The Wright way forward?

August is a big month for Go Ahead, all the contract changes taking place through this month involve them taking over a route. The first these is the move of route 232 from Metroline to Go Ahead London.

DE1137 seen at Turnpike Lane on Metroline's last day
© EastLondoner

Route 232 originally started in 1994, meaning it's not a particularly old route. Its route hasn't changed much either initially running between St Raphael's Estate and Wood Green. The only major change to the route came in 2001 when it was extended from Wood Green to Turnpike Lane Bus Station and has remained that way ever since except for a few months a few years ago when it was cut back to Wood Green temporarily due to long term roadworks. The route has always up until now been with Metroline and their predecessors London Northern and MTL London. However the route has been operated by its fair share of garages, initially being operated out of Potters Bar (PB) before moving to Cricklewood (W) in 2000, then North Wembley (NW) in 2005, Perivale East (PV) in 2009 until moving back to Cricklewood in 2012 where it remained since. The move to Go Ahead London sees the route moving into the firm's only North London garage at Northumberland Park (NP). 

DE1319 seen on stand at Turnpike Lane
© EastLondoner

Go Ahead opted for brand new Wright Streetlites as the allocation for this route, a controversial decision for a route which spends a fair chunk of its route on a dual carriageway. These buses are also the first diesel single deckers in London to contain USB charging points, a feature which should become standard on buses from now on. The buses started arriving through June and July, although a slight issue did present itself when the buses arrived without Turnpike Lane on the blinds as the initial plan from TfL had been to cut the route back to Wood Green, however they didn't follow through with the plan and by this time the new blinds had already been ordered. However Go Ahead managed to get inserts fitted by the time they took over the route. 

WS144 seen on stand at Turnpike Lane
© EastLondoner

As I was preoccupied through the weekend of the change I went out on Monday to see how Go Ahead were getting along with the route. It wasn't off to a great start to see some confusion between the driver, controller and a mentor over what bus was going to be allocated to the driver as another driver had taken out a bus that he wasn't meant to take. Eventually that was sorted and the driver was allocated to WS144. That would also become the bus that I would take. The 232 also saw a frequency increase from every 15min to every 12min upon its new contract, so thankfully I didn't have to wait too long for the bus to arrive. Upon boarding I was instantly greeted with the "new bus smell" as well as a lot of heat. I made my way to my seat to make myself comfortable for the journey. 

One of the USB ports located on the seat
© EastLondoner

Little did I know that would probably be the most comfortable I was throughout the journey. My driver seemed to be new to the route as well as the bus type and had a mentor with him through the journey guiding him through the route as well as telling him how to operate the bus. The bus filled up pretty quickly and we were down to standing room only by Palmers Green, although a lot of the crowd got off at Arnos Grove. Just after we passed Arnos Grove the bus driver was told to regulate the service, something which is becoming far too common across London. 

WS140 seen at Brent Cross
© EastLondoner

After what felt like an eternity we continued towards Brent Cross, this was just going to be a zip down the North Circular road although my bus driver didn't seem to be in a rush, and the bus didn't sound too happy travelling at high speeds as well. The bus was also getting hotter and hotter due to the heat making me, and a lot of other passengers very uncomfortable. I was very happy to finally arrive at Brent Cross as I couldn't be bothered to continue my journey on the route any longer. After I got off it wasn't too long until another 232 pulled in behind my bus, probably as a result of the slow speed that my bus was travelling at through most of its journey. After this ride it didn't take a genius to see why bus ridership is falling.

The buses themselves were uncomfortable and hot, something that I really didn't want to travel in on a hot day like it was. 

WS133 seen at Brent Cross
© EastLondoner

The Wright Streetlite has never been a popular bus among enthusiasts, passengers and drivers so it was no surprise that these buses did not provide the best experience that I might have wanted. However they are certainly a step up from the old DEs that the route was allocated, although for how long they remain a step up is yet to be seen. 

Go Ahead have got off to a rocky start, during the first weekend there were multiple reports of buses getting lost throughout the route suggesting that route learning hadn't been completed to an adequate standard and there were also a few breakdowns reported, although these could probably be blamed for teething issues on the brand new buses. Hopefully these issues are ironed out soon and the service can be provided at a good standard - although with the excessive regulation and poor experience of the buses I had I do have some doubts myself.

Buses stand at Turnpike Lane Bus Station
© EastLondoner

The win of route 232 has been a silver lining in a string of recent losses that Northumberland Park (NP) have been facing lately, although their fate seems to have now turned around over the past couple of months in recent tender results. Routes 191 and 192 will soon be moving over to Arriva however route 214 is to start service at the garage over the next couple of weeks, soon being followed by routes 212 and 444 in March and 67, 106 and 230 in the summer next year. 

As they always say, tenders are swings and roundabouts!