Picture Archive Post 57

London Sovereign SP82 on Route N13 & Metroline West SN1952 on Route N207, Oxford Circus, 22/06/13

A scene you will not see anymore after the morning of 31st March 2017. Although it's been pretty rare since August 2013 when the N13 gained Volvo B5LHs as part of the new contract back in 2013. Also, since February 2017, the N207 has been based at Uxbridge Garage, so only a few SNs have appeared on the N207 recently. The N13 will be withdrawn from 31st March 2017.

Route N13 started out as a route between Trafalgar Square and North Finchley run by Finchley Garage by MCW Metrobuses in April 1984. The route was extended to Barnet Church via Route 263 in October 1984. In July 1992, the route was extended south to Victoria, akin to many night routes at the time, to take advantage of meal break facilities there. Under sectorisation, it went under London Northern. In December 1993, the route was extended to Potters Bar, as the route was moved to PB. In June 1995, the route was shortened back to its original length, and moved to Holloway Garage.
In September 2001, along with the transfer of the evening/Sunday service on Route 13, the route transferred to Sovereign Buses from Edgware (BT). Through the takeover of Sovereign by London United, the 13 initially had OPO buses from other routes, before getting the 13's Scania N94UD/Scania OmniDekkas (SLEs) when the 13 was converted to OPO. The frequency was increased in 2008, only to be reverted back to every 20 minutes after N113 was introduced in June 2012. New Volvo B5LHs/Gemini 2 (VHs) were introduced in August 2013, along with the new Transdev logo. The logo was only worn on those VHs before Transdev sold LS to RATP, and now Gemini 3 VHs also ply the route, as well as the odd Volvo B5LH/New Routemaster-style VHRs.
The route will be withdrawn on 31st March 2017, as the N13 becomes the 13N, and is rerouted to Victoria (akin to the 82). The route will be replaced by the 139N (run by London Sovereign), 13N (run by Tower Transit) and N113 (still run by Metroline).

Route N207 started out as Route 289 running between London Bridge and Southall. During the trolleybus withdrawal scheme, the number 289 needed to be freed for future day bus use, so the route was renumbered N89. The 289 number was not used until 1968, however. The N89 started in September 1960, and ran as far as Uxbridge from April 1984 via Route 207 (at the time). By 1989, one journey ran to Heathrow North, Bath Road, and by 1993, there were journeys to Uxbridge via Heathrow Central, and journeys to Ruislip Station via Greenford and Northolt (replacing N50). The Heathrow Airport journey was withdrawn in October 1995.
In October 1996, the N89 was renumbered N207. The route was simplified to run between Uxbridge and Victoria via Trafalgar Square. The route was under First Centrewest control, run by Alperton and Uxbridge garages. In November 1999, the route was withdrawn between Trafalgar Square and Victoria, and Alperton allocation was replaced by Acton. In April 2000, the route was rerouted to its current extent of Uxbridge-Holborn. In March 2008, the Acton Tram Depot garage closed, so the route partially moved to Hayes (HZ) garage. The Uxbridge allocation was withdrawn on December 2011, leaving Scania OmniCity N230UD being the usual, firm allocation. On 12th February, the N207 was allocated back to Uxbridge Garage, where it is currently. Some late night/early morning journeys on the 207 are thus operated with N207 buses. They are now Enviro 400s and Volvo B7TLs.

SP82 was ordered for the contract renewal for Route 183, and is still on Route 183, although it moved from Edgware (BT) to Harrow (SO). The bus has not been on any other route since the 114 in July 2015. It is now SP40082 after RATP's renumbering of fleet codes.

SN1952 started out as First Centrewest's SN36064, ordered for the 207 conversion from articulated Citaro buses to these buses. Scania OmniCity buses were ordered as Wrightbus and ADL were busy with orders, and the buses were required to meet Boris Johnson's requirement for bendy buses to be withdrawn before 2012. The bendy replacement is more expensive and arguably a downgrade. Of course, it's the Borismaster. SN36064 transferred to Metroline West on 22nd June 2013 as First sold most of its London assets to Metroline and new operator Tower Transit, having already sold Northumberland Park and non-Stagecoach losses in East London to Go-Ahead. It still plys the 207 mainly from Hayes Garage (HZ).