Taking you through the years: 2013

We've been around for about 7 years and a bit now...and counting. It's been a rough start to the year for the world because of that c-word so how about something to lift those spirits by strolling down, past the better times, to Memory Lane.

Phwoar, remember this!
First London TN33191 on route 607

2013
The way buses look has really changed
The year was 2013 back when we started, right at the beginning of it. The country was still on cloud nine following what was a rather successful 2012 Olympic, which London itself was proud to host for the third time. Times were different then in the transport industry, several bus routes were still around that aren't now, and likewise, a number of bus routes didn't exist at the time.

A massive difference which I am sure you will remember is also the fact that transport giant First operated a good chunk of bus routes in London, having built a massive empire particularly across West London. The shock that came to many of us that all of this was to be sold practically overnight on the 22nd June.

On the left is a type we sadly no longer have in London anymore, quite literally the President of buses. A Plaxton President bodied Dennis Trident 2 operating limited stop route 607 - since this photo was taken, the route had been upgraded to a mixture of Wright Eclipse Gemini 1 buses and Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s shortly after. What's more shocking (where has the time gone?!) is that the route has now been upgraded once again to new MCV Evoseti bodied Volvo B5LHs.

This is a prime example of how much even the specification of buses has changed since the 2000s. London buses are not allowed to have operator logos or decals either side of the destination display as shown here, something First were well known for doing.

TP411 (LK03 CFE) on route E2 in Northfields

Something else that has massively changed is the mass-disappearance of skirts on all TfL buses. It perhaps could be viewed as a shame and a loss of colour across London's busy roads, only to be done in favour of a uniform 100% corporate red on all new and refurbished buses regardless of operator. In 2020 we have very few buses left with skirts, notably the odd older-generation Go-Ahead London bus but it may be very likely that after this year we will have reached a state where every bus is fully red.

Demonstrating what it is that we're talking about, is TP411, now long since withdrawn, a Plaxton President bodied Dennis Trident 2 with the famous Metroline blue skirt and white band and the original logo with the orange stripes through the 't' (it's the little things!) on route E2 in Northfields. The last of these types were replaced by more Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 buses around 2015-2016.


Some routes have really changed operators countless times...

Route 266, between Brent Cross and Hammersmith (or so it was at the time!), has changed countless times in the last 7 years. When we started in January 2013, the route had only been settling in at it's new home, Atlas Road (AS) (remember that?!) under a shock tender win when First had nabbed the route in May 2012. The route was to use a mixture of new and existing (but even they were only a few months old) Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs that were in use on flagship route 23 at Westbourne Park (X) garage.

The route has changed a lot since then and we'll probably see it again later in this series of commemorative posts but only in brief. But to sum up all the changes, Atlas Road (AS) had been purchased by then-new Australian bus operator Transit Systems, who would trade in London as Tower Transit. This would be the deal for the remaining 4 years of the contract until Metroline nabbed the route back from Cricklewood (W) garage in 2017 using 10-year old Enviro 400s - the exact same ones that had operated the route 2007-2012.

Photography skills were not great at the time - but here is VN36292
at Horn Lane in Acton back in January 2013. This bus has since been withdrawn
from TfL service and now lives in Bath with an independent bus operator.

This was a short-term special contract that was only to last 2 years as the network of buses across West London was to be massively redesigned in the anticipation that Elizabeth line services would start in 2019. However, as we know how that story ended, the £15bn railway had gained a new name, the £18bn railway and was delayed into the early 2020s and depending on the impacts of this virus, it is nearly definitely to be delayed again as construction work has ground to a halt.

Despite all of this, TfL still pushed ahead with the planned bus network changes and so on the 7th December 2019, route 266 was cut so that it only ran between Brent Cross and Acton, Old Town Hall. The section between Acton and Hammersmith would continue to be served at night by a newly created N266, and during the day by new single decker route 218 (Tower Transit, North Acton to Hammersmith) and double decker route 306 (RATP Group, Acton Vale to Fulham, Sands End). The new contract was also timed to start on this day, which saw Metroline lose the route again to RATP Group using a mixture of existing diesel and hybrid vehicles from the 81 and 94.

As a bit of trivia, is route 266 the route that has changed operator the most in the last 10 years? Let us know in the comments if you find another route that can beat this.

