Acton Very Green

It's been a while, hasn't it?

BCE47003 on a very wet first day of electric bus service on Route 94.
© Aubrey

On 31st January 2020, the 94 received its brand new electric double deckers, intending to be the third fully electric double decker bus route (albeit the 134 has not fully converted yet) in London. 29 of these BYD-ADL Enviro 400EVs were ordered by London United RATP as part of the new 94 contract. This makes the route the third electric route at Shepherd's Bush Garage, after the 70 and C1.


BCE47003 at Charles II Street awaiting departure for Acton Green
© Aubrey

These ADL Enviro 400EVs were initially introduced as two buses within the mix of the conventional hybrid buses, but due to an imminent Piccadilly line closure where extra buses were required on Routes 9 and 391, the route was very quickly converted to electric. 13th-14th February marked to be sudden full conversion, with the 94 turning electric both day and night.


Due to roadworks on Regent Street, 94 was curtailed to Oxford Circus, but still ran with the full schedule towards Piccadilly, hence a stack of 5 BCEs on stand in Oxford Circus.
© Aubrey

This makes the 94 the only electric bus route on Oxford Street, after the trial BYD double deckers on Route 98 moved to Uno ahead of their school route acquisitions. A tad ironic considering that the only no local emission route on said street is the one that TfL mooted to cut to reduce the pollution and amount of buses on Oxford Street.


BCE47015 passing Selfridges enroute to Oxford Circus.
© Aubrey

Obviously, the introduction of these buses meant a bunch of ADHs and VHs have shuffled round. Some of the ADHs have moved to the Quality Line subsidiary for Routes 406 and 418, replacing 2007 Enviro 400s.


VH45124 was the odd old style Gemini 3 at Shepherd's Bush, moving to Stamford Brook for the 306 and E3. It is seen approaching Hammersmith Grove on the 306.
© Aubrey


The same bus is also seen on the E3 at Turnham Green Station, this time not too far from its old haunting grounds of the 94, and prior the H91 when it was at Hounslow Heath.
© Aubrey

The ride inside the 94 BCEs seems smooth enough, with a very quick acceleration. This is certainly aided by the electric drive providing a lot of torque immediately.


As with all electric buses in London, the USB chargers come as standard, as well as the cramped rear interior layout on these BYD/Enviro 400EVs. BCE47007 is the example shown here.
© Aubrey


BCE47003 shows the upper deck layout, complete with very visible air vents on the upper deck and the USB chargers on every seatback.
© Aubrey

It is good seeing electric buses in our cities, with London certainly ramping up their efforts. However, of course, there are the heavy environmental impacts in creating the batteries in the first place. One must be mindful of this, as production in itself produces a lot of pollution.

The Chinese company BYD certainly has a massive foothold in the UK with their buses, having been there first. They do dominate the electric market, with only Abellio, Arriva and London United having non-BYD electric buses.

Post by Aubrey

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2020

Eclipse Busway

Following the route of the disused Fareham-Gosport railway, the South West Hampshire Bus Rapid Transit, commonly known as the Eclipse Busway, is a BRT that runs between Fareham and Gosport, using the part of the disused alignment between Redlands Lane (Fareham) and Tichborne Way (Gosport). For the whole route, buses are operated by First Hampshire on Routes E1 and E2.


69538 passing underneath Tichborne Way on Route E1
CC Aubrey

The E1 and E2 replaced the main existing routes of 86 and 82 respectively, with the routes being rerouted to the new busway. At the time, some peak hour journeys were also rerouted on Route 88 via the busway. 88 has since been renumbered as 9/9A.


69545 starting a journey to Gosport on Route E2
CC Aubrey

These Volvo B7RLE/Wrightbus Eclipse 2s were ordered to a higher specification, with wood effect flooring and seat headrests.


69538 at Gregson Avenue on a journey to Gosport Bus Station
CC Aubrey

In 2016, the original set of buses were replaced by Alexander-Dennis Enviro 200 MMCs. The original buses were moved on westward, heading to Wessex. Some of the original buses however ended up as far north as Manchester at Bolton...until Diamond bought the First operation there.



Meanwhile, these Enviro 200 MMCs are now the mainstay of the BRT, although they are mostly bog standard Enviro 200 MMCs with a higher specification including USB charging ports, and wifi. They are also Euro 6, thus they have better emission standards


67176 at Wych Lane on Route E2
© Aubrey

However, the E1 and E2 are not the only bus routes that operate on the busway, as Routes 9/9A were more recently rerouted to the busway between Fareham and Wych Lane. The common allocation for the 9/9A are Optare SoloSRs.


53606 about to depart the BRT at Wych Lane on Route 9
© Aubrey

However, as per usual, there is the possibility of non-allocated buses being taken onto the busway. This includes the other main type of bus allocated to Hoeford Depot, Wrightbus Streetlite.


