Go Away, Norwood Edition

In recent times Go-Ahead London haven't been particularly successful with tendering results in the South London area, losing three services within the Norwood and Herne Hill area to other operators, with all of the routes being quite substantial. The first two changes took place on Saturday 30th March 2018, involving routes 68 and 468.

Go-Ahead London PVL151 is seen on route 68 operating a short working

Despite being one of the most prolific services in London, the 68 change was rather unappealing for enthusiasts given that it was keeping the exact same batch of buses, those being the New Routemasters which in my opinion have completely ruined what was a good route. Before the conversion, Go-Ahead London treated the service just like any of the others at Camberwell (Q) garage, which meant that a wide variety of bus types appeared, including the Volvo President pictured above. Whilst conventional buses did appear occasionally in more recent times, on most occasions passengers would be lumbered with the LTs which lack character and have a habit of making bus trips miserable, so even when the service was lost to Abellio my only feeling was disappointment that I'd be missing out on what would've been a new batch of MMCs without the vanity project. Due to the necessity to transfer the existing batch of NRMs to Walworth (WL) garage in preparation for the new contract, the last few trips on the 68 were actually worked by conventional MCV EvoSeti buses, marking a somewhat appropriate end with Go-Ahead London. The route itself runs between Euston and West Norwood, via Holborn, Camberwell and Herne Hill, which makes it pretty similar to the plethora of routes that Walworth (WL) garage ran before the assumption of the 68.

Abellio London LT702 is seen at Aldwych on route 68

Apart from the introduction of Abellio London logos on the exterior bodywork, the buses are exactly the same as they were with Go-Ahead and since the new contract only one conventional bus, an ADL E40H MMC, has been used on the 68. These LTs do mingle with the batch allocated to the 3, but other than that there is nothing really interesting to report. Reliability has been decent so far, although this is to be expected given that the garage already operate a number of routes as challenging as the 68. Along with the daytime service, this garage also took up operation of the night service, which starts at Tottenham Court Road instead of Euston and continues beyond Norwood to serve Croydon, Purley and eventually Old Coulsdon, which is quite close to the edge of the Greater London boundary. However, the allocation for this service consists of ADL E40H MMCs currently allocated to the 45 and 196, presumably because the longer LTs are not appropriate for some of the tighter roads this route serves. In conclusion, whilst the 68 change could've been one of the biggest ones in 2018, due to its allocation remaining the same it seems pretty irrelevant compared to what else we're covering in this point, despite the other two routes barely skimming the edge of zone 1.

Go-Ahead London WVL262 is seen in Camberwell on route 468.

Route 468 was also based at Camberwell (Q) garage under the old contract and the changes on Saturday 31st March have actually resulted in the entire 68-group splitting up - whilst all three routes were originally under the same roof, the X68 has remained at Go-Ahead, the 468 is now with Arriva whilst Abellio run the 68. The 468 runs between Elephant & Castle and South Croydon, following the 68 through Camberwell, Herne Hill and Norwood, but after this point the 468 continues to go via Beulah Spa, Thornton Heath and Croydon Town Centre before terminating a few minutes further down at the Swan & Sugar Loaf. This route takes an incredibly long time from end-to-end, but this was no challenge for Go-Ahead London, who operated the route superbly considering the potential problems on route. There wasn't really a fixed allocation for this service, with anything from the latest E40H MMCs to older Wrightbus B7TL Geminis turning up even until the very last day, where many enthusiasts were disappointed to see some types disappearing from the route altogether, although there was a sense of excitement regarding Arriva London taking up the service from Norwood (N) garage.

Arriva London HV302 is seen in Croydon Town Centre on route 468.

Although people began to speculate whether the route would stand at South Croydon Bus Garage as it is operated by Arriva, the route still remains at South End for the time being. The demand for new vehicles on this contract produced a rather large batch of Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles being delivered for the 468, although this type was already familiar at Norwood (N) as there are slightly older examples allocated to the 2 - both routes now effectively share a common user pool between the batches of Gemini 3s. These buses have been praised by enthusiasts for their ability to tackle the steep hills on route 468 and they have been very dedicated to the service, with no appearance of any other types since the new contract, a stark contrast from the variety provided by Go-Ahead. The service has been good too - apart from a couple of natural slips on the first day there has hardly been any difference to that provided by Go-Ahead and it seems that despite this route being one of the biggest offered to a new operator this year, it's also been a very smooth transition. Hopefully Arriva can maintain this for the next few years and I wish them the best in doing so.

Go-Ahead London E14 is seen at Elephant & Castle on route 196.

On Saturday 5th May 2018, the 196 was also lost from Go-Ahead London, almost completely removing the company from the West Norwood-Herne Hill stopping service corridor, where they used to run all four routes, whilst the remaining service (the 322) is hardly an attractive option with its low frequency and short single deckers.The 196 was run from Stockwell (SW) garage with a batch of Trident Enviro 400s, coincidentally the first lot ordered by Go-Ahead. Appearances of other types like Wrightbus Gemini B7TLs were not uncommon, although the E400s have been the backbone of the service for many years. Whilst Norwood Junction and Elephant & Castle many not seem particularly far apart, the 196 still manages to take 80 minutes from end-to-end off-peak, as it travels through Tulse Hill, Herne Hill, Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall in the process, which is certainly not the most direct route, weaving between four North-South corridors instead of sticking to one. The service under the old contract certainly wasn't perfect, but Go-Ahead were still liked by enthusiasts because of the allocation and it was quite fitting that E1, the first ever Go-Ahead London E400, was the last 196 to operate under the old company. Over the last few days, some of the 196 buses emerged in the Go-Ahead commercial livery whilst operating the route to reflect their future destination, which basically involves a bit more grey and some gold lettering, which was a nice touch to end a pretty successful contract. Even though the 196 passes two garages on route (Stockwell and Norwood), the route was actually picked up by Abellio from Walworth (WL) garage, which is around 15 minutes away from the terminus.

Abellio London 2605 is seen at Norwood Junction on route 196.

Predictably, Abellio ordered a modest batch of ADL E40H MMCs for the service and these buses now work alongside the slightly older examples on the 45, although no other types have appeared on the 196 yet. On the first day the service wasn't brilliant, with many large gaps and a number of curtailments, but since then the route has been performing quite well and when I went and sampled the route there were almost perfect headways. As a route I find the 196 really interesting and I would definitely recommend it to you if inner South London is somewhere you'd like to explore as it takes you through so many contrasting aspects of it. These MMCs are also very fast and if you're lucky the driver will floor the bus for the entire journey which is what happened to me - the 18-reg 196 examples seem far superior to the sluggish ones on the 45. It seems that despite a shaky start, the 196 is in safe hands for the future and perhaps people will eventually get used to the drastic reduction in Go-Ahead buses around Norwood and Herne Hill.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!