General Lateness - 100 to London General 20/09/14

The 100 is a small route that plys through the south and eastern end of Central London. The route uses smaller, less than 10m single deckers, and has recently passed to London General. Only the buses are late, so Abellio London are kind enough to lend London General their buses until the new Enviro 200s (the lazy hybrid ones, or the ones with flywheels retrofitted) arrive.

London General 8318 on Route 100, St Paul's Churchyard

Some Enviro 200s and Dennis Darts have been transferred to London General for this job.


London General 8329 on Route 100, St Paul's

These buses have their Abellio branding removed, which was a tad messy on some of the rear windows of these buses! Even the Go-Ahead London General sticker application was a tad rushed!


London General 8306 on Route 100, St Paul's


London General 8321 on Route 100, St Paul's

So this post was literally to report on a handover of buses, crew and stickers to London General. So the 100 is using the previous allocation, but with stickers added! The Enviro 200s for the 100 are obviously late, about a month or so late.

My Picture Archive Post 27

Stagecoach London 17751 on Route N8, Oxford Circus, 22/06/13

This may be just over a year ago, but the Dennis Trident 2/Alexander ALX400 ran riot across East London with Stagecoach for a very long time, until about 2006 when Macquarie Bank acquired Stagecoach London, and thus ELBG started ordering Scania Omnicitys. Just four years later, Stagecoach bought it up at a discount price of £53 million, making a significant amount of money in the process.

This specific bus was part of the batch that started the withdrawal of Routemasters from 'normal' London Buses service (as 15H is a special route), with it part of the batch to go to Bow for the 15. That fateful day - the 29th August 2003, started the last routes to still have Routemasters to be converted to OPO over three years, ending in December 2006 with Route 159. The withdrawal of Routemasters on the 15 ended just over 39 years of service of the Routemaster on the 15. This bus had since been repainted from Stagecoach swirls to overall red and is still just any old anonymous bus running across East London

Route N8 is the night service of Route 8, easy enough. It ran with the normal 8 between Willesden and Bow, but it also continued until Queensbury in the west until 1992, when along with the other major Central London changes, it was split. The Queensbury section to Trafalgar Square became N99 (the day equivalent became the 98) and the route was instead routed to Victoria. Eventually, the route was extended to Woodford Wells and Newbury Park in 1995, and diverted away from Trafalgar Square in 1999. At the time, splitting night routes at the suburban end was common, like the N25 (which oddly had both ends serve Romford) and the N9 (where there was a split between Richmond and Kingston). This continued until 2004, when the route instead replaced the N25 from Wanstead to Hainault, The Lowe. After the 2009 withdrawal from Victoria, and the temporary Crossrail curtailments to Tottenham Court Road/Centrepoint, the route now runs Oxford Circus-Hainault. The route was also converted to LT-class buses:


Stagecoach London LT253 on Route N8, Hainault The Lowe, 19/07/14

Obviously OPO. D'you really think we'd return to crewed night buses?

Hybrids for Everything Except C3

Ordering hybrids against another contract is not new, Metroline have done this before, including with TEHs on the 16! But Abellio decided to get into the act, with ordering E40Hs against the C3 contract to convert the 211 to full hybrid operation!

Abellio London 2457 on Route 211, Hammersmith Bus Station


Abellio London 2461 on Route 211, Hammersmith Bus Station


Abellio London 2457 on Route 211, Sloane Square
The buses are currently usually used on the 211, a Central London route which is basically half the old 11. However, the buses on the route it was ordered against does happen:


Abellio London 2453 on Route C3, Clapham Junction Station

There is a reason for this sort of 'busical chairs' - the buses are supposed to eventually offload Tridents from the C3, but instead of direct replacement, diesel Enviro 400s are used instead on the C3, these are from the 211, thus converting a Central London route into full hybrid (theoretically). In practice, the 14 registered E40Hs are thrown around most double decker routes from QB, even though they mainly go on the 211. They have notably been seen on first day of the 49!


