Last week I was out and about in central and south-west London taking pictures, here are the best of the batch!

LDP215 SK52MOF and 9405 LJ56VTE on routes 39 and 156 near Wandsworth.

9481 LJ09OKP on route 344 along Battersea Park Road.

DP204 EU53PYP on route 170 in Clapham Junction.

HV143 LT63UJD on route 319 along Battersea Park Road. 

DA206 PF08URW of the Big Bus Tour along Battersea Park Road.

9456 LJ09CDU on route 35 in Clapham Junction.

DLP205 T207XBV of The Original Tour along Battersea Park Road.

ADH7 SN60BYB on route 94 along Oxford Street.

LT17 LTZ1017 on route 390 along Oxford Street.

WVL491 LJ61NWD on route 19 along New Oxford Street.

HV29 LJ11EFV on route 29 near Newington Green.

TA240 LG52FBE on route 49 along Battersea Park Road.

VWL29 LF52THZ on route 1 along New Oxford Street.

DLA323 LG52DUA on route 319 along Battersea Park Road.

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Route 8 was converted to New Routemaster operation on the 28th June 2014, just over a year after the first full New Routemaster conversion of the 24. Ever since the buses have entered a full service on multiple routes such as: 9, 10, 11, 38, 148, 390 and now the 8.

Prior to the conversion of the route, it was allocated with ALX400s. These were often intermixed with the batch for route 277 which is also operated from the same garage (Bow) as the 8. 

Route 8 today runs between Bow Church and Tottenham Court Road Station, it's original western destination is Oxford Circus but currently it is cut back to Tottenham Court Road due to Roadworks affecting the Holles Street stand. At the time the above picture was taken, the 8 was also cut at the eastern end from Bow Church, but it has since returned to it's original terminus of Bow Church.

A week or so before route 8 converted to New Routemaster operation, Bow Garage started taking delivery of brand new Euro6 Enviro400 Hybrids for route 205. It was unknown if these Hybrids would ever make it onto Route 8 with it's conversion date fast approaching, but nonetheless BW did give us a treat and put 14reg Hybrids on very often. In the picture on the left Jack caught up with the working and managed to take a pretty good picture of it. 

Route 8 was the first route in London to gain these types of vehicles upon contract renewal, It was announced with the tender that the route would be operating these vehicles in OPO mode only, with no conductor present at any time of the day. This is a very controversial move and there have been mixed reviews about this.

The conversion itself didn't get off to a great start, when these buses started to phase in early many of them did not have working ibus equipment and then it was at doubt whether all the buses would be delivered in time for the contract start of 28th June. But despite all the speculation, Saturday the 28th came with a full allocation of New Routemasters on the 8. 

I went out to test out the vehicles for myself on the 28th of June. I first wanted to test out the 38, but that failed miserably and after than I knew my mood was not good for making a proper judgement on the 38. After taking a quick retreat into McDonald's from a thundershower I went to Tottenham Court Road to ride the 8. 

It started off pretty well, the bus turned up 6 minutes earlier than it was scheduled to, and at no point in the Route it had to be regulated. Although the "New Bus smell" of the LTs still had quite a strong presence on the bus. Then later when we were between St Paul's and Bank we got stuck behind a group of cyclists and had no way of overtaking. But once we passed them there was one more obstical in our way, which was the Bishopsgate. Although it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and we managed to get through pretty fast.

The area of Bethnal Green, Old Ford and Bow was pretty enjoyable. Many of you may know that this area contains many tight turns, but the LTs managed to clear these turns with ease and still managed to maintain speed. But when we reached the part of the Route which I was most anticipating, the A12, I was completely upset to find a long line of cars stretching out into the distance. Eventually we reached Bow church, from where I started to make my journey home. But not until I stopped to take a few more pictures. 

Like Route 38, the 8 is home to 6 Adidas liveried buses for the 2014 World cup, I spotted one in the form of LT268. while waiting for my bus home

Overall I think Route 8 has been a Pretty decent conversion, it could have been better on many different aspects, although it did outperform itself on other sections of the Route. I will probably need to take a ride on it again once It is re-instated to Oxford Circus as I would like to see it perform that turn into Hanover square. But judging by today I don't think that would be much of a problem. 