WVL417 (LX11 CWZ) on route 425 at Stratford

Route 425 is another route that will have changed operators a couple of times. When we first started, Go-Ahead London had been operating the route from their Docklands Buses base in Silvertown (SI) using a mixture of Gemini 2 and Scania OmniCity buses. The route was introduced in 2008 as a successor to route S2 (Stratford - Bow - Clapton) and was a local service running about every 12 minutes between Stratford, Bus Station and Clapton, Nightingale Road.

First had won the route upon tender in 2013 with brand new Enviro 400 buses. However this may be one of the more weirder tender wins in the history book, as First had submitted the bid in 2012 and had won the route from Lea Interchange (LI) garage for a contract starting August 2013. But as they were keen to sell up and move away from the London bus scene quickly, the depot had been sold to Transit Systems by the end of June that year. This meant that along with all the assets they took over, the 425 contract automatically had been novated, with Tower Transit using the buses First had procured (in their livery and interior fit out too) using the same contract terms and obligations that First had won the route on. So despite winning the route, First never actually operated the route even for a day.

Fast forward several years later to 2018 and an interesting turn of events occurred. Route 425 had been chosen to be extended from Stratford, Bus Station along the A118 Romford Road to Ilford (paralleling routes 25 and 86) in a bid to boost capacity and connectivity but also merge the route with the short journeys route 25 had to Mile End. This saw Gemini 2 buses return to the 425 as a part of the allocation as the route became a high profile trunk route.

Later this year, the route alongside sister route 25 will start a new contract at Stagecoach from Bow (BW) garage with brand new buses. The contract start date may be liable to change. If this does happen, our tenders page will be immediately altered to reflect this.

There's a lot to get through in 2013, and we're a big believer in a picture paints a thousand words so for the rest of this post, here's some photos that sum up the bus scene 7 years ago.

Route 207 was host to a unique (and well missed!) batch of Scania OmniCities. These were the last production batch built for London and the only ones that First had ordered, to enable the double decking of route 207 from articulated bendy bus operation. First wanted to order Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 or Enviro 400 buses however given that the book orders were full up with Olympic 2012 deliveries, they decided to sample Scania buses instead. These have since been withdrawn and some can be found with Ipswich Buses. Route 207 is now operated by Abellio London after Metroline lost it in April 2019.

Route 185 was awarded to London Easylink in 2001 using 20 Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs - numbered VP1-20 from a garage just off the Old Kent Road. This was short lived as just over a year later, the company goes into liquidation. East Thames Buses, the arms-length company owned by TfL, took over the failed routes from their depot in Belvedere (BV) alongside a few others as this happened. In 2009, ETB was sold off to Go-Ahead London along with the routes, buses and staff and ever since, the 185 has operated from Camberwell (Q) garage. The VPs interestingly were never re-classed as PVLs, but the buses were given a charcoal skirt and Go-Ahead logos until their withdrawal a few days after this photo was taken. Route 185 uses newer hybrid buses.

SLE34 (YN55 NKC) is seen on Oxford Street on a wet day in late May, 2013. This was back when
Transdev's London operations had not been purchased by RATP Group. The same summer would see their flagship route 13 from Edgware (BT) garage be upgraded to Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH buses (VHs) - with reg plates of the buses even altered affectionately to have 'BT13' as the first 4 digits. The OmniDekkas were then moved to route 292 to displace older Plaxton President buses. As for the 13...the route was withdrawn in 2017 (Golders Green to Aldwych) and replaced by an extended 113 and 139. Overnight also saw route 82 (North Finchley to Victoria) renumbered as the 13.

In compensation of the original 13 being discontinued, the 139 was taken over by RATP Group (on the 13's contract, it gets very complicated). Route 139's own contract had expired on the 1st April 2017, and so did route 82. This summer, route 139 (still on the 13's contract that started August 2013) will return home to Metroline's Cricklewood (W) garage using buses displaced off route 34.

Sticking with the theme of routes that were altered in the 'Finchley Road' scheme of 2017, TA640 (LK05 GFX) is seen on a one-way Baker Street approaching Oxford Street. Diesel buses are no longer allowed in regular TfL service into the ULEZ area which mostly covers Central London but this was taken at a time long- predating these rules. Route 266 as aforementioned in this post had left Cricklewood (W) for Atlas Road (AS), leaving behind 22 7-year old TA-class buses. Whilst they found new homes on routes 32 and 210, it was still somewhat normal to see them stray on Central London routes. Route 189 has since been cut back to Marble Arch and has been converted to Borismaster (LT) operation.

