Triple Variety 39 [While stocks last that is]

LDP222 (SK52MLV) on Victoria Drive,
Putney Heath

The title directly refers to it's former but still used allocation of Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointers (the last of their kind alive right now), formerly used on 368 10.8m Enviro200s (SEN31-7) and brand new Streetlites (WS66-73).

The 39 is a busy trunk single deck route which used to be a double deck routes and used to enter Central London going as far north as Edmonton Park Road, but for the most part used to always serve Victoria until 12 May 1990 where it was converted to midibus operation and was shortened to be Clapham Junction to Putney Bridge, with 'bread-vans' as some call, the allocation, with a PVR of 8.

12 years later an allocation change to Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointers in 2002 with a PVR of 13 to deal with the extra loads balanced by much increased capacity on the busy former central London route. It's hard to believe since 1985 the running number was always 21+, the reason for that is, since 1985, the route was always based at Putney (AF) but moved to Plough Lane (PL) in 2007 to make space in Putney (AF), but transferred without running number change.

Interior of SEN32 (YX61FZR) facing rear

It was 27 November when the route started it's contract renewal with intended ex-368 SENs and new WSs, the WSs were for the most part late, the SENs were refurbished with a hint of First colour scheme to suit the green/purple interior better, some LDPs have left the fleet however.

SEN32 (YX61FZR) at the first stop
on Falcon Road

Before we jump onto 39's routing, I only did majority of the route (Clapham Junction-Putney Heath) and it was a good experience. From the populated Clapham Junction bustling with life, we stroll to Wandsworth Southside, a shopping centre, it's from there that we jump onto residential roads to gather people to get from A to B, with our next checkpoint being Southfields Station.

The distance between Wandsworth and Southfields is decent and a little short but fun if you get the right driver (you're bound to) and is slightly posh in it's residential form, we then arrive at the slightly more populated than average (for small towns) Southfields where people next board/alight as an interchange point. The awaiting checkpoint for us is Putney Heath, whilst I admit I didn't go exactly the known part of Putney Heath, time was running short for me so I alighted along Victoria Drive, at Levana Close.

Once we leave Southfields Station whilst still on Wimbledon Park Road, we go from what we had as house-ful yet calmly residential and posh (but not posh like Chelsea or you name it), we escape onto Victoria Drive to get to Putney as soon as possible as we took time by getting to Southfields in the first place...

Go-Ahead London General SEN32 YX61FZR | ADL Enviro200 10.8m | Route 39 

This is where 39 shares resemblance to another route, one I have done before and loved when I did it back then, Abellio's T33 (or now known as, 433), both the vehicles I did it in and routing (at this point) was striking similar, I had SEN32 (YX61FZR) which had vibration issues but was very nippy on 39 on this journey Putney-bound, and on T33 I had 8776 (YX61ELH) which was nippy too.

So, as my time was short, I decided to escape back to Clapham Junction, but wanted to savour the taste of an LDP in case I never have the chance to do so again as at the time, there was a decent number of LDPs in service despite the possibility to fully convert. My bus was LDP222 (SK52MLV), which was decently loaded, by the time we got to Southfields we were full up but by Wandsworth most people unloaded however a neat amount remained but all have left once we got to Clapham Junction Station.

Thrashy | Go-Ahead London General LDP222 SK52MLV | Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointer 2 | Route 39 

Hope you enjoyed this post as I've not done a post of a route in a very long time and by now you probably get the drill if you read my posts before.....but let me twist the words this time...stay safe until next time!

Note: Usage of any photos on this blog isn't permitted where no name is present (meaning it's mine, ©Unorm), or an All Rights Reserved symbol © is present. If you desire to use a photo, you must contact the original author. In my case, you should contact my Flickr.

Cherishing new bonds, 157 + Arriva

Arriva T112 (LJ59LYP)
in Crystal Palace

As you know today, 3rd December 2016, Abellio lost 152 to Go-Ahead, 157 to Arriva and Go-Ahead lost 413 to Quality Line, only 157 has not seen it's respective operator even once. However, prior to privatisation, Thornton Heath (TH) ran 157 for most of the 1973-87 period (not fully though).

My "Last byes for Abellio with 157" post can be seen here.

And so technically Thornton Heath (TH) run 157 again (but Norwood [N] behind the shadows do in fact), as drivers are from the depot with new drivers to the company going on the route, but buses are based in Norwood (N) due to space constraints at Thornton Heath (TH), and those same buses 157 needed are from Norwood (N)! Allocated to 133, it's part of the T84-117 batch of which some which are not needed for 157 will head to Wood Green (WN) for route 221's contract renewal which did not start with intended buses.

The old look. Abellio's 9021 (BX55XLS) in
Crystal Palace Bus Station.

The last Abellio bus in service on route 157 was 9072 which finished service at 2:15, the last Enviro400 MMC was 2512 at 46 past midnight and the last Trident was 9813 which finished quite ironically, at 6pm (or, 1800). For the time being Thornton Heath (TH) are also lending a hand in allocation as in the first place, it is Thornton Heath (TH) drivers (signing on at the depot before going to Norwood [N] to pick up intended bus) who're driving the route as I mentioned before, it seems the Enviro400s already in Thornton Heath (TH) have had blinds for 64 and 157 prior to even tendering seemingly, I'm talking about T118-21 which were intended for Croydon (TC) but moved due to school routes 663/689 being born.

