Alternative Technologies - BYD Electric Buses on Route 507 20/12/13

"The West. Made in China." A quote from Model UN at UCL.

Many things are made in China. But not buses for TfL work. Until now. Transport for London and BYD Auto have decided to get an electric bus on the streets of London, even though there have been British designs available for some time. Is this to encourage further trade between China and Britain? Possibly. Is it politically motivated? Maybe. Whatever it is, the long-awaited electric buses made their debut on the 20th December 2013, and even though the post is now over two months late, it still deserves a shout! Especially with the small flaws, such as an annoying door sound, hanging hammers, translation errors and the blinds not working!


London General EB1 on Route 507, Victoria (Au)
The blinds hard to control as it came in blank, before finally getting 507 Millbank. Typical Mobitec. Better than nothing!


London General EB1 on Route 507, Victoria (Au)
The rear, showing clearly the odd shaped leaves around the body. And the blinds too big for the space that was left for them.


Wow... Really? Nah, I can't hear you! The bus is actually quite quiet, at times, but the need to shout that out is a bit childish.


The compulsory logo that comes with this.


The batteries blocking the frontal view, with non-working iBus.

There are many safety features that come with this bus, such as:

Translation fails - the notice says:
SAFETY HAMMER
Emergency percussion this point
Replenish the hammer (after use).

Should say:
SAFETY HAMMER
Break glass at this point.
Replace hammer after use.

It also tells to hit the window at the centre, when the corners are generally weaker (in train windows, at least).


Hanging hammers
It had been like that since this morning, and it was ironically posing a hazard.

And many more translation errors. Look at the bus for more information - especially the roof hatch at the back.


London General EB1 on Route 507, Waterloo (Au)

The bus then went out of service for lunch, when I met up with Josh and Tom (eventually) at Waterloo, whilst waiting.


London General EB2 (507), MEC14 (521), Waterloo Depot (Au)


London General EB1 on Route 507 and Abellio 9416 on Route 211, Waterloo (Au)
It had suddenly turned out that a large group of enthusiasts wanted to get in the act for its evening shift, and sooner or later, the whole rear of the bus was full of enthusiasts who turned out to see (and hear) the new Chinese technology in London.


London General EB1 on Route 507, Victoria (Au)


Interior of London General EB1 on Route 507, showing the standing area, and the poles being indented, something that isn't normally on newer buses these days.

Whilst JP was on the bus, he got no photos of it, until it went onto the 521, which will be on another post.

Alternative Technologies: Vitalimes 22/03/14

Routes 2 (and 3) were introduced in 2009 to replace other routes under the branding Vitality. Route changes and passenger demand meant that route 3 was replaced by re-routings of route 2 and a new route 2a. They were operated by the same 05 reg Scania L94UB/Wright Solars until 2014:

Reading Buses 1010 on Route 2, Reading, 23/12/13

Due to the Green Bus Fund, Reading Buses gained more money to get more Enviro 300 bodied Scania KUB270s. In short, more gas buses. They became allocated to a rebranded 2/2a, now 'lime 2/2a':


Reading Buses 434 on Route 2, St Mary's Butts (Reading)


Rear of the bus


Reading Buses 434 on Route 2, Reading


Reading Buses 430 on Route 2, St Mary's Butts (Reading)


Reading Buses 433 on Route 2a, St Mary's Butts (Reading)

My Picture Archive Post 21

It's been quite a long time since there has been a post, but we do have quite a few on the pipeline, including the farewell of the A30/353 (main service). However, the 20th means more archive pictures:

London United VR227 (Route 220), Metroline TA654 (Route 266), Hammersmith, 30/04/11

VR227 is a part of a small batch London United had, initially for AV (Hounslow), but ended up at Fulwell on Route 267 initially, but moved towards Shepherd's Bush (220 mainly) and Stamford Brook (9). The small batch was to compare it to the Dennis Trident, which continued to be ordered until 2003. These buses were different compared to the rest of the fleet, and was disposed by 2012. They moved to Network Warrington, this bus becoming 189 in the fleet.

Route 220 has been there for many years, since Trolleybus replacement in the 1960s. It replaced the 630 route from Harlesden to Croydon. The route was gradually reduced northwards, going to Tooting for much of the time before the Tooting section was replaced by Route 270, thus truncated to Wandsworth.

TA654 is part of a batch of Dennis Tridents that was purchased for Route 266 to convert the route to low floor operation, replacing Volvo Olympians, in line with TfL's 2005 DDA deadline (which included, sadly, the withdrawal of the Routemaster). After Metroline lost the 266 in 2012, the bus stayed at Cricklewood, running on routes such as the 32, 210.

Route 266 is also a Trolleybus replacement, from Route 666 which ran from Edgware to Hammersmith. With the introduction of the 32, split off from the 142, the 266 was reduced from Edgware to Cricklewood in 1970. However, the route gained the short extension to Brent Cross and has kept the same routing since.