47411 on Route E1
CC Aubrey

More recently, other types of buses can be allocated onto the 9/9A, including double deckers. As the route used to be fully cleared for railway use, double decker buses should not pose a difficulty.


37162 as an un-allocated working on Route 9A at Wych Lane
© Aubrey

As the busway was on a disused rail corridor, there was a minimum of fuss in constructing the busway, and this allowed buses to bypass the fairly congested A32, which decreased journey times between Fareham and Gosport. At Gosport, there is an easy connection to Portsmouth via the Gosport Ferry. This would be as competitive as getting on Route X4 via Portchester into Southsea Island and Portsmouth.

The success of the busway has caused other bus routes to suffer. First used to offer a regular service via the A32, but as customers are good with walking to an every 6 minute service on the busway (every 10 minutes on Sunday), this has caused patronage to go down on other routes.


This has included Route 11, which was reduced to just 4 journeys a day Monday-Saturday.
65025 operates an 11 service back in 2014
CC Aubrey

Overall, this BRT has been a successful investment, and with the nature of the risk-share in building the busway, the BRT has been profitable for First Hampshire, as well as Hampshire County Council.

RIP Cameron Warwick

 

EDITOR NOTE: This post was meant to be released 17/11/2019, and is released as such in the state of the post back in 2019. Changes to the network are not reflected in the present day. 

 

Post by Aubrey

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2019 

Photos are licenced by copyright or Creative Commons.

Streetlites Are Good?

Honestly, this was a title I was not expecting to type when it was announced that the 232 was going to be allocated Streetlites upon Go-Ahead taking the contract up on 3rd August 2019. Yes, this post is delayed by 3 months, but at least it's here.

WS143 entering new territory for Go-Ahead at Brent Cross
© Aubrey

Route 232 has been with Metroline and its predecessors (London Northern, MTL London) since August 1994, based in Potters Bar (PB), Cricklewood (W), North Wembley (NW) and Perivale West (PV). It has been with no other operator, apart from certain school journeys operated by Leaside Travel/Arriva London for a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s.


The last few years of Metroline operation was with an allocation of Enviro 200s, like this example performing the last Metroline operated journey.
© Aubrey

When the tender was announced that Go-Ahead London General were to win the 232, with Wrightbus Streetlites as the order, many enthusiasts were surprised, as well as skeptical about the performance of the buses on the route, especially as the route transverses the A406 North Circular Road. This road is fast, with multiple 50mph + sections. Dual carriageway. Nearly urban motorway standard roads, even.


WS131 enroute to St Raphael's Estate, at Colney Hatch on the North Circular Road.
© Aubrey

Surprisingly, these buses perform very well on the fast sections of the A406. The acceleration and performance of these buses are positive, and it can climb the hillier section in the western end of the route near Neasden pretty well. Considering that the reputation of the Streetlite is quite negative, to have one overtake cars between Colney Hatch Lane and Temple Fortune is a nice surprise.


WS133 approaching the final stop at Turnpike Lane Station
© Aubrey

This is the first time that the route has been completely run from the eastern end, as the Metroline operations have been from the western end of the route, with changeovers at Brent Cross frequently used. It is run from Northumberland Park (NP), which is about 15-20 minutes dead run from the eastern end of the route at Turnpike Lane. Incorporated into the new timetable is the frequency increase to every 12 minutes for this popular route, from an every 15 minute service. Thus, there has been an increase of PVR, and thus more buses required for the route. WS131-148 are allocated (near-solidly) on the route, with a PVR of 16.


WS135 departs Brent Cross enroute to St Raphael's.
© Aubrey

Inside, it is to the newest TfL specifications, which includes USB chargers behind seats, which work fairly well when new. Thus, one can be charging their phone whilst being whisked along fairly quickly (when traffic allows) across North London. Thus one can use their phone through the journey whilst charging, or message their friends. Or even annoy them by telling them how good the buses are, yet how far behind TfL are compared to the rest of the commercial networks even just outside of London. However, even in this era of heavy cost-cutting, London is finally catching up a little, albeit inexpensively.


WS141 curtailed to Neasden Shopping Centre
© Aubrey

Hopefully, Go-Ahead London General will be able to maintain these buses to a level where the performance on the route can be maintained. Thus they will be able to run the route well. During the hiatus of this blog, the route has lost one of its allocated buses, thus WS66 was transferred from the 39 to run on the 232 as the sole non-USB charger equipped bus on the route.

This batch of Streetlites is the first that I've been impressed by, which is quite concerning as Wrightbus has been building the Streetlite since 2010. Performance of these buses on rides that I've experienced has been pretty good. Soon after the buses were delivered, Wrightbus did enter administration, and is now currently under the ownership of the Bamford family, whose holdings include JCB.

Post by Aubrey

All rights reserved © WLTMTB 2019

RIP Cameron.W