SE145's the first Go-Ahead 152 and MCS04's the first Quality Line 413, just saying.

The service with Abellio had been questionable, sometimes dreadful, and had an allocation of Volvo B7TLs which were hated by drivers so weren't best for the route, even at times you'd have one or two Enviro400 MMCs on it due to drivers trying to be rebels. On the other hand, the service with Arriva is questionable as they only took over it now, and have decent vehicles coming off 157.

Thornton Heath (TH)'s T129 (LJ10HVK) on Whitehorse Lane

The full allocation for 157 isn't really known but I'd stamp a guess for T84-105 as they're 21 vehicles for a PVR of 18. Oh, speaking of 157's service, the Sunday frequency has been increased from every 20 to every 15, at least some change has been addressed, and Thornton Heath (TH) run the Sunday service thanks to the low PVR with spare Ts from routes 64/198/250.

My T112 (LJ59LYP) clip on route 157 on Saturday can be seen here.

Thanks for reading (the post was rushed and was supposed to be published on Saturday), and enjoy yourselves as always!

Note: Usage of any photos on this blog isn't permitted where no name is present (meaning it's mine, ©Unorm), or an All Rights Reserved symbol © is present. If you desire to use a photo, you must contact the original author. In my case, you should contact my Flickr.

Last byes for Abellio with 157

As you may have guessed, routes 152 157 & 413 leave their decade long journey with their current operators Abellio and Go-Ahead respectively (of which the former was in Go-Ahead's hands decades ago) to go to Arriva (157), Go-Ahead (152) and Quality Line (413). The 413 has only been with Quality Line for 4 years from 1997 through to 2001. Now a comeback for a 5-7 year contract until 2021-3! Anyways this post as mentioned in the title is focused on 157 so don't expect me to rant about the other two routes. Meanwhile, tenders came out and the results are below.

The old look.
Abellio's 9021 (BX55XLS) in Crystal Palace Bus Station
serving it's first stop en-route Morden
Part of the ex-Walworth (WL) batch route 157 received did
indeed receive smartblinds along with an interior overhaul

Route 157, a long trunk route allocated the 'crap' Volvo B7TLs, or so drivers talk about now and then of which struggle the hill up Anerley Hill, are 9021-33, 9067/8 and 9071-3. The first two are from Walworth (WL) during in exchange with 9756-72 back in 2011 during it's new contract, with refurbished Volvo's off the 188. Route 3 receiving a full allocation of new E40Hs (2414-37) thus allowing 9739-55 to shift and the 188 received 13 new E40Hs, 2401-13 which allowed the shifting of it's V's (former code) to be easier. However some of the Tridents along with 9813 from Battersea (QB) returned during these same Volvo's refurbishment (some were due a refurb since their contract in around 2012). More about 157's past can be seen below.

First things first, for those who haven't done the route I shall explain the route as detailed but least contamination of words as I possibly can. In the mean time, watch my video of 2512 (YY64TZM) on route 157 on it's last day with Abellio.

Abellio 9032 (BX55XME) in Morden
at the first stop en-route Crystal
Palace

Starting at Morden, a crowd gets on the route as per typical trunk route, you leave the people-full Morden Station to go on Morden Hall Road which is a four-lane dual carriageway with houses on opposite sides as well as minor greenery. We then approach Rose Hill Roundabout and take a turn onto Wrythe Lane which is two-lane with moderate houses either sides too, until we meet the large and appealing St Helier's Hospital which has a greenery opposite it. We continue the typical-ness until we pass Carshalton Station and hit Carshalton Pond, full of swans swimming about, and then the approach to Carshalton High Street is a bit narrow for two buses to pass but we made it.

After that we instantly hit on a narrower quiet residential road to direct ourselves straight to Wallington which takes faster than you think it would've, once we pass under Wallington Station, we turn to Stafford Road, last main road we hit on our way to Croydon, of which we pass many sorts of houses and shops. A few minutes later, the junction of Purley Way/Stafford Road approaches and we pass there, it starts to become less appealing, oh and by the way, to your left you can see the rail tracks as if the train line wants to share with the road or make itself visible, in any case it's mainly seen until you happen to know Croydon, an entrance from the middle of nothingness into a town centre, is pretty strange....

Morden to West Croydon takes 40 minutes on a good day, now for the Crystal Palace section which took an extra 50 minutes due to the interference with school rush hours and stupendous traffic. The 157 tries it's best to leave Croydon and head for Crystal Palace as fast as it could by serving Whitehorse Road, Northcote Road (again a narrow residential road) and then Selhurst Road (regular residential road which sees estate blocks and shops) as well as passing Selhurst Station of which one of the platforms for trains terminating is very very close to the road.

