Remember Remember The 11th Of November: 176 and 188

The other two notable changes on Saturday 11th November involved Go-Ahead London gaining routes 176 and 188 from Arriva and Abellio respectively, with both having at least a partial allocation of brand new buses ordered for them. Welcome to part 2 of this documentation on one of the biggest days of the year in 2017, for enthusiasts anyway. Our first focus is on the 176.

Arriva London VLA73 pauses at Charing Cross Station on the final stretch towards Tottenham Court Road.

The 176 runs between the South London suburb of Penge to Tottenham Court Road in the West End, via Sydenham, East Dulwich, Camberwell and Waterloo. It's a very busy route, proving popular with many residents along its route for travelling into London, rather than taking the infamous Southern service in that part of London. The end to end journey time can feel painfully long, taking up to 100 minutes in rush hour, as much of this is spent navigating the traffic-filled zone 1. Previously, Arriva London ran the route from Norwood (N) garage with a dedicated batch of Volvo B7TL ALX400s, which were surprisingly old for a route operating in Central London. Nevertheless, they were popular with enthusiasts and were often praised for their excellent capability of climbing hills, something which is essential for this route. In addition to the VLA-class ALX400s, some ADL E400s and Wrightbus Gemini 3s occasionally strayed onto the 176, with the night service in particular having a strong presence of these newer buses - residents were understandably not too keen on roaring B7TLs cruising past their households in the middle of the night. The loss to Go-Ahead was upsetting for many of us, as Arriva undoubtedly gave the route character and the new buses would definitely reduce this. Go-Ahead also already operate a large number of routes along the corridors shared by the 176, so this makes variety less interesting. Nevertheless, the hole left at Norwood (N) garage will be filled eventually as Arriva have won the 468 from Go-Ahead, with this taking effect from Saturday 31st March 2018.

Go-Ahead London EH79, an E40H MMC, pauses at Leicester Square en route to Penge.

The 176 has only received a partial allocation of new vehicles, purely because some money can be saved by sourcing existing buses in the fleet which were made redundant following frequency reductions, but are still compatible with the Central London emission standards. EH162-EH170 are the brand new ADL E40H MMCs that entered service prematurely at Camberwell (Q) garage, where they comfortably settled into the large common user pool in the garage, meaning that the MMCs appeared on a wide range of double deck routes there, including the 35, 40, 42 and 468. Some existing MMCs are also allocated to the 176, with most of them coming from Putney (AF) garage following frequency reductions on routes 14 and 74 over there. Recent cuts to the 1 have resulted in a few Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles transferring over to Camberwell (Q) garage and these also appear on the 176 daily. Finally, two of the MCV EvoSeti buses that were already at the garage have been reblinded are also officially allocated to the 176, although their appearances on the route are sporadic and it took me a while to eventually snap one! As you can probably tell, the 176's assignment of buses isn't particularly neat, but rather a cost-cutting efficient one that still ticks all the boxes, even though various different batches now work on the same route.

EH162, one of the new intake, is seen on the 35 in October.

A rocky start was evident for the first couple of weeks in terms of service, with various curtailments and large gaps as Go-Ahead got to know this challenging route. TFL also slyly introduced a frequency reduction on the 176, coinciding with the new contract, making the route both an operational nightmare and even more oversubscribed than previously. The first day also produced some difficulties due to the Lord Mayor's Show, with buses congregating at Waterloo instead of completing the full journey to Tottenham Court Road. Although there is still considerable development that needs to be undertaken, the service has been gradually improving over the past few weeks, with some evenings having relatively adequate headways, which is a massive step up from the shambles in the first week. Although the 176 is tough and surprisingly difficult to operate in the beginning, Go-Ahead are such a large company that they undoubtedly have even more challenging routes to comprehend with and most of them operate well, so the future in terms of reliability looks bright for the 176.

Go-Ahead London MHV55, an MCV EvoSeti, represents the minority of the 176 allocation.

There hasn't been much appraisal of the new MMCs, mainly because they don't stand out in any particular way, being neither exceptionally good or abnormally bad. Along with the existing E40H MMCs, their ability to tackle hills is superb - this was shown in Sydenham where my bus, EH130, climbed them with ease despite the lack of a run-up as such. There are doubts with the Gemini 3 and Evoseti vehicles, which both use the B5LH engine. Although they're certainly powerful when at high speed, their acceleration is sometimes poor and this feature is crucial for a route like the 176, which is both hilly and slow-moving. Nevertheless, there haven't been many complaints about them either and I'm sure commuters on this service appreciate these newer vehicles, as the B7TL ALX400s were starting to feel a little worn out towards the end of the contract. Personally, I would recommend the E40H MMCs (which thankfully make up the majority of the allocation) if you feel the need to travel on this service, as they have comfortable seats, power and speed along with a large front window. The obstructive Gemini 3 pillars, along with the shallow upper deck windows, ruin the experience in terms of viewing, whilst the MCV EvoSeti seats are painfully uncomfortable, being extremely hard, narrow and lacking depth of any sort, something which isn't ideal for long trips which are inevitable on this South-East London trunk route.

