not too sure why they've started with 70-81 instead of 6, hopefully someone can enlighten us about that! Although, Sullivan have continued with the lovely tradition of getting custom registration plates for the buses in this batch, each plate representing a respected employee within the company, personal relationships or bus garages that supported Sullivan's growth.
Information sourced from Sullivan Buses website. See list as follows.
E70 AD17SUL Palmers Green Bus Garage
E71 AW17SUL Alan Wells (engineer)
E72 BW17SUL Brian Ward (driver)
E73 JC17SUL James Cobbett (Supervisor)
E74 JS17SUL Family member
E75 PB17SUL Potters Bar Bus Garage
E76 RC17SUL Family member
E77 RM17SUL Routemaster
E78 RS17SUL Route2 17
E79 RT17SUL Regent Type
E80 SG17SUL Steve G Simmonds (Manager)
E81 WG17SUL West Green Bus Garage
One July morning, I took a brief ride on two 217 each way between Turnpike Lane Station and Carterhatch Halfway House. The service was a bit questionable that morning, I felt I had to wait slightly longer than I should have for a 217. Nonetheless, a bus in the form of E71 (Alan Wells) rocked up soon enough having only taken about 3 minutes on stand.
The stop-start feature obviously was one of the first features to hit me as I embarked on the bus. On a diesel, it's quite weird especially as the engine works poorly hand-in-hand with this system and I still stand by my thought that it was, quite bluntly, a stupid implementation. But obviously, that isn't Sullivan Buses' fault, but rather Transport for London and their new regulations that all diesel buses must be equipped with stop-start technology in a bid to cut emissions whilst a bus is idle (hence, for example, Abellio and Metroline's Enviro 200s have this as well).
Nonetheless though, my bus was picking up pace quite quickly - it is remarkable how quick MMCs can accelerate sometimes, I had the same experience with the 498 MMCs (don't shoot me!) several moons ago.
 |
| DS54 arriving into Turnpike Lane after finishing a 217 trip. |
I'd say that my journey with DS54, which I did end to end accompanied by a good friend from the London Buses blog (please do read it, it's pretty good!) was more fun than the Es that I had gotten a few weeks earlier. But that could simply be that these buses are, in my opinion, better suited to dual carriageway work - something that I've said with a lot of Scanias. They handle much better and can accelerate off the mark just like that!
The bus had pulled into Turnpike Lane at the height of the evening rush hour, with only sparing about 3 or 4 minutes stand time before pulling out again, there was no other bus on stand and E70 had left a short while ago. Disappointingly, the buses are not refurbished, only deep cleaned and can make a poor passenger doing end to end suffer 45 minutes on sitting on a rock, which I can tell you is not pleasant on your rear end!
 |
| Upper deck of a new 217 Enviro 400 MMC. |
 |
| Lower deck of a new 217 Enviro 400 MMC. |
We were traffic free and constantly moving up until Cambridge Roundabout, until traffic slowly started to build up the A10. I was quite enjoying the journey, without the stop start and with a bus better suited to the requirements such as speed and agility that this route demands. Traffic wasn't so much a major issue, as it was moving as opposed to crawling until Church Street where it turned out that a lane had been shut due to roadworks in both directions and that we, along with several other motorists, were trying to navigate a concourse with cones and reflective signs for a few minutes. A seasoning of extra traffic was added here as the A1010 Hertford Road was closed near Ponders End for highway works for the length of the summer holiday, sending routes such as the 279 and 349 via the A10 as well from Edmonton Green.
Nonetheless it wasn't too long until we were flying over the railway bridge that links you with Bush Hill Park station, and at Enfield Retail Park, several passengers alighted. This journey I had done all the way to Waltham Cross, and although we gathered good speed and time, unfortunately we were forced to regulate by iBus control by Turkey Street Station for a couple of minutes. This allowed traffic to overtake us and eventually start building, making way for a very slow exit off the A10 and onto Bullsmoor Lane.
Slightly baffled by why we were regulated, the answer would soon be shown when we made it to Waltham Cross - turns out 6 out of 11 or so buses on the 217 route were 'stranded' on this end of the route, our bus being at the end of the conga line. Even when writing this now a few weeks later, I'm not sure why or how so many buses were there at the time, but the bus station was at full standing capacity with about 4 217s in there and another 217 in service, however regulating ONE stop in by Waltham Cross Lidl towards Turnpike Lane.