Traffic builds up as we reach Norwood Junction...it's a schoolchildren's headquarters...anyways, the 157 makes it's best efforts to get to Anerley before reaching the burnt-down so-called 'Crystal Palace'. We continue on Croydon Road until we make a left turn onto Anerley Road which is less traffic-infested and has cars parked halfway on the pavement and road, at first the road isn't much to note about bar the slight incline and moderate houses, as we approach Anerley Station it builds up more with 249/410/432 coming in, then as we reach Crystal Palace, more traffic builds up and even a bigger incline than we've ever had on our journey.....Anerley Hill. Whilst climbing, yet again moderate looking houses doesn't cease to bore us and neither does the cars with awkward parking positions to maximise traffic potential to sway past without error, once we finished climbing up, we reached Crystal Palace Park of which the next stop would be the Green 'Palace' known as Crystal Palace to many.

2512 (YY64YZM) in Morden at the
first stop en-route Crystal Palace

We now turn to it's history which dates back to 1934, when police started to record service changes. It was Morden to Wallington Station using the STL type. Over the months a reroute via Wrythe Lane (instead of Sutton) and an extension to Raynes Park have been issued. Allocation change to D-type Daimlers from Merton (AL) on the 10/10/45 with a PVR of 11. And the start of a new era, with new RT-type Regent III's.

On 4 March 59, it was given a large extension to Crystal Palace replacing the trolleybus 654 via pretty much the same routing today. Croydon (CN) assisted the route (PVR of 22). Five years later, CN closed in favour of Elmers End (ED) with Sutton (A) dealing with most of the PVR.

In Autumn 70, the Rayners Park end was cut to Morden on Sundays excluding evenings but that returned at the start of 1973 plus a conversion to One-Person-Operation.

Thus it was the 26th November 1988 where the route shrunk permanently to Morden Station (with a PVR of 13, low compared to now). Allocation was Daimler Fleetlines (DMS-class). However, replaced by the M-type, MCW Metrobus, during 1993. A further fact, the 157 had 413's current running number sequence, #51+. Then on the 26th July 97, new Volvo Olympians on the Northern Counties Palatine I body were brought to life.

Connex took over the route on the 1st December 2001 with 17 new Tridents (which very barely made it for the 51-reg deadline!), coded TA56-72 with a PVR increase to 16 and a running number sequence of #201+. Obviously running from Beddington Cross (BC). The sequence changed to #101+ on contract renewal in 2006, of which #201+ is now adopted by route 201.

Abellio 9032 (BX55XME) on stand
in a deserted Crystal Palace

The contract renewal in 2011 called for Volvo's from Walworth (WL), routes 188/381. The refurbishment featured the addition of smart-blinds, or automatic blinds one may call them. Abellio did this with the 56/07-plate Enviro400s and 9466, including the ex-Armchair 9830-43, the Nimbuses, and MPD (Mini Pointer Dart)s for route H26/U9. And exactly 2 years later, a sequence change to #1+ (vacant when 3/N3 left to Battersea [QB]).

And as a fact, it seems Abellio, sorry, I mean Travel London loaned the KN52's that were on route 237 during iBus installment (for 157) which some are on route 172 as of now.

Route 109's 2512 was the last Enviro400 MMC to serve 157 and predictions for actual last...9028 which should finish service at 2:38 following morning.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and as always, enjoy yourselves!

If you're here to read this then I'm surprised. Tenders came out today and it seems the following..

SD = Single Deck     DD = Double Deck
70 Contract awarded to London United from Tower Transit. PVR 18>19. To be confirmed. 24/6/17.
120 Contract awarded to Metroline from London United. PVR 17. New Euro6 hybrid DD. 24/6/17.
C1 Contract retained by London United. PVR 15. To be confirmed. 1/7/17.
R68 Contract retained by Abellio West London. PVR 10. New Euro6 diesel SD. 24/6/17.
R70 Contract retained by Abellio West London. PVR 11. New Euro6 diesel SD. 24/6/17.

Note: Usage of any photos on this blog isn't permitted where no name is present (meaning it's mine, ©Unorm), or an All Rights Reserved symbol © is present. If you desire to use a photo, you must contact the original author. In my case, you should contact my Flickr.

Central London bus consultation

Hello people and welcome to a consultation by TfL that was rumoured long ago, when Oxford Street was in the pipelines of being closed, a consultation about Central London changes started to trend. Then on route 242's contract award which stated a possible curtailment to St Paul's, something turned fishy. Before that, speculations of 25 getting split to run Ilford to Aldgate and Stratford to Oxford Circus or so, now without further ado let's see the changes involved.

If you'd like me not to spoil it for you or want to read it on your own, link is here. However if you don't care, then read as follows.

Tender Results 21 November 2016

Let's just dive in to it..

Tender results 7 November + 298 consultation

Just in case you're not aware out there...

A consultation has come out for route 298, details are that TfL plan to withdraw the Cranborne Road Industrial Estate-Potters Bar Station section (which is currently only Monday-Fridays before evenings).

Tender results 28 October 2016

Tenders have been announced people!

SD = Single Deck
DD = Double Deck

Tranche 553
617/629 Contract awarded to Sullivan Buses from Arriva London North with 2010 existing DD. PVR 2 (both) 1/4/17.

Three new consultations from TfL!

Three consultations have been launched by TfL, these effect routes 11 23 42 78 100 133 153 214 350 388 U5 N11 and N133.

Tender Result 27 September!

