Last year it surprised many enthusiasts that route E10 (Northolt - Ealing) was announced to pass from Metroline West to Tellings Golden Miller in Heathrow. The order consisted of 9 new Enviro200s built to normal Arriva specification but with a special new ZF gearbox which was used to reduce fuel. The order carries numbers 3425 - 3433 from Arriva Southern Counties (which TGM are a part of) which appears to follow on from a batch of Darts found in service in Southend.

This one was curtailed to Scotch
Common because of late-running

The route is a strange and interesting one - skipping the busy hub of Northolt by instead using the Islip Manor estate. Then the route heads down by Smiths Farm diverting around the awkward but rather appropriately-named Horseshoe Crescent before reaching the main Ruislip Road. The bus says we're going to Ealing Broadway - so it's direct from here on in? Oh, no, next we're diving off into more estates around the narrow Ferrymead Avenue before heading down Oldfield Lane South and then returning to the old Ruislip Road. From here on in it's straight to Ealing, running alongside the much bigger 297 for the majority of the way past Scotch Common and into Ealing Broadway's Haven Green array of bus stands.

I think that the word to describe the service on the 31st of last month was 'chaos', which it was. Most of the drivers were, whilst they knew how to drive the buses and where to go, unable to work the vast array of technology required by TFL - primarily the smartblind and the iBus. I myself had to help out a driver with both bits of tech - the smartblind was apparently 'broken' after a few other drivers and a controller all failed to get it working, but in fact it's just the annoying new Mobitec system which requires a little more patience and a little more button-pushing to get the desired result.

The route was operated by First Centrewest for much of its life, before the contract was shifted to Metroline West along with most other Centrewest routes in June 2013. It was operated by Metroline West for just under a year with the Enviro200s transferred from First (re-coded DES) - these will be return off-lease now that they are redundant.



So, onto the new TGM era - many enthusiasts have been excited that this company has returned to the London scene - with the loss of First, the area is very much Metroline-dominated now and it's always nice to have some variety. Unfortunately for some, the buses have all been Arriva-branded (since TGM is owned by them), but the drivers all wear TGM uniforms and the legals do say TGM so there is some display of the good old TGM name, however small.

The buses are very interesting - the first in a line of Euro VI buses with new engine / gearbox combinations. Many passengers were commenting on the smart new buses, which is always nice to see and I'm sure they will do well for the coming contract.

Here's to TGM for the next 5 years!

School Routes, numbered 601-699 (bar the express route 607) and Mobility Routes (901-999) are generally notoriously hard to capture as they run at difficult times, and not on every day of the week (mobility routes only run once or twice a week).

Anyways, Jacob, LondonBusBreh and myself have managed to gather a few pictures of both School Routes and Mobility Routes, which follow:



Metroline TP403 / LK03 CEJ on route 603 at Swiss Cottage.
©London Bus Breh.

Route 603: This route runs between Swiss Cottage and Muswell Hill Broadway, and was successfully recently retained by Metroline Travel from Holloway (HT). Before 2012, route 603 was run with the first ever low floor buses in the Metroline fleet, the elderly T-reg Plaxton Presidents that were on a Euro 2 Trident Chassis with a Voith Gearbox. After Metroline lost route C2 last year, these elderly buses were deemed no longer fit for passenger service in London, and now still remain at Ensignbus, in Purfleet, Essex. These are currently been sold although some buses have found a new home.

So what does the 603 run with now? Spare TP's, which are slightly younger, are often used and the occasional TE is seen. For a short amount of time, VWs could be sighted serving the route. Both observations here are provided by LondonBusBreh.

Metroline TE928 / LK58 KGJ on route 603 at Swiss Cottage.
©London Bus Breh.

Route 609: One of the shorter school routes and is rather unique in the TfL network which runs between Hammersmith and Mortlake/ Harrodian School, located in Barnes. The route crosses Barnes Bridge, just south of Hammersmith to get to the other side of River Thames where the route goes onto a "Hail & Ride" section located on Kilmington Road, Verdun Road and Lonsdale Road where it ends at the school. These journeys to Harrodian School only happen in the afternoons whereas in the mornings, buses continue from Harrodian school to Mortlake, Bus Station.

Metroline DE1002 / LK09EOD on route 609 at Hammersmith
(C) LondonBuses72

It is operated by Metroline from Brentford (AH) using 4 Enviro 200's in the morning and 2 Enviro 200's (?) in the afternoon.

