South London route 270 is the latest route to change operators during lockdown, leaving the hands of Go-Ahead London and venturing to its new home at Abellio London.

Route 270 is a new-ish route, having only been about for almost 30 years. It was introduced in 1991 as a response to changes of the bus network in Wandsworth. Routes 219, 220 and 280 were cut or re-routed in a bid to aid reliability. Those that don't know or use the 270 will probably recognise it as the route in our website banner!

London General were the first operator of the route, running the route from their head office Merton (AL) garage with MCW Metrobuses. The route has been operating between Putney Bridge Station and Mitcham Cricketers following the same routing it has today via Wandsworth and Tooting.

10 years later, the route saw its first low floor double decker buses introduced in the form of Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs, falling under London General's 'PVL' class.

PVL375 (PJ53 NKM) is seen leaving Putney Bridge on route 270, almost 10 years ago.
 London Bus Breh

Other than a minor reroute in the Mitcham area, the route has had a fairly boring and limited history up until Saturday where it was lost for the first time. Rapidly growing London operator, Abellio, had won the route from their Battersea (QB) depot with brand new Enviro 400 MMC 'smart hybrid' buses. However, a 'last minute' change occurred with Abellio opting to mobilise the route from Beddington (BC) garage instead. No official reason for this was given, but spectators assume that Abellio may be using the spare space at Battersea (QB) to win more higher profile work from rival competitors, given their prime location and proximity to Central London. But of course, there's no substance to this so don't take it as gospel.

This was Abellio's third route takeover during the nationwide lockdown, which had severe ramifications on the bus network as a whole. One of the consequences is that bus manufacturers have had to pause output for several weeks, and even months, meaning many buses haven't been built and delivered on time. Route 270 was one of the routes impacted by factory shutdowns, with only some of the buses being delivered on time and the rest being held at the factory.

This has forced Abellio to temporarily pull a number of buses from across their fleet to cover the missing buses, mostly from their dedicated Rail Replacement fleet which consists mostly of the 2006/2007-plated Enviro 400s ex-route 452. The buses themselves haven't really made it to the 270, instead being placed on route 407. The newer, hybrid vehicles from the 407 have then made it to the 270 instead as demonstrated below.

Abellio 2583 (YY67 GZD) is seen leaving Putney Bridge station forecourt on route 270. 

The brand new Enviro 400 MMCs ordered for route 270 are equipped with ISA (an automatic, electronic speed limiter), lazzerini seats with the red Abellio moquette, USB chargers (as is standard with new buses) and are mirrorless too. Instead of mirrors, new cameras on the nearside and offside replace these, providing higher quality and clearer imaging for drivers. Many staff have hailed these as fantastic advances in technology.

Seen also at Putney Bridge is new bus 2024 demonstrating the 'mirrorless' rear-view mirrors (see the black compartments above the driver's windows).

Abellio 2024 (SK20 AZO) on route 270 at Putney Bridge showing the new order.

Abellio have settled onto the route quite well. The company were quite excited to take over the 270 last weekend. The takeover also saw the route resume its Monday to Friday schedule for the first time in several weeks and is also taking fares again.

The fleet list for the route can be seen below:

SK20 AZL - 2022

SK20 AZN - 2023

SK20 AZO - 2024

SK20 AZP - 2025

SK20 AZR - 2026

SK20 AZT - 2027

SK20 AZU - 2028

SK20 AZV - 2029

SK20 AZW - 2030

SK20 AZX - 2031

SK20 AZZ - 2032

SK20 BAA - 2033

SK20 BAO - 2034

SK20 BAU - 2035

SK20 BAV - 2036

We'd like to take a shout out to say thank you to all the transport workers putting their lives on the line in this time of difficulty. Please support them by following government guidelines - wear masks on public transport for the whole of your journey, carry disinfectants such as hand sanitiser and also wear gloves if possible. Don't take unnecessary journeys on buses and trains for the time being, as tempting as it is to. We will be reunited with our beloved big, red buses soon enough.

Just as a disclaimer, this blog does have key workers who do occasionally work very close to the 270 route and had covered this service change on the way from home to work. If it wasn't for this, the service change wouldn't be covered in respect to the transport workers and also to comply with government guidelines.

