Two-oh-one to Abellio!

This post should have the title of the 'London Bus Route Series' of mine, as the route just had a service change, I'd like to give the title a little more of a kick to it.

As we all know today, this route is won to Abellio London from Beddington Cross (BC) with Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart buses until the Enviro200s with flywheel fitted arrive, which is to be expected early 2015. Go-Ahead London (London General) were operating the route beforehand from their Merton (AL) base using Volvo Merit Wright Cadet 9.2m buses ex-East Thames Buses.

Abellio's 8525 (YX59BYT) as BC #210 arriving West Dulwich Station

The route first started in 17th March 1995, between Tulse Hill Station and Mitcham Cricketers, funnily enough, it replaced the 200 between Tulse Hill and Mitcham although the 201 was a new route! 201's Plaxton Pointer Darts were late, the 200 was temporarily extended until the Darts arrived. Contract was awarded to London General, operating from Merton (AL) with a rather small PVR of 6 during Mondays to Saturdays and 4 on Sundays with running numbers AL241+

The routeing was Tulse Hill - Upper Tulse Hill - Streatham Hill - Streatham St Leonard's Church - Mitcham Lane - Streatham Road - Mitcham Fair Green -Mitcham Cricketers

Not much has changed to the route in almost 20 years except for extensions on both sides (from Tulse Hill to Herne Hill and Mitcham to Morden).

Five years has passed, and on the first of December 2001, London General lost the 201 to Mitcham Belle, a new operator from those years which later had some of it's operations taken over by Connex. There was an increase in PVR from 8 (M-F), 7 (Saturdays) and 6 (Sundays). If I happen to be correct, long Plaxton Pointer II Darts (10.2m) were used.

Eventually, Centra London purchased Mitcham Belle's London Bus operations by the end of August 2004,

By May 2006, East Thames London (which happened to be Transport for London's own bus company by the time) took over the 201, they ordered Volvo Merit Wright Cadets, 10.8m if I'm correct. Running numbers started from MA121+

The 201 pretty much bumped into randomn defunct bus operators, like Mitcham Belle, which was taken over by Centra London, which then eventually got defunct itself, and then to East Thames Buses.

Abellio's Year

I will summarise the big year in losses and wins, starting off with Abellio London.

Abellio London:
I will start off with Abellio as they have many surprises, in form of winning and losing.
As we all know this year, Abellio had many losses and wins.
Some of their wins was; 49, 109, 201, 415, E1, S4
Their losses in the form of: 100, 112, 322,

And they've retained the 407 with hybrid single deckers and a double decker hybrid which is thought to be the E400MMC Hybrid with 109's batch coming on to Beddington Cross (BC) where 109 and S4 are to be based from and where 322 and 407 currently stand at. Walworth (WL) will take 415 over, Hayes (WS) lost 112 to Metroline Travel from Cricklewood (W) with double deckers temporarily until the ordered Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart 10.8m buses come and contract stated Metroline West though. 201 will also be based from Beddington Cross (BC) with the same single decker order as 407 most likely. E1 was won from Hayes (WS) as an exchange for the loss of 112. Walworth (WL) lost 100 too, but exchange for the route is 415. Sadly enough they haven't won the G1, now looking at Go-Ahead have both G1 and 322 at the same time, like Connex back in the years before! But gaining 432 as an extra from Arriva London based currently at Norwood (N) with mainly Volvo B7TL (10 (VLA 74-78)/10.6m (VLA 1-73)) Alexander ALX400s with spare DAF DB250 10.2m Alexander ALX400s (DLA) coming in because 78 VLAs isn't enough for 2, 176, 415, 417, 432 and 690 all together, hence the DLAs come on 415, 417 and 432, with 690's journeys crosslinked with 415. Yes this has been a long post with no paragraph breaks and I did notice that, if I did seperate it, the post would be long enough really! The MPDs spare from 322 soon may be (well, some) spares for S4, the ones with white-on-black-blinds may have S4 in them. But the green-on-black blinded MPDs at BC contain 152, 315 and G1 in them (obviously yes 322 and P13).

London United lose the 49

It is a bit of a tragic that London United lost the route 49 after servicing it for 15 years. The route is currently under Abellio's hands using E40H 10.3m Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid buses (numbered 2465-2486). And the route runs from White City to Clapham Junction via Shepherd's Bush, Holland Road, Kensington High Street, Gloucester Road, South Kensington, Chelsea and Battersea Bridge. The new timetable link is here: http://londonbusroutes.net/times/049.htm To make stuff short, frequency is Monday to Saturday being 7-8 minutes, Sunday being 10 minutes and evenings being 12 minutes.

As far as history goes back on the route, the route once ran from 1934 between Shepherd's Bush Green and Lewisham Rennell Street which is by far a tad long. Running via Holland Road, Kensington High Street, Gloucester Road, Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, Chelsea, Oakley Street, Battersea Bridge, Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Common, Tooting Bec, Streatham Common South Side (Streatham Common North side westbound), Crown Point, Beaulah Hill, Church Road, Kirkdale, Forest Hill, Crofton Park and Adelaide Avenue to get to Lewisham Rennell Street. 

