First, but also the last?

Arriva have been having quite a beating as of late in Tenders, losing quite a few routes. However a silver lining for them has seen the gain of route 202 out of Norwood garage (N) from Go Ahead London at Croydon (C). 

WHV73 on stand at Blackheath
© EastLondoner

The 202 initially started operation in 1991 as a single decker route, running between Crystal Palace and Blackheath via Sydenham, Catford, Lee and Blackheath Village. Those of you familiar with the route will have already realised that this is the same route which is followed today, making it one of the few routes which haven't changed much through their existence. When the route was initially introduced, it was operated by Stagecoach out of Catford (TL), however a tender change in 2008 saw Metrobus take over the route running it out of their Croydon base (C). The contract renewal in 2015 gave the route a much needed double decker conversion with some brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 buses. 

Two buses stand at Blackheath
© EastLondoner

The tender award towards the end of 2019 resulted in Arriva winning the contract to the route running out of Norwood with brand new Hybrid buses being introduced, an award many people didn't see coming. This did throw up some interesting questions though, as Arriva's preferred manufacturer for hybrid double decker buses, Wright, had just fallen into administration and any delivery and fulfilment of orders would have been in doubt. However, near the start of 2020, it was announced that Alexander Dennis were the company who would be getting the order with them delivering brand new Enviro400 MMC bodied E40H buses, the first of the type for Arriva London. Although, they do have E40H buses already, in the form of E40H Citys based at Brixton (BN) on the 133 and 333 alongside Ash Grove (AE) who operate them on the 78. Sadly, while Arriva may have dodged a bullet by not ordering with Wright, they couldn't avoid the one caused by the Coronavirus pandemic where all buses were delayed. However, luckily for Arriva, fellow route 405 also had a batch of E40Hs due, so the buses were conveniently swapped around to allow the 202 to have a full E40H allocation from the first day. 

Since the changeover in September, I've used the route a few times alongside the buses. Starting off with the positive aspect the buses are amazing, a part of me hopes that Arriva had been forced away from Wright a lot sooner. The interior suits the buses well and so far they have been well kept, albeit it's only been a month. While Arriva do have E40H Citys in the fleet, these buses come with the standard TfL interior with red seats and gold poles. Arriva's own interior with blue seats and ivory poles gives the already nice and spacious MMC interior an even more spacious feel, making it a really nice ride from a passenger's perspective. Oh, and of course there's USB ports at most seats as is standard on London's buses these days. So far the allocation of the route has been solidly E40H MMC, but a few strays of Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 buses have happened from batches kept at Norwood for other routes. I imagine these will eventually start to become common as more of the fleet is reblinded. 

HV398 seen at Blackheath
© EastLondoner

I did say earlier that talking about the buses would be the positive aspect, there sadly has been a negative aspect as well to these changes. Route 202 while initially may come across as a small suburban route does have a substantial portion running along the A205 between Lee and Catford. This section is often filled with traffic in the peaks and can cause a headache for controllers and as a result the service quality has seen a drop since the route left Go Ahead. Initial days saw almost all of the northbound service turned to Blackheath Village during the evening peak, however it's calmed down a lot now although far from perfect, showing that with a few more months Arriva are likely to get the hang of this challenging route and provide a good quality service to match the amazing standard of the buses. 

A side view of HT17 at Blackheath Station
© EastLondoner

With the increasing drive to get London's bus fleet closer towards zero emission, it's unknown whether Hybrids will soon be confined to the history books. Since the delivery of these buses, London for the first time in years has no diesel powered buses on order from any manufacturer. While routes 202 and 405 make up the first batch of Arriva's Enviro400 MMCs for London, they could also very well form the last batch of them.