Also, this is post 300 - thank you for sticking with us for the last 7 years, and we hope you continue to stay with us for some more. This wouldn't have happened without you.

Thank you for reading this and please do stay safe, it's more important now than ever.

Know Your Routes is back again with route 18, which recently lost its First London heritage in a shock £10.2m move to the RATP Group.

© Steven Hughes.

A small single decker route in the heights of North London, the short route W5 runs between Archway Station and Harringay, Superstores.

Back in November, Croydon saw major changes to the bus services in the Addington area. Many saw the withdrawal of two famous T-prefixed routes alongside one being renumbered. These changes were implemented in order to help save money and make use of the many routes Non-T routes that live today. The T-routes were an important part of Croydon's transport system as they ferried tram passengers around where the trams were not able to go. They were also the suggested alternative when the Tramink was undergoing a major modernization scheme.
Here's a bit of history about the routes:

© Copyright Rushaune157

-  Route T31 began operating in 2000. It was operated by First Centrewest in their Orpington garage, it was allocated 10.2m Dennis Marshall bodied Dart SLFs. The Peak Vehicle Requirement was 10. The route served many of the areas in New Addington that Routes 64,130 and 314 didn't serve such as; King Henry's drive and Vulcan Way. After a week operating it, the route was then extended to Forestdale and the The Peak Vehicle requirement was changed to 11. In May 2007, the contract was won by Arriva London South from their South Croydon garage with a batch of new Enviro200 Darts.

© Copyright Rushaune157

-  Route T32 also began operation in 2000. It was also operated by First Centrewest at their Orpington garage, a like its partner; T31, T32 was also allocated a 10.2m Dennis Marshall bodied Dart SLFs. The route had a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 3 buses. It too served areas which Routes 64,130 and 314 did not serve like Headley Drive. In December 2008, the contract was won by Metrobus from their Croydon garage. It was allocated the Plaxton Pointer bodied Dart SLFs spare from route 353 in which route 353 was double-decked. It then had a Peak Vehicle Requirement decrease to 1.

© Copyright Rushaune157

- Route T33 began operating the same year as its sisters; T31 and T32. It replaced the withdrawn section of route 353 between Croydon and Addington Village. It was allocated 10.8m Plaxton Pointer bodied Dart SLFs and operated from Metrobus' Orpington garage. The route had a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 8. In May 2012, Abellio won the contract to operate the route from their Beddington Cross garage with a batch of brand new Enviro 200 E20Ds.



Many of the Addington changes included:

© Copyright Rushaune157
Here ENL29 is seen at Addington Village on route T31 to Forestdale.
This route has since been withdrawn. 

• The complete withdrawal of route T31 between Forestdale and New Addington (Homestead Way)
• Route 353 has been granted an extension to Forestdale to replace the withdrawn section of route T31 between Forestdale and Addington Village.
• Route 64 and 130 have been rerouted to serve the withdrawn section of route T31 and have both been extended to Vulcan Way
• School route 664 will continue to terminate at Homestead Way with no change.

 

© Copyright Rushaune157
Here 923 is seen at Addington Village having completed
a journey on route T32 from New Addington
This route has been withdrawn.

• The complete withdrawal of route T32 between Addington Village and New Addington.
• Route T32 has been replaced with the changes of routes 64 and 130

© Copyright Rushaune157
Here 8785 is seen at Addington Village having done a journey
on route T33 from West Croydon

• Route T33 being renumbered to 433 following the withdrawal of the T-prefix route system, the route remains with no change.

© Copyright Rushaune157
Here WHV45 is seen at Poplar Walk, West Croydon on its way
to Vulcan Way, New Addington

• Route 64 as prior to T31 section, has been rerouted and extended to Vulcan Way, New Addington via Homestead Way.
• Route N64 has been withdrawn and replaced with a 24-hour 64 instead. It will continue to serve Route 64's current routing as normal.
• Route 359 has been extended to Purley via Sanderstead using spare MCV Evolution bodied MAN 12.240s from Route 202.

