Route 109 Observations

On the 31st of January, route 109 transferred to Abellio London from Arriva London, after a period of 63 years, 9 months and 21 days with Arriva and its predecessors. The route began on the 8th of April 1951 and was a circular route starting at Purley, running via Croydon, Streatham, Brixton, Elephant, Westminster, Kennington, Brixton, Streatham, Norbury and Croydon finishing at Purley. The route began as a tram replacement route, and was operated using AEC Regent's with the familiar code of RT from Brixton and Thornton Heath garages. By 1957, the Sunday extension to Westminster was withdrawn and the route ran to Blackfriars, and the Brixton garage Sunday allocation withdrawn, but by 1958, this was reintroduced. Later in 1958, the route was revised with the weekday service running between Purley and Victoria Embankment, and the Sunday service running to Horse Guards Parade via Westminster Bridge. The Sunday service to Blackfriars was withdrawn. The Sunday Brixton allocation was again withdrawn. In January of 1964, RTL's were introduced on the Saturday service run from Brixton, but by April 1964, RTW buses began to take over the duties. In 1966, the Sunday service was withdrawn all day bar some early morning journeys ran from Thornton Heath garage. In April 1966, the 109 was back to a fully RT operation. In October 1970, a Sunday service, using SMS type buses from Thornton Heath was introduced, using the one person operation method. By 1974, the service was ran using DMS type buses. In 1975, DM type buses were introduced on Saturdays from Brixton garage. In 1976, the Monday to Friday service from Brixton garage was converted to Routemaster operation, with the Thornton Heath Monday to Saturday service also converting to Routemaster operation the same year. By March 1978 the weekday service was converted to DM type buses, with Saturday service also converting to DM type buses in August 1978. In October 1978 a all day Sunday service was introduced, with changes to the route due to the withdrawal of route 59. Purley and Victoria Embankment was served Monday to Saturday and on Sunday AM journeys, and South Croydon garage and Brixton Station were served all day Sunday. By 1981 the Brixton garage allocation was back to RMs, due to the D type buses being cascaded to other garages. By 1982, Thornton Heath and Brixton were both running the route with RM's, and some routing changes were initiated. Purley and Victoria Embankment via Westminster were served Monday to Saturday and on Sunday AM journeys, with South Croydon garage and Brixton Station again being served on Sunday's only. Blackfriars was served on weekdays and Elephant on Saturday's only. In 1985, the route was again revised with South Croydon garage being served Monday to Saturday, Victoria Embankment via Westminster or Blackfriars weekdays and the Elephant again served only on Saturday's. The 109 was also withdrawn between South Croydon garage and Purley. The Sunday service was again withdrawn, and replaced with a new route 59. By 1986, the route was withdrawn between Croydon Town Centre and South Croydon garage. In 1987, the 109 was withdrawn from serving the Victoria Embankment loop and was diverted via Trafalgar Square. The operation was converted to OPO using Metro Cammell Weymann Metrobuses form Brixton and Thornton Heath garage. By 1990 the Brixton allocation was withdrawn and transferred to Streatham garage. By 1991, the Thornton Heath allocation was withdrawn and the entire route was run from Streatham garage. In 1992, the route returned to Purley once again, and as Streatham garage closed, the route was run from Thornton Heath and South Croydon and at weekends by Brixton, Thornton Heath and South Croydon. By 1994, the Brixton and South Croydon allocations had both been withdrawn, with the route being run entirely from Thornton Heath. In 1995, the London Transport South London operating unit was sold to Cowie plc, now known as Arriva. In 1996, a weekday allocation was introduced from Brixton using Metrobuses, with the main allocation using Leyland Olympians. In 1998, the 109 was again withdrawn between Croydon and Purley and Brixton and Central London. In 1999, the Brixton allocation was again withdrawn. In 2003, the route received new DAF DB250 bodied ALX400 buses known as DLA's as part of a contract renewal. In 2010, route 109 was retained with the DLA's, but by late 2010, new Enviro 400's from routes 198 and 250 were common occurences. In March 2012, Arriva had a bad tender round, and lost routes 19 and 455. To improve effecincy, a restructuring took place of Arriva London South, with Beddington Farm garage closed, routes 264, 403, 405D and 627 moved to South Croydon, routes 410 and 450 moved to Thornton Heath, and route 50 moved to Brixton, along with the 109. This saw DW's and DLA's become common occurrences. In April 2014, a shock tender round saw Abellio London win the route on the basis of new double decker hybrid vehicles. It was soon announced this was to be Enviro 400 vehicles, of the new MMC type and would be run from Beddington Cross garage and be Abellio London's flagship route, as well as their biggest. The buses started to arrive in December 2014, and were used on other routes before starting duties on the 109. I have to say, the buses look the part, but some of the promises by Alexander Dennis have been delivered, including zero rattles. However, the ride is quite smooth, and fast. The buses are equipped to a specification including Lazzerini Practico seating, a BAE systems series hybrid drive system and a Chapman Nova Urban drivers seat. The operation did seem to be suffering from some teething issues, with buses running closely, and curtailments. A Volvo Gemini from route 157, 9021 was also out, and I have attached a picture of it at Streatham Common. I do apologize for the poor picture quality of this bus. However, I wish Abellio ever success for the next 5 years. Thank you for reading this post.

Route 407 Observations

Recently route 407 has received brand new Enviro 200's as part of its contract renewal in November 2014. The route began in 1991 and ran between Caterham and Walling, run by South London from South Croydon garage using Leyland Olympians. In 1994, London's bus companies were privatised and South London was sold to Cowie plc and the operation was now known as Cowie South London. As well as this, the route was diverted at Wallington Green to serve Carshalton before terminating at Sutton. The route was also awarded to London & Country and the route was run using Optare Metroriders from the Croydon (CR) (later known as Beddington Farm) garage. London & Country was also rebranded as Londonlinks, and in 1997 Cowie plc was renamed Arriva plc and the operation was branded Arriva Croydon & North Surrey. The next change was in 1999, when Arriva London from Beddington Farm won the route using a batch of new ALX200's featuring Euro 2 engines and Lazzerini seats. By 2001, the route had been transferred back to South Croydon. The next change was in 2009, when Travel London won the route from their Beddington Cross garage. The route transferred to Beddington Cross on the 31st of October 2009 using new Enviro200's, being used as a launch route for the then new Abellio London operation, as National Express sold Travel London to reduce debts. In 2014, Abellio London retained the contract using more new Enviro 200's, this time equipped with a flywheel, which will soon be added, to improve fuel efficiency. The new contract was supposed to be awarded in February, however delays saw this award delayed til June. The new vehicles, were therefore going to be late inevitably, however during early January the new Enviro's for the 407, and the newly won route 201 started to arrive and enter service. I decided to go out on the 10th of January to ride these new buses. They are built to a specification including the new ZF automated manual gearbox, Lazzerini Practico seats, and Thermo King drivers air conditioning. The buses certainly look the part, but the ride is somewhat disappointing, with the new ZF gearbox so far proving to be unreliable, among Abellio's and Go Ahead's examples. The gearbox also seems to change from 1st to 2nd at around 5 mph, which slows the bus down significantly. However, the seats are rather comfortable and this makes up for the poor gearbox. Many thanks to the kind driver for allowing me to take pictures in the cab and I wish Abellio London every success for the new contract, building on the great service they have provided since 2009. Many thanks for reading this post.

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.