The routeing has changed since until 24th of May 1991 where it was running from Shepherd's Bush Green to Crystal Palace, which eventually on the next day (25th of May 1991) was cut to Clapham Junction from Crystal Palace, with routes 249 (Monday-Saturday) and 349 (Sunday) replacing the Clapham Junction to Crystal Palace section. The current PVR of the route was 13 Metrobuses (Monday-Friday), 14 Metrobuses (Saturday) and 10 Metrobuses (Sunday), with it running from Stockwell (SW) with a running number of SW #151+.

Five years later, the route got partly allocated to Battersea (B) with a PVR of 6 from B and 9 from SW (Monday-Friday). 6 from B and 6 from SW (Saturday). Then 3 from B and 9 from SW (Sundays).

London Bus Route Series: The three

This is one of the few major routes that enter Central London. Let me start with it's routeing. It starts from the green torched palace, yes Crystal Palace, to Oxford Circus via Croxted Road, Herne Hill, Brixton, Kennington, Lambeth Bridge, Parliament Square (for Westminster), Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. Running via the quiet ends of the South to the busy zone of London. And it has a night service too. Which runs from Bromley North to Oxford Circus, running via Bromley South, The Glades Shopping Centre, Beckenham, Penge, Anerley then via 3 to Oxford Circus from Crystal Palace.

This is also one of my favourite Abellio routes. Operated by Abellio London from Queenstown Battersea (QB) with E40H 10.2m Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid buses (allocated 2414-2437 with 2438-2444 from 211 as ultra common workings). 

The hybrids look like this:

A 2437 (SN61CYX) on 3 towards Crystal Palace, sorry for the poor picture

A packed one this time, on a school PM peak, the 3 doesn't cope well in the South at peaks, merely at all. 2421 (SN61CYA) tries to let off a few schoolkids at the 'Aleyn Road' bus stop. There was a few people too. Who weren't allowed to board due to the bus being packed to the brim.

It has a PVR of 22 and frequency of 7-8 minutes Monday to Fridays, with Saturday frequency being 10-12 minutes and Sunday with 12-14. And evenings being 12-15 minutes. I do know the 3 very well so I do know the timetable a bit better.

Timetable link is here: http://londonbusroutes.net/times/003N003.htm

And the full N3 timetable is here: http://londonbusroutes.net/times/N003.htm 

Now let's go through the history of the route, shall we?

The 3 started running on the 1st of November 1908 running from Brixton Station to South Croydon. 18 days later on the 19th, it was altered on both ends to run Oxford Circus to South Croydon Sugar & Swan. Continuing on from April 1909, it was extended on Sundays to Purley from South Croydon Sugar & Swan, then to Whyteleaf by August the same year.

School starts, already a problem

There has been high demand in Gipsy Hill with major route 3 (runs from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus via Herne Hill, Brixton, Kennington, Lambeth Bridge, Parliament Square, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Square). With another route, which is 322 (runs from Crystal Palace to Clapham Common via Gipsy Hill, West Norwood, Tulse Hill, Herne Hill and Brixton), an infrequent route but will be frequent from contract change with a PVR increase to 10 seeing a 10 minute frequency from current 15.

The PVR of 322 is 8 and PVR of 3 is 22 with frequency of 7-8 mins Monday to Friday average, Saturday being around 10-13 minutes and Sunday being around 12-15 minutes with evenings being around 12-15 minutes.

There are schools with many students, and the fact is that majority of the 15-yo+ students walk across Gipsy Hill to Crystal Palace or the Gipsy Hill Station. Or fill themselves on 3 or 322 northbound. This is what I investigated today:

Many people at the Gipsy Hill bus stop all waiting for a 3. Eventually 2421 (SN61CYA) got packed above.

Yeah, a bit of a load at Gipsy Hill bus stop for 322. Most of the people take the 3 as it's more reliable. For West Norwood, people take 322. It's the only route unless they go to Crystal Palace and take a 432 but that's not much of a better option. Some schoolkids actually do go up Gipsy Hill and there is a school there too.

There should be a new route to help this problem, not only will it solve the school problem, but the northbound AM peak which is the same as southbound AM peak but slightly worse. Only this could help with a glimpse:

A new bus route running from Crystal Palace to London Bridge via route 322 to Gipsy Hill, 3 until Brixton then 133 to London Bridge. This would not only relieve the school kids on route 3, 68 and 468. But will also relieve the peaks of route 3 and 68/468. 68 and 468 are not relieved but except by themselves. By the new route going further into the city, this will increase help on 35, 40 and 133 further to the city. Having the route from the City to the suburbs of the torched down palace, would make new links and would make the first fastest link from Crystal Palace to Elephant & Castle leaving 363 the slowest, unless you exchange routes such as taking 3 then 68 or 468, which is now not needed and you can save money by only taking this route. By having this plan, would make some heavy relieves on key routes 3 and 133. With minor relieving on 35 and 40. I have explained my point already, if plan goes ahead, then so be it. I will send a TfL request soon hopefully. This is my plan below: