Stagecoach In The South East

A number of routes in the South-East London area have changed operator recently, or have had some different vehicles introduced to coincide with contract renewals or changes. In general, Stagecoach were the most successful operator, gaining an number of routes from Go-Ahead London, who haven't had it easy recently in this particular part of London. Chronologically, the B14 upgrade happened weeks before the rest, among the various other changes on Saturday 3rd February 2018.

Go-Ahead London 149 is seen at Bexleyheath on route B14 to Orpington Station.

Whilst the B14 isn't necessarily the most prolific route in South-East London, it does start and finish at two of the more significant town centres, Bexleyheath and Orpington. Despite the route being the only bus linking the two conurbations, it takes a ridiculously indirect route between them, serving St Mary Cray, Grovelands, Sidcup and Albany Park in the process, which soaks up five buses despite the pitiful 30 minute frequency, which reduces to hourly during the evenings. On Sunday it only runs between 0940 and 1745, making the B14 a rather irrelevant change and it was certainly at the bottom of my priority list. Go-Ahead London formerly ran the route from Bexleyheath (BX) garage, with a dedicated batch of 8.9m E200s and a solitary Scania Esteem which occasionally ran the service. Reliability wasn't too much of an issue, although the frequency means the B14 isn't particularly difficult to operate despite its length.

Stagecoach London 37504 is seen at Queen Mary's Hospital, heading towards Bexleyheath

Predictably, Stagecoach ordered a small batch of ADL Enviro 200 MMCs for the B14 and these buses are based at Bromley (TB) garage, forming a common user pool with vehicles of the same type allocated to the 146 and 336. Even though the allocation was fairly strict to begin with, the two batches now intermix on a daily basis and there isn't much difference between them, having sampled both. Despite a few initial hiccups and curtailments, reliability has been decent despite drivers commenting on the tight schedule used on the service and overall it seems that the B14 is in safe hands for the next few years, with some slightly less worn out buses for the local residents to enjoy.

Go-Ahead London 613 is seen at Lewisham Station, representing the former alloaction of route 181.

Saturday 17th March 2018 marked the loss of three routes from Orpington (MB) garage, with Stagecoach picking up the 161, 181 and 284 from Go-Ahead. The last two are single deck services, both starting at Lewisham and terminating in the vicinity of Grove Park, so it's quite fitting that they stayed together for the new contract. The 181 is more indirect than the 284, running through Hither Green, Catford, Lower Sydenham and Downham before terminating at Grove Park Station, whilst the 284 takes a different route via Ladywell, Catford and Verdant Lane to reach the aforementioned station, before continuing to serve housing near Grove Park Cemetery. Funnily enough, the two routes both run along Sandhurst Road in the middle of their journey, although Lewisham-bound 284s actually share stops with the Grove Park 181s, with the same applying for the other direction. Orpington (MB) garage weren't praised for their reliability when controlling these two single deck services, with both of them running through congested areas and at rush hour the service quality almost always deteriorated on both of these routes - enthusiasts were hopeful that Stagecoach could tackle this more effectively. In regards to the previous allocation, the 181 was much more interesting, having the last batch of Scania OmniTown vehicles in London and whilst a few worked the R9 after the contract change, unfortunately the type is now extinct in the capital. The 284 had much less interesting 13-plate ADL E200s, which you will see redeployed elsewhere later in the post.

Stagecoach London 36676 is seen at Grove Park Cemetery on route 284.

Due to space constraints, in order to house the new buses for routes 181/284, Stagecoach opened a brand new garage in the Lower Sydenham area, with the garage code KB, standing for Kangley Bridge Road. Another single deck service, the 356, is also based here and a couple of mini E200s that are allocated to the route have appeared on the 181/284 since the contract changeover. Some brand new ADL Enviro 200 MMCs were ordered for the two routes, with slightly longer versions for the 181, although both batches are dual door (YY67 are the 284's, SN67 are the 181's). The buses themselves are decent, containing the expected stop-start technology, but also a new mechanism which helps drivers prevent undertaking sharp gear changes upon pullaway, which the driver of 36676 praised when I rode the 284 back in April. However, if you still haven't sampled these routes with the new operator and have the intention of riding one from end-to-end, I would strongly suggest trying the 181 over the 284, as the latter route becomes extremely tedious despite its shorter length, with it being one of the most residential-heavy routes I've ever sampled.

Stagecoach London 36693 is seen at Lewisham on route 181.

Stagecoach certainly didn't have an easy start with the 181 and 284 - in addition to the usual congestion surrounding Catford Town Centre, two sets of roadworks along Sandhurst Road and near Grove Park Cemetery (only affecting the 284) caused some lengthy diversions and horrendous traffic during rush hour, with both routes crumbling in the evening peak. Sometimes I witnessed gaps of over 60 minutes and curtailments being issued for almost every other vehicle ; the service was actually worse than the inadequate provision by Metrobus. However, since the completion of the works, reliability has improved significantly and despite a few natural issues during the peak, both the 181 and 284 have shown some promising improvement and a generally reliable service recently. Hopefully, the dreadful start can be set aside and I wish Stagecoach the best of luck with trying to operate these two challenging single deck routes.

