C Six Seven

Abellio London 8864 on Lambeth Bridge. (© Aubrey)

 Abellio had the first batch of E400 MMCs in TfL service, but it took a bit over another year for them to get their first E200 counterparts. These buses are in two batches that entered service around the same time, short wheelbase 8210-8219 at BC for route 367's win from Go-Ahead and longer 8844-8864 for route C10's contract renewal. Both were due in service on the 19th of March but the C10's batch phased into service later than that.
Based on Abellio's previous batches of Euro6 E200s these were initially expected to be on a ZF semi-automatic gearbox, however they arrived with an Allison gearbox like E200s before those.

Abellio London 8217 on stand in Bromley. (© Jacek)

Most of the 367 ones were in service on the first day. However none of the buses had working iBus systems for about 3 weeks due to a glitch on TfL's side. These vehicles are pretty speedy, bright and comfortable inside, and passengers were complimenting them as "lovely new buses" on the first day. Abellio's service on the first day had the occasional gap, some slight delays, which is pretty typical for the first day of service. The route mostly runs through side roads and is generally a longer version of the 119, with both having termini in Bromley and Croydon.

These have new style blinds:

Abellio London 8210 at Bromley South. (© Aubrey)

The 367's previous buses, a batch of short Dart/Esteems, have transferred to MB to replace older Darts in the fleet. Here is 234 at East Croydon before the route transferred from MB to C:

Metrobus 234 at East Croydon. (© Aubrey)

These buses have since strayed onto other routes at BC. As I don't have a photo, here's a picture of one on the 367 blinded for the 152:

8213 on an odd working...not really, it's just a blind change. (© Jacek)

Bit cheeky, but oh well. The driver was nice and friendly too.

The C10's batch entered service a few days after, some with iBus and some without - again, all the buses had iBus after 3 or so weeks. 8844-8864 are nearly identical internally to the 367 batch, but having slightly more legroom, and obviously more capacity due to being longer. These are just as speedy and again attracted positive comments from the passengers much like the 367's batch.

Abellio London 8852 at Millbank in front of the Red Arrow bus stop. (© Anthony)

The route is getting another frequency increase (to every 7-8 minutes in the peaks) due to heavy usage. Running between Canada Water and Victoria it links residential areas with transport hubs for its entire length. It runs alongside the Thames for a decent part of its length while jutting in and out of important interchanges like the newly (badly) redesigned Elephant & Castle, or passing through residential roads.

This batch also have new style blinds:

8848 ends a journey at Canada Water. (© Jacek)

As you can see, the C10 number is a little squashed but otherwise they don't look too different from the old ones.

It also recently did a garage transfer from QB to WL, hence the incorrect codes on 8855 for W seen here. Well done, Abellio(!)

8855 and 8858 stand at Canada Water. (© Jacek)

Its old E200s were only a few years old and have transferred to BC and TF for the 152 and 235 respectively. The TF ones have new style blinds.

Lastly, I (Jacek) videoed a journey on 8862 on the C10. Here is the video:

Route C10 will still get strays of old-style E200s in the form of short ones off the 484, although this is maybe not the best bus to put on the route given how busy it gets. A trip south to do either batch of MMCs is recommended as these are quite nice buses, comfortable, speedy and without many rattles.