31/08/2018

ImberBus 2018

2018 saw over 20 past and present London double deck buses descend on the Wiltshire town of Warminster to operate the annual 23A service to the lost village of Imber (and beyond).

The village of Imber nestled in the Salisbury Plains was taken over by the military in 1943 to assist with the war efforts, yet in 1945, was not handed back, and has remained with the Army ever since. Parts of the military range are opened up to the general public for a few days each year, usually around late August and mid December.

In 2009, a group of bus industry professionals achieve a long standing ambition to run a bus service from Warminster to this lost village of Imber. It has proved so popular that ImberBus has now become an annual event, with most journeys continuing beyond to places rarely seen by public transport users.


RMC1510 was the first bus out to Imber Village.
© Tommy Cooling
Abellio LT700 and RML2735.
© Tommy Cooling


RATP LT1000 and the 23A "bus stop".
© Tommy Cooling

RM1400 at New Zealand Farm Camp
© Tommy Cooling


RM1400 & RM1451 at the Imber Park & Ride site.
© Tommy Cooling

RM1941.
© Tommy Cooling

RMC1485 & RML2735
© Tommy Cooling

RM1941 crosses the Berril Valley Bridge.
© Tommy Cooling

RML2735 also crosses the bridge followed by 2 special guests.
© Tommy Cooling

First discover, 69502.
© Tommy Cooling

TfL VP20.
© Tommy Cooling

RML2344 & Lothian RM(X)242
© Tommy Cooling

RM613.
© Tommy Cooling

MD60 was another special guest.
© Tommy Cooling


RM1400 & RM597 at Gore Cross.
© Tommy Cooling

RM1400 & RM597 at Gore Cross Interchange bus station.
© Tommy Cooling

RM597 & Metroline ST812 in Chitterne.
© Tommy Cooling

RM597 outside Chitterne Church.
© Tommy Cooling

RM597, RM1005 & RM1941.
© Tommy Cooling

Side-on front profiles.
© Tommy Cooling

RM1005 in Tilshead.
© Tommy Cooling

RM1941 in Tilshead.
© Tommy Cooling

Buses departing Gore Cross.
© Tommy Cooling

Abellio LT700.
© Tommy Cooling

Abellio LT700.
© Tommy Cooling

Arriva LT1, RML2344 & RM613 at Gore Cross bus station.
© Tommy Cooling

First duo reunited, RMC1510 & RML2735 at New Zealand Farm Camp.
© Tommy Cooling

RMC1510 & RML2735.
© Tommy Cooling

RM9 and LT700.
© Tommy Cooling

LT700.
© Tommy Cooling


RM1005.
© Tommy Cooling


Stagecoach LT264.
© Tommy Cooling

LT700.
© Tommy Cooling

Four heading back towards Imber & Warminster.
© Tommy Cooling

RM9, LT700 and LTNM Battle Bus in Imber.
© Tommy Cooling

MD60 crossing the bridge.
© Tommy Cooling

RM1978, RM1654 & RM1005 at Gore Cross.
© Tommy Cooling

MD60, RM597 & RM1941 at Gore Cross.
© Tommy Cooling

"Taking down" the Gore Cross bus station until 2019.
© Tommy Cooling

The convoy heading back towards Imber.
© Tommy Cooling

The convoy climbing Sack Hill.
© Tommy Cooling

MD60 on Sack Hill
© Tommy Cooling

LT1000 going home.
© Tommy Cooling


Buses waiting at Imber.
© Tommy Cooling


The 2018 "line-up" drive past getting organised.
© Tommy Cooling

Snaking through the Plains.
© Tommy Cooling

You wait one year then fifteen turn up at once!
© Tommy Cooling


RMC1510, RM597 & RM1400 at Warminster station at the end of the day.
All over until 2019!
© Tommy Cooling


Post by Tommy Cooling
Some of these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:
Please do not reproduce any of my images without permission

20/08/2018

Picture Archive Post 74 + The Issue of the Bus Cuts in Central London

First London VNL32276 on Route 10, Kensington High Street, 01/09/2008
First London VNL32276 on Route 10, Kensington High Street, 01/09/2008
(© Aubrey)

VNL32276 is a Volvo B7TL/ALX400 ordered for the truncated Route 10 back in January 2003. The bus had a relatively short London career, being allocated to the 10 throughout. Other than being initially based at Wood Lane due to Westbourne Park being full when the 10 was gained, the bus had stayed at Westbourne Park (X) until the 10 was regained by London United. It also ran on other Westbourne Park based decker bus routes, including the 7, 23, 28, 31 and 328. Once the 10 was lost, the bus moved to Doncaster for use on First routes there, where it still is currently.

