Random Observations: April 2018

There hasn't been one of these for a while, so perhaps this edition can be viewed as a reprieve from the somewhat relentless chain of "changes" posts that will be documented over the next few weeks. Other than that, you probably know the drill by now, ten pictures with my thoughts underneath them, along with a compulsory rant.

Stagecoach London 23113 is seen at Crystal Palace at the end of a route 227 journey.

After opening this photo, the first thing that became apparent was the glorious sunshine which we haven't witnessed for some time during this rather miserable Easter weekend, in terms of the weather anyway. The 227 is quite well-respected for what is a fairly mainstream single deck bus route, trundling along the main roads of South London usefully linking town centres and housing. It has some decent views and passes through a variety of different environments in a fairly short space of time, so in terms of external surroundings it's generally a thumbs up, although the main point of interest about this route is the batch of Mercedes Citaro buses, a rarity within London and the only batch ordered by Stagecoach for the capital. I suspect that these models were chosen as the 227 is a very busy route, running at an intensive 8-minute frequency, linking bustling areas like Crystal Palace, Penge, Beckenham and Bromley and they do a pretty good job at providing extra capacity, although occasionally regular E200s found at the garage step in.

Unfortunately the timetable is pretty loose, which is a shame because there are rare occasions where the power of these buses are revealed and they are easily some of the best in London - with a good driver the growling engine hurtling up the hill at Crystal Palace must be so satisfying to listen to. I wasn't successful in finding much "thrash" or "kickdown" during my trip, although the potential of this Citaro was certainly noticeable and it still provided an enjoyable journey on a more exotic type of bus. My only criticism of these vehicles is the pathetic blinds which have been installed - why can't a normal font be used? It looks naff. However, this is only a small matter and the 227 is certainly above average for a single deck route ; I was entertained throughout the journey and there are almost always points of interest to admire outside the bus. In addition to this, the main allocation of the service is in the form of a truly wonderful batch of vehicles, which certainly won't disappoint with a good driver. Make sure to ride it towards Bromley if you want to hear the engine maxed out though, as this is the uphill direction.

Abellio London 9462 is seen in West Ealing on the E1 to Greenford Broadway.

Coincidentally, this photo was taken on the same day as when single deckers invaded the E1 during an evening peak, where Hayes (WS) garage were particularly short of buses. Over the past couple of years it's become apparent that the batch of 14-reg ADL Enviro 400H vehicles allocated to the E1 aren't the most reliable of buses and you can often find almost half of them off-road at any one time, which means that other vehicles found often have to be substituted onto the service. This is usually in the form of an MMC from the 350 or 427, although sometimes the 2009-plate diesel E400s which work the E9 are used, like the example illustrated above. Even though the hybrids never fail to offer a comfortable and relaxing journey, my limited usage of the E9 has proven that 09-reg diesels are very fast vehicles, with satisfying acceleration and an ability to maintain high speed. The buses themselves aren't in a great condition and their refurbishment was evidently rushed - lots of seat padding was applied but there are also lots of smaller issues like grubby poles or squeaky doors which weren't attended to. Some of the buses do make, let's call it interesting, noises from the engine and I've been on two that have broken down in service, although despite the neglect shown by the operator they still seem to be doing a sterling job on my local E-routes and without them I suspect the E1 would've seen a much larger number of single deckers, which would've been abysmal in rush hour.

 Contrary to popular belief that short routes are always quiet, the E1 is easily one of the most overcrowded services at Ealing Broadway during the evening peak. Although buses are naturally empty in the daytime, it's the most popular and efficient way of travelling between Ealing and Greenford (the E10 is fastest but uses 1-door E200s at a dismal frequency, so isn't particularly attractive for anyone),  but it also serves some dense residential areas and in the evening peak people swarm out of the station and usually buses leave Haven Green full and standing with commuters. It's one of those routes which often has a constant stream of people running, although the issue of being looked down upon for leaving them behind is often resolved because the bus reaches capacity very quickly. This can teach us to not judge a book by its cover - the number of people who've proclaimed the E1 can revert to single deck operation drives me crazy - but also to appreciate these brilliant Enviro 400s which have been incredibly useful at covering for the 14-reg hybrids, which spend so much time in the garage!