What route is next? Route 453 is converting on the 4th October 2014 followed by Route 55 on the 28th February 2015.

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Stagecoach London have 14 Optare Versa buses, people that know me well know how much I dislike these buses. They were ordered back in 2008 for routes 396 and 469 for their new contracts. When Stagecoach brought back the ELBG business in 2010, these vehicles went to them.

Stagecoach saw no point in keeping two small batches of Versas in separate garages across the river, so in 2011 when route 62, another route from BK was awarded a new contract with brand new E200s, the opportunity was taken to transfer the Versas from PD to BK in exchange for the brand new Enviros. Although route 62 has a higher PVR than the 469, so it retained a partial allocation of Enviro200s.

© EastLondoner 2014

25312 is seen on Route 62

As these buses were brought by the ELBG, they contained ELBG interiors

This continued for a year or so, the Versas occasionally went on route 366. A twist in the tale came when in 2013, it was announced that route 396 was retained with existing buses. 

This meant that the Versas would get refurbished. But Stagecoach being a bit stingy only refurbished 5 of them These were the ones allocated to Route 396 on paper. But BK never manage to keep batches separate so there will always be intermixing. Here is a Fleetlist of the Buses getting a Refurbishment...

25310 - LX09AAE

25311 - LX09AAK

25312 - LX09AAJ

25313 - LX09AAF

25314 - LX09AAN

© EastLondoner 2014

25310 was the first of the batch to be refurbished, and here it is seen standing at Gascoigne Estate. You can see that it hasn't been given white on black blinds.....yet. 

Inside, the buses have had a complete makeover, they gained Stagecoach flooring and moquette, as well as a repainting of the handlebars. They've also cleaned out the engines so the buses sound much more healthier than they previously were. 

© EastLondoner 2014

© EastLondoner 2014

© EastLondoner 2014

As you can see from the two pics of the exterior above, The buses have retained YOB blinds. It came as a big surprise to everyone when all of a sudden...

Maybe more Versas will get WOB in the future. But overall what do you think of the refurbishment program? Did the buses look better before or after? Please let us know in the comments Section.

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Route 368 Runs Between Barking, Harts Lane Estate and Chadwell Heath. It is operated by Go ahead London (Formally First London) out of BE garage and is allocated with SEN class Buses coded SEN30 - SEN37.

It has been unique in changing operator each of the previous Two times it has been tendered, just to return to BE again before the end of the contract. First time when that happened, BE lost the contract to Docklands buses but then when both Blue Triangle and Docklands Buses were absorbed into GAL, the 368 changed allocations to make operation simpler. Then in 2011 the contract was awarded to First London, just in 2013 for First to Leave London and Sell the Route to Blue Triangle.

The Route itself is mainly residential, it starts of at a Housing estate in Barking known as "Harts Lane Estate", it then passes through Barking and then runs via Ripple Road. When it reaches the flyover at the end of Ripple Road, it moves onto Lodge Avenue. It then follows Lodge Avenue until the end of the Road and then continues onto Becontree Avenue. Then it turns onto Bennetts Castle Lane, then Green lane then joins onto Valence Avenue. It then follows Valence Avenue until it becomes Station Road, and then onto Wangey Road which is its Terminus.

Me being a daily user of this Route find this one of London's Most Unreliable Routes. Sometimes It's hit and miss whether a bus will turn up at all, and with a high frequency route, this shouldn't be happening. It's buses don't have the best maintenance, and SEN31 and SEN37 make weird whining noises while they are on the move. With that note I bring you to the fleetlist

SEN30 - LX61FZO

SEN31 - LX61FZP

SEN32 - LX61FZR

SEN33 - LX61FZS

SEN34 - LX61FZT

SEN35 - LX61FZU

SEN36 - LX61FZV

SEN37 - LX61FZW

Route 368 doesn't often have any working that can be classed as 'odd', as BE tend to mix and match buses whether they be blinded or not. Two interesting workings I have can be seen below...

© EastLondoner2013

What do you think of this Route, Is it a good Route or a Bad Route. Do You want to ride it or did this Put you off from Riding it? Please let us know in the comments Section

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