As the 10 has been covered in an earlier Picture Archive Post, this post is also another opinion piece, this time to do with the larger reduction of bus routes.

The current issue.

With the advent of the leaked Transport for London proposed Central London bus cuts, the current cuts already happening, and the endless frequency reductions, it seems the cuts to buses seem endless. Although there is a large funding black hole caused by previous Chancellor, George Osbourne, there surely must be better ways of dealing with it than just reducing the current network.

There is excess capacity within Central London, but the issue is that buses are unattractive within Central London. Congestion within the centre has only gotten worse over the years, making people move away from buses for short distance travel. If we reduce the current public transport infrastructure, then this makes public transport less attractive than before. People can point to Crossrail and the Northern Line extension as a diversion tactic away from the real fact that people are being drawn away from public transport currently. These schemes will bring more people in, but these things are in a few years, and the issue is pressing right now.

Buses within Central London also suffer from too little stand space. Many of the roads which are of over capacity are "last/first mile" reaches to parts of the route which are more popular. This includes the inner-Central London stretches of some of the mooted buses to be cut, including 14, 22, 53, 171, 172 etc. The bus network within Central London is designed to be interlinked. Most of the proposed changes are designed to remove these "interlinked" sections, where buses from the east/west and north/south meet. Inevitably, with this type of network, it leads to the system having many empty buses directly in the centre. This can be viewed as inefficient, and some cuts can be made.

However, making large scale cuts (some of which ironically negate other cuts which were made a few years ago) can lead to a more patchwork network across Central London, therefore TfL need to be careful about what they cut. Another issue within inner London is the lack of bus stand space with the amount of increased buses over the years. It has led to severely awkward stands at the back of Oxford Street to serve Oxford Circus, and the proposal of the 27 to stand away from Hammersmith Bus Station, at Hammersmith Grove due to sheer lack of stand space at the main area of Hammersmith. Elephant and Castle is going to be turned into a massive array of bus stops which should really be a large smooth bus station, with the sheer amount of bus routes terminating at the area.

Buses has been noted to have a severe decrease of passengers over more recent times. This is a serious issue, and the more unattractive the first and last mile transport is, the more likely people will move to Uber, Addison Lee and other similar minicab services. The two mentioned have had previous public relations disasters recently, and it seems we are moving towards a wrong direction with transport within London.

At night, this leads to severe traffic nightmares throughout Central London as long queues around midnight-1am are full of taxis and minicabs plying for trade, simply because bus travel is not as attractive at night anymore. Night Tube has moved people underground, but there are some places where night buses need to improve, and most certainly not be cut. As London grows as a city, we should have more people on public transport, not less.

What seems to be currently done.

Currently, Transport for London are attempting to make public transport more attractive by advertising their own lines...on their own stations. If people are already at the station, then why would you advertise the exact service they are getting on. Meanwhile, the cycle superhighways being built compromises the existing bus network by squeezing existing bus and other traffic into smaller road space. Special cycle lanes do encourage cycling to work, which can only be good. To address the bus problem, they are cutting services with frequency reductions across the board. London is supposed to have a world class transport system, but surely it could be better. No money is being spent for bus infrastructure within Central London. New buses are as part and parcel of contracting bus services, but there are many bus routes which are being awarded to different companies with refurbished existing buses.

How do we actually make buses attractive again?

Any action required does mean that we need to spend money. Making bus travel attractive will bring more people back to buses.

