South East Bus Festival

Saturday the 28th of March saw the annual South East Bus Festival take place, at the Kent County Showground in Detling in Kent. This was my first visit to this rally and I was very impressed. There was a wide variety of vehicles at the event, with a big emphasis on preserved Maidstone & District vehicles, and indeed this event originates from the centenary event of M&D hosted in 2011. There was around 120 vehicles at this event, including preserved former M&D 5928, former Metrobus 834, and a rare Nu-Venture Irisbus Agora-Line new to Norfolk Green for use on Coasthopper services. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Kent Heritage Transport Show, which saw vintage cars, vans and lorries also present. Also at the event was brand new Arriva Southern Counties Enviro 400 6479 present, new for route 101 to replace older 58 plate Enviro 400's at Gillingham depot. This vehicle had not entered service when the event was being hosted, so I was lucky to be able to see this vehicle before entering service. I enjoyed this event very much, and I look forward to visiting the event next time it is hosted on the 2nd of April 2016. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

Route 212 Observations

On the 7th of March, route 212 passed to Tower Transit after 5 years with CT Plus. The route was introduced in 1981 using Leyland Titans running between Chingford and Walthamstow Central. In 1982, the route was extended to Yardley Lane, however this was withdrawn in 1988 and the route resumed terminating at Chingford once again. As part of the break up of London Transport operating subsidiary London Forest in 1991, the route passed to Capital Citybus. The route also received new Leyland Olympians the same year. During the 90's, the route was extended to St James Street. In 1998, the route passed to First Capital as part of the sale of Capital Citybus to FirstGroup. In 2000, the route was converted to single deckers using Darts with Marshall Capital bodywork, however, within a few years the route had resumed double decker operation using Dennis Tridents with Plaxton President bodywork. In 2010, the route passed to CT Plus using Scania Omnicities from Ash Grove garage. In 2014, the route was awarded to Tower Transit, using new Gemini 3's with a Volvo B5LH chassis. The vehicles have been equipped with the pleasant green and grey Tower Transit interior and a high backed, leather padded Chapman Nova Urban drivers seat equipped with a seatbelt. The buses were very nice, and the drivers seem friendly, however, within around 10 mins of leaving St James Street, I'd already seen 8 212's, and it seems they were having some problems with keeping a even service, however I wish Tower Transit luck with the route over the next 5 years, and hope for a more even service. Thanks for reading this post

Route 444 Observation

Route 444 was created in 1991 after routes 102 and 144 were withdrawn from serving the Chingford area. The 444, which runs across the Lea Valley between Chingford and Turnpike Lane via Edmonton, has been run by Arriva and predesscors since 1991, beginning with CountyBus at Edmonton using Darts. The route then transferred to the Leaside subsidiary, before being rebranded as Arriva London North in 1998. The route was run from Edmonton garage between 1991 and 2012, before being transferred to Lea Valley in 2012 due to the closure of Edmonton. The route lasted at Lea Valley until May 2014, when the land was complusiroly purchased by the National Grid, and transferred back to a reopened Edmonton garage. In June 2014, it was announced Arriva London had lost the contract for route 444 to Tower Transit. Shortly after this, Tower Transit announced plans to open a new depot at Picketts Lock in Enfield, however due to delays with that project, the route will be run from Lea Interchange until the new depot is ready. Yesterday, the route passed to Tower Transit along with route 212, and if I'm honest, it didn't seem to be going very well. Chingford Bus Station was chaotic with 6 buses (2 444's and 4 212's) all stuck at the bus station. However, the journey was good with an even service the other way. The new buses ordered, are 10.8 metre Wrightbus Streetlites, the first to be equipped with 5.1 litre Daimler engines, and are also equipped with Chapman Nova Urban high backed drivers seats with a seatbelt. They are very nice vehicles, and also carry Tower Transit's new green and grey interior. I wish Tower Transit every success with the route in the future, and I hope you enjoy reading this post.