Route 120 New Buses 29/06/12

Thanks to a tip-off from the new WLTM Bus Blog reporter, Matt, I decided to go and see the ADEs on Route 120 myself. However, due to timing issues with my school, and a really annoying E8 driver, I couldn't actually do a proper ride on one.


Anyway, these buses still smelt new, and the fresh smell of 'rubber' was still there (direct quote from Matt, who told me about this yesterday)

 London United/RATP ADE5 (YX12 FNL) on Route 120, Southall

 London United/RATP ADE6 (YX12 FNM) on Route 120, Southall

 Lower deck seating on ADE6

 Upper deck seating on ADE6, with new moquette.

 Upper deck on ADE6

 Looking down the staircase on ADE6

 Lower deck of ADE6

 Side exterior of ADE6

 Rear of ADE5

Old alongside the new:  London United/RATP SP and ADE5 on Route 120 passing each other

 ADE5 (testing camera angles)

 The people of the 120 seem to get these new buses messy quite quickly...

 Capacity of ADE5

 ADE6 at Southall Station

 London United/RATP ADE10 (YX12 FNR), Southall Station

London United/RATP ADE2 (YX12 FNH) on Route 120, Southall Station

This was not the way I planned it...

At least I got a video of a ride on ADE5:

Overall, many, many annoyances on buses occurred and I lost three connections just because of the timing issues my school seems to have. Well, thanks to my reporter: Matt...

Route 227 New Buses 23/06/12

NOTE: ALL PHOTOS ON THIS POST WAS TAKEN BY A FRIEND OF MINE - James Panaligan.
I was given permission to use the photos and videos. 
He is now part of the WLTM Bus Blog, which will become a blogging team.
227 now have new buses, the old 11.3m Dennis Darts now withdrawn. As, I personally couldn't go to Crystal Palace, I asked my friend, who is now part of the blogging team, to take photos instead. Sorry about picture quality.

 Stagecoach 23109 on Route 227

 Rear of 23113

 Stagecoach 23113 (LX12 DLN) on Route 227, at Crystal Palace
These buses do have non-standard font blinds, oddly. However, I feel the destination blind looks quite neat...

 Interior of 23113.

 This bus has a larger buggy area because of demand on 227.

 CCTV screen on 23113

 Nearside rear corner of 23113

Rear of 23113

iBus of Route 227 on Citaro.

Hopefully, sooner or later, you will get actual posts from James Panaligan.

Au Morandarte and James Panaligan...

Buses during London Bus Strike 22/06/12

London was stricken with a bus strike on Friday. But, buses were running (although few), thanks to the injunction by Metroline, Arriva Shires and London General.

 A sight on most morning Countdown monitors.

 One route running. Metroline VW1070 (LK60 AEU), on Route 237, at Kew Bridge Station

 In the afternoon, more routes were running.

London United/RATP SP57 (YT09 ZCE) on Route 65, Kew Bridge

 London United/RATP SP65 (YT09 BJV) on Route 65, Kew Bridge

 Crowded 237 bus. And there were 2 buses behind mine. All the same load.

 Metroline VW1066 (LK60 AEN) on Route 237, Turnham Green Church

 Many passengers trying to enter VW1066, which was already crowded.

By the afternoon, stops where no buses were running displayed this.

People were quite annoyed by the bus strikes in many ways, and it did affect a lot of things, such as Tube and National Rail services.


This was obviously a no bus day, but because Metroline was running, practically my whole school was still coming in. However, this proved to be its own undoing, as timing problems with my form tutor meant I couldn't get more than just the pictures here. I planned to go to Greenford/Ealing, but the mentioned timing issues, along with certain friend timing issues prevented me from doing so.

My Picture Archive Post 4 (SC01)

Now, we know that bus drivers could go on strike. Yet my 'ruddy school won't 'ruddy close! However, there could be none at all, good for many...
Also, sorry for the lack of blog posts - I've still got one GCSE exam to go as of today...


Anyway, SC01 is on loan from Scania (currently at Stamford Brook/V, London United/RATP), as a sort of London evaluation, I think, for Scania on the Polish integrals.

 London United/RATP SC01 (YT11 LSC), not in service, near Holland Park, 16/06/12

 London United/RATP SC01 (YT11 LSC), on Route 27, Turnham Green, 16/06/12, taken earlier than photo above. Sorry, I was on an E3 by this time and just got on the top deck.

Yes, sorry about poor quality - lack of clean windows, I was on lower deck of a 211

SC01 on Route 148, Westminster, 25/05/12.

I've been lucky to see it many times and, well, its one of a kind.

Night Buses at Dawn, 10/06/12

Those who have early/late/overnight work shifts, or weekend parties in Central London have used the night bus network. So I decided to see the network for myself!


Oddly, I didn't start with a night bus, but rather the first 237 of the day...

Metroline VW1040 (LK10 BXH), Turnham Green

But, at Stamford Brook, I was greeted with the first night bus.

London United/RATP SP48 (YT09 BND) on Route N9, Stamford Brook

And soon, more came. And I went on some of them:

 First London VNW32437 (LK04 HYG), Kensington, on Route N28

 Go-Ahead London General WHV22 (LJ61 NVH), Hyde Park Corner, on Route N19

Abellio London 2433 (SN61 CYT), Trafalgar Square, on Route N3

 Go-Ahead SOC6 (LX08 ECT), Trafalgar Square, on Route N551

 Go-Ahead VWL24 (LF52 THK) on Route N1, Aldwych

 First London DN33612 (SN11 BMU) on Route N26, Aldwych

 Stagecoach 19795 (LX11 BHO) on Route N15, St Pauls

Odd, day 47 in front of N47...

Stagecoach London 17476 (LX51 FLM) on Route 47 and 18464 (LX55 EPO) on Route N47, London Bridge

 Metroline TE947 (LK58 KHD) on Route N91, Trafalgar Square

 Transdev/London Sovereign SLE24 (YN55 NHX) on Route N13, Trafalgar Square

 Stagecoach 18491 (LK06 AGU) on Route N47, Trafalgar Square

 Go-Ahead London Central WVL355 (LX60 DWE) on Route N89, Trafalgar Square. London's longest stopping bus service.

 London United/RATP SP168 (YT10 UWF) on Route N9, Trafalgar Square.

 Go-Ahead London WVL161 (LX05 FBZ) on Route N22

 London United/RATP SP120 (YR59 FZB) on Route N97, Knightsbridge.

 London United/RATP SP44 (YT09 BMY) on Route N9, Trafalgar Square

 And SP44 at Heathrow Terminal 5. This was the last N9 to Heathrow T5 on that day, the time was now 0802...

Now, en-route home... Metroline VW1175 (LK11 CXJ) on Route 105, Heathrow Central.

Now, iBus videos:

Various night routes...