Making it harder for other vehicles to access certain parts of London will 'force' people to take public transport. This could be done by actually making the Congestion Charge a full congestion charge. When the charge was introduced, it was a flat rate for all vehicles, which was discounted if you lived within the area or just on the outskirts of the zone (understandable, as it's basically charging you to drive no matter what if you live there). Recently, incentives have been made for vehicles with low emissions to be exempt to the congestion charge, completely negating the exact reason why the congestion charge exist. Personally, I don't care if your car is a new electric vehicle, or a 1993 diesel, if you are in a car, you could easily make that journey bus or train. Yes, there are some circumstances where public transport may be difficult to use (e.g. moving house), but most of these exemptions are one-offs, or costs that could be negotiated to provide better value for the trade/companies. Long distance travel can pass along the ring roads which exist solely for through traffic to by-pass Central London. Embankment is a very notable road which is used as a thoroughfare to keep vehicles away from the smaller Central London streets. However, with the Cycle Superhighway, the road has narrowed to the point vehicles are ironically using the more central roads to circumnavigate the Embankment.

Making bus priority measures more prominent, and longer bus lanes, forcing other traffic onto dedicated roads (e.g. Embankment). This allows bus journeys to be faster, thus journey times are faster. This means buses can be removed to retain the same frequency, with those buses being spent on outer London services.

Increasing fares. Yes, this may seem detrimental in the short term, but the £1.50 fare was initially envisaged as a fare for one sole bus. Now, you can travel on more buses for the same fare, thus increasing the value of that fare. However, with the hopper fare, it means that the fare vastly underpays the actual value of the journey. This is one of the primary reasons why there is such an exaggerated black hole in the funding for Transport for London. Once the Mayoral role has changed over to whomever the Conservative candidate is once Khan's reign is over, this unfortunately will be one of the inevitable results. Rising fares does make mobility of people difficult though, and as there are a lack of wage rises, I highly doubt this would be popular as people would need to spend more to travel.

Cutting some services which are easily duplicated is still required. For example, the extension of the 88 over the C2 route cuts minimal links, but covers the whole C2 route in the process in any case. However, the Hopper is now being made a "fits-all" solution to all broken links, and consultations time and time again all cry like as if this is the solution to the world's needs! However, if the journey times are so slow, it can ironically negate the hopper if it takes more than 70 minutes to make the connection itself.

If one is to cut routes, infrastructure and timetables need to be coordinated so that there are very small times for connections during the daytime, and that changes are convenient. Building a bus station at Elephant and Castle would be no easy task, but Vauxhall just shows that a large bus station could improve interchange, especially between the disconnected rail stations. The sheer amount of bus routes being changed around Elephant and Castle over the years, with more terminating routes could lead to an issue of stand space in the area. One could certainly go all White City-like and put the bus stands in the undercroft of a large development, but the stand space exists in one area, which is the main thing.

Transport for London have no easy solution out of this, but they've certainly shot themselves in the foot with their own errors of funding.

The full extent of the cuts can be seen here: https://853london.com/2018/08/15/tfl-plans-permanent-cutbacks-for-routes-53-171-and-172-in-huge-bus-axe-scheme/

The views of this post do not reflect the views of the rest of the WLTM Transport Blog, and are solely the personal views of the author.

Post by Aubrey.
All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2018

18/08/2018

Break up of the 68 corridor

The 68 corridor has been long been a corridor that has always been within the same operator, and one of the few corridors to have an express route (the other corridor with that distinction is the Uxbridge Road (207) corridor). However, on the 31st March 2018, the four routes went their own separate ways. 68/N68 moved to pastures new, but only across the road as it went to Abellio London from Walworth (WL). Arriva London South saw the return of the 468 into their clutches, albeit at Norwood (N). Finally, the X68 stayed put, as it was retained by London Central from Camberwell (Q).

Route 68

The route transferred from Go-Ahead to Abellio using the existing batch of LT-class vehicles. In the final weeks of the Go-Ahead contract, the LTs were running around with company stickers removed. However unlike when Go-Ahead took over the 15 with its LTs off of Stagecoach, Abellio had fitted all of their "new" vehicles with full company logos and legal lettering from day one.

Go-Ahead LT668, November 2017
© Tommy Cooling

Abellio London LT674 on Route 68, Elephant & Castle
Abellio London LT674, Elephant & Castle, March 2017
© Aubrey

The Abellio LTs had normal sized logos on the nearside, but for some reason, the offside logos are smaller and placed very close to the fleet numbers. The buses allocated to the 68 were transferred directly as the batch for the 68. Now, they can be found on any of Abellio's LT routes, as they have new blinds which include the 3/N3 and 159 too.