Tenders!

Slight new change! | What have I missed?

I'm proud at how popular my News Flash series is and I've decided to declare a page for itself including all the 'flash updates' this year (2016) combined in one page. I have a motive behind it, but there's a second reason.
I want to clear space for possible new posts. My other reason is that by compiling it in one place means you won't have to click through many links, only drawback is that by compiling over once a week of news would make the page long and would need more loading time.

Click to see the new page!

I will endeavour to update as I usually do (at the very least, once a week).

What have I been doing in my absence?

What have I been doing?

Mobility route 931

A P13 driver using crystal clear sense by blinding the bus for Abellio, 8218 (YX16OBG) on Crystal Palace Parade
this bus is off 367's allocation 

Mobility route 931 (Lewisham Shopping Centre - Crystal Palace Parade)
The least busiest non-temporary route in TfL service at 1146 passengers a year, in 2012/2013 but had a patronage of 2499 in 1999/2000. Busiest mobility route as of now is the 969 (at 3545 per year). I scrambled up every piece of history I could find of the route and here is my article. This route existed prior to 2000 as a matter of fact.

Routing was as follows:

Towards Lewisham:
Crystal Palace Parade, College Road, Dulwich Wood Park, Bowden Drive, Lyall Avenue, Seeley Drive, Bowden Drive, Kingswood Road, Fountain Drive, Westwod Hill, Crystal Palace Park Road, Lawrie Park Road, Westwood Hill, Sydenham Road, Mayow Road, Perry Vale, Woolstone Road, Catford Hill, Catford Road, Rushey Green, Lewisham High Street, Lewis Grove, Lewisham High Street and Lewisham Road.

Towards Crystal Palace:
Lewisham Road, Molesworth Street, Lewisham High Street, Bradgate Road, Brookdale Road, Holbeach Road, Thomas Lane, Catford Road, Catford Hill, Woolstone Road, Perry Vale, Mayow Road, Sydenham Road, Westwood Hill, Lawrie Park Road, Crystal Palace Park Road, Westwood Hill, Fountain Drive, Kingswood Road, Bowden Drive, Lyall Avenue, Seeley Drive, Bowden Drive, Dulwich Wood Park, College Road and Crystal Palace Parade.

My trip 3 June 2016

I've been meaning to cover routes 62, 173 and 368 in one fellow swoop for a long time, and the time has come for me to at least do something this holiday. I originally planned for all three but I saved the best for last, considering at the time when I arrived in Barking, no MMCs were within wait-able range.

First up, I did LT707 to Dulwich Wood Park/Kingswood Drive on route 3, nothing much. Spotted LT639 with 1967 tube stock style middle closing doors though.

Abellio London 8219 YX16OBH on 931

My first ever Enviro200 MMC ride which was actually decent, compared to other short vehicles, the CCTV screen makes the bus look much shorter, the rear is spacious but the legroom fits perfectly for someone average like me. Other details include the same feeling you'd have on a Enviro400 MMC. The Allison gearbox works decent with it though I always thought that Allisons semi-jerk (not like ZF ones) from 1st to 2nd looking at some videos but being on one in real life proves me wrong! So, being my first ride on route 931 which you may have not done, I'll explain the route.

Thanks for over 7000 views! News Flash June

News Flash 23/6:
PDL100 of route 410 crashed on Purley Way.
There also appears to be floods within London. As a result, Battersea (QB) and Lea Interchange (LI) routes were running severely under PVR. Route X26 is suspended between Kingston and Heathrow. Route 366 is also suspended, between Loxford Park and Barking.

End of an era, and the return to home

Trio: 9432 on left, E127 in middle, 9435 on right

It is the 30th April 2016 and we see routes 35 and 40 return to their truly home sweet home at Camberwell (Q), the former on paper allocated ADL E40H with the Enviro400 MMC bodywork, and the latter with the new MCV Evoseti, on the Volvo B5LH chassis. Whereas on the other hand, route 45A, or rather the 345, has had the last laugh with Go-Ahead London as it was operated out of what is now Go-Ahead's garages since 1985, when the route was born. And was operated mostly by either Stockwell (SW) or Camberwell (Q), of which it passes both virtually. Peckham (PM) and New Cross (NX) aided the route and in the 2000s, all four operated the route simultaneously! We can never see that again for the next 5 or 7 so years.

Route 315

I would like to tell a tale about my favourite 'old people' route, route 315.

Today is the day I took a photo of SE245 (YY15EYS) working on the route, the first photo of a Euro 6 bus on the route.

From 322's SE235-45 batch. Go-Ahead London General SE245 (YY15EYS) at Streatham St Leonard's Church.

Route 315 is a busy 'old people' route with a low frequency (every 20/30), but actually picks up a similar amount of younger passengers (regular adults I'm talking about), this is one of three Valley Roads, with a more-on-the-poor side transport (with the very busy 417 and helpless 249).

Public Transport Simulator - 2016 update

Welcome to my first post about Public Transport Simulator, I have a page set up for it which can be seen here. But I'm posting about the new update I've enjoyed yesterday.

The new update contains two new vehicles to and an entirely rebuilt City (first group of levels in game for all vehicles).

