Picture Archive Post 75

London General 8306 on Route 100, St Paul's, 20/09/2014
(© Aubrey Morandarte)

8306 was originally Travel London's DP306, ordered for Route 100 in September 2004 from their then newest base of Walworth (WL). It stayed with the 100, even with the contract moving to London General (Go-Ahead London). As their Enviro 200s were not delivered for the start of the 100 contract, they leased the existing buses from Abellio London. Based at Mandela Way (MW), this arrangement lasted until the new buses entered service. Once this had taken place, it was withdrawn from Abellio London service in May 2015. It is now found in the West Midlands, operating for Thandi.

This bus is seen at a place that it no longer serves, as the 100 was truncated to Barbican, London Wall/Museum of London.
This however, is still longer than the original route, having run only between Liverpool Street and Shadwell upon introduction in June 1989. Under sectorisation, it moved from Clapton (CT) to Bow (BW) in 1990, thus falling under East London (and eventually Stagecoach East London). 1992 saw the route move to Stratford (SD), and 1998 saw new Dennis Dart SLFs for the route. 18th September 1999 saw the route be extended to its longest extent, Elephant & Castle to Shadwell. Travel London, then reentering the London tendering market for the second time, gained the 100 off Stagecoach in September 2004, with the Darts as seen above. New Enviro 200s arrived in 2010 in order to supplement the Darts. After the loss of the 100 to Go-Ahead on September 2014, the allocation temporarily moved to cover the lack of new Enviro 200s. Once those new buses entered service, the ex-Abellio buses returned to their owner. The 100 was truncated to Barbican on 8th April 2017, replaced by the 388 being extended to Elephant & Castle.

Ironically, under the future TfL Central London cuts, the 388 will be truncated to Finsbury Circus, thus the 100 will return to St Paul's. Considering the 100 was cut back in 2017, it seems that planners are messing heavily with financial implications for the 100 contract, as well as the general public. Although, extending the 100 may not require more than 1 extra bus, as it is a very short distance between Barbican and St Paul's.

Post by Aubrey.

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