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!

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