Until 2018, route 36's allocation - truthfully, if it did actually have one! - was somewhat of an interesting combination. Buses of all ages, makes and models seemed to have frequented the route and it was effectively pot luck on what bus would turn up. One of the more veteran residents of the route out of New Cross was PVL159 (X559 EGK). As you got further into the 2010s, it became somewhat a phenomenon to actually see a bus with a skirt, the original London Central logo (and not the standard Go-Ahead London one) and a 6-point destination blind! What may have rounded this off would be the destination in full capital letters. The bus was withdrawn in 2016 and the route in 2018 eventually received a standard allocation of brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC Hybrids.

First's DMV33404 takes a breather at Brent Park, Tesco only a few months after taking over route 206 from Metroline. The route received new longer buses and at the time was one of the first routes in London to be allocated 10.8m Enviro 200s - this practice soon became the standard practice, in order to maximise available capacity. The irony is, only just over a year after the 206 had left Metroline...it returned back home to Metroline after Willesden Junction (WJ) garage was sold to them. The DMVs were re-classed as DELs, complying with Metroline's fleetnumbering system and can still be found on the route today.

E209, covered in a Vodafone 'Freebees' all-over advert wrap, comes into Victoria on route 436 to Paddington. This was taken a couple of years after the 436 was converted from bendy-bus operation to double deckers following our now PM, Boris Johnson's, mayoral election promises. Go-Ahead London decided to allocate the route with a partial allocation (in 2010/2011/2012 this was the norm) of new Enviro 400 diesel buses, and the remaining allocation to be new Enviro 400 hybrid buses. However a few years later, TfL took what was widely regarded as a bizzare choice to withdraw the 436 away from Central London and send it to Battersea Park instead. At the same time, Go-Ahead London ousted the part diesel allocation and replaced it with WHV-class buses released from route 12.

Another route that has changed operators - and at the time of posting is actually the last operator change we've had - is the 482. From its inception in 2008, it has gone between 3 different operators. At the time this as taken, RATP Group operated the route from Hounslow Heath (HH) garage using Scania OmniCities SP16-25. However a unique type in London is shown here, SP3, which is one of 15 low-height Scania OmniCities with an N94 engine (normally found on the older OmniDekkas). Following the creation of the N230 chassis soon after 2006, this combination was quickly no longer produced.

The route was lost in 2015 to Metroline West from Greenford (G) garage using cast-off Enviro 400s released from the loss of routes E1 and E3 only for the route to be awarded to Abellio in March 2020 with brand new Enviro 400 MMC 'smart hybrid' buses.

© EastLondoner
This was taken on a day when First at Dagenham (DM) were operating a rail replacement service through the Blackwall Tunnel, requiring the single deckers from routes 165 and 368 to be used. In turn the 165 and 368 used double decker allocations, and at the time this was very unique on the 368. However since then the 368 has been fully converted to Double Decker operation but is now found under Arriva's roof at Barking (DX) with Enviro400s and Wright Pulsar Gemini 2s.

© EastLondoner
17846 stands at a temporary stand at Tottenham Court Road. This was taken at a time when the 8 was temporarily cut back to Tottenham Court Road from one end and to Old Ford at the other end. Since then the Tottenham Court Road curtailment was made permanent, and on top of that the 8 has now temporarily been cut back even further to Holborn Station. The Tridents are now long gone with the 8 being operated by New Routemaster vehicles.

© EastLondoner
DLA213 crosses Westminster Bridge with the London Eye in the background. The 159 used to be allocated similar VLA class buses and also used to operate back to Paddington Basin. The route has since succumbed to one of TfL's Central London cuts and now only operates as far as Marble Arch in Central London. Soon after this the 159 made a very surprising move from Arriva London to Abellio London and is now found at Battersea (QB) allocated new Routemaster vehicles. 

We hope you found this post interesting - thanks for reading and share your memories of buses in the comments below on our Twitter @LConnectedBlog. Hopefully we'll have some more memories on the way shortly to share with you. Stay safe. Stay indoors. Save lives. Protect the NHS.