MMCs, MMCs everywhere
It seems as if South London is where all the fun is at in terms of buses lately. Today's post focuses on another round of changes in South London. Go Ahead win another route using Enviro400 MMC buses in the form of route 172 from New Cross, however all is not great news for them as routes 161, 181 and 284 move to Stagecoach London from Plumstead and Kangley Bridge Road garages also with MMCs.
I'll try to keep this post short and concise, as I am sure a lot of you reading will know a lot about what the MMC range has to offer, if not many other posts focus on the various offerings of the bus type.
As always with these service change posts I'll go through some brief history about the routes involved before moving onto details about the actual service change itself. Starting off with route 161 it has to be mentioned that this route has had a long history, starting operation in 1938 running between Chislehurst War Memorial and Eltham, in 1941 Saturday journeys were extended as far as Woolwich although this was non stop between Eltham and North Woolwich, in September 1942 the route was extended from Chislehurst to its then home of Sidcup garage. 1958 saw the withdrawal of the section between Sidcup garage and Chislehurst bar a few garage journeys however at the same time it was extended to Greenwich church during peak hours, although this didn't last long and in 1960 the route was cut back to Woolwich Road and then further to Charlton Station in 1971. Many further changes were applied to the route over the following years and by 1988 the route spanned from Charlton to Petts Wood. By 1994 the route started to look more similar to the 161 of today, running from Chislehurst to Woolwich. In August 1999 the route was extended to North Greenwich Bus Station to co-incide with the new development there. The route remained vaguely the same ever since with just a few minor reroutings via Queen Elizabeth Hospital and West Parkside.
Prior to Stagecoach gaining the route it was operated by Metrobus out of their Orpington garage. Its latest contract saw it allocated with Scania Omnidekka vehicles, however upon the conversion of route 68 to New Routemaster operation the Omnidekkas were removed from the route and replaced with the Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs from the 68 and these ended up forming the staple allocation of the route during its final few years at Metrobus. However other types that would frequently visit the route would include Alexander Dennis Enviro400s from the 320s allocation as well as Optare Olympus bodied Scania N230UD buses that were from the 353s allocation. Towards the final few months of the contract even Scania Esteems from route 181 started to appear on the route, something which should hopefully not be commonplace under the route's new home.
Stagecoach's first day seemed to go relatively smoothly on the route, especially compared to the 181 and 284. The routes allocation was made up out of old generation Enviro400s and E40Hs along with Enviro400H MMCs. The route had its own Enviro400H MMCs ordered and these are easily identifiable by the 67reg plates. I caught up with the route at Woolwich, and was quite surprised to see the variety on the route for a first day. Although since then the route has been sticking to the buses that were ordered specifically for it. In order to make room for route 161 at Plumstead (PD) route 386 moved away from the garage to Catford (TL) garage where it will remain for a few months before being taken over by Go Ahead London later in the year.
Although Go Ahead lost three routes on the 17th of March, there was a silver lining in the form of one gain which was route 172 that runs between Brockley Rise and Clerkenwell Green. Unlike route 161 this route doesn't have a very long history, only commencing operations in 1992 initially running between Grove Park and Moorgate, Finsbury Square. A few months later a few journeys were extended to Bromley North on Saturdays, around this time the Central London end was rerouted to serve Liverpool Street Bus Station. In 1994 the southern end of the route was cut to Brockley Rise, with the withdrawn bit being replaced by route 171. In 1999 the route was rerouted to serve Waterloo as well as being cut to St Paul's. In 2011 the route was awarded to Abellio with second hand Tridents, previously from Armchair. Until this the route had always been operated out of New Cross (NX). A change in 2017 saw the route rerouted at Ludgate Circus to serve Clerkenwell Green in preparation for Crossrail.
During its time at Abellio, the route's allocation was interesting to say the least. The Tridents originally ordered for the route didn't end up staying through the whole contract, and for the last few years Volvo B7TL Geminis made up the staple allocation on the route, being topped up with Enviro400s. Another common feature under the last few months was the lack of blinds many buses carried for the Clerkenwell Green extension.
Go Ahead's win brought the route back to its home of many years at New Cross (NX). New Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMCs now are the mainstay of the route, although a Gemini 3 has been out on the route. Its allocation is intermixed with that of the 343s which was won a few weeks prior. I had originally planned to catch up with this route at Brockley Rise, however wintry conditions meant that I was too cold to bother taking the 122 or P4 when I could just as easily meet the route at New Cross.
From my observations the route seemed to be operating relatively well, a few bunchings here and there but nothing out of the ordinary for a first day. Although this could potentially be attributed to the fact New Cross (NX) was its Home Depot for many years, and some of the staff there may still have knowledge about the route and its nature. Through the following days the route seemed to be continuing its good performance under its new operator and it's probably safe to say that this route is in safe hands until at least 2023, or maybe even 2025 depending on if a contract extension is granted. The buses themselves seemed to ride well and live up to the high quality a lot of MMCs provide in London today.