Metrobus 741 is seen at Crossharbour Asda on route D6.

 Whilst the 181 change saw the withdrawal of its former allocation, the ex-284 buses were only five years old and were deemed acceptable to continue service in London. Despite initial expectations that these buses would work the 225, quite a few turned up at Silvertown (SI) garage and work routes 276 and D6 which operate North of the River Thames. This means that there are now even more buses carrying Metrobus logos in the Docklands area (the D8 Scania OmniCity vehicles are another example), despite this subsidiary of Go-Ahead being based several miles away around Croydon and Orpington. Enthusiasts are still unsure whether this transfer is permanent, or whether they will end up on the 225 after all, although it does at least bring some variety to the Docklands services in the form of a different moquette.

Go-Ahead London SE109 is seen at Hither Green on route 225, which does not actually serve East Greenwich.

In addition to the routes passing to Stagecoach, route 225 was retained by Go-Ahead on Saturday 17th March 2018, with some more modern existing vehicles destined to replace the Dart Pointer buses (illustrated below) which previously worked the service. These are in the form of ADL E200s, which have been displaced from Silvertown (SI) garage since the arrival of the ex-Metrobus kit there. The justification for not simply sending the former 284 buses straight to the 225 is anyone's guess. In addition to the introduction of the 61-plate vehicles, the 225 also transferred from New Cross (NX) garage to Morden Wharf (MG), meaning that the buses can intermix with those allocated to the 286 once again.

Eight 61-reg SE-class E200s have transferred South of the Thames, which is slightly more than necessary to cover the reduced PVR of the 225 - due to its increasingly concerning reliability TFL decided to cut the frequency to every 20 minutes, which I find quite absurd given the number of densely populated areas it serves alone (particularly around Surrey Quays and New Cross) and its subsequent overcrowding prior to the reduction. As a result, almost every bus I saw when I sampled the service was rammed and the speedy nature of the E200s is necessary for drivers to remain on time after tackling congestion. However, whilst the 225 might seem as if its declining rapidly, the future is somewhat hopeful as there has been a recent announcement that the route will be extended to Bellingham Station, which is quite surprising given TFL's current financial status. Instead of running from Canada Water-Hither Green, the route will continue towards Sandhurst Road to serve the area of Whitefoot, which has a number of streets that have no easy access to a bus stop, including the somewhat major Bellingham Road which the 225 will serve in the future. Contrary to the ambiguous notice on twitter stating that the route would terminate at "Catford Bus Station", which doesn't exist and makes it seem like the 225 would terminate at the Stagecoach garage, the route will actually stand next to Bellingham Station, served by Thameslink, which doesn't currently have a bus service outside, so this is another bonus. Personally, I think the extension will be very popular and perhaps TFL will have no choice but to remove the frankly inadequate 3 buses per hour which struggle to cope with the loads on the ever-growing route 225.

Metrobus 976 is seen at North Greenwich on route 161.

The final change that occurred on Saturday 17th March 2018 which we're covering was the loss of route 161 to Stagecoach. Under Go-Ahead operation, the 161 ran with a mixture of vehicles, ranging from the older Wrightbus Gemini B7TLs, to the Scania OmniCity and Olympus buses as well as more modern ADL Enviro 400s. This route was easily the most significant example at Orpington (MB) garage and as a result only two double deck routes remain there, which are the 320 and 353. The 161 runs from North Greenwich to Chislehurst War Memorial and is fairly busy throughout, travelling via Charlton, Woolwich, Eltham and Mottingham with a 10 minute frequency during the day. Although the route is quite challenging to operate at times, Go-Ahead were quite good at maintaining a decent service despite the occasional hiccup and appearance of single deckers on the route, which has thankfully stopped since the new contract. The sheer variety found under the old contract will certainly be missed, although the more convenient location of Plumstead (PD) garage will certainly be advantageous for Stagecoach.

Stagecoach London 12439 is seen at Chislehurst on route 161.

As you might have guessed, Stagecoach ordered some brand new MMCs for the 161, which fits in quite nicely with the existing examples at Plumstead (PD) garage. Some regular E400s and a solitary Gemini 3 B5LH have appeared on the 161 since the contract changeover, although typically when I went out to sample the route only its allocation could be found. Nevertheless, the batch of E40H MMCs are lovely and tackle the steep hills found at the start of the route with ease - a stark contrast from the clapped out Scania vehicles which really struggled at times. For the first few weeks, Stagecoach struggled to operate the 161 reliably, with many curtailments and some concerning gaps, although as the operator is already familiar with where the route travels through it seems like this period of instability is temporary and hopefully with the strong fleet of double deck vehicles the next five or seven years will be successful for Stagecoach, who have gained lots of work recently in this part of South-East London.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!