Continuing The Green Theme

Two bus routes that sport a green livery have had their operation transferred to different companies recently, although this motif has surprisingly been retained after the change for both examples. Chronologically, the first change that occurred involved First Berkshire surrendering their commercial greenline 702 service, with initial concerns that the route would be withdrawn completely, although Reading Buses thankfully stepped in at the last minute and started running the route on Sunday 24th December 2017, with a slightly revised service on the first day. The 702 isn't actually a TFL service, although it runs to and from Central London, so it arguably deserves documentation here.

A First Berkshire Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL is seen at Victoria.

As I'm not an expert on the history of buses, my knowledge of the former Greenline network is patchy and all I know is that it can be traced back as far as 1930 and there used to be a lot more routes than there are today. They're essentially non-TFL coach services which run beyond London to other urban towns roughly within a 30 mile radius. The 702 is now the only one that runs to the West of the capital, starting at Victoria Coach Station and heading up to Hyde Park Corner with the others. However, here it turns left and follows the routeing of the 9/10 as far as Hammersmith, although the 702 serves different bus stops to the TFL services and they are quite sporadic. After Hammersmith, the 702 runs non-stop all the way to Langley, initially using the dual carriageway and afterwards the elevated section of the M4, which can provide some really fast trips and stunning views. After this, the 702 serves Slough, Windsor, Legoland, Ascot and Bracknell, where all services terminated under the First Berkshire operation. Generally, an hourly frequency is provided throughout the day and the journey to Bracknell takes around 150 minutes from start to finish, with an additional half hour to Reading, where some buses now terminate. A few coaches were used on the 702 until around 2013, where they were all replaced by Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL buses, complete with an appropriate external livery and a high specification interior, with leather high-back seats and a comfortable environment for the long distance trips travellers normally make on the service. It's not too popular with commuters and never seems to be crowded, although buses are generally quite busy throughout the day and the 702 was popular under First, who seemingly provided an adequate service with a luxurious fleet of buses. However, their Slough network has seen masses of cuts recently and unfortunately the 702 wasn't considered to be sustainable anymore, so the service was surrendered. The last day was on Saturday 23rd December 2017, with Reading Buses taking over the next day, albeit with a slightly different vehicle allocation.

RF226 is seen at Royal Albert Hall on the 702.

Reading Buses wanted to make their debut on the 702 an event to remember and this was achieved by organising a running day, using mostly, but not exclusively, vintage buses that ran to a special timetable along the route. Donations to the Red Balloon Learners Centre were welcome, although the route technically ran free of charge. For most of the day, the service was split into two routes, with one between Windsor and Victoria and a shuttle which connected with the London services from Windsor to Bracknell numbered the 701, although a couple of through buses featured towards the end of the day, with one going all the way to Reading Station from Victoria. Drivers and conductors were sourced on a voluntary basis and were mostly enthusiasts themselves, creating a friendly atmosphere and a really successful day on the whole. I had the pleasure of sampling the service for an hour within London and managed to catch two vintage vehicles on my travels.

RMC1510 is seen at Hammersmith on a Bracknell through service.

A wide variety of vehicles were out and about, including single decker RF models, classic Routemasters and an open top RMC, which must've been great fun on the elevated M4 section, although it was pretty cold on my trip between Kensington and Hammersmith! Some more modern traction came in the form of two existing vehicles that have been heavily refurbished for the main 702 service, in the form of a Scania OmniCity single decker and an ADL Enviro 400 with a stunning external greenline livery - images containing both of these types feature later on. I thoroughly enjoyed my trips on the heritage 702s, with a pleasurable vibe and a lovely throwback to travelling down Kensington High Street on Routemasters when the 9H was still around, even if those ones had a roof upstairs. Buses were well loaded and it seems that the day was very popular, giving Reading Buses the opportunity to thrive at the start of their operation on the demanding 702. After a two day break, the normal service started on Wednesday 27th December 2017, with a wide variety of buses out and about.

Reading Buses 1208, the ADL E400 branded for the Greenline 702, is seen at Hammersmith on route to Bracknell.

