New, hot of the production line, buses for London General

On the 19th July, many London General routes were retendered including the 87 and 219. These both got new buses, that of E40H and Streetlites. Today the contract for the 87 happened and the E40H are on the 88 instead, perhaps better suited. These have features such as: Length of 10.2m Top speed of 65 - 70 mph (104 kph - 112 kph) Blue neon interior lighting A comfy ride! Today the contract for the 219 happened, and the Streetlites are on the 219, as they should be. These have features such as: Length of 10.8m Top speed of 65 mph - 70 mph (104 kph - 112 kph) Blue neon interior lighting Unpopularity with drivers! The next post will be next week when we cover Metroline's Potters Bar open day. I hope you enjoy reading this post.

Arriva's refurbished ENL's!

On the 1st May, whilst at Addington Village waiting for a T32, I saw ENL27 refurbished. I imagin this is for the 166 contract, due to begin in August 2013. I also saw ENL6, refurbished. However, the T31 contract does not begin until 2014, so they presume they are going to retain the route if they are refurbishing them!I hope you enjoy reading this post.

Route 67 Observations

Today Arriva won the 67 off First (latterly Go Ahead as they purchased NP) but was with Stagecoach from 2001 til 2006 using Trident/ALX400 and good old Volvo Olympians. However in 2006 the route was lost to First using Tridents from route 258. The next lot of activity was in 2012 when Go Ahead bought NP and rebranded the buses with new fleetnumbers and logos. They decided to convert it to B7TL/President however this was alongside B9TL/Gemini and Trident2/Enviro. On the 19th July 2012 Arriva announced they had won Route 67 at the expense of Go Ahead. They was late announcing what garage and buses were to be used but it was confirmed in February 2013 that VDL DB300/Gemini would be used, some from route 29. Today we found that the allocation was split between Stamford Hill and Tottenham. Today the allocation was HV's and DW's, it was supposed to get new ones, but none were available today. I hope you enjoy reading this post.

Route 106 Observations

AACY0/aYL_hiWjFKU/s320/096.JPG" /> Today Arriva London won route 106 at the expense of Stagecoach's West Ham garage. The route until around 2001 was single deck, one of the most stupid things TFL did, converting them to single deck then making them double deck again! However in 2011 it received some Trident/ALX400's however these did not survive contract renewal and were replaced by Polish built Scania N230UD/Omnicites which were late. The next main activity was in August 2012 when a healthy baby boy was delivered with help from the bus driver. She really could have given him the middle name of Scania as in 2009 someone on CT Plus operated Islington/Hackney back street route 394 gave their child the middle name 'Dennis', who manufactured the bus in which the baby was born on. On 19th July 2012, just before the event above happened, the tenders were announced. It was heard that the route 106 would pass to Arriva, with new buses. However, Arriva were late announcing which garage and buses would be used however by February 2013 there was no such problem as Arriva confirmed 16 VDL DB300/Gemini 2 double deckers from Ash Grove depot near Hackney Central. Today the service seemed well run, apart from the long problem of the drivers not wearing the full Arriva uniform which was also apparent on Route 67, another route Arriva took over today. Post on that coming soon. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

The Spirit of London - rebuilt!

Back in 2005 when the bombs happened, which involved Waterden Road machine 17758 getting destroyed, Stagecoach needed a replacement. They then sent an order to Alexander Dennis for a Enviro 400, the first bus of it's type. This bus originally came with LED destination displays, but was later changed to manual scroll blinds. In 2011, when Stagecoach brought back ELBG off the Australians, Stagecoach took the chance to refurbish this with new moqqette, handrails and more. Then in October 2012, two 14 year old girls committed arson on the bus following an argument. Stagecoach then decided to spend £50000 restoring it to a nice standard. Today it made it's debut with new features including white blinds. Lets hope it has a nice future at Leyton (T) on Route 55. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

The London Bus Museum Spring Gathering

Today marked the 40th London Bus Museum Spring Gathering at the London Bus Museum at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. There was many preserved routemasters and old buses as well as new buses from all over England, many from London. I have also included some pictures of non-London buses for you lot to look at. I also saw one of the brand new Volvo 7900H's for First Berkshire, have to say very nice they are too! Nice and comfy. I also saw and spoke to Dean Sullivan, a well respected individual in the bus industry running the great company Sullivan Buses which runs TFL routes 298, 628 , 653, 688 and from August 2013, the 626. I also saw the Spirit of London which was set alight in October 2012. More info will come in a dedicated Spirit of London post. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.