Going Ahead With Dominating Tooting

As you might have guessed, this post concentrates on the recent service changes in the Tooting Broadway area, where two routes have just gained a different allocation of buses that have been introduced by Go-Ahead London, as a result of contract renewals/gains.

Go-Ahead London WS78 pauses at Tooting Broadway Station at the start of its journey to Brixton.

The 355 is one of London's busiest single deck routes, running from Brixton-Mitcham via Clapham Park, Balham and Tooting Broadway at a general 5bph off-peak frequency. It is operated from Croydon (C) garage, with a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 12 buses that satisfy the 7 mile route. The previous allocation mainly consisted of ADL Dart Pointer vehicles, which unfortunately managed to escape my camera, although the relaxed allocation system at the garage ensured more quirky types frequently strayed onto the route, including Man Evolution vehicles and even 8.9m short Pointers, which wouldn't have gone down well in rush hour! Lots of enthusiasts were hoping that the route would be given an upgrade for the contract renewal, with either a frequency increase or double deckers. Unfortunately, the tender announcement declared that the route would be retained by Go-Ahead London, at the same frequency, with an allocation of single deck buses, which were later confirmed to be Wrightbus Streetlites.

Predictably, there was an uproar on various bus websites, where enthusiasts were outraged that this overcrowded route wasn't gaining a full allocation of double deck vehicles, which were clearly justified. The reasoning for the non-existent upgrade is that TFL work with corridors rather than individual routes and for the majority of the journey, route 355 parallels more frequent double deck services on different corridors - the only reason it's so busy is because of the round-the-corner links it provides from the respective corridors to other town centres. However, TFL won't have realised this because the other routes running alongside the 355 are over-resourced, so generally there is enough capacity for that particular passage, even if it's completely unbalanced between the routes. So that is my hypothesis on why the 355 has remained a single deck route ; TFL's growing lack of money might also contribute to this.

Officially, the contract will be renewed with these vehicles on Saturday 9th December 2017, although Go-Ahead certainly didn't waste time with ordering the vehicles, so all of them have entered service prematurely and make up the full allocation of the route already. Personally, I've never been a fan of the Wrightbus Streetlite, mainly because of the inadequate window sizes towards the rear of the vehicle, and I'm considerate enough not to sit in the priority seats where the view is arguably better. However, I'm sure regular commuters on the 355 are grateful for their new vehicles, as the old Pointers were starting to deteriorate and were undoubtedly rather unpleasant to travel on during rush hour, particularly in Summer!

A London United ALX400 stands at Tooting Broadway preparing for departure.

 The 131 is a somewhat major double deck route in South-West London, running between Kingston and Tooting Broadway, passing New Malden and Wimbledon en route. It's Peak Vehicle Requirement is for 21 vehicles, which maintain the 5-6 minute frequency during rush hour. Previously, London United RATP operated the 131 from Tolworth (TV) garage with a mixture of Trident ALX400s and Scania OmniCity vehicles ; most of the former type are in the process of being withdrawn, whilst the more modern Scania buses have moved on to pastures new. In general, London United were quite popular with their provision of the 131, as reliability was decent, the allocation was likeable, and the company also gave the Tooting/Wimbledon area a large variety of operators to choose from. Now that the 131 has been lost to Go-Ahead, RATP have removed themselves completely from these places in terms of TFL operation.

WVL482 pauses at Wimbledon Bus Station en route to Kingston. This vehicle was transferred from Barking (RR) garage to make up the numbers.

As a result, many enthusiasts were quite upset that the 131 had been lost to the ever-expanding Go-Ahead, especially as London United were on a losing streak at the time. Although the aforementioned contract winner had the potential to operate the 131 effectively, it would make the route less interesting in terms of the allocation, especially as the ALX400 vehicles were among some of the last examples in the RATP fleet. After the 131 loss, the Tooting area has become 85% Go-Ahead, operating 12/14 routes, which is rather dull from an enthusiast perspective. The contract change took place on Saturday 30th September 2017, with a requirement for existing vehicles from Merton (AL) garage, which the 131 conveniently passes en route.

WVN28 is seen at Wimbledon on the 131. Eventually, these vehicles are expected to make up the entire allocation of the 131.

The service on the first day was shambolic, which is often the case as operators are inexperienced at running the route and are often clueless about its characteristics. Additionally, a closure of the Northern Line meant that traffic along the A24 was horrific, which the 131 serves between Colliers Wood and Tooting. As a result, large gaps were common and almost every vehicle was curtailed, and it seemed that two services were unofficially formed (Kingston-Colliers Wood and Tooting-New Malden) and hardly any buses were completing the full route by mid-afternoon, where the service ultimately collapsed. This did result in a surge of unhappy enthusiasts, as they were unable to complete the route from start to finish. During the first week of operation, the 131 was still turn-filled and bunching was an evident issue, although in recent times the service has been consistently good with buses arriving frequently without any resultant gaps. The close proximity of the garage to the route is definitely an advantage over the old contract, as the dead run from Tolworth (TV) garage was significantly longer overall. So, in terms of service, the future is bright for the 131.

WHV114 pauses at The Polka Theatre.

The existing allocation can be described as "all over the place", which is often the case for Go-Ahead contract renewals! Ultimately, the 131 should be operated with ex-First WVN-class Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles only (the 3rd 131 picture in this post). However, a couple of them are still at Northumberland Park (NP) garage working the temporary shuttle route 530 in North London, and the entire allocation needs to be refurbished for the new contract, although the programme hasn't even started yet. So, some extra vehicles needed to be sourced from somwhere else in the Go-Ahead fleet. Conveniently, route 14 at Putney (AF) garage had a frequency cut recently, which released a small number of ADL E40H MMCs, which could've worked the 131 to initially make up the numbers. However, this would introduce a brand new type to Merton (AL) garage, which unnecessarily wastes valuable time training drivers for the vehicles, so these MMCs were sent to Barking (RR) garage instead for route 5, where drivers are much more familiar with the buses. So, a couple of the Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles previously used on the 5 (2nd 131 picture in the post) transferred down to Merton garage for the 131 , and these are identical to the WVN-class vehicles apart from the interior colour scheme, so no further type training was required. As well as the main allocation of Gemini 2 vehicles, some native Merton buses have strayed onto the 131, including Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles, like the one seen above.

Overall, the 131 change has been successful. Despite a shaky start, the service has been excellent and a proper allocation has been sourced, even if it's not what was initially planned. The only problem is, the ex-14 MMCs are destined for use on route 176 for that contract change in two weeks, but as the refurbishment of the WVNs hasn't started yet, they're not leaving the 5 any time soon. So, it's up to Go-Ahead to somehow source an allocation for the 176 takeover, but I'm sure they'll pull it off somehow!

Thanks for reading and stay safe!