One of Stagecoach's other gains from Go Ahead on the day was route 181 which operates between Grove Park and Lewisham. Initially starting operation in 1984 it ran between Lewisham and Lower Sydenham, shortly after in 1985 weekday trips were extended to Surrey Docks and was further extended to the Rotherhithe Tunnel in 1987. In 1989 the route became a Bellingham, Catford bus garage to Lewisham route running via Hither Green and Lower Sydenham. 1994 saw the route extended to Downham and further change in 2006 saw the route extended to Grove Park and that forms the same 181 that operates today. During its previous contract the route was allocated with Scania Omnitowns.
Route 181s first day was far from the smoothness of that of the 161 and 172, although no doubt over time this will improve but it wasn't long until bunchings started making themselves apparent on the route and turns to Hither Green and Lower Sydenham were pulled out. However no doubt over time this will improve and maybe Stagecoach will live up to the high standard they provide on the rest of their routes. The buses themselves are your Start Stop Enviro200 MMCs, so if you want a ride on them you'll need to make yourself familiar with the violent shaking on startup!
Last, but by no means least route 284 also made the move from Go Ahead to Stagecoach, also now operating out of the new depot in Kangley Bridge Road. This is another relatively young route, commencing operations in 1989 running between Lewisham and Grove Park. A change in 1994 saw the route extended from Grove Park to Grove Park Cemetery and that forms the same route that exists today. However there was a minor rerouting in 2008 in the Grove Park area which saw it omit the bus station. During its last contract it was operated out of Orpington (MB) using 2013 registered Alexander Dennis Enviro200s. These buses have since moved on temporarily to Silvertown (SI) but will eventually make themselves home at Morden Wharf (MG) garage for route 225 which runs between Canada Water and Hither Green, so should therefore still be a common sight in Lewisham.
Like the 181, the 284s first day did not go as smoothly as could have been hoped for. Upon arrival at Lewisham I was left with quite a considerable wait. Although Metrobus weren't known for their marvellous operation of the route either. Like the 181 the route is allocated Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs, albeit the 10.5m version unlike the 181s 10.9m versions. These can easily be differentiated by the different registration plates the buses carry, YY67*** for the 284 and SN67*** for the 181. These buses also have start stop built into them.
MMCs are becoming more and more common throughout London, with every operator except for Tower Transit operating a member of the family. Many more are expected into service in the future on routes 36, 46, 77, 171, 238, 241, 330, 356, 474 and many more. Among these will be electric versions as well as something new, which brings technology used in motorsport to buses. I feel The London Bus Breh will enjoy writing an article for all of you about it at a later date!
I'd like to credit LondonBuses.co.uk for being a reliable source of information during the writing of this post. Please make sure to check out their website! I'd also like to thank GloriousWater for allowing his picture of 751 to be used in this post, please make sure to visit his Flickr stream (although he's temporarily away from it due to technical reasons) and make sure you are subscribed to him on YouTube!
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| WVL222 seen at North Greenwich Bus Station © EastLondoner |
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| Scania 978 is seen in North Greenwich © EastLondoner |
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| WVL233 at North Greenwich © EastLondoner |
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| 12368 seen at North Greenwich Bus Station © EastLondoner |
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| 9054 seen at Waterloo © EastLondoner |
During its time at Abellio, the route's allocation was interesting to say the least. The Tridents originally ordered for the route didn't end up staying through the whole contract, and for the last few years Volvo B7TL Geminis made up the staple allocation on the route, being topped up with Enviro400s. Another common feature under the last few months was the lack of blinds many buses carried for the Clerkenwell Green extension.
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| 9005 sits at Clerkenwell Green © EastLondoner |
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| EH175 is seen at Clerkenwell Green © EastLondoner |
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| EH207 is seen at Clerkenwell Green © EastLondoner |
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| 603 seen on stand at Lewisham © EastLondoner |
Route 181s first day was far from the smoothness of that of the 161 and 172, although no doubt over time this will improve but it wasn't long until bunchings started making themselves apparent on the route and turns to Hither Green and Lower Sydenham were pulled out. However no doubt over time this will improve and maybe Stagecoach will live up to the high standard they provide on the rest of their routes. The buses themselves are your Start Stop Enviro200 MMCs, so if you want a ride on them you'll need to make yourself familiar with the violent shaking on startup!
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| 36698 seen on stand at Lewisham © EastLondoner |
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| 751 stands at Lewisham © GloriousWater |
Like the 181, the 284s first day did not go as smoothly as could have been hoped for. Upon arrival at Lewisham I was left with quite a considerable wait. Although Metrobus weren't known for their marvellous operation of the route either. Like the 181 the route is allocated Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs, albeit the 10.5m version unlike the 181s 10.9m versions. These can easily be differentiated by the different registration plates the buses carry, YY67*** for the 284 and SN67*** for the 181. These buses also have start stop built into them.
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| 36671 seen at Lewisham Station © EastLondoner |
I'd like to credit LondonBuses.co.uk for being a reliable source of information during the writing of this post. Please make sure to check out their website! I'd also like to thank GloriousWater for allowing his picture of 751 to be used in this post, please make sure to visit his Flickr stream (although he's temporarily away from it due to technical reasons) and make sure you are subscribed to him on YouTube!
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