Go-Away, North London Edition

At the beginning of June 2018, three routes in North London changed operators, with two of them passing to Metroline and even though the other is now at Sullivan Buses, the allocation actually consists of an ex-Metroline bus. These three services used to run from Northumberland Park (NP) garage under Go-Ahead London operation. All of these routes are found towards the edge of the Greater London boundary, which meant that chasing them required a lot of effort, especially as the fast Greater Anglia service from Waltham Cross to Liverpool Street wasn't running when I went up there!

Sorry for the inadequate picture - my coverage of the "before" aspect of these routes is quite poor in this post unfortunately.

Route 491 runs between North Middlesex Hospital and Waltham Cross, travelling through Edmonton Green, Galliard Estate, Ponders End, Brimsdown, Enfield Island Village and the Innova Business Park in the process. It is a very busy route for a single deck service, linking many important town centres and settlements to the shops. Go-Ahead London previously operated the service from Northumberland Park (NP) garage, using Wrightbus Streetlites for their five year stint. Occasionally, however, Enviro 200s allocated to other services did appear. The route ran at a 15-minute frequency under the old contract and the service was hit and miss, with some convincing performance levels but this was not maintained at a consistent rate. However, an increasingly skint Transport for London decided that for the new contract, the frequency would be reduced to every 20 minutes and this has occurred despite initial hostility from various residents along the route. The result, proven by my visit on a Saturday afternoon, is buses leaving key locations absolutely rammed, suggesting that this particular frequency cut was a step too far. At weekend evenings, the route runs every 30 minutes. The 491's new peak vehicle requirement is for 9 buses, which complement a journey time of around 60 minutes on average. Generally speaking, there were mixed feelings about the loss of the route, with it contributing to a substantial blow to Northumberland Park (NP) garage who haven't been very lucky with tenders recently, although in my eyes despite the frequency reduction the route is seeing an improvement, as I found the Wrightbus Streetlites found under the old allocation horrid and unbearable in hot weather.

Metroline Travel DE1332 is seen near Silver Street on route 491.

Saturday 2nd June 2018 saw Metroline take over route 491, with the first bus departing at 0610 from Waltham Cross. The new allocation, on paper, consists of 10.2m ADL Enviro 200 vehicles transferred from King's Cross (KC) garage, although delays in the electric and double deck conversions of routes 46 and 274 respectively has resulted in those routes being unable to donate its buses fast enough for the 491. Even though a couple of these 12-reg vehicles have transferred over to Potters Bar (PB) garage, slightly shorter DEM-class E200s native to the garage are being used on the 491 to make up the numbers, reducing capacity even further! As usual, on the first day operation wasn't brilliant, with some concerning gaps in the service as well as a few drivers becoming lost on the route and one even ending up inside Arriva's Enfield (E) garage in an attempt to correct a wrong turn. Since then, operation has improved and Metroline seem to be handling the slightly more difficult operating conditions well. Whilst during the heat these ex-KC Enviro 200s are significantly cooler than their predecessors (which are actually slightly younger than what's used on the new contract), some enthusiasts have been disappointed by their performance, with the buses being rather sluggish and inferior to both the previous Streetltes and the shorter examples on the route, something which is necessary for the fast section of route 491 between Waltham Cross and Enfield Lock. Whilst I have had some 11-reg Enviro 200s at King's Cross (KC) garage floored to bits on the 46, the examples on the 491 are unfortunately nowhere near as good. However, perhaps this is the best decision as the other route these DEs are earmarked for (the 95) spends over 70% of its time on a dual carriageway. Overall though, despite the capacity drop and slower buses, the 491 change has been a success and will certainly make the route more tolerable for the next time I use it.

Sullivan Buses SL98 is seen in Elsinge Estate on route 327.

One week later, route 327 was also lost from Northumberland Park (NP) garage, but to Sullivan Buses instead of following the 491. This was an interesting decision because under the old contract, the 327 was actually directly crosslinked to the 491, with the former route not actually having a specific bus allocated to it. Instead, every 30 minutes, a Wrightbus Streetlite from route 491 would change its blind at Waltham Cross and complete the circular tour of the 327, before becoming a 491 again. This was possible because the 327, which is no more than a shuttle between Waltham Cross and the Elsinge Estate, takes only 20 minutes from end-to-end and its low usage does not warrant a high frequency. However, under the new contract, where sharing at Waltham Cross is no longer achievable, a solitary bus does the rounds on the 327 all day, usually in the form of an ex-Metroline Wrightbus Streetlite demonstrator, SL98, which has actually been fitted with a timetable for route 327 on the cab door, although occasionally an Enviro200 will be sent out instead. This means that the bus type has pretty much remained the same under the old and new contract, although on Go-Ahead's last day a short E200 was used lacking blinds for the route.

The frequency of the 327 has also been reduced to every 40 minutes and the route has been given a ridiculous amount of running time, with this duty possibly being one of the easiest in London for drivers. The evening service has also been withdrawn completely, which means the 327 is now even more unpopular than it was before - despite the expectation that a shopping hours service would be busy on a Saturday afternoon, my bus had no more than three people on board at any one time. If it wasn't for the fact that parts of the Elsinge Estate are isolated from more major routes, I suspect the 327 would be withdrawn completely. However, the quiet nature of this service is perfect for the independent operator Sullivan Buses, who can add this modest route to their ever-growing collection of TFL routes at South Mimms (SM) garage.

Go-Ahead London E67 is seen on route 231.

Saturday 9th June 2018 saw both the 231 and 327 leave Go-Ahead London and their Northumberland Park (NP) garage, with the former more substantial service going to Metroline. The 231 runs between Turnpike Lane Station and Enfield Chase, running alongside the 217 on the Great Cambridge Road corridor until Southbury, where this route turns left and serves Enfield Town Centre. This route runs at a 15-minute frequency, with a peak vehicle requirement of seven buses satisfying the rather short journey time of roughly 35 minutes end-to-end. Route 231 is fairly well patronised, with some buses becoming pretty busy upon departure from Turnpike Lane, but also some quieter trips especially if buses sit right behind a 217 (which the 231 follows for most of its journey), which is unfortunately often the case. Under the old contract, Go-Ahead London used a variety of buses on the 231, although the main allocation was ADL Enviro400 EN-class vehicles, with the last letter showing that they were originally First London buses. However, Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL buses were used regularly, along with some native Enviro400s like the example above, with some even having the traditional grey skirt shown on older Go-Ahead vehicles. The operation was pretty decent most of the time, although the 231 is not a particularly challenging route to get to grips with as long as traffic conditions remain relatively stable.

Metroline TE1441 is seen at Turnpike Lane Bus Station.

Interestingly, the tender document for route 231 specified existing Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles would be used under the new contract, which excited many enthusiasts. However, introducing a brand new type to Potters Bar (PB) garage and the subsequent training involved wasn't seen as viable by Metroline, who instead use ADL Enviro400 vehicles on the route, a type very familiar to the depot. In general, the newer 62/13-reg TEs have taken a preference to the 231, although there have been a few appearances of older examples which usually favour the Central London 134 service. No hybrid Gemini 3s have been used on the service as of yet.  Apart from the first day, where a few service hiccups were noticeable, Metroline have settled in really well, with the 231 running almost perfectly when I witnessed the route yesterday. In conclusion, the 231 change has also been successful and it seems that all three routes have found a home where they are cared for. Hopefully, Go-Ahead will be able to find some success in the next set of tendering results, where a couple of their routes should be announced.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!