Route 631:

YJ06 YRP/ 2468 at Golders Green Station whilst serving route 631.
(C) LondonBuses72

The newest school route in London, having started Mid-May this year, replaced school route H1. 631 runs between Golders Green Station and Henrietta Barnett School (Note the incorrect spelling on the blinds) using one Optare Solo that makes 8 journeys in the morning and 8 journeys in the afternoon. A total of 16 journeys! There is a bus every 15 minutes using the sole Solo as one journey only takes 5 minutes to complete, the bus goes around Hoop Lane and Bigwood Road via Finchley Road.

The route is operated by Arriva Shires & Essex from Garston (GR) using one 7.8m Optare Solo. The last H3 bus service turns into a 631 when it arrives at Golders Green at 14:45 each day. 

Route 632: Another school route, that supports a regular day service, route 32, that runs between Edgware & Kilburn Park. Route 632 has a PVR of 3 and runs between Kilburn Park to Colindale, Grahame Park. In the afternoons, the first journey runs to Kilburn Park whilst the 2nd and 3rd journey run as far as Cricklewood Broadway, The Crown only. The route is actually allocated ex-266 TA's, but with a couple of spare hybrids in fleet, TEH's are used instead. The route is run from Cricklewood (W) and is operated by Metroline Travel Limited.



Metroline TEH1238 / LK61 BLN in Kilburn serving route 632.
©London Bus Breh.

Route 635: Slightly longer than 609, the 635 runs between Brentford, County Court and St Paul's School. The route was designated to help out the St Paul's School loadings off 235, which is a single decker route whereas 635 is double deck. The route passed on to London United which Metroline had respectively lost. 

The route is operated by 3 buses, which are 3 TA's (9.9m Trident ALX400) although TLA's/ SP's based at Hounslow Heath (HH) where 635 is run from may also appear on the route. One 635 working is also interlinked with route H91 (Hammersmith - Hounslow West) so after the bus on HH #492 is finished on 635 in the afternoon, immediately it runs light to Hammersmith to start it's duties on H91. 

2 photos are provided below of route 635, both owned by LondonBuses72. 

London United TA217 / SN51SYW on route 635 at Brentford, County Court
(C) LondonBuses72

Our next route school route is route 698, which is operated by London United RATP Group, and runs between West Drayton station and Ickenham. The route uses spare TA's/ TLA's and SP's and is run from Hounslow Heath (HH) garage.

London United SP191 / YR10FFW on route 698 at Hillingdon Hill 
(C) LondonBuses72

Route 640: Like 635 and 609, the bus route 640 supports a regular day route, well in LondonBuses72's opinion, it supports the best route ever, the 140. 640 only supports 140 on the Harrow section where it starts at South Harrow station and follows day route 140 all the way to Harrow Weald, Bus Garage where the 140 terminates leaving the 640 to make the short climb up to Bentleywood High School, situated on Clamp Hill, in Harrow Weald (technically Stanmore, for some reason).

The route was lost from the hands of Metroline from the Harrow Weald (HD) garage, in 2009 when Arriva Shires & Essex took the contract from the Garston (GR) base which to a number of people thought was a stupid idea for TfL to allow a bid that far, the buses have to drive (In the mornings) about 9-10 miles to get to South Harrow station from their base OUTSIDE of London. Arriva won the contract with 2 new buses in the form of 6100 and 6101, which are the integral Wright Gemini 2's. These buses mostly appear on route 258, but do make appearances on the 640 fairly often.

Here are a selection of photos of 6101, one of the two buses for 640, all by myself:

Arriva Shires 6101 / KX59AEF on route 640 at Whitmore Road (LJN)

Arriva Shires 6101 / KX59AEF on route 640 at Shaftesbury Circle (LJN)

With the different vehicle types up at GR, other double decker buses always make appearances:

Arriva Shires 6041 / LJ05GLY on route 640 at Clamp Hill (LJN)

Arriva Shires 6036 / YJ55WOU on route 640 at Whitmore Road (LJN)

Arriva Shires 6016 / KL52CXH on route 640 at Whitmore Road (LJN)

And for those who are wondering, I know that Arriva Shires like putting single decker buses on the double decker routes when they have run out of buses, but this will never happen on the 640 as it is actually the biggest priority when the buses are allocated. The single deckers aren't even blinded correctly, anyway.

