Yesterday, London Central took over operation of Route 286, from Arriva, who lost the route to London Central in October 2013. New buses have been ordered for the route, and they are new 10.8 metre Enviro 200's. These also carry the new 180 horsepower Euro 6 Cummins engine, with a six-speed Allison 2100 gearbox. Route 286 originates from Route 108A, which ran from the roundabout at Well Hall, over the Thames to Poplar, however the current route did not come to its current route until 1986. Intially double deckers were used, however, new Optare Star Riders were introduced from New Cross garage. In 1992, Transcity Coaches was awarded the route, one of many coach operators to go into TfL bus work, and new Dart's were purchased for the route, however, in 1993, Kentish Bus purchased Transcity, and the vehicles were repainted in the cream and maroon livery of Kentish Bus, who ran the route from their Dartford base, however, in 1995, the original Dart's were sold to Metrobus, and Northern Counties bodied Dart's took over, until 1998, when new, low-floor, Dart's were introduced. These were painted in Arriva's smart aquamarine livery, until the painted red in the early 2000's. These buses were replaced in 2007, by brand new Euro 4, 10.7m Enviro 200's, and the Dart's, were displaced to route 370, and 477, where they replaced newer Dart's that did not have appropriate exhaust traps for TfL's Low Emission Zone. In October 2013, London Central won Route 286 from Arriva, beating competiton from the incumbent operator, and Stagecoach. Brand new Enviro 200's were ordered for the route, and yesterday, London Central put to work the new 14 strong fleet of Enviro 200's on route 286, however, it wasn't entirely smooth, for example SE206 broke down at Blackheath, Royal Standard. I hope you enjoyed reading this post!
