December Recap 2014

Welcome to the third edition of The Monthly Recap brought to you by The Team at The London Bus Blog. This is a monthly series that will highlight all the news from the London bus scene over the past month. 

Before we begin, we at The London Bus Blog want to thank you all for your continuous support over the last 6 months and for helping us reach 10-thousand views! 

Now sit back and enjoy!

Abellio London

Batch numbers for the Alexander Dennis Enviro200 flybrids* ordered for the 201 and 407 abd Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC hybrids ordered for the 109, 350 and 415 have been released. The flybrids* are numbered 8820-8843 with the first 11 allocated to the 201 and the last 13 for the 407. The hybrids are numbered as so, 2487 to 2515 will be heading to Beddington (BC) garage for the 109 and N109, 2516-2524 will be heading to Walworth (WL) garage for the 415, and 2525-33 will be heading to Hayes (WS) garage for the 350.

Abellio have ordered two extra Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC hybrids for route 415's extension to Old Kent Road Tesco. This brings the total due in early 2015 to 47.

Delivery of the 109, 201 and 407's buses at Beddington (BC) garage is well underway, they are due to enter service in January. 

Route 172 will have a PVR increase and extra journeys between Elephant & Castle and Old Kent Road Tesco from the 5th of January. Once the 415 extends, the 172 will return to normal.


*Flybrid = Flywheel hybrid

Arriva London, Shires and Southern Counties

Route 137 fully converted to New Routemaster operation this month and most of its new vehicles are now in possession of Arriva London. This has enabled DLA243, DLA322-347 and DLA371-372 of the 109 to be withdrawn from passenger service early, for now. Thus 04-reg DWs, formerly of the 137, will now work the 109 until it passes to Abellio on the 31st of January. 

The two new Optare MetroCity EV buses (EMC1-2) have entered service on route 312 (Norwood Junction - South Croydon, Bus Garage) from South Croydon (TC) garage.

Route 499 has been lost to Stagecoach: East London, the route will change operators on the 27th of June 2015.

Arriva are expecting a new Wright StreetDeck demonstrator next month, it's coded WS1 and comes on the Gemini 2 body, more news on that next month.

Go-Ahead London

© EastLondoner

Route 498 has been lost to Stagecoach: East London, the route will change operators on the 27th June 2015.

Approx. 27 Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC flywheel-hybrid buses are on order for routes 322 and G1 for May 2015.

The transfer of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses from route 453 at Mandela Way (MW) to Camberwell (Q) steadily continues with the Enviro400's appearing on all of the Camberwell's double-decker routes, but mainly found on routes 68 and 468; this allowing the 68 and 468's 06-reg Wright Eclipse Gemini buses to transfer to Orpington (MB) to replace Scania OmniDekka buses on routes 320 and 161. Some have also gone to Silvertown (SI) to displace the older WVL buses there. 

© GloriousWater

The full conversion of route 453 has also meant PVL233, which had been allocated to the 453, is now no longer needed on the 453. For now, it's has found home on route 1, awaiting a decision to be made on the bus's future.

During this month's underground closures, extra buses had been deployed on routes 11 and 14 to cover the extra crowds. Unusually for the 11, the extras came in the form of MEC class Citaros usually on the 507 and 521. This is most likely because the 11's LTs have open boarding and the MECs also have the same capability, they are used to prevent confusion during boarding.

Route 100 has also gained its brand new buses, after a pretty lengthy delay. This will allow the buses from Abellio to return to them for use on the P13. It's new buses are coded SE214-SE22.

Route 192's new Wright StreetLite Micro-Hybrid buses are expected to arrive in the forthcoming month, allowing the currently hired buses from Arriva to return back to their owners.

Metroline

© KTLBB

Route 207 has returned to serving Haye-By-Pass, following the closure of Southall Broadway which meant that it had to curtail at Southall Park for the past few weeks. The previous timetable and PVR have been restored.

Brand new Volvo B5LH/Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 buses continue to arrive at the CELF centre in Perivale. The buses now arriving are mainly due for route 125 which shall transfer to Metroline operation, leaving Arriva on the 31st of January. 


Stagecoach London

The first few New Routemasters to convert route 55 have started to be seen at Heysham Docks. LT312 and LT313, for the 55, have been spotted in West Ham (WH) after their trial with Stagecoach Strathay in Scotland, they are awaiting new blinds for their intended route(s). Another thing is that these buses contain Stagecoach's logo in white, as opposed to having coloured ones like the 8's batch. The 55's conversion will start on the 24th of January, not the 28th of February.

Routes 498 and 499 have been gained from Go-Ahead London: Blue Triangle and Arriva, respectively. These routes will operate out of Romford (NS) garage with new diesel buses, in turn route 103 will move from there to Rainham (RM) garage.

Barely any older Tridents are now left at Catford (TL), with all the new buses from batch 10198-10205 now in service, on paper allocated to route 136 but spread out across itself and the 199.

When route 488 leaves Stagecoach in February, the displaced Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses are due to move to Catford (TL) in order to replace the older buses on the P4. Trident transfers between Barking (BK) and Plumstead (PD) continue, with some Tridents being cascaded to Romford (NS) in order to replace older buses. 36276-36278 are now at West Ham (WH) garage meaning some cascaded Plumstead (PD) Tridents will now be allocated to route 62.

Tower Transit

Tower Transit's first strike took place as planned, many routes were running a reduced service: route W14 did not run and route 25 only operated between Stratford and Ilford. The strike on 5th January is still planned to go ahead, also affecting routes run from Westbourne Park (X) and Atlas Road (AS).

Routes affected by the strike on the 5th of January:


23 (24 hour route) – Liverpool Street to Westbourne Park
25 (24 hour route) – Oxford Circus to Ilford
26 – Waterloo to Hackney Wick
28 – Kensal Rise to Wandsworth
30 – Hackney Wick to Marble Arch
31 – Camden Town to White City
58 – East Ham to Walthamstow Central
70 – Acton to South Kensington
236 – Finsbury Park to Hackney Wick
266 (24 hour route) – Brent Cross Shopping Centre to Hammersmith
295 (24 hour route) – Ladbroke Grove to Clapham Junction
308 – Wanstead to Clapton
328 – Golders Green to Chelsea
339 – Leytonstone to Shadwell
425 – Clapton to Stratford
N26 – Trafalgar Square to Chingford
N28 – Camden Town to Wandsworth
N31 – Camden Town to Clapham Junction
N550 – Trafalgar Square to Canning Town
N551 – Piccadilly Circus to Gallions Reach
RV1 – Covent Garden to Tower Gateway
W14 – Leyton to Woodford Bright
W15 – Cogan Avenue Estate to Hackney Town Hall

What to Expect Next Month

More news on the Alexander Dennis deliveries and Arriva's new StreetDeck. 

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