Reading Buses operate the 702 from their depot at Great Knollys Street in Reading Town Centre, although a new outstation is opening in Slough for their recent gains there and I predict that some 702 buses will eventually be based at this site. At the moment, the timetable is broadly similar to what First Berkshire provided, with roughly the same departure times from Victoria and Bracknell, with only one immediate difference between the two. Some early morning and late evening trips have been extended to Reading Station under the new contract - as these buses are running to/from the depot it costs Reading Buses nothing to operate them in passenger service, even though I suspect they will be lightly used. In addition to this, the very last evening trip from London runs non-stop between Slough and Reading, which must be a very fast ride! In terms of reliability, the operation has been decent so far, with a few minor issues in regards to buses leaving on time, although it's nothing serious and at the moment they don't seem to be any worse than First Berkshire in this department.

Reading Buses 12 represents the one trip that runs non-stop from Slough to Reading, in the form of a Scania OmniCity single decker.

A full allocation of vehicles hasn't been ordered for the 702 yet, as Reading Buses feel that they should get to know the service before making a decision. As a result, a large variety of buses are currently being trialled and the uniform allocation of the future will be based upon driver and passenger feedback. There are two types that are fully branded for the service and these come in the form of an ADL E400 (illustrated further up) and two Scania OmniCity tri-axle single deckers, which have been acquired from Scotland and have received a heavy refurbishment with more comfortable seats and other luxuries. Personally, I'm hoping that this type isn't ordered for the service, along with the coach which will enter service shortly, as the views from the top deck when the 702 travels along the M4 are just incredible and the experience won't be the same on either of these types. I especially wouldn't want coaches because having mainstream buses arguably makes the 702 unique - without them it would just be another average national express style long-distance service and I find them pretty grim. However, there are other types on the horizon, including a blue ADL E400 City demonstrator with leather seating, USB charging and tables upstairs and an Irizar single decker. Although I wouldn't want the latter type being delivered en masse, there aren't any examples of these in the TFL fleet and sampling one of them on the quieter trips would be a pleasure, especially on the demanding M4.

Reading Buses 759 is seen at Victoria Coach Station.

Fleet flexibility at the depot means that some non-branded existing vehicles in the Reading Buses fleet can appear on the 702 from time to time, especially at weekends. These includs ADL E400s normally allocated to the jet black 1 (which contain all over advertising for something completely unrelated) or their younger equivalent, this being the E400 MMC, like the example illustrated above. These buses were also used for driver training, with branded "emerald" ones frequently running along the route in the run up to the changeover. As you can probably tell, the variety on the 702 at the moment is brilliant, with almost every vehicle on the service being a different type. This does mean catching the bus is a bit of a lottery, with the type ranging from a fairly small single decker, to a full-size coach or an average double decker. It'll be interesting to see what is eventually ordered for the service and hopefully Reading Buses can keep up their good start to operating the 702. This rounds off part one of the post ; we'll be moving onto the TFL 142 service now.

Arriva London VLA176 is seen at Watford Junction on route 142.

The 142 runs between Brent Cross and Watford Junction, via Hendon, Edgware, Stanmore and Bushey. It takes around 80 minutes from start to finish in typical road conditions and has a 12-minute frequency from Monday-Saturday, with this reducing to 4bph on Sundays. Arriva The Shires, a subsidiary of Arriva Bus UK have, operated the 142 from their Garston (GR) garage for a while, although towards the end of the contract this division was branded as Arriva London for TFL services. Older vehicles were the norm on route 142, with Volvo B7TL ALX400s and mark 1 Geminis making up most of the allocation in recent times, although occasional appearances of newer Wrightbus Streetdeck vehicles did happen. Controversially, single deckers were used on the 142 fairly regularly, due to a shortage of DDs and extremely loose allocations, where the double deck ALX400s would often find themselves on quieter SD routes whilst the Enviro 200 single deckers ended up on the 142, which really wasn't ideal as it's a busy route! In terms of operation, the route was hit and miss, with some sloppy performance at times, although the demanding nature and lengthy journey time must've contributed to this. Unfortunately, Garston (GR) garage will no longer operate TFL services in a few months time, with most of their existing ones transferring over to RATP London Sovereign or to Arriva's Palmers Green (AD) garage. This move was triggered by the loss of routes 142 and 258, which were the only ones anywhere near the garage itself! Dead mileage was costly and clearly running Edgware routes from somewhere in Hertfordshire wasn't economically viable anymore, so understandably they've all been surrendered. Arriva certainly gave the 142 a lot of character throughout their contract and they will be missed, especially because of the thrash the beastly B7TL Volvos provided. The newer buses that now run the route are pretty decent, but are commonplace in London and the route is now arguably less interesting. However, the service performance is likely to improve and it's very unlikely that single deckers will ever touch the route again, which is a relief!