Many of the locals have noticed the change but feel that perhaps its for the best, I, myself; not a local but very, very, frequent visitor to Croydon definitely will miss the T-branded routes but  feels its for the best. 

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to swing a comment below :)

London's youngest bus route changed operator on Saturday morning. We're back on the grounds of Brent Cross this week - just this time on route 324. 

It's astonishing that it's already been 5 years since route 324 came about (2010). I remember when it first came about, because it was August 2010 and I was reading the local paper for Harrow. Amongst all the other interesting stories in there, one caught my eye, it was a little column: New Bus Route for Stanmore. Harrow's not that interesting when it comes to buses, right now if you go there, you'd notice most of their fleet (especially in 2010) was old - the newest buses we had were on route 186, which were 2007 plated, but the average age was probably 2001 for most buses there.

Harrow doesn't even get that many route extensions or new routes for crying out loud! Route 395 was introduced a year before the 324, which was the first new route in the area for ages. The paper said it was to run between Stanmore Station and Brent Cross, (although I immediately thought the shopping centre and not the Tesco on the other side of the A406). It was to come in October, although I had forgotten the date. 

Soon enough I ventured out to Stanmore, shortly after operations began, probably around the November time, and I saw a 324 bus for the first time. It was an SDE - I knew 1 door buses were about, but it was a rarity in this end of London. After 324, I'd say E5 and E10 (I didn't know about or use the H1/H2/H3) are the next nearest routes I knew to be served by 1 door buses and that's miles off! 

Transdev SDE22 (YX60 BZE) on route 324.

I wondered why the route had 8.9m buses - but having done research a few years into the new route, it's due to two things. One thing I knew about shortly after operations commenced and the other I actually learnt the same day I wrote this very post (mid-October 2015). Reason 1, probably the most well-known reason, is due to residents' objection along the westernmost Hail & Ride section in Stanmore. Even I was a bit peeved that the 324 had to go Stanmore, and not somewhere else a bit more useful (Harrow Weald at the very least, as it's a far more direct route than the 182). There's already the 142 and 186 to aid that link. Anyways, Old Church Lane residents weren't too happy about there being a bus service along the road in the first place, a lot of petitions were signed to stop the 324 coming through. 

However, they lost.

The residents said that Stanmore in general didn't need the bus service - acting as if they were MPs - although I could get where they were coming from at the same time. Most residents made a compromise, saying 324 could continue through to Stanmore Station, however, it must run via Honeypot Lane and Marsh Lane (via the 79 and 340) instead, which are main roads. This may end up as a loss of a link directly to Stanmore Broadway which would annoy many I'd imagine as buses turn directly into Honeypot Lane from the direction of the Station, completely missing The Broadway, which makes Stanmore a stupid place to terminate the bus. The only logical place in Stanmore to terminate it at is the Church, which creates a loss of service to the station. However, the route already passes directly in front of the Jubilee Line at Kingsbury Station, and is a 2 minute walk away at Queensbury Station.

The second reason as to why route 324 was to use 8.9m buses initially, was that originally 324 was to terminate OUTSIDE of Brent Cross Tesco on Tilling Road, it was only last minute that it was accepted inside Tesco following passenger requests. So the stop, 'Claremont Road' most likely would've been converted into a stand/stop for route 324 use only and that buses would turn at the roundabout. However, to be able to perform this motion, the route would strictly be allocated 8.9m buses. I could tell from this - as on one of the TfL documents it states:

"We held a route test on 22 April 2010 where a 10.2 metre bus was driven along all of the proposed route....The route test identified potential issues with proposed termini but concluded that the bus could safely use the proposed roads"

However, TfL like to leave room for expansion in case the route deems popular. And so after some talks with Tesco, it was agreed that buses were allowed to stand inside their premises at the front of the store (on their grounds) where buses would turn around in a layover/turning circle. 10.2m buses can clear this. 

Now you could be asking, how do you know it wasn't Stanmore Station? Simple. There's a route called H12 that uses 10.2m double decker buses and has been using those vehicles and standing there with those vehicles for the best part of over 10 years.

The Last One: Sovereign SDE21 (YX60 BZD) on route 324 on the last day at Roe Green.