Abellio LT676, Waterloo Bridge, March 2018
© Tommy Cooling
Route N68

This route passed from Go-Ahead to Abellio with the 68 day service, as part of the 68 contract. The night route is also based at Walworth (WL). Existing Enviro 400 hybrid buses are used from the existing fleet.

First Abellio N68
The first Abellio London operated N68 at Old Coulsdon, run by 2581.
(© Aubrey)

With the operator change, the changeover between 68 and N68 is now with a notable timetable gap, for some reason. That means the northern part of the route (Elephant & Castle-Holborn) service would be covered by other routes (e.g. 171).

Abellio London 2600 on Route N68, Tottenham Court Road
Abellio London 2600 on Route N68, Tottenham Court Road
(© Aubrey)

The N68 first night was uneventful, and operation since has been smooth enough. Nearly every single bus on the route has been these Enviro 400H/Enviro 400MMCs, but some LTs are still capable of straying onto this route.

Route 468

This route passed from Go-Ahead to Arriva London South, with a batch of brand new Volvo B5LH/Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 HVs based out of Norwood garage. This marks the return of the 468 back in Arriva hands, after it moved to Go-Ahead London Central back in 2006. However, as the 468 is not based at Croydon (TC), as in the previous operation, so there has been no extension from the Swan & Sugar Loaf in South Croydon.

Go-Ahead E59, November 2017
© Tommy Cooling
Last Go-Ahead London 468
The last Go-Ahead London operated 468 was run by MHV72
(© Aubrey)

The 468 now has a different garage, and is based where the 68 was based the last time Arriva operation was on the 68 corridor (Norwood N).

Arriva London HV402 on Route 468, West Norwood Station
The platforms of West Norwood Rail Station provide this unusual viewpoint of HV402.
(© Aubrey)

Arriva London HV411 on Route 468, South Croydon
Some of the first 18 plate buses were the HVs for the 468, as seen by HV411 on its first run.
(© Aubrey)

Arriva London HV300 on Route 468, Elephant & Castle
As the Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 3 is one of the dominant types at Norwood (N), inevitably, buses from other batches will run on the 468. This bus is from the 2.
(© Aubrey)

Other than a notable road traffic incident early in their operation, the 468 was only notably plagued by delays from West Norwood road works.

Route X68

This was the one "68" route on the corridor that has stayed with Go-Ahead. This route was won with new vehicles, a small batch of E40H MMCs. It was announced by TfL that a tri-axle BCI double decker, in new TfL spec design would also run on the route as a demonstrator. However, the bus would not fit in West Croydon Bus Station, thus that demonstrator (TA1) will run on a different route instead (12).

Go-Ahead PVL304, February 2016
© Tommy Cooling
In order to comply with the Brixton ULEZ, the X68 had to be converted to Euro 6 (irregardless, it would be converted with the new contract). During the operation of the Brixton ULEZ, buses which were not hybrid had to run via Camberwell, which is the longer route.

London Central WHV175 on Route X68, Aldwych
WHV175 off the batch for Route 188 is seen on an AM peak X68 at Aldwych.
(© Aubrey)

The issue with the new style blinds is the re-introduction of partial reverse coloured text (black text on white box). Unfortunately, this has seemingly been unreadable at distance, and as seen in the photograph above, condensation can prove to be an issue too.

Unreadable White Bar
MHV72 at West Croydon, back in 2016 when hybrids on the X68 was not so common, at the end of a PM peak journey.
(© Aubrey)

As seen on this photograph, the white bar is barely readable with the LED blind backlight.

The allocation of hybrid buses on the X68 allows the route to run direct via Brixton between Waterloo and West Norwood, allowing faster journeys. As the 468 has been lost, the X68 has resorted to borrowing from the 176 and 188 allocations in the morning, and from the 624 and 658 in the evenings. It also has its own allocation of 8 buses, which are linked with the 188 otherwise.

Post by Tommy & Aubrey
Photos by Tommy, Aubrey
All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2018
Please do not reproduce any images without permission