Route 188 Observations

This month sees Route 188 convert to a partial hybrid operation. Route 188 runs between North Greenwich (For the O2 Arena) and Russell Square. I saw 2 exsisting Wright Eclipse Gemini 1 buses and 1 new Enviro400 Hybrid. The Hybrid I saw had only 71 miles on the clock! They also smell very nice and new. Many thanks to the driver for allowing me exclusive footage to taking pictures of the interior. Hope you enjoy.

Route 23 Observations, Part 1 Of 2: Temporary VN's

From January 2012 to April 2012, Route 23 will be operated by VN's. This is whilst First awaits the delivery of 33 Enviro400 Hybrids. This will allow the existing ALX400's to be cascaded to Bristol. Most of the buses were Enviro400's, but I did see one new VN.

Crystal Palace Observations 11th January 2012

The town of Crystal Palace is home to many things including being in 5 London boroughs! These are Bromley, Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark.
It is also home to a huge athletics track. Crystal Palace Bus Station was the place today for my observations. There was also lots of hullabaloo at the station as a bus on Route 3 was having trobule starting up, I also got lots of pictures of the Dennis Dart SLF's on Route 227 which will go into a special Farewell Tribute post to those buses in September. I did also see an odd bus on Route 227.

The New Bus For London: Full Review

Today the Borismaster was in Bromley. The bus is currently touring across the length and breadth of London to show Londoners what buses of the future may look like. The bus underneath is very similar to its sister, a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2. The bus has been built by Wrightbus in Ballymeena, Northern Ireland. Only 8 templates have been built, LT1-8, this bus is LT1 the one that is being shown to the general public. The bus's windows do not open, as the bus uses air cooling, a thing that is completely different to air conditoning as I was told by a TFL member of staff.

Route U9 Observations

Today sees Route U9 transfer from Arriva The Shires to Abellio London with 3 existing Dennis Dart SLF single deckers. These buses were previously with Thames Travel in Oxford but have been left vacant in recent times.
More buses like this will be coming for Route 455, but will be Caetano Nimbuses not Dennis Dart SLF's. This is also 2011's last service change, with the next being Route 160 in late January 2012.

Welcome Aboard Arriva London Route 264

People who use Route 264 will know that people treat the buses like they own the things, people put their feet up on the blindbox, they spill all their fizzy drinks on the bars and treat them horribly. This bus is DW40 and regular people that read the blog will know that DW40 had a suspension failure on the 1st December 2011 see http://tomlondonbus.blogspot.com/2011/12/dw40s-failure.html for more info.

Observations At Stratford City Bus Station

Today, I went to Stratford City to take some pictures of the buses there. Stratford is an area where we have not been on Tom London Bus Blog. Hope you enjoy.