RATP London Sovereign ADE40428 is seen at Burnt Oak Broadway, bound for Watford Junction

London Sovereign operate the 142 from Edgware (BT) garage, which is situated roughly in the middle of the route, providing a convenient spot for driver changeovers. Due to losses in the Hounslow area, a large number of existing ADL E400s became surplus recently and these were perfect for the 142, which doesn't require hybrid vehicles for this contract. Most of them have been heavily refurbished, even though I would argue they were in a decent state beforehand and are part of a large common user pool shared with route 258 at Edgware (BT) - this route was also lost from Arriva The Shires in September. Some unrefurbished examples are still around though and these will enter the workshop soon. For now, they still have London United logos (Sovereign and United are both divisions of RATP), bar ADE40413 which has randomly had them updated. Coincidentally, both the Arriva and RATP interiors are based on the green colour, so some sense of familiarity has been retained. Arriva's last full day was Friday 5th January 2018, with VLA168 and SW7 both finishing simultaneously in the early hours of the Saturday. Shortly after, London Sovereign began operating the service, with ADE-class E400s only throughout the morning. They're very fast, clean and are some of the best newer examples of E400s out there - a worthy replacement for the VLAs and are definitely capable of reaching high speeds in the countryside. If you're looking for an eventful journey I would recommend one of these for your ride, although the other types which do appear regularly don't stand out as being awful either.

London Sovereign RATP VH45106 is seen at Colindale.

The relaxed allocation system at Edgware (BT) means that two other blinded types have frequently appeared on the 142 since the new contract started. Wrightbus Gemini 2 B5LH vehicles, with a unique red interior, that are officially allocated to the 139, are quite populous on the service, with around three or four every day so far (bar Sundays). Occasionally, one of the few remaining Scania OmniCity vehicles found at the garage appears, although all of them are likely to be leaving fairly soon. This unexpected variety is certainly positive for enthusiasts, who feared that the route would be 100% E400. I had the privilege of sampling the service on the first day and overall, I was pretty satisfied with the buses and the service. Unfortunately, I just missed one after a sprint from Staples Corner to Priestly Way, which meant that I was standing around next to a dual carriageway in the cold for 10 minutes. However, the E400 came quickly and delivered a smooth ride up to Burnt Oak, being spotless inside thanks to the refurbishment. I was faced with a 17 minute wait heading back to Brent Cross, although this was the longest gap I witnessed and is pretty decent for a first day. Both the Gemini 2 and Scania OmniCity (I got off in the middle and switched between these buses which happened to be in a bunching) were in a good condition, with the latter one being very busy with shoppers travelling to Brent Cross. This event was also popular with other enthusiasts, as there hadn't been any contract changes since November, leaving a rather quiet festive period. As a result, many of them were out and about on the first day and I certainly saw a few cameras on my travels.

RATP London Sovereign SP40135 is seen at the last stop in Brent Cross.

Generally, reliability has been excellent so far, with no real issues and London Sovereign trying their upmost to maintain a manageable service, which is mostly successful. The company also took over the operation of route 642, which takes a similar route to the 142 bar a deviation around Colindale and to the school it serves, which is in Stanmore rather than Watford. Bar the first day on Monday, where drivers ended up getting lost and the school buses arriving late, that route seems to be doing fine as well. Overall, the 142 change can be viewed as successful in almost every aspect and it looks like a promising and stable five years for regular users of the route. It seems that both of these 'green' services are in a good place and hopefully this proves to be the case over the next few years.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!