Tower Transit BH36102 is seen at the Covent Garden stand on route RV1.

Congratulations to the RV1, for becoming the first route to appear in two consecutive editions of Random Observations. This can be explained by the recent changes to the service, in regards to the timetabling and its fleet, which means that I've been taking lots of pictures of the service and there is a higher chance of one being selected, although the long-term diversions which ultimately caused the downfall of the service are still in place. Those of you with a good memory might notice that the bus illustrated above looks very different to the RV1 you saw last time and that's because it's a brand new type, a development in hydrogen technology by VanHool. These buses arrived in the capital during the summer, but didn't actually enter service until January 2018, so there certainly was a sense of excitement when they finally made it out onto the road. Unlike the Wrightbus hydrogen vehicles, the interior is in a Tower Transit livery and contains decent lighting which doesn't give you a headache. The layout is rather unconventional with lots of "social seating" and an almost 50/50 split in those facing forwards and backwards. They are very boxy and sound quite similar to a New Routemaster, particularly upon acceleration, although Waterloo Bridge is probably the only time you'll notice this as the rest of the route usually doesn't exceed 5mph. After two failed attempts at catching the vehicles (don't let this put you off, there's almost always one out and about, I had pretty rotten luck), one turned up conveniently when I needed to get to Covent Garden on a Saturday afternoon and generally I think these buses are decent vehicles - nothing particularly special but they're still pleasant to travel on. My only criticism is of Tower Transit for not maintaining the poor buses properly - given that I was sitting at the rear of the vehicle my view of the beautiful riverside was spoiled by the sheer amount of disgusting filth on the windows - are they too scared to send it through the bus wash because of the technology? It needs to be sorted as soon as possible and the company need to learn to show some respect for these brand new vehicles!

One thing which became apparent on my journey was how busy the bus was - at one point along Upper Ground it was standing room only with all the tourists heading towards Covent Garden. Perhaps the drastic cut back to 3 buses per hour from the previous 12 minute frequency was a bit much - yes the RV1 does run empty a lot of the time but there are instances where a surge of tourists will use the bus to get to the various attractions en route and this is the second time I've used an RV1 that's been well-loaded in the past few months. Once the diversions are over I'm hoping that general patronage picks up considerably, to show TFL that they can't scrap the route just yet.  I'm almost certain that's the plan as drastic cutbacks like this are almost always early signs of future withdrawal - to think that this route was so crowded it warranted DDs a few years ago...

Metroline West VW1757 is seen on the 483 to Harrow.

Eighteen months ago, TFL modified route 83 so now it only runs between Alperton and Golders Green. A brand new service, called the 483, picks up the slack between Ealing Hospital and Alperton, before following the 83 until Wembley Stadium. From here, it turns left and serves North Wembley and subsequently terminates at Harrow Bus Station, providing some nice links to this previously under-served part of North West London. Originally, I was upset about the loss of a direct link to Golders Green and Hendon, but thankfully I've now become accustomed to my new service and have grown to realise that I really didn't use the links the former 83 provided much at all. The number change hasn't scared anyone away around here and the Ealing Hospital-Wembley section is just as busy as under the old route, with the last bit from Ealing Broadway to the Hospital being particularly crowded in rush hour, so who knows how it will cope with the loss of route 427 from next year. Unfortunately, it seems that usage levels at the Northern end of the route have been disappointing apart from in the school runs, with residents of North Wembley not taking advantage of their brand new links to the local town centres of Harrow and Wembley Central, perhaps because the car is still more attractive for them, although hopefully this service will pick up in popularity over the next few years as it really does have the potential to be useful up there. Understandably, not many people use the service all the way from Ealing-Harrow, because it's very indirect and although a link between the two hubs would be useful, it's considerably quicker to change in Wembley for a 182 bus rather than deal with the tedious traffic along the high road. Despite the awful road conditions which prompted the split of the 83, the reliability of the 483 has been truly superb ever since the start date and I must give credit to Alperton (ON) garage for running such a difficult route so well. The refurbishment of the 59-reg VW-class Gemini 2s is top-notch too, providing some much needed nourishment to a worn out batch of vehicles. In general the 483 seems to be doing well and I hope it stays this way for the future.