Harrow Council had talks with TfL over the 324, and said that if the route was running via Old Church Lane the buses had to be 8.9m long. I've also noticed a trend that every time Harrow Council get involved in transport, the first thing they will always say is make a route go Northwick Park Hospital despite there being about 6 routes serving the hospital (one bus to Harrow roughly one every 2-3 minutes). This has happened with route 395 (unsuccessful), route 186 (successful), route 223 (say what you want - the route already serves the hospital, but they demand it does a circle from Harrow - Northwick Park - South Kenton - Wembley - North Wembley and back to Northwick Park?!). I was a bit bemused by what they had suggested: Instead of route 324 to Brent Cross, re-route 324 to Northwick Park Hospital. For those who don't know West London that well - think of it as the 25 originally going to Ilford, but instead of going Ilford, cut it between Ilford and Tottenham Court Road, then divert the route to Croydon instead. Completely different directions and places here!

The whole purpose of route 324 was to create a frequent daily service over route 972, as well as bring new links to Colindeep Lane and create better localised links. So if the route is going Northwick Park Hospital, it'd be a very impractical route to run. If they had said, change the Stanmore terminus - it'd make a lot more sense. Far more sense if anything. But what their plan was was to create another 186. Thankfully, their poorly thought plan never went anywhere other than the bin.

Maybe it's a Hospital thing, but this suggestion was far smarter than the Northwick Park re-routing. Harrow Council also suggested that at Stanmore, the route could be extended to the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital in the same area. It's a large hospital hidden away inches to the London boundary, in Brockley Hill, on the 107 route. Although 107 does serve the hospital, it does not pass Stanmore Station or the Broadway, and instead diverts to Edgware. Furthermore, Harrow Council pointed out that route 324 would terminate inside the hospital grounds and not on Brockley Hill.

Anyways, Transdev were awarded the route in early 2009, however it wasn't until late 2010 that the route had actually been introduced. The route was formalised on the 24th October. It was agreed that in addition, the route had to be infrequent, which in this case was one every 20 minutes. Most people I know, including myself, find route 324 useful east of Queensbury/Kingsbury towards Brent Cross. It slashes journey times by up to an hour (rather than taking a 183/142 or 204/182). The route does run via Old Church Lane, Culver Grove, Abercorn Road and St Andrews Drive, despite strong opposition. 

But let's look at this 'rebellion'. 

I actually find it interesting, because a lot of times when residents complain, it's often for purely selfish and stupid reasons and the result of their actions tend to doom our bus services in other scenarios across London. However, this hand proved something different. The residents actually were smart enough to speak out because had the route been diverted via Honeypot Lane north of Queensbury Circle, the route would've been a) more direct b) more reliable c) cheaper to run possibly. Marsh Lane and Honeypot Lane only take 10 minutes to complete in total whereas the routing via Stanmore Church and Culver Grove adds another 6 or so minutes, but terminate the route at the Church instead (via Marsh Lane). 

I understand TfL were on a tight budget for making route 324. This paragraph actually tells you why 324 misses every other stop on the route: to save money. The route has a tight schedule so that the PVR can be 6. The route does not serve Queensbury Station, Brent Cross Interchange (towards Brent Cross, Tesco) as it actually takes the first slip road whilst every other route takes the second, or Colindeep Lane (towards Brent Cross, Tesco). If the route was to serve these stops, it means a 7th bus has to be added to the schedule, and that would increase costs. Had the route terminated on Tilling Road itself instead, I'd imagine the route would serve some of these additional stops. To terminate inside Tescos adds about 4-5 minutes in total (to go and back). 

The Last Week: DE2 at Brent Cross, Tilling Road Tesco on route 324.

The Last Day: DE15 (YX58 DVT) on route 324 towards Stanmore.

Unfortunately, one drawback on this route is the tight schedule, which has caused the route to become very unreliable at times hence the award to Metroline. In addition, the vehicles have been complained about by enthusiasts and engineers, as well as the residents. It just so happened that SDE18-24 which were 8.9m Enviro 200s used on the 324, they were a bad batch of vehicles that were often off road all the time. Sometimes too many vehicles were off road at once, and in 2013, Transdev had to request that a 10.2m bus from route 251 and later the 326 could cover at times when 8.9m were off. The problem gradually grew worse in terms of the reliability - for starters by the end of the contract only 6 of the 7 buses had made it. SDE18 exploded during a late night service towards Brent Cross whilst on the 324 last year and was written off after that due to an engine fault.

