It's that time of the month again, time for random observations! Here I will select 10 random pictures from my photos folder and then write about them. I hope that they're interesting to you and if they're not, you can only hope they'll be better next time.
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| Becontree Heath Bus Station, now hosting two routes instead of one. |
Back in March, the EL2 (part of East London Transit) was re-routed from Barking, to serve Becontree Heath via Longbridge Road instead of going up Ilford Lane and terminating at the rail station up there. The EL1 was given a frequency increase to compensate and the reason why the EL2 was extended is because the 5 needed help very badly on the Longbridge Road, being significantly overcrowded on this section. What this does mean is that the 150 now has to share Becontree Heath Bus Station with the EL2, which has caused some problems recently because both routes have a reasonable amount of stand time here. However, when I visited the area the bus station was doing fine because the EL2 was bunching and there weren't any due in for 10 minutes. There are some benefits to bunching after all...
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| Tower Transit DH38503 on route 69 to Canning Town |
Back in 2015, TFL decided to trail three "Virtual Electric" Enviro 400 MMC buses on route 69, between Walthamstow Central and Canning Town to test the new technology that ADL have produced. So far, it looks like the trial isn't much of a success, seeing as the buses used to appear very infrequently when first introduced and they're only going out every day now because they're not running in electric mode most of the time, pretending they're hybrid's instead. They're nice buses though, apart from the unusual high backed seats, which have a metal bar on the bottom which makes you back ache after a few minutes... No more of these seats please!
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| London Sovereign VH10 on route 13 at Finchley Road, Aldwych bound. |
The 13 has received a lot of attention by enthusiasts lately, because TFL want to withdraw the route and replace it with the 82 and an extension of the 113. The first consultation they published didn't go to plan, with many people rejecting the idea and telling TFL that they are stupid for doing this, which is true. A couple of weeks ago, they published a second consultation, with the same proposals, apart from a new idea to extend the 139 to Golders Green and some mind games, with TFL trying to tell people that the 13 was being re-routed to North Finchley and Victoria and the 82 was being withdrawn instead, as people were moaning about the loss of a number 13 bus being significant. However, if you read between the lines you can figure out that basically the 13 is being withdrawn and the 82 will be re-numbered 13. I am totally against this idea as all bus routes on the Finchley Road Corridor carry healthy loadings in both rush hour's and the already busy 82 and 113 routes will just become even more crowded; the 13 is a good relief route for them. Hopefully this nonsense won't go ahead as it's just going to make travelling between Finchley Road and Central London a lot more unpleasant.
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| London United DE20131 on route 265 at Putney Bridge. |
The 265 had its contract retained recently, with brand new E200 MMCs. If you'd like to know my thoughts in detail, then please click
here and scroll down to the 265 section on the Busageddon post.
If you've already seen it, then you should've at least remembered that I think the 265 is a brilliant route that now has brilliant buses, a change for the best!
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| Metroline DEM1351 on route 234 to Highgate Wood. |
The 234 route runs from Highgate Wood to Barnet, The Spires and my first impression when I heard the two terminating points were "yep, that's a country route", but it does go through some urban areas. Never judge a book by its cover. The buses are just your average 9.6m E200, apart from the hard seats that Metroline decided to order for these vehicles. I want my civics back!
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| Go-Ahead London E179 on route 147 at Canning Town Station. |
The 147 was recently awarded to Go-Ahead London on its new contract, from the brand new Barking (RR) garage, with existing E400's displaced from Camberwell (Q) garage. It's made the route a lot nicer and I do like the places it serves, including the ExCeL London. However, what is interesting about this photo is that it was taken during a blind change, showing Cubitt Town, Manchester Road, which is a curtailment point of route D7, which does a tour of the Isle Of Dogs and then goes up to Mile End after Westferry. These buses don't stray from the 147 very often so it was interesting seeing another destination on E179.
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| Abellio London 9484 on Piccadilly Line Replacement Service at Northfields Station. |
A few months ago my local branch of the Piccadilly Line was shut between Boston Manor and Hammersmith, meaning that Abellio had to provide a replacement service calling at all stations including Ealing Broadway and the District Line ones too between Acton Town and Hammersmith. Unfortunately I missed out on riding this route but I did manage to get a picture of one in Northfields. I've just got to hope that the line is shut again!
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| Abellio London 9069 on route 188 at Canada Water, bound for North Greenwich |
The 188 is a long but interesting route running from North Greenwich to Russell Square through Waterloo, Elephant & Castle, Surrey Quays and Cutty Sark. Some of the Eclipse Gemini's allocated to the route received a refurbishment a couple of years ago, making them look much smarter, compared to the older 54-reg which still carry the original moquette.
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| Stagecoach London 13032 on route 177, at New Cross. |
Since the 53 was given another batch of new buses, Gemini 3's on route 177 have become increasingly common over the past couple of weeks, whereas before they were something of a rarity. I managed to bump into one on my way to New Cross, Sainsbury's a few weeks ago and the picture came out surprisingly well, seeing as it was completely rushed.
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| Metroline London VW1048 overtakes a 117 at West Thames College. |
The E8 has recently been extended to Hounslow, Bell Corner and has also gained a full allocation of double deckers, as this route gets very overcrowded in the evening peak from Ealing Broadway. My E8 was still at capacity the other day and I can only imagine what the crowds would be like if the bus was a single decker. After a few weeks of empty running, the Hounslow extension has finally been noticed by members of the public and the E8's are starting to get a little busier on the new stction, which is great as it will provide some relief to the crowded route 235, which has been awarded with single deckers on contract, which was clearly a mistake by TFL as the E9, a route with less than 2m annual ridership was awarded with DDs. Where's the logic in that?
I hope you enjoyed these 10 pictures, look out for the next post in September and thanks for reading!
