Today it was the turn of Route 470 to get new buses. Route 470 runs between Colliers Wood and Epsom via Morden, St Helier, Sutton Common, Sutton, Cheam and Ewell. It has been using 8.9 metre Optare Solo's since 2002 and they were the first type of Solo for Quality Line. The Route runs through many housing estates and therefore is longer than riding to Morden and catching a 293. Today the new buses entered service, they are nice new Optare Solo SR's coded OPL and are the first of their type in London. The orignal Solo ceased production earlier this year after 15 years and the last in London were the OS's for the 309. I hope you enjoy reading this post.
Today it was the turn of Metroline to gain Route 24. Metroline previously operated the 24 between 2002 and 2007, but lost it in 2007 to London General from SW with 29 E's. In 2008/9 Hybrid buses were introduced. These buses were EH 1 - 3 and WHD1. The EH's were E400 Hybrid's and WHD1 was a DB300 Hybrid. In 2012 it was announced Metroline had gained the Route back, with Gemini 2's and Gemini 2 Hybrids. The Hybrids were a first for Metroline as they were there first Gemini Hybrids they have ordered. However they must have been a fan, and have placed an order for more of these buses for Route 52 which the company retained. The Route is challenging to run, with high levels of traffic and I think one of the reasons London General lost it is because it is too far from SW at the Hampstead end. Today, there were some problems, for example, they were having problems with the blinds and there were 2 buses from the 134 out on it as well. I hope they run it with sucess for these 5 years, and if they have good performance, they will gain a 2 year extension. I hope you enjoy reading this post.