The vehicles became even more unreliable, and moreover, DEs became the norm on the route to the point where by the end of the contract, it was normal to have about 4 DEs on the 324.

Two Doors: Loanee DE73 is seen on route 324. Probably the best 324 ride I had.

Well since Saturday morning and from now on, it's the norm to have 6 DEs as Metroline have taken on the route. The new running numbers are W #131+.

The service has been boring in terms of allocation, as no strays have actually appeared on the route. Although in terms of reliability, the service has definitely improved in the last 7 days.

Now at this rate there's not much else to give the reader, other than some pictures to round off the post and a fleetlist:

Non-existent: This bus will never be seen again, as it exploded whilst on the 324.

Setting down the clothes-shoppers, picking up the food-shoppers: A logoless SDE21 is spotted at Brent Cross.

YX60 BZA - SDE18

YX60 BZB - SDE19

YX60 BZC - SDE20

YX60 BZD - SDE21

YX60 BZE - SDE22

YX60 BZF - SDE23

YX60 BZG - SDE24

There's the before, and then the after: DE860 is seen at Kingsbury Circle on route 324.

Day 3: DE873 is seen at Kingsbury Station whilst on route 324.

Cool Colours: DE866 (LK08 DWZ) is seen at Kingsbury Circle on a more quiet and cold day.

LK58 CPX - DE871

LK58 CPY - DE872

LK58 CPZ - DE873

LK58 CMY - DE874

LK58 CMZ - DE875

LK58 CNA - DE876

LK58 CNC - DE877

Well, that's all I've got. Thanks for reading this slightly lengthy post and please do stay safe! 

Any questions or comments? Why not visit the chatbox or drop a comment below.

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See our About Us page for photo use enquiries.

In early 2015, route 173 which runs between Goodmayes, King George Hospital and Beckton Station was retained by Arriva London.

That's the best of my Spanish, anyways. One step for Uno, one leap for history in London's buses. We had actual transport companies running London's red buses, then banks (East London Bus Group), then coach companies (OFJ Connections of Heathrow) and this morning was education's turn to attempt running a bus service. 

©LondonBuses72

University of Hertfordshire (or UniversityBus/Uno) was formally welcomed into TfL services this morning on their first London route, the 383. The route runs entirely in the London Borough of Barnet, and operates between Barnet The Spires Shopping Centre and Woodside Park Station in North Finchley. The route runs via Meadway, Potters Road, New Barnet, East Barnet Village, Oakleigh Park, Whetstone and Woodside Park.

The route only runs Monday-Saturday, so if you want to venture out onto the route, public holidays and Sundays are not days to do the route. The route also does not operate late evenings (after 2045) and runs at a frequency of being a 2 bus per hour service. 

The image placed in your head, if you know London Buses well enough, will probably tell you 383 is one of those many random routes that isn't used much, mainly by older passengers and has a lot of Hail & Ride sections around some back streets. You're also correct if you imagined the buses used on this route were single-doored single deckers. 383 is a little route, but it's got a lot of history behind it. Let's roll.

Route 383 traces it's beginnings back in the summer of 1998. It was a new service to replace a withdrawn section of route 326, which on the same day of 383's new contract this year (2015) passed to London Sovereign - that will be in a different post. The route was awarded to London Northern from Potters Bar (PB) garage (which eventually became Metroline's in the near future). Running between Potters Bar Station and New Barnet Station via Kitts End and Hadley Highstone and then the current route from The Spires up to New Barnet Station, 383 was allocated Marshall Capital bodied Dennis Darts. The buses were 8.9m in length.

Only a year later was 383 modified, and in 1999, the route had a round-the-block extension from Potters Bar Station to the garage, and also on the southern end to Woodside Park via the current routing. The peak vehicle requirement was raised from 3 to 5. Woodside Park was in need and many residents had desired for bus links to and from the station. 