Metroline Travel VPL596 is seen on route 17 to London Bridge, part of an endangered batch of Volvo B7TLs.

Nowadays, this is a rare sight, since the 17 converted to Gemini 3 operation last summer. The population of these Volvo B7TL Presidents is declining rapidly in fact, with only a handful remaining in South-West London under Go-Ahead and at Metroline's Willesden (AC) and Holloway (HT) garages. What I find particularly saddening is that a couple of years ago, this generation of double deckers were still very much noticeable in the London fleet, but by next year I don't there will be any more ALX400s and Plaxton Presidents and they were the buses I grew up with through childhood. These older vehicles also tend to have much more character than the modern equivalents, yes they hardly produce any emissions but they're all far too quiet and don't have any quirks or differentiation between models - they all look and sound the same. When I was younger I didn't particularly like the older buses, mostly because of the excitement surrounding hybrid technology and the somewhat undesirable state of the vehicles before refurbishment, but now I honestly regret constantly letting go these older, endangered types for another batch of hybrids which are pretty much identical to the batch before etc etc.

As the London bus fleet is modernised, within the next couple of years Enviro 400s will be the most modern double deckers in the fleet and it just emphasises how time flies and frankly how boring the bus scene will be. My advice to all you viewers is to make the most of the old things before its too late and honestly that will be the case very very soon. You'll be hearing stories of the long-gone "Tridents" and "B7TLs", feeling regret that you didn't manage to bag a proper farewell ride. It's these buses that persuaded lots of people to become enthusiasts in the first place. I can't give overly-specific advice on how to catch them as this is only meant to be one paragraph, but if you need any further assistance in catching one of the endangered types this Easter please leave a comment below, I'm more than happy to help. For Trident ALX400s, Stagecoach still have quite a few in East London, with routes like the 158 and 472 seeing a decent number every day. London United are down to single figures with their batch and I expect them to be gone within a fortnight - the TA-class buses are usually found on the H32, 71 and 281 in West London. DAF DB250 Geminis are also endangered, with a small number running around the Croydon area under Arriva, usually on routes like the 194, 197, 264, 403 and 466. B7TL Geminis are still found in fairly large numbers, although this engine on a President body is much rarer - the Go-Ahead ones are found on the 77 mostly, whilst Metroline have a few on the 302 and 460 in North-West London, but also a noteable amount on the Central London route 43 and catching one on that is probably your last chance to ride a double decker of this generation for a considerable amount of time in zone 1.

London United ADE40423 (YX12 FDJ) is seen at Hounslow on the H98.

This particular E400 has remained at Hounslow (AV) garage for the 81, instead of transferring to London Sovereign to work the 142 and 258. Although the H98 is a single decker route, the flexible allocation policy at the depot ensures that E400s and Scania OmniCitys do appear fairly regularly, especially because the partial allocation of Optare MetroCity vehicles now make very intermittent appearances after what was a promising start in terms of reliability. The H98 has actually had its contract retained recently and hopefully it will result in a refurbishment of the knackered 60-plate DLE-class Enviro 200s that have worked the service consistently over the past few years. Some of those buses have been involved in a route branding scheme in the Hayes area, but a more detailed post on that will be published in a couple of weeks. It is quite unfortunate that the H98 didn't receive a full allocation of double deck vehicles upon contract renewal, although this is hardly surprising given the unfortunate state of the buses budget. Buses on the H98 are frequently pushed to their maximum capacity and are almost always fully seated with single deckers, mainly because it provides unique links between the two major Bath Road and Heathrow-Hayes corridors, along with assisting the other routes along them. It's one of those routes that can turn up empty if following a convoy of other buses on different routes, but if the H98 turns up by itself, following a gap of a few minutes, your chances of getting on are slim. This makes the route rather grim on a single decker, but if you're lucky enough to experience a DD, the H98 might be quite enjoyable, especially because it has many fast and semi-rural sections where buses often reach high speeds, in addition to urban high streets and a brief residential part at the end. Therefore, the H98 has the potential to be quite a nice and useful route, but without the extra floor on all buses that won't be happening anytime soon.

