Half and Half

Today we focus on a new route, one that is of many to come over the next few months. It has been numbered as route 335 and has recently been introduced in South-East London. 

The route runs between North Greenwich and Kidbrooke running via Blackheath and Kidbrooke Village, making it one of the shorter routes. The contract to run it has been given to Arriva London, running out of Dartford (DT) garage who might not seem like the obvious operator to run it - however there is a very good reason behind that. As you may already know route 48 which was run by Arriva London was withdrawn a couple of weeks ago (There's a post coming out on that soon), however as Arriva still had a couple of years left to run on the contract they have been given route 335 to operate for the rest of that duration. 

Due to this anomaly the 335 for a lot of its duration is the only Arriva route to operate in the areas that it serves, notably areas such as North Greenwich and Blackheath, Royal Standard. The route's primary purpose is to provide a link between the new Kidbrooke Village development and the transport hub of North Greenwich, prior to the route's introduction route 132 provided the closest link. Two route options were considered.

Option 1: Running via Westcombe Park and Blackheath, Royal Standard

Option 2: Running non-stop via the A2

LT236 seen on route 67 following its LT conversion
© EastLondoner

Following a consultation the chosen route was to be option 1 with the reasoning behind it being given that the route will provide additional support on busy corridors that could make use of the extra buses.  The route was introduced on the 26th of October using existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH buses which introduced a brand new type to Dartford (DT) garage. The buses that are used (HV38-HV45) were previously found at Stamford Hill (SF) garage operating on route 67 but they were displaced by the New Routemaster conversion of that route. More examples should be moving to Dartford garage soon to also upgrade the allocation on route 301 to Hybrid vehicles however it has not been confirmed yet where these extra HVs will come from. 

HV44 seen approaching its last stop in Kidbrooke
© EastLondoner

HV40 seen at North Greenwich on the first day
© EastLondoner

I was busy on the day the 335 was introduced so I only had time to make a quite stop at North Greenwich to take a quick glance at the route. Operation on the first day seemed to be at a decent standard. I went out on the following Monday to see how the route was doing and for me to get a ride in. Not too long after I arrived at North Greenwich HV39 arrived and I boarded to make myself comfortable for the ride to Kidbrooke. A quick glance at the timetable before boarding showed the off-peak riding time to be around 29 minutes. It wasn't too long until we set off towards Westcombe Park. The route operates via route 108 to Blackheath, Royal standard and therefore passes the Odeon and Ikea in the area. We didn't pick up many passengers along this section although there were quite a few bemused people at the bus stops!

HV39 on stand at Kidbrooke
© EastLondoner

After we passed Blackheath the route goes down Stratheden Road before taking a right turn onto Shooters Hill Road. It then takes another right onto Kidbrooke Park Road where it heads straight down to Kidbrooke Station. From here it continues into Kidbrooke Village before terminating at Wingfield Primary School. During this journey not many people boarded the bus, apart from one lady who got on at Stratheden Road but then got off as soon as we turned into Kidbrooke Park Road. The route itself wasn't anything that was out of the ordinary, however it is always nice to travel through a new housing development and see how the area has changed over the past couple of months. 

Talking of the housing development, the developer has part funded the route in a half and half deal with TfL. Going by TfL's financial state it was probably the only way they would have introduced a new route to the area. We are yet to see whether this investment from both TfL and the developer will show good returns however we probably won't be able to make that judgement until all the development in Kidbrooke Village is complete and people have moved into all of the houses to make the most of the new link. Until then route 335 provides a new link that I am sure will be appreciated by the locals as they come.

HV44 seen at Kidbrooke
© LBOTG

A huge thank you for London Buses On The Go for allowing his photo to be used in this post! Make sure you visit his Flickr as well as his Blog. 

Also a huge apology due to the lack of posts lately, we do have quite a few in the pipeline however other commitments at the moment mean that we cannot get them finished off yet. But be assured they will be coming out!