3600+ views special - London Bus Routes: 196

I welcome you to my new post: History of route 196.

Before I start, I'll post a picture of a frequent odd working on the route.

Go-Ahead London General WVL2 (LG02KGX) in West Norwood

Yup, that's Wright, the Gemini 1 bodied Volvo B7TL, which have a 3 speed Voith which I loathe.

Let's open the book, shall we?

My journal, 28th December 2015

Nothing interesting but I feel to share my day (as of 28th December 2015)

MEC47 passing with green blank blinded everywhere, in Brixton going northbound
2519's side blinds stuck on 188 Bricklayers Arms (while on 415)

Go-Ahead London Central ELS8 YU02GHO in Bricklayers Arms
Displaying an incorrect Denmark Hill, while actually going Liverpool Street-bound

SE236 blinded for Clapham Common en-route Crystal Palace (on 322)
DW42 inside N, front blinded for Arriva, sides for 264 via Mitcham
T242 on the LO-W, blinded for 279

Abellio London 9025 (BX55XLW) at the first stop in Brixton Road for route 109

Go-Ahead London Central WVL240 LX06DZZ beside Old Kent Road Tesco.

Go-Ahead London Central PVL313 PJ52LVP in West Norwood on route 68
After the delayed conversion to LTs on route 68 occurs, I don't think this type would stray much.

Stagecoach Selkent 13072 BF15KHG in Bricklayer's Arms on route 53 to Lambeth North

Abellio London 9025 BX55XLW in Brixton at the starting point of route 109, bound for Croydon Town Centre
This bus has AdBlue fitted.

Abellio London LT625 LTZ1625 in Kennington, approaching the road junction with Vassall Road

Go-Ahead London Central E251 (YX12FGP) by Old Kent Road Tesco

Metroline Travel LT560 (LTZ1560) by Old Kent Road Tesco

The first LT on route 159, Abellio London LT632 (LTZ1632) next to Kennington Park

Abellio London 2416 (SN61DGZ) leaving the Vassall Road bus stop on Brixton Road

Arriva London VLA66 (LJ04YWV) in Tulse Hill to rescue the passengers from VLA41 (LJ53BCO) which terminated at the spot.

Go-Ahead London General WVL477 (LJ61NWL) at Kennington Station

Arriva London VLA62 (LJ04LFT) dead runs on Westow Street towards Norwood (N) garage

A deformed shot of a deformed Trident
Abellio London 9842 (KN52NEY) at Bricklayer's Arms

Thanks for reading this post and have an enjoyable new year 2016!

2015, The End

An earmark for the most interesting of London bus scene years is 2016. Why you may ask? Though we already have the New Routemaster, Enviro400 MMC and Enviro200 MMC of new buses aswell as the Wright StreetLite and many more, we have the comeback of MCV with their Evoseti. Plus more if you read as I list through. But I would like to simply point out the major scenes in the less popular 2015, of which sparked some interest but lacked here and there.

January 2015:

Quality Line thought they would retain the S4 with success but passed onto Abellio by buying new buses, however this was not the case and they had a backup plan... allocate them to S3, which had old vehicles in it's allocation anyways. We then move onto another aspect of Abellio at them time and tht was the 201/407, both routes being introduced to ADL E20D 10.8m Enviro200 buses with speculated 'flywheel'. A minor upgrade to 407 but a major change to the 201 which was suffering with Volvo Merit (DAF SB120) 9.2m Wright Cadets. To think it's former allocation was 10.8m Cadets too!

Old allocation
ex-East Thames Buses, Go-Ahead
London General - DW9 (LF52TKT) in
West Dulwich

 

New allocation
Abellio London 8822 YY64TZS on the Herne Hill terminus

We then move onto diversions and roadworks, where some people thought 2015 would be full of roadworks and service cuts but half of it was the case. With Regent Street and Paddington service cuts. As of 5 January:

• 3 cut from Oxford Circus to Regent Street (supposed to return by 16/02/15)
• 6 cut from Aldwych to Trafalgar Square, returned 16/2/15
• 159 cut from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, returned 16/2/15
• 205 cut from Bow to Mile End, returned 28/3/15
• 436 cut from Paddington to Marble Arch, returned 3/4/15

Then Abellio surprised us, with the first Enviro400 MMC batch!

(Post for route 109's new MMCs can be seen here)

Abellio London 2503 (YY64TZC) on Streatham High Road

What a way to end January, don't you think? (31/1/15)

February:

Extension of route 130 from Norwood Junction to Thornton Heath Clock Tower - 14/2/15

©LondonBuses 157
Stagecoach East London LT315 (LTZ1315) in Old Street
en-route 55 to Oxford Circus

This was yet another anonymous conversion starting from new contract, but it was half obvious, at least for Stagecoach's Central London routes. LT355 (LTZ1355) and LT360 (LTZ1360) of the batch crashed and if I remember right, LT315 (LTZ1315, pictured) was also another victim of the crash. Much to the driver's dislike of the Borismaster type in Leyton (T), route 55 also was rerouted away from Leyton Green Tesco due to the Borismaster type of 11.3m length not achieving to do the full 100% of the route.

However, most routes had restrictions and TfL will force to bypass them.

