On the 15th of November 2014, Route S4 transferred to Abellio London from Quality Line after TfL awarded the new S4 contract to Abellio, beating other bidders. The route was won on the basis of new flywheel hybrid single deckers, known as flybrids, which use a flywheel to store energy, and whilst the bus is braking, energy returns to the system, powering on-board electric systems. Route S4 runs between Roundshaw and St Helier, via Wallington, Belmont, Sutton and Benhill. The route is 11 miles long and takes around 70 mins end to end. The route was run by Quality Line from 1997 to 2014, and used Plaxton Beaver 'bread-vans' from 1997 to 2002, until replaced by the low floor Optare Solo, which were used until the route passed to Abellio. On Saturday, the first day of operation on the S4 by Abellio, the route seemed to be well run, with friendly drivers, good reliability and nice vehicles. Abellio decided to use new Enviro 200's on this route, which have been built to specification including 25 Lazzerini Practico seats, a 4.5 litre Cummins IsBe 180 horsepower Euro 6 engine, and a 6 speed ZF AS Lite automated manual gearbox, which improves fuel efficiency. I wish Abellio every success with the route and hope that the next five years is successful. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
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