3rd Year: Major Model Change in London - 109 to Abellio London

The third year post of the WLTMTB brings a new type to London. This is the first post that all current blog members had contributed to the blog together. The special third year post is slightly delayed because all of us are very busy people, and hopefully will come out pretty soon.


"You wait for a bus, then six come at once!"
Abellio London 2488 leads a pack of six at the stand on Park Street (Aubrey)

The Enviro 400MMC has finally been entered into London service after Oxford, Reading and Manchester, and the first day did go like most other first days. A massive learning curve.


Abellio London 2510 & 2494 on Route 109, Croydon Park Street (Aubrey)
At least two buses were on stand, if not more throughout the day.


Abellio London 2510, 2xxx and 2494 on Route 109, Croydon Park Street (Aubrey)
The rear treatment of these hybrids differ from the original E400, as for example, the rear blindbox is in the middle and the fans are 2 each either side of the blind box.


Abellio London 2495 (Route 109) and Arriva London DLA388 (Route 250), West Croydon (Aubrey)
A nice comparison between the old and the new for the 109 (and Croydon-Brixton corridor).


Abellio London 2497 on Route 109, West Croydon (Aubrey)
Some buses were running with double gaps, eventually most of the buses were running to West Croydon only. One bus even ran Brixton-Streatham only!


Abellio London 2500 on Route 109, Croydon Park Street (Josh)
Not the excess of six, but a more manageable three on stand at that time.


Abellio London 2488 on Route 109, Croydon Park Street (Lewis)


Abellio London 2490 on Route 109, Croydon Park Street (Josh)

The ride on the MMC is average, the most annoying aspect is the excessive bells. The bus is not rattle free, even though it is supposedly "rattle proof" by ADL. But most rattles are minimised, definitely.


Lower Deck Interior of Abellio London 2494 (Aubrey)
The lower deck design is like a standard MMC, with dual doors. It is like the one that was exhibited at Walworth Garage Open Day.


Upper Deck Interior (from front) (Josh)

 
Upper Deck Interior (from rear) (Josh)
Another average upper deck. The seats are notably slightly harder here than on prior Abellio buses.

Some troubles were encountered on the first few days:

Metrobus-London General 437 (YV03 PZG) on Route 119 is sandwiched between Abellio London 2509 (YY64 TZJ) and 2508 (YY64 TZH) on Route 109, at Croydon Park Street (Aubrey)

The Scania was literally centimetres away if not closer from hitting the wing mirror of 2508! This is the problem with having six on stand at the same time.
A few days later, the wing mirror of one of these MMCs crashed into the back of another MMC breaking the rear window. This was probably due to a misjudgement of the overhang of the nearside wing mirror!


Abellio London 2495 on Route 109, Brixton Police Station (Lewis)
The Enviro 400MMC body looks pretty nice at night, especially with white on black blinds in my (Aubrey) opinion.

And here are some oddities from the first day:
Two Volvo B7TL/Gemini I, fully blinded, were on the route. I (Aubrey) somehow got the same one twice!


Abellio London 9021 on Route 109, West Croydon (Aubrey)


Abellio London 9021 on Route 109, Brixton Station (Aubrey)


Abellio London 2487 on Route 109, Streatham (Jacek)
This bus decided to have no logos, so along with the non-MMCs, presentation wise, not the best.
Overall, the service was not too bad, excepting the confusion and overcrowding at the Park Street stand at Croydon Town Centre.

Here are some of the pre-Abellio buses on the 109 (all taken by Josh):


Arriva London DW239 (Poppy) on Route 109, Streatham Tesco


Arriva London DLA243 on Route 109, Brixton


Arriva London DW240 on Route 109, West Croydon

Overall, it has been a rough start for Abellio on the route. However, as Arriva knew how to run the route and Abellio don't have the experience at the moment, it will take time before we know Abellio can run the 109 well. The obvious and inevitable first day confusion was clearly shown, but the route has settled down compared to its first day.

Thanks for yet another year of the WLTMTB, from our team members Aubrey, Lewis, Josh and Jacek.

Route 125 - Dirty Wrights, Fairly Wrong.

31st January 2015 was the day where the 125 left Arriva London's grasp and into Metroline's claws. Practically all the attention was on the Enviro 400 MMCs on Route 109, hence this took a back seat in terms of people covering it. Massively. It was nearly like the Arriva London takeover of Route 230 being overshadowed by the LT-class conversion of the 24 on the 22nd June 2013, but the 230 did have a few enthusiasts and some photos were on the internet later on within the week. I've seen not many photos of the 125 with Metroline so far, and a week and day after the changeover, Aubrey (I) set off to cover it, because I got bored. Literally.

Metroline VWH2028 on Route 125, Southgate Station

The Sunday service was being run with uneven headways, including headways of 7-8mins on an every 15 minute Sunday service. But thus it meant there was a large gap in the service as well.


Metroline VWH2034 on Route 125, Southgate Station

Notably these buses are dirty.


Rear of Metroline VWH2034 on Route 125, Southgate Station
REALLY dirty. Only one certain Uno bus I've seen was dirtier, but it had a face drawn on in the dirt. This is oddly dirty for such a new bus.


Metroline VWH2038 on Route 125, Southgate Station
The buses seem like your average B5LH/Gemini 3 from Metroline. Indifferent overall, decent ride, seats that won't break your back or let you sink in and not too slow either.


Metroline VWH2040 on Route 125, Southgate Station
This bus seemed slightly less dirty.


Metroline VWH2032 on Route 125, North Finchley Tally Ho! Corner
Yep, it's the place with the exclamation mark. But this bus looked quite substantially cleaner, unlike it's nutty counterpart VWH2028:
(see Twitter: https://twitter.com/L1Group/status/564455983423188993)


Metroline VWH2024 on Route 125, Finchley Church End
The gap between VWH2032 and VWH2024 was larger than 15 minutes, probably countered by the 7-8 minute gap on the other end.

Overall, doesn't look too bad, a few operation problems that may iron out over experience and time, but then again, could be a better. And the possible TE conversion is under wraps so far, as it's mainly TEs on the 82 still. A very dirty takeover by Metroline, it seems!

Temporary Route 528 06/02/15

Due to road works at Thornbury Road, H28 is unable to serve the section between Isleworth Fire Station and Armhurst Gardens. Therefore, a shuttle route called 528 runs between West Middlesex Hospital and Osterley Library via the affected section that is not served by the H28 (except Thornbury Road).


Diversion poster showing the shuttle arrangement of Route 528

Banditised Dennis Darts usually ply the temporary route:


Abellio London 8436 on Route 528, West Middlesex Hospital


528 and H28 Timetables

There needs to be only two buses needed for a 20 minute service to run, each way taking 10 minutes according to the timetable, with 1 minute regulation time at Osterley Library. One bus is used for a Sunday service, running every 30 minutes.


Abellio London 8439 on Route 528, West Middlesex Hospital

Here is a ride on 8436 on the route:



Yes, I was the only passenger through the whole journey to Osterley Library, and probably was the only passenger for the whole trip.

The bus is later shown at Osterley Library as it waits time:

Abellio London 8436 on Route 528, Osterley Library

Overall, this service seems to be barely used, but used enough for it to exist, as there is a notable area where there are no buses except the H91. Also notable was the near bunching the route had on the 6th February (when it was covered). These buses seem to be near withdrawal anyway, and may be possibly withdrawn/used as spare buses after use on the 528.