Abellio London 2463 on Route 49, White City Bus Station

So, more Euro 6 Enviro 400 Hybrids are still to come, notably including the 109. Newer ones will be to MMC specification, predictably, which is interesting as MMC examples are already in service in Oxford (Brookes Bus) and Reading (Reading Buses - the demonstrator).

Forty-Nine Turnover to Abellio 06/09/14

Route 49 has been with London United since 1999, previously it had been with London General. The new contract started with an oddity - Armchair's 209 Darts were initially too heavy, whilst the 49 Darts were late, so Armchair took the 49, whilst London United kept the 209 until they swapped on 30/10/99. The 209 Darts were initially supplemented by Mini Pointer Darts on the 49! None of this sort of kerfuffle occurred here for the 49 moving to Abellio, as it was straight onto the new Enviro 400 Hybrid.

Abellio London 2478 on Route 49, Kensington Holland Road
The new buses are Euro 6, have white blinds and run from Battersea Garage


Abellio London 2482 on Route 49, Kensington Holland Road


Abellio London 2471 on Route 49, Kensington Holland Road
This bus oddly has a smaller Abellio London logo on the offside.


Abellio London 2474 on Route 49, White City Bus Station


Abellio London 2474 on Route 49, White City Bus Station
A pointless curtailment? Nope, it's just the Mobitec blind system that the drivers need to get used to.


Abellio London 2473 on Route 49, Kensington Holland Road


Abellio London 2459 on Route 49, White City
I had shuttled between White City and Kensington Holland Road in order to meet new enthusiasts who are of other blogs.


Abellio London 2463 on Route 49, White City Bus Station
Overall, the buses seen alright, with only a few problems with the bunching and level of service, which should be ironed out over time. Also, as shown by this and the previous photo, some of the 14 reg buses have strayed already to the 49.


Driver giving a good positive reaction to us taking photos!
Abellio London 2479 on Route 49, White City Bus Station

Overall, Abellio will settle onto this route, and being the oddity at White City Bus Station will be interesting for the Abellio new boy.

Metroline Returns on the 112

Meh, it's extremely late, but due to work, it's going to be the norm, unfortunately.

Metroline DLD68 on Route 112, Brent Cross Bus Station, 2003/4
Previously, before Metroline lost the 112 to Tellings Golden-Miller, Metroline ran the route using Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer 2s from Cricklewood from 2000 to 2003, then the same buses from PV Perivale until the route moved to TGM. This photo was taken in the short year where Metroline had the 112 at PV, as seen in the garage code. Many things have changed since, including that this bus has been since at Armchair for temporary use on the 493, and by 2009, was written off for scrap!

Scoot to 2014...:

Metroline TA658 on Route 112, Ealing Broadway
This photo was one of the first taken of the 112 (at 5-6am) with Metroline again, hence it is odd to see that due to the late delivery of DELs (Enviro 200 10.8m), TAs ex-266 are covering for the route at the moment (along with TEs).


Metroline TA656 on Route 112, Ealing Broadway/Haven Green


Metroline TA657 on Route 112, Brent Cross
The route has insert blinds. The route was initially awarded to Metroline West, but instead Cricklewood adopted its old child back and runs it under Metroline Travel.


And yet somehow, the insert for 112 has already been ripped on the first day!


Metroline TA657 on Route 112, Brent Cross
Nearly the same spot, nearly 10 years ago, oh how times change! Firstly, I am taller than the fence that separates the pedestrians from the bus movements, and secondly, the buses are also taller (and newer)!


Metroline TA643 on Route 112, Ealing Common
Just a normal sight, only temporary as 10 TAs and 10 TEs have been blinded for the route (apparently!)


Metroline TE932 on Route 112, Ealing Broadway
A later photo of a TE shows the other sort of buses that go on the 112. Then again, DEs (Enviro 200 10.1m) have also received inserts/blinds for the route and have been on the route since. Yet the blue skirt endures...