Nonetheless it was an enjoyable ride, and the service has dramatically improved since the first week of operation, however a few glitches here and there. It may be worth noting that Sullivan Buses seems to be a bit reluctant to dish out any curtailments on route 217, more than likely in a bid to keep mileage on this route high hence the odd gap here and there but as a company they're doing a great job once again, and they certainly deserved this win.
The buses were delivered frameless, just like most other Sullivan Buses, but it's also worth noting they actually have history about the 217 inside them on a poster, which I will round this segment of the post off with:
The second switch over is smaller route 382 between Southgate Station and Millbrook Park.
The route 382 is much younger, only rooting back to 2003 when Transport for London (TfL) and Barnet Council decided to improve connectivity between Mill Hill, Finchley, Arnos Grove and Southgate. Although the 125 already provided this link to a certain extent, particularly between Finchley and Southgate, several housing estates and back streets away from the main roads were missed out - making it harder for people to access areas now solely served by route 382.
Arriva London was awarded the contract to operate the new route from 19th July 2003, using then-new Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart buses between Mill Hill East and Southgate. These were one-door and strictly 8.9m in length due to restrictions along the route, particularly with parking issues in the Finchley and Osidge areas and couldn't take anything longer.
The route grew popular as a local link relatively quickly and flourished as a 4 bus per hour service (that translates to a bus about every 15 minutes) during most of the week and then half-hourly on Sundays and evenings. Edmonton (EC) ran the route using drivers from Wood Green (WN) and 10 buses Monday to Saturday and half of that on Sundays.
There's not much more to say about the history of the route until about 2012 where Edmonton (EC) garage closed and the whole operation of the route was brought to Wood Green (WN) for about two years until the garage re-opened as a result of the closure of Lea Valley (LV). The allocation on the route was incredibly strict and it wasn't until about 2014 that the route saw it's first Enviro 200 as a stray from another route (which has slipped my mind, may possibly be the W11). The route did see one or two buses from the W6 allocation onto it, these were PDLs however they were slightly longer in length at about 9.3m. They had just about managed to clear the operating restrictions however the working wasn't repeated again.
The route in April 2015 was given a short extension from Mill Hill East Station to the new Millbrook Park housing complex that was being constructed on the former site of the Inglis Barracks. The new extension has proved handy for the new residents living there who now have better connections to Finchley Central and Arnos Grove. The stand is on the far end of the estate by Engineers Way with one set of bus stops on the west side of complex and another on the main road.
Following the loss of the route 192 to Go-Ahead London in 2015, in early 2016 it was decided by Arriva London that the now redundant EN (Enviro 200) buses at 8.9m in length would be allocated to the 382 to allow the Pointers to finally take a rest after 13 years in service. This marked a new era as seeing an Enviro 200 soon became a familiar sight on the 382, with less and less Pointers on the route until eventually all left.
The route 382 is much younger, only rooting back to 2003 when Transport for London (TfL) and Barnet Council decided to improve connectivity between Mill Hill, Finchley, Arnos Grove and Southgate. Although the 125 already provided this link to a certain extent, particularly between Finchley and Southgate, several housing estates and back streets away from the main roads were missed out - making it harder for people to access areas now solely served by route 382.
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| PDL94 in a fully red-livery at Osidge Library on the 382. |
The route grew popular as a local link relatively quickly and flourished as a 4 bus per hour service (that translates to a bus about every 15 minutes) during most of the week and then half-hourly on Sundays and evenings. Edmonton (EC) ran the route using drivers from Wood Green (WN) and 10 buses Monday to Saturday and half of that on Sundays.
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| PDL88 in Arriva's 'Cow-horn' livery at Arnos Grove in 2014. |
The route in April 2015 was given a short extension from Mill Hill East Station to the new Millbrook Park housing complex that was being constructed on the former site of the Inglis Barracks. The new extension has proved handy for the new residents living there who now have better connections to Finchley Central and Arnos Grove. The stand is on the far end of the estate by Engineers Way with one set of bus stops on the west side of complex and another on the main road.
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| EN9 seen at Southgate Station taking a break between 382 journeys. |
Potters Bar (PB) now runs the route, having gained space from the loss of route 217 (it is a bit of a carousel here!), W9 and 82. The service has been operating quite well since takeover and the buses are in a good state, so hats off to Metroline here.
DEM1346 (LK62 DEU) models what a Metroline 382 looks like. Note the use of Millbrook Park as a qualifier on the blinds: Mill Hill East, MILLBROOK PARK.
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| ...at Mill Hill East station... |
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| ...and at Millbrook Park. |
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