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 In 1982, the route was extended to Yardley Lane, however this was withdrawn in 1988 and the route resumed terminating at Chingford once again.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Route 444 was created in 1991 after routes 102 and 144 were withdrawn from serving the Chingford area.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.

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.