Route 255 Extension

Route 255 has finally had its long awaited extension from Streatham Hill to Balham, however this did not lead to a change of buses. The stand at Balham is on the opposite side to the 315 stand. This gives another link towards Central London due to the frequent trains of Southern from Balham, Northern Line link from points on that route etc. Again, this was covered long after the extension started.

This sums up the extension


Arriva London DWL9 on Route 255, Balham Station


Arriva London DWL10 on Route 255, Balham


Arriva London DWL16 on Route 255, Balham Station

Seems the old buses continue for a while after the extension happened - eventually the route should get newer buses. There will be a slower rate of posts during crucial exams.

Tube Strike 2014 Round 2 Part 1 29/04/14

Tube Strike again - this time only RMT staff walked out of work. This led to even more Tube Strike Bus extras, supplied from numerous companies. I made the effort to go to Central London and I did get some interesting things during the misery/blessing (delete as appropriate) of the tube strike. It was practically a London Bus Rally! This post covers the first day of the strike, where I did not get much, mainly due to a later arrival in Central London:

Go-Ahead London DRM2516 (WLT 516) on Route 36, Vauxhall

Traffic at Victoria/Hyde Park Corner was horrendous, leading to curtailments:


Metroline TEH1464 on Route 16, Victoria

It seems that Tube Strikes trigger early NBfL conversions. This is the second early (leading to full) conversion:


Arriva London LT176 on Route 38, Victoria


Arriva London LT208 on Route 38, Green Park

Route 38 full conversion (with part route crewing - up to Islington(?) from Victoria) isn't for another two weeks!


This bus did spring up on me, and I couldn't get a good picture of it.
Ensignbus MRJ 233W (Southend Transport 233) on Route 38, Hyde Park Corner


London United LT86 on Route 9, Hyde Park Corner


London United LT69 on Route 9, Green Park
The worst route on Tube Strike days was the 25, but the 9 could come close to contending with it!


London General WVL501 on Route 14, Piccadilly

Route 29 had extras as it was practically the Piccadilly Line rail replacement:

Arriva Wandsworth DLP20 on Route 29, Trafalgar Square


London Bus Company RML893 on Route 29, Trafalgar Square


Timebus RML2389 on Route 29, Trafalgar Square


Timebus RML2263 on Route 29, Tottenham Court Road/Centrepoint

Another route affected by reliability was 176, many curtailing at Trafalgar Square:

Arriva London T99 on Route 176, Trafalgar Square

Route 205 had extras again from the provinces:

Stagecoach South Downs 18511 on Route 205, Warren Street


Stagecoach 18310 on Route 205, Warren Street

The observations from the second day of the strike are on the next post, as I got more from the next day.

Route 10 NBfL Conversion 26/04/14

Summarised in one word? "Meh?". It wasn't that bad. At least the buses give a good desk for revision!

The predictable NBfL conversion occurred on the 26th April 2014 (well, the late evening hours of the 25th) to the midst of less publicity than ever. No posters. But TfL did promote this via the internet. The whole route was cleared for quite some time, as 9, 390 and 148 cleared the whole route in any case already before the conversion.

Route 10's conversion to the Politcal Pawn proved to be a tad difficult due to horrendous traffic at various spots, a crashed LT (LT170), King Street being shut for a crane and one entrance to the Bus Station shut. iBus not working made some people think that some of the service wasn't running, but the route coped well under these pressures to amount to a normal conversion. Not as good as the 9 where only one journey ran properly late (the first). Some of the service ended up running early, oddly! But here comes the photos:

London United LT160 on Route 10, Hammersmith


London United LT167 on Route 10, Hammersmith


London United LT76, LT83 (Route 9), LT175 (Route 10), Hammersmith


London United LT169 on Route 10, Kensington


London United LT160 on Route 10, Hyde Park Corner

First observation point, Hyde Park Corner. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there weren't as many enthusiasts on the route as on the 9 conversion, for example, because many of us have gotten used to these LTs and them propping up on other routes becoming more common aren't such as a spectacle as previously.


London United LT161 on Route 10, Hyde Park Corner


London United LT150 on Route 9, Hyde Park Corner
The bus delivered early with the mostly non-red livery for Route 10 continues on Route 9. Then again, LT90 was on Route 10.


London United LT174 on Route 10, Hyde Park Corner

It was then time to move smoothly, but slowly (due to traffic) towards Oxford Circus:


London United LT163 on Route 10, Oxford Street


London United LT149 on Route 10, Oxford Street


London United LT155 on Route 10, Oxford Circus
The usual traffic shown here towards Oxford Street impacting on the reliability on the route again.


London United LT156 on Route 10, Oxford Street

Therefore, it was time to go to the King's Cross stand:


London United LT149 on Route 10, King's Cross


The two halves of Route 10 (which itself was derived from Route 73!)
Metroline LT22 on Route 390 & London United LT163 on Route 10, King's Cross


The overview of the stand at King's Cross, headed by London United LT163 on Route 10

After an eventful ride of the 75, therefore en-route home:


London United LT154 on Route 10, Kensington Olympia


London United LT90 on Route 10, Hammersmith

Intermixing between batches will happen, but not as often as 24/390. Also, the 9 LTs are used (and probably allocated) on the 10 night service.

London United's third conversion. Possibly its last for Central London routes, excluding possible tender wins and Route 27 (that is questionable due to Paddington), as Route 94 cannot fit these buses due to Chiswick/Acton Green and parked cars. Then again, there has been work starting at Acton Green (around the stand point) for some reason...