By Autumn 2001, route 383 was converted to Low Floor operation using Plaxton Pointers. The PVR decreased to 4.

2003 proved an interesting year for route 383. Independent company Sullivan Buses, who seems to be cherished by many enthusiasts for their outstanding works on Rail Replacement and route 298, had made their debut into TfL service. Just like Uno, their first route was the 383. Taken over on July 26th 2003, 4 new Caetano Slimbuses were ordered and the route was operated from South Mimms (SM) depot.

The new contract bought some route changes along with it - route 383 was cut back to Barnet, The Spires from Potters Bar without any TfL routes replacing it. Routes 84/84A, operated by Metroline, are the main link between Barnet and Potters Bar now. Due to this cutback on the 383, the PVR was decreased to 3.

During these 5 years, route 383 became the most reliable bus route in London according to statistics and figures. The route was said to have only had around 5 curtailments in it's entire contract! That's about one turn a year. The company's pride in delivering the service had also seen customer satisfaction on route 383 soar, although to everybody's astonishment in 2008, the route was awarded to Metroline once again. 

https://flic.kr/p/fZbjFE
© Snappy Pete (Peter Dean)

Metroline had vowed to use near-new Enviro 200s on the new 383 contract. Due to capacity issues on route E6 at Perivale (PA) garage, new longer buses were ordered displacing the LK07-plated buses. Metroline transferred these vehicles to Potters Bar (PB) for use on routes 383 and 384. Sullivan ceased operation on route 383 on the 25th July 2008.

Now, you probably know who Uno are if you have been to Hatfield or seen their pink and purple buses running around in Wembley Park, Enfield or even Stanmore! They entered a bid for route 383 from their only depot, Hatfield (HF) and successfully won the rights to operate the route. 4 brand new Enviro 200s were ordered, numbered 601-604. Uno ordered it to a generic interior, and not to their own (they do have their own interior) and took over 383 on the 25th July 2015 with 603 being their first bus out at 0540.


Uno were having problems using the new TfL equipment, such as iBus - many buses for the first part of the day ran without announcements due to the drivers being inexperienced with this equipment. Controllers at The Spires came on later at the day and finally managed to sort out the problem and turn on the iBus. The new buses have been said to look average, but on the upside are incredibly quick and comfortable!

©LondonBuses72

©LondonBuses72

©LondonBuses72

©LondonBuses72

Here is the fleetlist for route 383 from 2003 onwards!

Sullivan Buses:
CN02 SUL - DN4
DN03 SUL - DN5
DS03 SUL - DN6
LT03 SUL - DN7

Metroline:
LK07 BDO - DES791
LK07 BDU - DES792
LK07 BDV - DES793
LK07 BDX - DES794
LK07 BDY - DES795
LK07 BDZ - DES796
LK07 BEJ - DES797 
LK07 BEO - DES798
LK07 BEU - DES799
LK07 BEY - DES800
LK07 ELJ - DES801
LK07 ELO - DES802

Uno:
YY15 NKA - AE 601
YY15 NKC - AE 602
YY15 NKD - AE 603
YY15 NKE - AE 604

Can the University of Hertfordshire master running route 383, or will they need to do a bit more revision on how to successfully operate a bus route? Let us know in the comments section below. 

©LondonBuses72

Thanks for reading this post, stay safe and keep on spotting!

Today's Know Your Routes is the first published in a while. Looking at the picture, the subject today is on route E10, between Northolt Islip Manor and Ealing Broadway Station.

Arriva TGM 3425 (YX14 RYO) is seen at Greenford Broadway in the first week of the new service.

Today's post takes us out to explore one of East London's major trunk routes and one of the busiest routes in London. Route 86 runs between Stratford and Romford Station and is operated by Stagecoach London from their Romford garage with two morning journeys crosslinked from West Ham garage. 

