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Arriva London HA47 on Route 333 in front of a HA on Route 133, Elephant & Castle (© Aubrey)

New buses for the 133, 333 and N133 arrive as the 333 moves from London General to Arriva London South on 21st January 2017. Alexander-Dennis Enviro 400H City buses entered service on these routes, replacing diesel  Enviro 400s (which already are on the 157) on the 133/N133. However, not all the new order are new buses.


Arriva London HV27 on Route 133, Elephant & Castle (© Tommy)

Existing Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2s from Arriva London North have been drafted south for the existing component for the contracts. Along with this, the 133 has moved from Norwood Garage to Brixton Garage, which it passes. Thus, the 133 returns to Brixton Garage since the route moved from South London to London General back in 1990.


Arriva London HV23 on Route 333, Elephant & Castle (© Aubrey)

Route 333, which was formed from the split of the 133, and rerouted to go via Stockwell (hence the 415 exists), has also moved to Brixton Garage. This route was with London General from introduction in January 2003, and had only ever been at Stockwell Garage with the same Volvo B7TL/Wright Gemini buses.


Arriva London HA26 on Route 333, Kennington (© Aubrey)

The 333 also getting the new buses, seen here approaching the 133/333 split part. The 333 was not running with too many issues throughout the day, with the odd curtailment mainly happening on the 133.


Arriva London DW286 and HA36 on Route 133, Elephant & Castle (© Aubrey)

The first N133s the previous night were of the HA kind, so I (Aubrey) had missed the N133 launch with new buses. Therefore, in the next few weeks with night bus observations, Aubrey got a few photos of the N133 with its new buses:


Arriva London HA35 on Route N133, Morden Station (© Aubrey)

The N133 was introduced when the 133 was split into two sections. It has since been diverted to Mitcham, and since extended to Morden as part of Night Tube. It is a fairly useful night route for the local area.


Arriva London HA39 on Route N133, London Bridge (© Aubrey)

The 133, N133 and 333 all had no major hiccups on the first day of the new contracts. Some of the HAs were delivered without LT roundels at the front of the buses.


Arriva London HA31 on Route 133 next to London General LT63 on Route 11, Liverpool Street (© Omar)

On the left is the ADL option, on the right is the full Wrightbus option for "specialist bus for London". Technically, the Wrightbus option also has a Volvo chassis option, but the bodystyles are as shown. Opinions are varied for both, but one can clearly see where the Enviro400 City has design nods to the Borismaster. However, the E400 has more in common with the E400MMC than the Borismaster. These two designs can now be seen side-by-side on stand at Liverpool Street Station.


A stark contrast to the same place, nearly 4 years ago (© Aubrey).

4 years ago, it was Enviro 400s on the 133/N133, and Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Geminis on the 11 (which was also the type on the 133 before it moved to Arriva). Things change so quickly. But are the modern designs progress?

Arriva have a good opportunity to do well on these routes, especially as the garage is now on the line of the route. Presentation of most of the new buses were good on the first day. One existing bus was displaying "133 to Arriva", however.

Au, TCL, MOD