Route 183: Yes, most of us are aware 183 ISN'T a school route, however it does have a special school journey in the afternoon from Jewish Free School to Golders Green Station. The bus leaves JFS at around 15:55 and runs non-stop to Kingsbury Station where it then follows line of route to Golders Green. 

The bus can be any double-decker at Edgware (BT), a VLE to a VLP. Usually though, it isn't an SP that 183 is allocated.

LondonBuses72 catches up with the school working on 183:

YN55 NKJ/ SLE40 at JFS on 183 (LB72)

   

Route 628, 653, 683 and 688: We now move onto the next school routes of the segment, routes 628, 653, 683 and 688. It is 4 of the 7 TfL school routes that serve Jewish Free School (JFS) on The Mall, located in Kingsbury. 628 only operates in the afternoons and runs between Kingsbury, JFS and Southgate underground station and uses 3 buses. 

You're probably thinking why does 628 only operate in the afternoons? How do the school children get to school in the mornings?

The answer is the students use bus route 688, as the 628 follows route 688 for most of the journey, just that 628 doesn't serve Queensbury Station like 688 does and 628 doesn't serve Edgware, and instead serves Mill Hill Broadway.

Arriva lost the 628, 653, 683 and 688 last September to Sullivan Buses from their South Mimms (SM) depot where Sullivan used slightly newer buses. They had bought existing buses from a a variety of companies which were refurbished and reblinded for the new contract. Also note that "new" ELV's for route 626 are now in service - And can be seen on these routes.

The fleetlist for these routes are shown here:

PJ02 PZZ - PDL26 - Usually seen 688 mornings, 628 afternoons - Former GAL PDL26

EY03 FNK - TPL926 - Usually seen on route 688 - Former GAL vehicle

EY03 FNL - TPL927 - Usually seen on route 653 - Former GAL vehicle

LY02 OAX - ALX6 - Usually seen 688 mornings, 628 afternoons - Former Stagecoach 17548

FJ57 CYZ - WVL2 - Usually seen on route 683 - Former Commercial Services vehicle

FJ57 CZD - WVL3 - Usually seen on route 653 - Former Commerical Services vehicle

FJ57 CZE - WVL4 - Usually seen on route 688  - Former Commercial Services vehicle

PN02 XBR - Former GAL Vehicle - Usually seen on route 628/ 688

PL51 LGG - ELV3 - Former GAL vehicle - Spare

PN02 XBY - ELV4 - Former GAL vehicle - Usually seen on route 683

PL51 LGD - ELV6 - Former GAL vehicle - Spare

LondonBuses72 managed to catch up with most of the buses in service one day on the 628, 653, 683 and 688:

Sullivan Buses PDL26 / PJ02PZZ on route 628 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses ALX6 / LY02OAX on route 628 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses WVL3 / FJ57CZD on route 653 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses WVL2 / FJ57CYZ on route 683 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses ELV4 / PN02XBY on route 683 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses TPL927 / EY03FNL on route 683 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses TPL926 / EY03FNK on route 688 at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses WVL4 / FJ57CZE on route 688 at JFS (LB72)

Routes B76 and B77 (Commercial, non TfL)

The existing TfL routes that serve Jewish Free School can't get all the students home conveniently, so Sullivan Buses provides 2 services, B76 and B77. The route B76 takes you to Carpenders Park and South Oxhey, whilst B77 takes you to Borehamwood and even as far as Radlett! These routes don't accept Oyster Cards, and are not run with the vehicles that are used on TfL contracts either. 

Sullivan Buses TN3 / PO51UMR on route B76 (non-TfL) at JFS (LB72)

Sullivan Buses WVL1 / GD52SYC on route B77 (non-TfL) at JFS (LB72)

Finally - Mobility Routes

London United DPK614 / SN51SXH on route 965 at Kingston Sainsbury's (LJN)

The 965 route runs between Riverhill and Kingston, Sainsbury's. It runs on a Tuesday and Friday using a 8.9m Enviro 200 as of 28th June and after this date, (This observation was made ALOT earlier this year, sometime in Spring). TfL would, as of 14th September 2013, now like to withdraw this route next month (October 2013) as use of this route is not popular and on average, 10-12 people only regularly use this service. Have your say on the consultation if you would like to save the route! 

