Friday, 1 January 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!
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.

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:

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