17874 picks up at Stratford Bus Station to do a rounder to Romford
© EastLondoner

18476 arrives at Romford Station
© LondonBuses72

The routing is pretty straightforward. The route starts at Romford Station, Atlanta Boulevard and then continues down through to Western Road following on with the first exit from the roundabout onto Mercury Gardens. The route then follows onto St Edwards Way and exits onto London Road. From there it continues until Chadwell Heath where London Road turns into High Road, continuing in a straight line all the way through Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes and Seven Kings in a straight line. Then it reaches Ilford where it turns onto Winston Way before returning to High Road in Ilford Town Centre. Then it turns off into Clements Road and then once again returns to High Road. It then turns onto Chapel Road on Ilford Broadway until crossing the North Circular Road (A406) and using Romford Road all the way until Stratford Broadway. From there it turns off to go to stand at Stratford Bus Station.

17874 heading to stand after performing a short working to Ilford Broadway
© EastLondoner

18452 is seen alighting at Stratford Bus Station
© GloriousWater

Route 86 has quite a long history. originally running between Limehouse and Upminster Park Estate starting in 1959. Then in 1964 it was withdrawn between Upminster station and Upminster Park Estate however in 1966 the route was re-extended to Upminster Park Estate albeit only on Sundays. In 1972, it was further cut back with the eastern terminus becoming Romford Station like how it is today, further change saw it being cut back from the western end between Limehouse and Bow but this move was reversed in 1984 with the route returning to Limehouse. However a change in 1985 saw a variety of western destinations. The route would run between Romford Station and Stratford Monday to Saturday with the service being extended to Bromley by Bow during the peaks but on Sunday the whole service would run to Limehouse. In 1987 the peak workings to Bromley by Bow were altered to run to Mile End. 1993 saw the route withdrawn between Mile End and Limehouse just to run as far as Stratford all day and every day. 

18473 circles Stratford Bus Station to go to Stand
©KLConnected

The route is currently allocated ALX400 buses, however during late evenings it is the norm to find Enviro400 vehicles on the route, as route N86 uses Enviro400 buses and a few journeys are generally crosslinked with the route. Something interesting about the batch of Tridents this route is allocated is that 17758 was part of the batch, for some of you that may ring a bell and rightly so because that was the bus involved in the 7/7 London Bombings while operating on route 30.

As I mentioned at the start of the article, two journeys are crosslinked from West Ham garage, this is from route 158 and they use the running numbers of WH#83 and WH#84. As these buses run from route 158s allocation ALX400s and Enviro400s are both equally liable to appear on the route, once there was even a Scania Omnicity!

10106 is seen displaying N86 blinds
©Mikey Busman

Now lets focus more on the night service running under the number of the N86 running between Stratford and Harold Hill, Dagnam Park Square. The routing between Stratford and Romford is identical to that of route 86 however it doesn't serve Romford Station and instead diverts away to provide a night service to part of Route 174 between Romford and Harold Hill. The route is officially on paper allocated with the same buses that the daytime 86 uses, but in practice the much newer Enviro400 buses kept at Romford garage (NS) are sent out on the service. The photo to the right, is however not a bus you'd find on route N86 as it is based at West Ham (WH) for route 238. However as I mentioned earlier the 86 does operate using West Ham's buses and when 86 is blinded on a bus, N86 is generally included on the blindsets. 

Sometimes Enviro400s do sneak out onto the daytime service as well whenever there are shortages of Tridents available.

10155 is seen at Ilford Hill going towards Romford Station
© grahamwalker007

17775 takes some stand time at Atlanta Boulevard, Romford
© London Bus Breh

I would include a fleetlist, but as with many Stagecoach London garages when allocations are shared between routes batches don't generally keep themselves separate. So therefore it's almost impossible to pinpoint which buses are allocated to route 86, especially considering its buses were ordered well over 10 years ago.

During the Olympics many of the route's buses were wrapped up in adverts for the event. The London Bus Breh managed to catch up with 17775 which was one of the buses wrapped up in a Samsung Galaxy S3 wrapper of which Samsung was an official sponsor for the Olympic Games. The route's buses have also seen multiple Vodafone wrappers in the past as well.

17854 (LX03 BZH) arrives at Romford Station on route 86.
©LondonBuses72

We hope you have enjoyed this post, and found it informative. Let us know in the comments section about your thoughts on the route.

Over the next few months on the blog, we will be covering a number of service changes that are due to be happening around the Heathrow area.