Stagecoach London 19738 is seen at Romford Station on route 86 to Stratford.

One of the busiest routes in London is the 86, paralleling the TFL Rail service between Romford and Stratford, with intermediate destinations including Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes, Forest Gate and Ilford. Bar a few deviations in town centres, the route is essentially a straight line for its entirety, running alongside the busiest route in London, the 25, along the overcrowded Romford Road corridor between Stratford and Ilford. Despite the parallelling train service, the 86 serves residential areas in much more detail, but also offers a cheaper alternative which is very popular in this part of London, so the 86 picks up both local traffic and long distance travellers. To make matters worse, the route is a lone wolf for almost the whole of the Ilford-Romford corridor and is the only bus to serve Seven Kings Station on the Northern side at all and disappointingly TFL aren't changing this matter despite the other Crossrail-related service changes. There is a large area of residential housing just North of the station and a new single deck route here would be very popular and might help the crowding on the 86.

Recently, the route has seen a vehicle upgrade, to a large batch of existing ADL E400s, which have replaced (most of) the Trident ALX400s which were the face of this route for a number of years, although for those of you who prefer the old kit there are still a couple running around every day. Soon, the notorious Romford Road corridor will also receive some much-needed support with an extension of route 425 to Ilford, which finally brings a bus route that's not in the top 10 busiest to many of the bus stops here, so hopefully commuters can breathe a sigh of relief and be able to board their buses in the morning. Due to its popularity, the 86 isn't the most reliable of routes and I've had to wait for a considerable amount of time on each of my attempts to use the service, but there are certainly trunk routes out there with a worse service, including another one radiating from Romford since the new operator took over. However, the story of that route shall be told another time.

Arriva London T121 is seen along Streatham High Road on route 250 to Brixton.

 Oh look, it's another ridiculously busy double deck route, being the 33rd most popular in London. This time we're in South London, on the number 250, which runs between Croydon Town Centre and Brixton, in roughly a straight line, bar a deviation in the Thornton Heath area to serve some residential parts alone. The 250 does have quite a poor reputation in South London, mainly because of its awful reliability, clapped out fleet of heavily restricted ADL E400s (courtesy of Thornton Heath (TH) garage and their infamous maintenance), along with a loose timetable and a strong presence of anti-social behaviour on the route. It is also extremely oversubscribed, with the 7-8 minute frequency being completely inadequate for the service. Although I've probably made the route seem extremely unattractive for you, I think it will be quite interesting to try out, especially because of how urban it is. Most of the route is spent travelling along busy, main roads or town centres like Brixton, Streatham and Croydon, whilst the residential section in Norbury is very dense and contains a sprawling network of roads served minimally by three busy double deck routes.

Like the 86, it has both long-distance travellers and local residents, which is why the buses remain consistently busy throughout the entire journey. However, what's surprising is that the 250 is not a route which spends a lot of time by itself (bar the housing section) - in fact, over 70% is shared with another bus route called the 109, also running between Brixton and Croydon Town Centre, which is almost identical to the 250 in terms of the areas it travels through, except it takes a different route through the residential part of Norbury and travels in a straight line for the entire journey, making it slightly quicker than the 250 for long distance trips. Subsequently, this service is even busier, being the 14th most popular in London and perhaps its notorious levels of overcrowding are the reason why the 250 is still well-used - it does take longer but if everyone travelling between Croydon and Brixton/Streatham tried to use the 109, they'd be waiting for a very long time to board a bus. What fascinates me is the sheer popularity of this corridor - if two high frequency double deck routes are still overcrowded then that just emphasises the strong demand for North-South links in this part of London. Indeed, the 109 routeing was supposed to be covered by a tram service, which probably would've been wise considering the dire state of affairs with these routes at the moment. We can only hope for improvements, but that's very unlikely.