Route 15 also received the same NBfL type in February, on supposedly the same day (28th), but that was, the conversion date. And proven by Arriva London [on the 38] and Go-Ahead London [on the 12], conversions can take a 'short' amount of time(!)

Stagecoach made every enthusiast think route 56 was to receive the second batch of MMCs... well, wrong!

Because of the now-free ADL E40H 10.2m Enviro400 hybrids from route 15 (12128-12153), which was reallocated to the 56. So that's two different mixtures of hybrids in Leyton (T), new and existing. Last but not least is the 488 change to Lea Interchange (LI) of Tower Transit from West Ham (WH) of Stagecoach East London. These changes all occured on the 28th February.

March:

Abellio London 2532 (YX15OXB), in Tulse Hill,
new for the extension to Old Kent Road Tesco

Last double deck route to be fully
allocated Euro 2 buses.
Arriva London DLA235 (X435FGP)
on Effra Road

So the second batch of MMCs was Abellio once again, making a streak. On worthless route 415 which (in my opinion) did not deserve good buses at all. Another Arriva route in the hands of Abellio. Bonnet numbers are 2515-2522 and 2532-3. But let's continue anyway.

On the same day (7 March), Tower Transit won two routes, one off CT Plus and the other off Arriva, respectively the 212 and 444. Tower Transit also introduced us to the first Euro6 Daimler-engined Wright StreetLites.

Aubrey Morandarte.
Tower Transit WV44607 (SN64CVU) with
other Tower Transit buses having stand
issues in Chingford.

Aubrey Morandarte.
Tower Transit VH38111 (BL64MHV)
also in Chingford.

Other changes include 657's transfer from Edmonton (EC) of Arriva London to Go-Ahead London General from Northumberland Park (NP) with existing buses in garage. Metroline's route 282 and the acquired 482 were allocated spare Trident 10.1m chassis'd ADL Enviro400s from loss of routes E1 and E3, 482 transferred to Greenford (G). Route 12 made the New Bus for London conversion meanwhile, LT417-456 being the bonnet numbers.

Go-Ahead London Central LT436 (LTZ1436) in
Elephant & Castle

We also move on to minor changes such as route W19 receiving a partial allocation of new buses (SE232-4) in the form of the basic but operator-friendly ADL Enviro200 buses. These were to oust the 13 year old Wright Cadets originally from route 201 (and date back further were found on 393). Route P13 thought to join in the fun by reallocating itself with existing dual door buses from route 100, and due to complaints from users along the Dulwich area. No more single door for you Dulwich residents!

Another service change to cover for March and it's all.

Aubrey Morandarte.
Abellio London 2527 (YX15OWV) in
Stockley Park

...it was route 350's reallocation to Abellio's (so far) favourite hybrid vehicle type, the ADL Enviro400! Third MMC batch goes straight to Abellio, route 350's batch being 2523-31. This route is operated from Hayes (WS) which was allocated a portion of Trident ALX400s from Beddington Cross (BC), 9763-9772.

We move on to the not so interesting month for service changes... 

April:

Go-Ahead London General
WVL438 (LJ61GWX) in
West Norwood

The biggest service change was 432's loss to Go-Ahead London General from their Stockwell (SW) base. A lot of people thought the route would go to Camberwell (Q) simply because of route 12's conversion to New Routemasters and the fact route 432 is crosslinked a journey from route 468 which runs until the main 432 service ends. The duty number is Q #371. There were rumours of route 432 receiving Scania N230UD chassis'd Optare Olympus vehicles from Croydon (C) or so, then route 12's Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH, as well as the mention of ADL Enviro400s, but we were all wrong. Partly wright however, that route 432 received cast offs from the 12, but were the B9TL diesels. Vehicles are WVL380-385 and WVL435-439.

Other changes were routes 377 and 382 receiving existing ADL Enviro200 vehicles from route 192's loss plus an extension on the 382 from Mill Hill East Station to Millbrook Park (Estate). These were all on the 4th April.

Sorry for making you all think that route 432 was the biggest change, I was just testing your memory of what happened for the past months and we have welcomed to Metroline's first ADL hybrids since 2013 in the form of MMCs for their route 332 which was retained, contract started roughly in December, but where was route 332's buses? They should have arrived 4-6 months earlier by this time, but this is Metroline making five thousand checks before starting service. Former allocation of TE1073-1104 can now be seen on route 307 which they acquired as of 12 December 2015, I'll explain more when we get to December. TEH2072-2087 was the MMC batch for route 332.

May:

Go-Ahead London General SE235
(YY15CNU) next to Brixton Academy

There was a lot of hype about the first Enviro200 MMCs that could've been for routes 322 and G1 for Go-Ahead London General's contract win/retain, but sadly were the standard types. A batch of 26 were ordered, 15 for route G1 and 11 for route 322, both routes receiving frequency increases (G1 = 20min>15min; 322 = 15min>12min). We then move on to the next Enviro200 MMC hype which could've been for route U10 from Uxbridge (UX) and later on to 331, but there were apparent issues with the length ordered (10.8m) on route U10, but Metroline didn't surprise us with the standard Enviro200 type. These changes occured on the 2nd.