WHV113, a Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH, represents another type of bus found on this service

The 176 is one of my favourite routes in London, and one of the more useful ones in zone 1 too, providing some valuable links between places like Waterloo and Leicester Square, with the latter having a surprising lack of bus services. It's surprising that the service hasn't been curtailed to somewhere like Waterloo yet, with the e2e journey time being noticeably long, so if something goes wrong en route the whole service can just collapse. However, Arriva did a sterling job of maintaining headways and the 176 still soldiers on into the heart of the West End, something that's certainly popular with tourists, even though sometimes it's quicker to walk than navigating Trafalgar Square heading Northbound. I love the 176 because it travels through such a wide variety of areas, from the bustling Leicester Square filled with shops and tourists, to the urban Camberwell high street, or upmarket settlement of East Dulwich and the hilly and leafy parts of Sydenham and Penge. It takes you through so many different suburbs the view out of the window is always interesting, despite being fairly 'urban' for the entire length. I would suggest travelling on this service outside of rush hour, ideally towards the middle of the day or early on a weekend, as people often lose concentration on long trips and this isn't ideal for absorbing the external surroundings. Catching an EH-class MMC is also better, in my opinion, than the other two. So far, the service on the 176 hasn't been great, although I still have confidence that a sense of normality will resume soon and the patchy allocation seems to be working fine, so that's something successful to talk about. I wish Go-Ahead the best in running the 176 for the next few years, from their strategically placed Camberwell (Q) garage.

Abellio London 2429, an ADL Enviro 400 hybrid, stands at Russell Square

The final route that changed hands on Saturday 11th November was the 188, running between Russell Square and North Greenwich. It accomplishes this by passing through Cutty Sark, Canada Water, Bermondsey and Waterloo, being rather long in terms of length. It's pretty indirect in Central London, detouring to serve Elephant & Castle and Bricklayer's Arms, rather than travelling straight through London Bridge between Waterloo and Bermondsey. It also travels through many congested areas, including the aforementioned Elephant & Castle roundabout, Aldwych and Cutty Sark town centre, where the narrow one way system provides some difficulties in navigating this tourist-filled town centre. Nevertheless, it's the fifth best route in London for me, being one of the most unique ones to enter zone 1.

It's terminus is quiet, along the picturesque Russell Square, in contrast to the bustling hubbub of Holborn and Aldwych, jammed with noisy cars and having either tourists or workers clogging up the pavements. Riverside views over Waterloo Bridge are always stunning, whilst the baffling Elephant & Castle roundabout is always amusing. The arty nature of Tower Bridge Road gives another insight into inner South-East London, whilst Jamaica Road can provide an opportunity for speed, or standstill traffic in rush hour. The retail areas in Canada Water are always fun to pass through, especially with the narrow road swerving between the various units, whilst the stretch through Deptford is more residential, providing some balance. Greenwich is beautiful to look at, as the 188 passes the park, Greenwich Market and the Maritime Museum. The last section into North Greenwich is rather industrial and the view of the millennium dome provides an interesting background before the bus terminates within the station. This brief description should hopefully emphasise how varied the 188 route is, and perhaps show you why I love it. Therefore, the future curtailment to Waterloo saddens me, as the 188 will no longer cross the river nor serve the office district of Holborn. However, it will certainly improve reliability and at the moment, the 188 is sparsely used North of Aldwych, having many frequent alternatives along the Kingsway corridor which still serve similar places, making the cut back is understandable.

Abellio London 9069 takes a breather at Canada Water Bus Station en route to North Greenwich.

Abellio operated the 188 from Walworth (WL) garage, which was conveniently only 15 minutes away from Elephant & Castle, where some painfully long driver changes took place. The allocation consisted of some ageing first-generation Wrightbus B7TL Gemini vehicles, which were in varying states of health, with some being notorious for either roaring or having a distinct lack of speed. Some hybrid E40Hs also appeared on the route as a partial allocation, although they also started to feel a little worn out towards the end of the old contract. Both of these batches have moved on to pastures anew outside of London, although the strays that often appeared on the route in the form of diesel E400s or occasionally E40H MMCs still run on routes running out of the garage. Bar the ridiculous driver changes, Abellio handled the 188 very well and I've certainly never had any issues with reliability despite the sheer length of the route, being as demanding as the 176. Although the fleet of buses weren't always praised for their comfort or condition, they gave the route some character which no longer exists with its boring, unvaried current allocation. I definitely miss Abellio on the 188 and their presence in a large number of areas has become non-existent as a result of the new contract. However, I was going to give Go-Ahead a chance to prove themselves that they were the worthy winners of the competitive 188 tender result and hopefully they execute this successfully in the future.

