Cities in Debden

Sorry about the delay to this post, various commitments around the time meant that this post had to be delayed until now. However hopefully it'll prove a worthwhile read.

A change that took place in the Walthamstow area in March of this year was the contract renewal of route 20 which switched from Go Ahead to CT Plus in what seemed like a never ending blow to Go Ahead London's Northumberland Park (NP) garage. 

2542 seen on stand at Walthamstow Bus Station
© EastLondoner

The 20 is one of London's few routes which operates out of the London border, running between Debden and Walthamstow Central, however this was not always the case. When the route started operation in 1968 it barely left the London boundary running between Walthamstow Central and Loughton Station via Leyton, Whipps Cross and Woodford Wells.  However a massive leap out of the London boundary in 1969 saw it extended as far as Epping Station. This lasted until 1976 when it was cut back to Debden Broadway forming most of the same route which is in operation today, the final bit at Debden Broadway was removed in 1986 when it was cut back to Debden Station. 

WVN52 seen in the last week of GAL operation
© EastLondoner

Since privatisation the 20 spent a large chunk of its time at Arriva London, initially operated from Barking (DX) garage however it was moved to much closer Edmonton (EC) in 2007. A slightly surprising tender award in 2012 saw the route awarded to Blue Triangle out of Rainham (BE) depot with an allocation of brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL buses introduced. This arrangement didn't last for long however as the gradual demise of First London saw Go Ahead London purchasing Northumberland Park garage and then a few months later saw Rainham garage taking on routes 193, 368 and 498 which were left homeless by the closure of First's Dagenham garage (DM) along with a plethora of school routes. Therefore it made sense to transfer the 20 to Northumberland Park in order to create space at Rainham. Under its time at Northumberland Park the 20 used a mix of its own WVL buses as well as WVNs borrowed from routes 259, 357 and 476. 

WVL358 seen among other buses at Walthamstow
© EastLondoner

CT Plus predictably ordered brand new E40H City buses for the route, an obvious choice seeing as the two other double decker routes at the company, the 26 and 388, both use the type. Although the 20 wouldn't be based at the same garage as them, instead running out of the relatively new Walthamstow garage (AW) located near Walthamstow Stadium. The buses were to be coded 2539 - 2547, the eagle eyed of you may notice that this does not correspond to the 20s PVR+spares. This was because it was intended to use two buses from a PVR decrease on route 388, unfortunately for CT Plus (although thankfully for 388 commuters) TfL turned around last minute and cancelled the PVR cut on the 388 leaving the 20 short by two buses. 

© LBOTG

Usually when a new operator has an issue with buses on their newly acquired route they hire the existing buses from the incumbent company although uniquely in this scenario CT Plus hired buses from Stagecoach London, bringing a third operator into this service change. This gave many enthusiasts a temporary look at what could have been the face of the 20 should Stagecoach have won it instead. The two buses loaned were 10113 and 10114 from the 275 allocation. Sadly I couldn't catch up with these however LBOTG from the London Buses: On the Go blog has been kind enough to allow me to use his picture to illustrate the type for you. During this time CT Plus didn't bother to remove the Stagecoach logos or cover them up with their own ones. The only indication there was that CT Plus actually operated the vehicle was the card which you can see in the nearside window under the side blind.

As I said earlier the rest of the 20s allocation is made up out of the E40H City bus type, similar to those found on routes 26 and 388. However these buses contain Super Capacitors instead of batteries so you might notice a slight difference in the ride. 

2540 seen on stand at Walthamstow
© EastLondoner

Service was rocky to say the least when CT Plus took over at the start, the initial lack of serviceable double deckers at Walthamstow garage resulted in a few loans from Ash Grove (HK) in the first few weeks, and in some cases even Enviro200 buses have made appearances. Although thankfully now the Enviro200 appearances have stopped. The quality of service provided by CT Plus has also improved, showing that if you give a new operator time they do get used to it most of the time and will provide a good service. Two extra E40H City buses have also been ordered to make up the PVR on the route which are to arrive in the forthcoming weeks. However since the 388 has been cut back to Liverpool Street some of the buses made free from it have moved to the 20 allowing 10113 and 10114 to return back to Leyton (T). 

2547 seen entering Walthamstow Bus Station
© EastLondoner

At the time of the service change this relatively small route was something Northumberland Park really didn't want, especially after losing routes left, right and centre. Although since then they have made wins of many routes. The 212 and 444 will soon be coming over from Tower Transit and routes 67, 106 and 230 will be coming over from Arriva. As they always say, tendering is swings and roundabouts!

A massive thank you to LBOTG for allowing his photo to be used in this post today. Please show your support by visiting his Flickr page and his blog.