Stagecoach Selkent 13072 (BF15KGH)
in Bricklayer's Arms on route 53

In compensation, we got to see the first Volvo chassis MMCs. Stagecoach introducing us to 13061-81 for their retain on route 177 and Go-Ahead London Docklands Buses with their EHV1-16 for route 135's win from Arriva. Route 436 was also allocated with the conventional hybrids spare from the 12, WHV1-16, the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH buses.

Go-Ahead London Docklands Buses
EHV14 (BL15HCC) in Aldgate

Route 135 was supposed to receive it's batch on the 23rd May but however the buses were not all in service so temporary buses from route 436's diesel Enviro400 allocation were used (these temporary vehicles were supposed to be the WHVs aswell!), route 128 was supposed to receive 135's cast offs on the same day but that did not happen.

June:
This is the next month of service changes and I'll say that route 73 converted to New Routemasters which also allowed route 253 which was retained to be allocated with 73's cast offs, Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs with the rest of the batch going off to Palmers Green (AD)/Wood Green (WN) for route 141's partial hybrid conversion. Phased service change from the 14th May (73 LT conversion) and 6th June (253 HV conversion).

We got to see the first diesel Enviro400 MMCs and finally the first Enviro200 MMCs, courtesy of Stagecoach East London from Romford (NS) with their contract gains of route 498 from Go Ahead London Blue Triangle from Rainham (BE) and 499 from Arriva Southern Counties from Grays (GY). Neither batches were ready by the 27th, so route 498 temporarily used Trident ALX400s and 499 with ADL Enviro200's from routes 62 and 296, while routes 62/296 got a temporary double deck conversion.

©LilNetworker
London United VH35 (LJ15JZM) in
Kingston

More Gemini 3 hybrids came our way and from RATP London United and Metroline. VH24-52 for routes 116 and 285 as well as VWH2088-2121 for route 6 and another batch for 98 by 15th June, the former intended for retention of routes 245 and 460.
(Post about route 285 and it's VHs can be seen here)

July:
Route 331 received it's allocation of new Euro6 ADL Enviro200s, intended to share it with U10, the batch was DEL2145-54 anyways. Go-Ahead London General bought two more electric buses to phase in on the 13th July 2015, these were Irizar-made, Irizar i2e vehicles which look similar to the BYD K9's, but have the coach feel and apparently is not as loud as the latter.
Uno come to London with the award of route 383 from their Hatfield base using the once again operator-friendly ADL Enviro200, these were Allison-gearbox, in comparison to the cheaper ZF Tronic gearboxes which save fuel. RATP London Sovereign took their part of Barnet's change with the award of route 326 from Cricklewood (W), of Metroline. 25th July made Barnet a good change.

August:
Route 116 showed it's allocation of Gemini 3's in glamour, part of the VH24-52 batch, route 116 is intended to take the VH44-52 part. Some from 285's sub-batch appeared before August, however.
(Post about route 116 and it's VH's can be seen here)
Yet again more Gemini 3's as routes 119 and 405 received them, or have they? Well, route 119 did receive it, but 405 didn't, and was forced to use it's existing allocation of Scania OmniDekka vehicles. These had a new face that was seen in other parts of UK. Wrightbus now have two Gemini 3s, hmm, what to call them?

Arriva London South T20 (LJ08CVR)
at Shirley Library

Otherwise, routes 198 and 264 of Arriva London in South London were retained with Arriva London North cast offs, respectively ADL Enviro400s (T12-26) from route 135 and VDL DB300 chassis'd Wright Pulsar Gemini 2 (DW501-15). This was to allow further withdrawal of existing DAF DB250's in service. Metroline route A10 retained with it's existing buses with route 88's conversion to New Routemasters on the 22nd.
Other changes this month occured on the 29th.





September:
This month was ruled by Go-Ahead London General. Retain of route 202 sharing the same batch of Gemini 3 hybrids for route 119 and supposedly 405, WHV42-80. Route 246 won off Stagecoach Selkent from Bromley (TB) using MAN 12.240 10.8m chassis'd MCV Evolution vehicles from route 202's single decker allocation, due to route 246 only acquiring some, the rest went off to reallocate themselves to route 359 along with the ousting of East Lancs Esteem bodied MAN 12.240 buses from route R2's allocation. Go-Ahead took another step with the retain of route 352 by giving new ADL Enviro200 buses to it's allocation, a continuation from SE235-60 batch for routes 322/G1.

Metroline Travel LT560 (LTZ1560) at
Old Kent Road Tesco starting the 168

Foreign changes (i.e non-GAL), such as route 312's retention with existing and new electric Optare Metrocity vehicles (EMC1-2+3-9) on the 5th September, Routes 226 and 248's retention with their existing buses on the 26th September. Not to mention route 16's conversion to New Routemasters and route 168 which was passed off to Metroline from Cricklewood (W) which was supposed New Routemasters, but problems in Hampstead Heath with Metroline and Camden Council meant that time had to be bought and so the New Routemasters intended for 168 transferred to 16 with a frequency decrease (168 using less than 16). More to explain in December, keep reading!

