Going Back

"It's coming home" is often a statement you may hear said by some enthusiasts after some tender results. Two recent service changes where that certainly applied took place in North London where route 34 returned to Arriva operation after 5 years away at Metroline and route 192 returned to Arriva after 5 years away at Go Ahead London. 

Back in 2014 Arriva were no doubt having a hard time, losing many routes including the 192 and 34. The award to of the 34 Metroline in 2014 was to say the least, unexpected. It introduced Metroline into "proper" East London for the first time serving Walthamstow. However the award also came at a time when Arriva were losing many routes - therefore it didn't come as a surprise to many people when Arriva managed to nab the route back upon tender in 2019. The loss of the 192 to Go Ahead London was probably less surprising considering the route actually went past Northumberland Park (NP) garage. 

Before I go into the details about the service change let's go over some history about both routes. Route 34 operates between Walthamstow Central and Barnet Church running via the Crooked Billet, North Circular Road, Edmonton, Arnos Grove and Whetstone. 

VWH2060 seen at Walthamstow
© EastLondoner

The earliest records date to 1934 when the route ran between Whetstone and Stratford. In 1937 the route was cut back from Stratford to Leyton and in 1939 the route was further cut back to Walthamstow, Crooked Billet. In 1940 the route was extended to New Barnet Station and then further on to Barnet, Chesterfield Road in 1953, further change didn't come until 1960 when the route was extended from the Crooked Billet to Leyton Green. In 1969 the route was extended to Barnet Church forming the current western terminus that we know today. In 1973 the route's eastern end was altered to serve Harrow Green instead of Downsell Road running via Whipps Cross. In 1988 the route was withdrawn between Harrow Green and Walthamstow Central. 

VMH2549 seen at Angel Corner in Edmonton
© EastLondoner

The latest contract saw the route operating under Metroline out of Potters Bar (PB) garage. It was allocated with Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH buses. This allocation was fairly consistent throughout the contract, despite initially in the early days there were a lot of rumours of the allocation being swapped with that of the late route 82, although this never came to be. Other types which were frequent visitors to the route included the standard Enviro400 (which sadly I don't have a picture of) and the MCV EvoSeti which I have included a picture of. Operation under Metroline was often of a very good standard despite the route's challenging nature and the remoteness of the garage to the route. 

HV162 seen at Angel Corner in Edmonton
© EastLondoner

Arriva took on the route on the 9th of November 2019 operating the route out of Palmers Green garage (AD), its traditional home although a few buses each night are stabled at Edmonton garage (EC). The allocation is made up out of some spare Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs which were released from the New Routemaster conversion of route 19 as well as some Ex Stagecoach Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 buses (these have been recoded as HV161-HV192) which were previously based at Plumstead (PD). The 34 on paper is actually fully allocated the Ex Stagecoach batch however in reality they're intermixed across routes at the garage. Due to the similar colour schemes of the Stagecoach and Metroline interior it initially might not strike some people that a new operator had taken over the route.

So far operation of route 34 has been rocky, whenever I've tried to go and cover the route the route has been a mess with buses turned to various different locations on the route as well as large gaps being evident in the service. However no doubt these will only be temporary as they start to get used to operating the 34 once again and hopefully it won't be too long until the service is at a standard similar to that of Metroline, as well as themselves prior to 2014. 

HV252 seen at Walthamstow Bus Station on the first day of Arriva operation
© EastLondoner

WS49 seen at Tottenham Hale
© EastLondoner

Route 192 is the other change that took place on the 9th of November with the route moving from Go Ahead London back to Arriva London. The history of this route is not as extensive of that of route 34, it only started in 1994 running between Enfield and Angel Road, Tesco via Edmonton Green operating out of Enfield (E) garage. Its main purpose was to provide a bus service to the dense housing in the area and as a result it spent most of its time down side roads and hail and ride sections. In 2001 the route was extended from Angel Road, Tesco to Tottenham Hale Bus Station forming the same route that is in operation today. The route has since gained itself a reputation for being filled with passengers carrying flat-pack furniture back from the Ikea at Angel Road which this route passes.

WS46 seen at Tottenham Hale
© EastLondoner

Prior to the win by Go Ahead London, Arriva had operated it predominantly out of Enfield garage with a short spell at Lea Valley garage (LV) between 2007 and 2012. Like the 34 it fell victim to Arriva's "rough patch" in 2014 and Go Ahead took on the route out of Northumberland Park garage (NP) using Wright Streetlite buses. The 192 actually had two batches of Streetlites brought for it, an initial batch in 2014 (WS33-WS48) however in 2015 these were replaced with a brand new batch of Streetlites (WS49-WS64). The older batch of Streetlites mostly made their way to route 463 with Quality Line however a few were retained for the Here East shuttle and WS46 was brought back by Go Ahead to cater for a PVR increase on the route. 

ENN64 seen at Tottenham Hale
© EastLondoner

Arriva opted for brand new Enviro200 MMC buses for this route's return, numbered ENN55-ENN71. Once again it is being operated out of Enfield garage and has even been allocated running number E1+, which was the exact same sequence it used when initially introduced. The buses like feature USB ports which are now a standard on new buses for London as well as Stop Start technology. They do not however feature camera mirrors as found on the new buses for route 197. So far operation on the route has been of to a good standard, passengers are also noticing a difference in the new buses. I tried them out for myself a week after they were introduced and many passengers were commenting about the new bus. Hopefully Arriva will be able to continue providing a good standard of service on route 192 as they have been doing so far. 

ENN57 seen at Tottenham Hale
© EastLondoner

Routes 34 and 192 are the first of many routes over the next couple of months which are "returning home", make sure you look out for more posts coming over the next couple of months which cover these as well as many other service changes.