Saturday 31 January 2015

January Recap 2015

Welcome to the fourth edition (and first of 2015) 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.





Abellio London
Routes 109 and N109, Brixton/ Oxford Circus to Croydon Town Centre, have transferred from Arriva London's Brixton Garage today, The routes will use the first batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC hybrids in London (and England!) from Beddington Garage (BC), these are numbered 2487 to 2515 and are registered as YY64***. The first MMC entered service on the 27th January on route 157 between Mordern and Crystal Palace.

The long awaited Alexander Dennis Enviro200's for routes 201 and 407 have started to enter service on the single-decker routes at Beddington Garage (BC), they're currently most commonly found on route 407.

© GloriousWater
Route 381 has taken on 10 extra peak buses to cover for the increased passenger usage between Canada Water and Waterloo due to the closure of London Bridge Station. Buses from Abellio, Brighton & Hove and Ensignbus can be found on the route.

The picture to the left displays Ex Arriva London HW3 which is now owned by EnsignBus. 



Route 100s old buses have returned to Abellio London. The old darts are reported to be parked up at Battersea garage, while the Enviro200s are expected to go to Beddington Cross garage to outst the elderly darts operating on the route.

Arriva London
The second Wright StreetDeck demonstrator due for Wood Green Garage (WN) is due to arrive this month. It's coded WS1 but there's still no information on the registration plate or what route it will work.

Long-standing route 109 has passed to Abellio London today, this marks the end for the 04-reg DWs at Brixton Garage (BN). Route 125 has also passed to Metroline today, this leaves the DLAs at Norwood Garage (N) and Thornton Heath Garage (TH) the only remaining in the London fleet.


Go-Ahead London
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Hybrid prototype, EH1, has been refurbished. This is usually found operating on route 88 between Camden Town and Clapham Common

A Wright StreetDeck demonstrator is due for Camberwell Garage (Q) next month; there's no information on the fleet code, registration or its to-be allocated route.

Delivery of Wright StreetLite buses for route 192 is well underway, a couple have entered service already with all expected to be in service by the end of February.


© GloriousWater
An extra 54 Volvo B5LH's on the Enviro400 MMC body are on order for Go-Ahead London; it's not yet known why they have been ordered, where they are going and what body they will be on. These are additional orders to the 16 MMC bodied variants ordered for the 135's transfer from Arriva in May.

2 Optare MetroCity EV buses are on order for Go-Ahead London; again, it's not yet known what garage they will be going to: they're expected to arrive in the spring.

16 8.9m Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC buses are on order for routes 322 and G1. 11 are for route 322 and 4 are for the G1. The G1 will instead have its existing buses refurbished again and they will run alongside the new stock. The buses will enter service in May.

The 5 recently acquired Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses bought from Ensignbus (SEN39-43) will be heading west to the 424 and 485. Route 424 of Putney Garage (AF), will take one bus for its PVR increase. And route 485 of Plough Lane Garage (PL), will take the remaining four buses for its re-routeing (more on that next month), its current buses, LDP292-294, will be withdrawn from the route and re-allocated within Go-Ahead London.

WVL84 and E94 have temporarily moved to Northumberland Park Garage (NP) to cover for the ENs flywheel fitting in order for Route 191s new contract. EN13 was the first to go up north to receive the technology.

London United
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Hybrid prototype, ADH2, has been refurbished. This bus is usually found operating on route 27 between Chalk Farm and Chiswick.

Scania OmniCity, SP26, has temporarily been allocated to LT route 148 to cover for long-term VOR.

Route 203 has gained a PVR increase of 1 bus, this additional bus is a Double Decker.

Metroline
Another 34 Volvo B5LH's on a Gemini 3 body are on order for Metroline, these are for routes 6 and 98 at Willesden Garage (AC). These were ordered through the 245 and 460's contract so they are expected to arrive in the summer.

Route 125 was taken over on the 31st January with Wright Eclipse Gemini 3/B5LH buses. Although they will soon move to route 82 in return for the TEs.

Quality Line
5 new Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses have been introduced on route S3 between Malden Manor and Sutton Hospital. This marks the end of the re-stock for the S routes, they are all fit for the future.

Stagecoach London
Extras for Route 47 have been loaned from Stagecoach Manchester. These include 17002, 17010 and 17567. They operate between Lewisham and London Bridge in the PM Peaks.
© LondonBuses72

Route 55s LT conversion was pushed back to 24th January, and the conversion itself is progressing extremely slowly with not even half of the route being LT yet. This route uses Euro6 buses and doesn't operate with a CA at any time of day.

Route N55 has also started to convert to New Routemaster buses with the first entering service in the early hours of the 31st January.

The Spirit of London bus (19000) will now re-allocate itself to routes 179 and 275. This is most likely because the bus is Euro3 and it cannot remain in Central London for much longer.

Route 56 is not actually getting brand new Enviro400 MMC Hybrids as was speculated. It is instead getting the 15s existing E40H buses for it's new contract. One of the Hybrids will also go to route 179 for standardization in the garage. These buses will be refurbished to make them suitable for another 5 years. The Scanias are going off-lease and many have already left. The route will use the 55s displaced Tridents until the E40Hs become available.

Routes 498 and 499 are both getting buses from the Enviro MMC range. Enviro400 MMCs for the 498 and Enviro200 MMCs for the 499. Although these buses are going to be late, to cover for the meantime. Enviro400s from Plumstead (PD) will transfer to North Street (NS) to cover for route 498 and to Barking (BK) to partially convert the 62 to Double Deck operation and release its Versas to route 366 allowing some of the 366s Enviro200s to go to the 499. 


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We would like to thank our contributor LondonBuses72 of the West London Bus Blog

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