An Old Home and a New Home

While Alexander Dennis are seemingly doing quite well for themselves in the London market, Wright have arguably not been having a great time. Although they have had a few orders trickle through the clouds, one of them is an order for route 468 from Arriva, which was taken over from Go Ahead on the 31st of March while route 68 was awarded to Abellio on the same day.

LT685 is seen at Euston Bus Station
© EastLondoner

Route 68 started operation all the way back in 1934 running between South Croydon and Chalk Farm Station, in 1957 the main service was then extended to South Croydon Garage, 1986 saw the route withdrawn between Chalk Farm and Euston, forming the northern terminus that we know the 68 uses today. 1994 saw the route withdrawn between Norwood garage and South Croydon garage - this section was replaced by route 68A. This formed the 68 we know today that runs between Norwood Garage and Euston. Despite the relatively few changes in terms of its main route relative to its length of existence it has been housed at many different garages located at Holloway, Chalk Farm, Nunhead, Norwood, Thornton Heath, Croydon, Stamford Hill and even Tottenham and Barking. 

EH50 is seen at Euston Bus Station
© EastLondoner

The last two contract terms saw the route housed at Camberwell (Q) under Go Ahead London, initially using Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs, these were then supplemented in 2014 by Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses that were released from the New Routemaster conversion of route 453. However this didn't last long as in early 2016 route 68 received its own allocation of New Routemaster buses. However quite frequently other buses did stray onto the 68 mostly in the form of MCV EvoSetis and Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMCs. Luckily in the final week of Go Ahead operation EH50 strayed onto the route during the evening peak and I happened to be nearby, so it gave me the opportunity to photograph one before it was too late!

E199 is seen on stand at London Road
© EastLondoner

Unlike route 68, route 468 hasn't existed for as long. It started operation on the 27th of March 1999 running between South Croydon Bus Garage and Elephant & Castle operated by Arriva out of their South Croydon garage. It came about as a renumbering of route 68A. On the 1st of April 2006 the route was awarded to Go Ahead London from Camberwell (Q) and was also cut back to South Croydon, South End as it would no longer be able to turn around at the garage. During its time at Camberwell it was allocated with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs, however as with route 68 the conversion of route 453 to New Routemaster in 2014 saw the allocation supplemented with spare Enviro400s. The arrival of Hybrids from 2016 onwards for various contract renewals and route gains saw the allocation of the route become very varied leading to MCV EvoSetis, Wright Eclipse Gemini 3s and Enviro400H MMCs all making frequent appearances on the route. 

MHV12 seen entering London Road at Elephant & Castle
© EastLondoner

The contract change on the 68 would be the second time a New Routemaster allocated route has changed operator, with route 15 making the switch from Stagecoach to Go Ahead back in August 2017, although this time the buses wouldn't have very far to travel to their new home which was Walworth (WL) garage just across the road. Although for this reason the 68s time at Go Ahead was seen out with a fully conventional allocation made up out of MCV EvoSetis and Enviro400H MMCs in order to allow for the New Routemasters to be driven over to their new home.  It'll be a bit pointless me going into detail about the New Routemasters on the 68, especially when The London Bus Breh has already provided an extensive review of the buses when they were initially introduced. Unlike when Go Ahead took on the 15, Abellio were far more pro-active in getting their information onto the New Routemasters. With almost all buses on the first day having Abellio logos and even WL garage codes, proudly showing off their identity with their new owner. 

LT667 seen at St George's Circus proudly displaying its new logo
© EastLondoner

The contract change of route 468 brought the route back under Arriva operation, which is where the route started its life back in March 1999, effectively making this contract change a "homecoming". However this time the route was going to operate from Norwood (N) garage, filling in the space left by route 176 when it was taken over by Go Ahead a few months prior. Its new allocation sees it allocated with new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH buses, known colloquially among enthusiasts as the "frog face" version of the Gemini 3, with this seemingly being the new standard for Arriva double-decker orders in the capital. 

HV400 seen on stand at Elephant & Castle, London Road
© EastLondoner

HV407 seen at St George's Circus, highlighting the difficulty of photographing there!
© EastLondoner

Overall, both service changes seem to have gone smoothly, hopefully both Arriva and Abellio can keep up the good standard of service that they have been providing so far. Even though it may seem like the next few months of service changes will be dominated by Alexander Dennis, Wright still do have an important part to play in the upcoming contract change to route 105, as well as the renewal of route 44 although you'll find out a lot more about those routes nearer the time!