Yes I know this route is non-existent now.
VN37782 blinded for route 972 at Ealing Hospital (LJN)

Former mobility route 972 used to run between Colindale, ASDA and Blackbird Cross, Birchen Grove. Due to a small number of passengers using this route, it was decided to withdraw it in 2010.

Thanks for reading!

25th Post, 1200 views and a party! What could be better?! It's our 25th post, so we should get going! It's a mix of everything!

LondonBuses72's personal thanks!

First of all, I (LondonBuses72) would like to start off with a personal message. Thank you to all the readers who tune into our blog daily, giving good comments and no problems on the blog.
I would like to thank the Circle Of London blog for starting their blog which gave me inspiration to start this blog. I would also like to thank Lewis for being such a help, giving me photos to use for my posts and for being such a good help! I really hope we can keep this strong spirit up! I would also like to give personal thanks to: 

Au (WLTM) 
Tom (Tom London Bus Blog) 
Jay (COLB) 
MetrolineJack (MetrolineJack's London Bus Enthusiast Blog) 
and Jack (COLB) 

This is for leaving such positive comments and encouraging me to keep writing these brilliant posts! I know there are more people and that you are thanked as well! Without you all, this blog wouldn't exist!

LondonBuses72's Post Of The Day: The Green, Clean, Hybrid Machines: Route 94

ADH12 approaches Esmond Road, 2 stops before the Acton Green terminus.

Today's post brings me to my second favourite route in London, the mighty 94, with the 140 being my first. The route runs between Acton Green, a small park in Chiswick, via Turnham Green Station, Shepherd's Bush, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Queensway, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus and terminates at Piccadilly Circus.

The route is operated by London United from their Shepherd's Bush (S) garage. The route currently uses Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrid's numbered ADH3-22. Prior to this, the route still used Alexander Dennis buses, but the buses were ALX400's on the Trident 2 chassis which were 10.6m long. Although, the TLA classed vehicles can still be seen on the route today. 

An unidentified ADH leaves "The Orchard" starting the journey back to Piccadilly.

The route is allocated a few TLA's although the ADH's take up about 75% of 94's allocation. These buses were introduced in November 2010 when London United retained their contract. As the bus get's stuck in traffic commonly, TfL thought that London United should order Hybrid buses to reduce pollution.

Here's the fleetlist:

ADH3 - SN60 BXX

ADH4 - SN60 BXY

ADH5 - SN60 BXZ

ADH6 - SN60 BYA

ADH7 - SN60 BYB

ADH8 - SN60 BYC

ADH9 - SN60 BYD

ADH10 - SN60 BYF

ADH11 - SN60 BYG

ADH12 - SN60 BYH

ADH13 - SN60 BYJ

ADH14 - SN60 BYK

ADH15 - SN60 BYL

ADH16 - SN60 BYM

ADH17 - SN60 BYO

ADH18 - SN60 BYP

ADH19 - SN60 BYR

ADH20 - SN60 BYS

ADH21 - SN60 BYT

ADH22 - SN60 BYU

SN60 BYT approaches Esmond Road.

Front of ADH6. This bus was in Vodafone livery.

Rear of ADH6. This bus was in Vodafone livery.

Upper Deck interior facing rear.

Upper Deck Interior facing front.

ADH6 iBus

CCTV screen on ADH6.

That's the end of this part of our 25th Post!

Lewis's Post Of The Day: Old Photos of New Buses!

For those of you who check my Flickr regularly, you will notice I have uploaded some old photos of the new DMVs on route 206. These were taken on their first day in passenger service, and I thought I would share them with you here!

First DMV44307 YX12AFO on route 206 at Wembley Park, The Paddocks

First DMV44304 YX12AFU on route 206 at Wembley Park, The Paddocks

First DMV44311 YX12ATF on route 206 at Wembley Park, The Paddocks

First DMV44305 YX12AFK Out of Service at Wembley Park, The Paddocks

First DMV44307 interior

First DMV44311 cab

First DMV44304 light cluster

First DMV44307 rear

First DMV44304 rear

Our 25 Best Pictures:

From the West London Bus Blog team, we would all like to thank you for a wonderful experience and time! We all hope you enjoyed the post, and thank you deeply for joining us for our 25th post!

LondonBuses72 - Hope you've enjoyed this post - Stay safe!

Lewis - Thanks for coming by!