The 112 conversion was alright, but the lack of new buses is compensated that the buses that they replaced were generally older than the current Metroline buses. DELs will be arriving later on this year, as some were only half-built by August! By late August, some were heading south for eventual handover to the operator! The odd moment where a capacity decrease is in order.

Harrow (SO): New DLE26 for the H13

One of two posts today, the second of which is slightly longer and, in a way, relevant with this one!

Before I start this post, I should point out that the new DLE was parked in the corner of the garage and it was difficult for me to get any good photos of the exterior, but nonetheless I was determined to get some sort of picture to show on here!

It was announced in February that London Sovereign (then part of Transdev) had retained route H13 with 5 existing DEs from the original 2009 batch (numbered DE50-56) along with one brand new 10.8m Enviro200 which was to arrive in August.

Unfortunately, the annual shutdown of ADL postponed many buses, including DEL2062-2071 for Metroline's win of the 112 and Sovereign's DLE26 and all of these have now been delivered over the course of last week.

Anyway, back to the bus in question. Due to there being much contemplation by Transdev early this year to sell to RATP (which was confirmed and carried out in April), the bus is fitted with the same interior as the large 2011 batch (DE57-99) and remains logoless. I was however told that logos should be applied very soon, which will be a welcome relief for the 2011 batch which have been logoless for 3 years now!

DLE26 interior - the bus has space for 31 seated. You can see the similarities in the interior design with the same moquette along with handrail and panel colours. There was much confusion over what interior would be chosen for this bus - perhaps it would have the same Veolia-style interior as the new VHs which entered service on route 13 last year, or with the quick takeover of RATP it would have the Transdev-inspired turquoise interior like on the new ADEs and OCEs.

The driver's cabin is also very much the same:

Key Facts of the new bus:

• Fleet Number: DLE26
• Registration: LK64CZZ
• Chassis: AD E20D SFD7L1ER7EGY34358
• Body Number: E212/1

More Pictures Follow!

I was also able to blind a DPS for some special routes!

London Sovereign DPS633 blinded for routes 114 and 398!

Many thanks to the London Sovereign (now part of RATP Group) staff for allowing me onsite to look at the new bus. I must say I felt very welcomed by their kind attitude and willingness. I remind all thinking of visiting a bus garage on a non-open day to follow safety procedures and wear a hi-vis jacket - we wouldn't want any of you being run down now!

Thanks for reading this post, and be sure to keep tabs on my Flickr for when the bus enters service hopefully some point next week!

Reading Buses - Earley Changes

Reading Buses decided to make a re-think on how to serve the Earley area, including the University of Reading campus. This was the result:

Routes 19, 20/20a - withdrawn

Route 19a/c - replaces Route 19 in its entirety, and Route 20a between Silverdale Road and Mill Lane, running as a loop 19a via old 20a section then old 19, and 19c via old 19 then old 20a section.

Route 19b - replaces Route 20 between Wilderness Road and Lower Earley Asda, then runs via Wilderness Road and via old Route 19 to Central Reading

The nineteens get branded Wright Streetlites.

Reading Buses 167 on Route 19a, Reading St Mary's Butts


Reading Buses 164 on Route 19b, Reading Station


Reading Buses 165 on Route 19a, Reading Station


Reading Buses 167 on Route 19c, Reading Station

Route 21 is now the main service for the University of Reading.
Route 21a - replaces Route 20a

Reading Buses 1109 on Route 21, Reading Station


Reading Buses 801 on Route 21, Reading Station

Overall, the changes should mean that costs are saved, even though new Wright Streetlites have been ordered and delivered for the nineteens and the subsequent increase. No areas are left bus-less, as the sections of roads that do not have a bus have a bus within a few minutes walk in any case.
Generic buses were used on the 21 until their own buses came back from the Commonwealth Games shuttles in Scotland, and these photos were taken during the Commonwealth Games.