Go-Ahead London WHV184, a Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH, stops at Elephant & Castle.

Many existing garages were suggested for Go-Ahead's operation of route 188, although an unexpected brand new site was opened weeks before the new contract commenced, which is conveniently along the 188's line of route. The garage can be found in Greenwich and is called Morden Wharf (MG). The 188 operates from there, along with fellow DD routes 129 and 180, although their Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles haven't been reblinded to include the 188 and its destinations, so there have been no strays since the new contract began. The 188's Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles were initially used on routes at Camberwell (Q) garage, like the 45 and 40, to iron out any teething issues and also provide a clean fleet of buses for the routes that crossed "green bus corridors" over there. After this, the buses swiftly transferred to Morden Wharf (MG) and debuted on the 188, with all of the vehicles appearing fairly soon after the contract date. Unfortunately, the vehicles aren't particularly well thought of by enthusiasts, being some of the worst Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles I've ever sampled. They're pretty sluggish and seem to overrev excessively upon pull away, resulting in poor acceleration. They also don't seem capable of reaching high speed, although an urban route like the 188 shouldn't make this much of an issue, apart from when Jamaica Road is clear and the speedy runs there will be sorely missed.

Their interior is the bog-standard Go-Ahead one and overall they seem like a boring batch of vehicles, which is a real shame for such an incredible route like the 188. Although the former allocation was unhealthy, the rides were still enjoyable, but now with the quiet motor and shallow upper deck windows, the journey just isn't as interesting anymore. I was certainly disappointed when I sampled the service last Sunday - the bus was very busy and the windows were very steamy, which meant that I couldn't admire the external surroundings. My focus on the bus itself, therefore, was even clearer and it didn't entertain me in any fashion. So, the allocation of the 188 isn't of a high standard, but hopefully some blinds will be ordered so the decent Gemini 2s can stray onto the route.

Go-Ahead London WHV168 is seen on route 40 to Aldgate. This was taken when the buses were experimented at Camberwell.

To make matters worse, reliability of this service has been shambolic since the contract change, with no real signs of improvement yet. The poor start on the first day can be excused, due to the Lord Mayor's show diversions, but there are still instances of large gaps and unbelievable bunching on a daily basis, particularly in the late evenings. Admittedly, tackling the 188 isn't an easy task, but sometimes the cause of the abysmal service is unclear - at 11pm on a weekday there's not much traffic around and the consistency of this poor management is concerning, especially as Abellio undertook operating this service much more effectively. Curtailments are not only frequent, but spontaneous in nature, with buses often turning short of their destination with very little notice to passengers. Thankfully, we are still only one month into a five year contract and there is still time to rectify the issues spotted so far, although a sooner turn around is ideal as eventually regular users will simply be fed up with the poor service. There is certainly hope of a better future, especially as Go-Ahead and Morden Wharf (MG) garage are successful in operating many other long distance trunk routes, like the 108 service between Stratford and Lewisham, which has improved significantly in recent times. I must wish Go-Ahead the best in operating the 188 successfully for the next five years - the pending curtailment to Waterloo will hopefully make running the service a little easier for them.

Go-Ahead London WHV179 is seen at Surrey Quays, Greenwich bound.

This final paragraph concludes the extensive 11th November changes, which saw enthusiasts invade Central London en masse and revel in the excitement of operators struggling to operate new routes. Cruel, isn't it. London United are starting to flourish in operating their biggest route in London so far, the 18, with a decent batch of Gemini 3s, despite some occasional hiccups and a worrying start. The excellent service previously found on route 45 has continued into the Abellio contract, complete with some nice ADL E40H MMCs. Go-Ahead have been introduced to two demanding routes recently, with the 176 getting on rather nicely at Camberwell (Q) garage with its varied allocation. So far, the 188 change has been the most disappointing, with substandard buses and a concerning service, although there is no reason to believe that this will be permanent and hopefully all four routes will provide a sufficient service sooner or later.

Two more "changes" posts are pencilled in within the next week or so, along with an exciting post documenting the Reading Buses network, which I visited recently.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!