This blog has now gone through two Mayors of London, as our new Mayor of London is Sadiq Khan, Labour MP of Tooting.
The 345 started out as the 45A, a split of the 45 western section (South Kensington-Brixton). Now it's moved from longtime operator London Central/London General (Go-Ahead London) to Abellio London.
Abellio London 2532 on Route 345, Stockwell (© Aubrey)
Route 345 is the expense of London Central losing the 35/40. The 345 itself is a busy route from South Kensington through to Peckham. The route was gained with existing buses from the 35/40, so a pretty large pool of buses. And yet still, the second day yielded an Enviro 400MMC (see above).
Abellio London 2433 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Aubrey)
Existing hybrid and diesel Enviro 400s ply the 345. Supposedly, the Enviro 400s that were allocated to the 35 and 40 would be cascaded onto the 345 (09 reg Enviro 400 diesels). Some did enter service refurbished already.
Abellio London 9442 on Route 345, Stockwell (© Aubrey)
Route 345 was initially Route 45A, running between Elephant & Castle and South Kensington in November 1990. It was rerouted from Camberwell to run to Peckham in March 1994 (and lost its New Cross allocation). In September 1995, the route was renumbered 345 as part of LRT (later TfL) trying to eliminate suffix letters.
However, the route's most notable achievement was that over the course of 1999-2001, the route gained various allocations from Camberwell, New Cross, Stockwell (London General) and Peckham garages! That's four garages from two bus operators.
The last night of Route 345 under London Central - the ironic London General logos on E67 (© Aubrey)
The route became a London General route in 2002 when it became a wholly Stockwell operation, until the contract was novated to another sector of Go-Ahead London in March 2012, returning the route to Camberwell with London Central. During this time, the 345 has become quite an important orbital corridor linking South West and South East London around Zone 2. The route just so happens to enter Zone 1 at South Kensington.
London Central WVL136 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Anthony)
The 345 was also one of the many routes which were downgraded from double deckers to single deckers during the 1990s (1997). It was converted back to double deck with similar Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 1s as shown above.
Abellio London 9432 on Route 345, South Kensington (© Aubrey)
Some of the route's new buses have not been refurbished yet, like this example. With the hybrid Enviro 400s covering and having blinds for the 345 anyway, this route could turn out to just end up having any type of double decker from Walworth Garage that isn't an LT, pretty much like the run out at Camberwell - any double decker that wasn't an LT that was blinded for the 345.
Abellio London 9447 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Aubrey)
Overall, it seems that there was not too many issues with the handover. The buses are existing, so they will go like they were before. Abellio did cost two routes to gain this one route, so the 345 gain made the double 35/40 loss a softer blow. Oh, and the sides of the manually blinded buses still do use the via place blind, so that's a thing that hasn't changed with the new specifications (of displays) for this contract.
The 345 started out as the 45A, a split of the 45 western section (South Kensington-Brixton). Now it's moved from longtime operator London Central/London General (Go-Ahead London) to Abellio London.
Abellio London 2532 on Route 345, Stockwell (© Aubrey)
Route 345 is the expense of London Central losing the 35/40. The 345 itself is a busy route from South Kensington through to Peckham. The route was gained with existing buses from the 35/40, so a pretty large pool of buses. And yet still, the second day yielded an Enviro 400MMC (see above).
Abellio London 2433 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Aubrey)
Existing hybrid and diesel Enviro 400s ply the 345. Supposedly, the Enviro 400s that were allocated to the 35 and 40 would be cascaded onto the 345 (09 reg Enviro 400 diesels). Some did enter service refurbished already.
Abellio London 9442 on Route 345, Stockwell (© Aubrey)
Route 345 was initially Route 45A, running between Elephant & Castle and South Kensington in November 1990. It was rerouted from Camberwell to run to Peckham in March 1994 (and lost its New Cross allocation). In September 1995, the route was renumbered 345 as part of LRT (later TfL) trying to eliminate suffix letters.
However, the route's most notable achievement was that over the course of 1999-2001, the route gained various allocations from Camberwell, New Cross, Stockwell (London General) and Peckham garages! That's four garages from two bus operators.
The last night of Route 345 under London Central - the ironic London General logos on E67 (© Aubrey)
The route became a London General route in 2002 when it became a wholly Stockwell operation, until the contract was novated to another sector of Go-Ahead London in March 2012, returning the route to Camberwell with London Central. During this time, the 345 has become quite an important orbital corridor linking South West and South East London around Zone 2. The route just so happens to enter Zone 1 at South Kensington.
London Central WVL136 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Anthony)
The 345 was also one of the many routes which were downgraded from double deckers to single deckers during the 1990s (1997). It was converted back to double deck with similar Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 1s as shown above.
Abellio London 9432 on Route 345, South Kensington (© Aubrey)
Some of the route's new buses have not been refurbished yet, like this example. With the hybrid Enviro 400s covering and having blinds for the 345 anyway, this route could turn out to just end up having any type of double decker from Walworth Garage that isn't an LT, pretty much like the run out at Camberwell - any double decker that wasn't an LT that was blinded for the 345.
Abellio London 9447 on Route 345, Clapham Common (© Aubrey)
Overall, it seems that there was not too many issues with the handover. The buses are existing, so they will go like they were before. Abellio did cost two routes to gain this one route, so the 345 gain made the double 35/40 loss a softer blow. Oh, and the sides of the manually blinded buses still do use the via place blind, so that's a thing that hasn't changed with the new specifications (of displays) for this contract.
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