Go-Ahead London SOE26 is seen at Prince Regent on route 300 to Canning Town.

I don't know much about the 300. It is one I've never used before, but from my previous map studies and observations I can infer that it looks quite tedious. The main allocation consists of a clapped out batch of ADL Enviro 200s, although occasionally more exotic types like the Scania Esteem buses do appear, although these particular buses don't please me much at all because of their small windows towards the rear and rather claustrophobic interior atmosphere. Vehicles aside, the 300 runs from Canning Town to East Ham Station, taking a very indirect route with points of interest including Newham Hospital, Prince Regent and Beckton, in addition to an assortment of housing estates in between. The route also seems quite busy, but it ran into much more serious problems a few days ago, when a DLR strike caused chaos in East London. Given that the 300 is the only bus route to serve lots of DLR stations, including Royal Albert and Beckton Park, surely it would've been wise to give this route some extra buses to support passengers in finding alternative methods of transport? The normal service was entirely inappropriate and as a result lots of people were turned down as buses were rammed solid. In contrast, extra buses on the 147 shuttling between Canning Town and the ExCeL Exhibition Centre were carrying fresh air, along with the double deckers on the D3 which missed out most of the route anyway. Hopefully if a strike occurs again, TFL will learn their lesson and reimburse this poor little route that really shouldn't have to deal with mass overcrowding.

Metroline Travel VWH2092 is seen at Chenies Place on route 214U to Camden Town.

Since the Northern Line is closed over the Easter weekend between Moorgate and East Finchley, rail replacement buses have been provided and for the section between Camden Town and Moorgate this comes in the form of extra vehicles on route 214, which parallels the tube on this section. Metroline are running the supplementary service with existing Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles from Holloway (HT) garage, with cards in the window and either a blank destination blind, or a rail replacement/special service display as the vehicles lack proper blinds for the service. The 214U runs at a 12 minute frequency, between Camden Town and Moorgate only, in order to provide the additional capacity where it's needed most and also to avoid all the posh residents in Highgate which prevent the route from being DD full-time. Some of the buses were fairly busy, whilst others carried fresh air if they were following a regular 214, like the example above. However, on Friday many enthusiasts were disappointed at the drivers of the service, who often skipped stops or deliberately dragged behind regular 214s which were packed out, whilst the double deckers carried air. On my two trips today, I experienced some rather reckless driving, with one of them not holding back at all with the accelerator and taking corners in King's Cross at full speed, which resulted in some near misses with pedestrians and parked cars. My other driver also wasn't hanging around, but the issue with this one was using the brakes properly and in St Pancras the bus crashed into the rear of a number 45. Although there was no significant damage, the driver of the vehicle in front was understandably quite annoyed and started shouting at my 214 driver for a couple of minutes. However, once we'd got going again we ended up skipping a red light on Euston Road after braking too late and after this, we had to swerve violently to narrowly avoid crashing into a taxi. It certainly was a thrilling experience.




My personal theory is that these drivers are regulars on the normal 214 and haven't had sufficient type training on the new Gemini 3s - they seemed unfamiliar with the braking system (which perhaps was easier to control on the single deckers) and unaware of the powerful acceleration of the buses - most drivers hold back when pulling off on Gemini 3s because you literally go flying without restriction and that's what happened today. Nevertheless, I absolutely loved travelling through Somers Town on a double decker for the first time and I do wish that I could sample the whole 214 service with one - it would be a brilliant route.


Thanks for reading and stay safe!