Croydon goes Electric

As part of Transport for London's plans for cleaner air across London, there is currently a trial of new electric buses across London. Some examples have been in service for one year now, including the BYDs with Go Ahead London and the Metrocities with London United have been in service for around six months. It was also announced that Arriva London South would be receiving two Optare Metrocity' electrics for use on route 312. This short 4 mile long route between South Croydon bus garage, where these vehicles are based and Norwood Junction station, is perfect for electric vehicles, due to the fact the route is short and terminates at the depot, where charging points have been installed. These vehicles arrived in early November, and have been sitting in the depot undergoing engineering familiarisation, due to the fact Arriva London does not currently operate any Optare vehicles and driver type training. However, on the 10th of December, the buses enetered service on route 312, and the following day, I decided to travel out and see the new vehicles. These vehicles have been ordered to a specification including Isringhausen Civic V2 and V3 seating and a Magtec P144 electric drive system. There is also reports that at the new contract of route 312 in 8 months time, electric buses will be used fully. I was impressed by the quiet and smooth ride and look forward to more of these vehicles. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

Route S4 Observations

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.

Edinburgh Observations

In August 2014, I visited Edinburgh and Queensferry on holiday. Whilst I was there, I got pictures of the bus scene in the area, and the recently opened Tram network. Edinburgh has a very competitive bus network, with Scotland native First and Stagecoach having a reasonable amount of work, and council owned Lothian running several routes. There is also a large network of Intercity coach service provided by Citylink, a joint venture between Comfort Delgro and Stagecoach which runs services to Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow in completion with First Scotrail (soon to be Abellio ScotRail). I hope you enjoy reading this post.