Go-Ahead London General-Metrobus
MEC59 (BF65HVA) in Crystal Palace

In case you have forgotten, or I did in this case! Was the introduction of Euro6 Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530 C2 buses (the ones with the new style) for route 358's retention which made the withdrawal of the Scania OmniCity bodied N94UB's. These Citaros are MEC51-69.

An interesting turn of events as the routes Go-Ahead retained/won had a one week contract extension from the 12th to the 19th. Route 202 receiving WHVs from 22 August and 358 with it's MECs from the 11th. 352's SEs entering service roughly after the one week contract extension.

October:

KLConnected.
Metroline West DEL2154 (LK65EAM)
in Uxbridge

Route 331 finally had it's buses enter service on the 9th, route 149's New Routemaster conversion phased in on the 13th (contract start 17th). Route 173 retained and 673 won to Arriva with existing T66-83 off route 78 on the 17th October (28/9 for 173 conversion to double deck) along with other changes on the day such as 174, 296, 385, 496 and 674's retentions using their existing vehicles, route 347 transferred from Go-Ahead London Blue Triangle to Arriva Southern Counties using a 'new bus (existing bus from route 499)' also on the 17th. Route 349 was reallocated with some of route 149's DW-class Wright Pulsar Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300's. Route 675 was awarded to Go-Ahead London General from Northumberland Park (NP) following CT Plus' loss of the 212 and now 675.

New Addington's buses changed the transport patterns of commuters from the 24th following routes T31 and T32's withdrawal including T33's renumber to 433. Contract retention on routes 353/654 also occured on the same day, with existing Scania N94UD Optare Olympus' from route 498 Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL buses.

• 64 rerouted between New Addington and Addington Village via routes T31 and N64 with extension to Homestead Way
• 130 rerouted between New Addington and Addington Village via routes T31 and T32
• 353 extended to Forestdale
• 359 extended to Purley Downlands Precint. Crosslink from T32 withdrawn.
• 464 rerouted in New Addington to not serve Homestead Way

Other changes include 324's transfer to Metroline from their head office Cricklewood (W) on the 24th, and routes 11/N11's contract retention with New Routemasters on the 31st. Route 295 introduced to an ex-First garage's first Metroline batch of buses and yes that's VWH2122-2144, aka 295's B5LH Gemini 3's. We then have route 339's contract retain also on the 31st which stated a few new buses for extra peak time journey and withdrawal of Caetano Nimbus' in Lea Interchange (LI). These vehicles were DM45115-20 and DMV45112-4. Temporary route 541 finally withdrawn after being overdue for almost a year, and another introduction of school routes in the form of 618 and 619.

More information on routes 618 and 619 can be found here.

November:

Aubrey Mordandarte
This month's higlight was route 78's conversion to the new type, ADL E400 City. This is just an MMC with an E200MMC front face with other edits. Arriva London North HA5 (LK65BZB) passes Tower Bridge.

Route 69 has grabbed many's attention but a straight K.O as the fun lasted right at the last minute.
An introduction of ADL Enviro400 MMC ZeEUS (virtual electric) buses to Lea Interchange (LI), to start service on 69 from the 9th November. Now now, don't get too ahead of yourself. The reason to Tower Transit operating extra journeys is they have a part contract. So until April, these DH-class buses will run between peak hours.

Routes 15H, 23 and 92 were retained with their existing vehicles on the 14th, and Go-Ahead London Central introduced to their first Optare MetroCity all-electric bus, OE1 (YJ65OEV) on their route 108 from New Cross (NX). Charging point installed in garage. Sullivan Buses strike school routes once again and their targets were 692/699 from Potters Bar Dame Alice Owen School, operated by Go-Ahead London General from Northumberland Park (NP).

December:

The first LT on 159, Abellio London
LT632 (LTZ1632) next to Kennington Park

And so, Arriva's deepest lost started to shine on the 12th, when route 159 transferred from Brixton (BN) to Queenstown Battersea (QB) after 17 years of operation. Post of this can be seen here. On another note, Merton (AL) and Sutton (A) showed off their new batches in the form of Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH (WHV81-104 [AL] 105-110 [A]) and ADL Enviro200 (SE268-73 [A] 74-87 [AL]).

Aubrey Morandarte
Go-Ahead London Geneal WHV82
(BF65WLH) in Tooting on route 155

Routes 93, 155 and 164 saw their new types around the 5th December mark. Other changes include routes 151 and 297's retention with existing buses on the same day, route 190's existing retention on the 12th on line with route 307's award to Metroline from Potters Bar (PB) and not to forget the biggest smack in the face for Arriva, 159.

Quality Line bring HOV1 (OP07ARE), hybrid Optare Versa demonstrator from the dead. This bus was previously on route 360 under Go-Ahead London Central.

The End.

But wait! 2015 (for the bus scene) ended in a very good fashion! Shoutout to Putney (AF) of Go-Ahead London General, for the working of the year award!

KLConnected.
VE3 (LX58CWM) on route 14!

Thank you for reading this post, hope you enjoyed Christmas, and have a happy new 2016!

References:

Moar Major Models! 

London United with Gemini 3 buses for routes 116 and 285! Part 1 - London Bus route 116

London United with Gemini 3 buses for routes 116 and 285! Part 2 - London Bus route 285

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