Stagecoach Hybrids - The Smart Choice?

During the past three months Stagecoach have inherited a substantial batch of smart hybrid double deckers, although at the start of May, when they were meant to start work, these new buses were nowhere to be seen. On paper, most would be going to West Ham (WH) garage and a small number would end up at Barking (BK), although in reality an almost 50/50 split has occurred, with the other half ending up at Catford (TL) garage instead of Barking.

The 169 is still using its branded Enviro 400s for now.

Route 169 runs from Barking to Clayhall (via Ilford, Newbury Park and Barkingside), with the six mile journey soaking up fourteen buses in peak periods. During the day buses run up to every 10 minutes, although this reduces to quarter-hourly on Sundays and three buses per hour in the evening. Stagecoach London managed to retain the route from Barking (BK) garage upon tender, although the allocated batch of branded Enviro 400s would not be staying with it, being destined for the 247 in Romford. There were always going to be some complications with the contract renewal of the 169 though - unlike the other three Stagecoach services in this tranche, this route does not operate from West Ham (WH) garage. Given the new technology associated with the large batch of smart hybrids ordered for the 169, 241, 330 and 474, it would logistically make much more sense to keep the pool of buses together, so even though the 169 contract was ordered with the intention of introducing brand new double deckers, in reality most enthusiasts were sceptical this would be the case. Now that half of the smart hybrids have ended up in South London, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the future allocation of the 169, but it could well be existing Enviro 400s (currently found on the 136 and 199) not dissimilar to the ones already running the route, except without the splashes of green. Some of the current batch have had their branding removed already, whilst the much older Trident ALX400s continue to make regular appearances. Eventually, there might be some change in the regular diet of the 169, but at the moment the route looks exactly the same and unless Stagecoach change their mind again, it looks like there won't be new buses anytime soon.

The 241 still uses Tridents for now.

Now that the anomalous 169 is out of the way, we can swiftly move onto the three routes at West Ham (WH) garage, with the first being the 241. At present, this runs from Canning Town to Stratford City, passing through Keir Hardie Estate, Custom House/Prince Regent and Plaistow in the process, with the peak vehicle requirement for 10 Trident ALX400s supporting the 10 minute frequency from Monday to Saturday. This is halved to every 20 minutes on Sundays and during the evening - the route is only five miles long. The contract specified that this service would be receiving brand new smart hybrid ADL Enviro400 MMCs to replace the rather elderly Trident ALX400s which have solidly worked the route for years and at the time, in conjunction with the introduction of the Elizabeth Line, a major restructuring was proposed. It would be withdrawn between Canning Town and Prince Regent, but extended to Here East from the Stratford City end, although after the consultation results were published the latter part of the proposal seems to have been cancelled, making the route even shorter than at present. Additionally, even though the route does run from West Ham (WH) garage, its allocation of new buses, along with the 169 batch, have been diverted to Catford (TL) garage in order to operate the 136 and 199 services which traverse "green bus corridors" in Lewisham. It is expected that in return the 169 and 241 will receive their existing ADL Enviro 400s to compensate, although with the latter route the appearance of smart hybrids is still theoretically possible, just from the 330 and 474 batches instead. In summary, the 241 has taken a bit of a battering in recent times, with the route cut back and being violated of its new buses. Due to the slow introduction of the smart hybrids at Catford (TL) garage, the old ALX400s are still around, which is at least a good thing for enthusiasts hunting down the type before its extinction.

11001 pictured above is technically a 169 bus.

For some reason the smart hybrids were delivered out of sequence, which means that the higher numbered buses are on the 330 and 474, despite entering service first. Two of the lowest numbered vehicles, 11001 and 11006, have actually hit the road at Catford (TL) garage, although the rest should follow shortly. What makes these different from the conventional E40H hybrids offered by ADL is that the engine sounds just like an integral diesel Enviro 400, except that it's been fitted with a super capacitor. My hopeless knowledge of Physics means I can't explain how this makes the bus cleaner at all, but the prominent whining noise when the bus is braking is presumably these capacitors working their magic. These vehicles also have stop-start technology, where the engine is turned off whilst the vehicle is stationary, but other than that they're essentially just standard E40Ds with a few layers of high-pitched "whee" sounds. They're meant to be just as effective as conventional hybrids though, and a whole lot cheaper, which is why they've been chosen to work the Catford (TL) routes which travel along green corridors. However, the allocation system is very flexible at this base, with the first one entering service on the 47 - whilst they have worked the 136 and 199 the most, I ended up sampling my first smart hybrid on the 54. Interestingly, there have been mixed reviews from the enthusiast community regarding the performance of these MMCs, with some contrasting experiences of their ability to tackle hills, although I found that my bus (11001) was competent. It reached some decent speeds through Blackheath and had no trouble at all with the steep inclines of Charlton and their repeated use on the challenging route 54 shows to me that they're clearly just as capable as the E40Hs. The air cooling system works very effectively and I really enjoyed the relaxing journey I took from Woolwich to Lewisham and look forward to my next opportunity to ride one.

These buses were the normal allocation of the 330 only a few weeks ago

Numerically, the 330 is the first out of the two West Ham (WH) routes to actually use smart hybrids after all the fleet movements. It is one of London's shortest bus routes, being four miles in length, running from Canning Town to Wanstead Park (for Forest Gate) via Upton Park. It serves the very busy shopping district of Green Street and is one of the most densely used routes in London, with buses often being packed out despite the short length. There is, however, a modest extension planned for the 330, which will be implemented in December 2018, which means its new Southern terminus will be in Pontoon Dock, at the end of North Woolwich Road. This is basically in the middle of nowhere and going one stop further to London City Airport would be nice for onward connections, but TfL will do anything to prevent the new PVR from reaching any higher. You'll find out why this change and the 241 curtailment is actually happening in the 474 section, where all should become clear.

A peak vehicle requirement for 8 vehicles satisfy the 12 minute frequency which applies from Monday-Saturday, although this drops to 3 buses per hour on Sundays and during the evening. Like the 241, its former allocation of Trident ALX400s had been the mainstay of the route for many years, with strays generally being few and far between, but even since the introduction of the smart hybrids a couple still venture out onto the route occasionally, usually coming from the 241. The route managed to convert pretty quickly and the two batches of smart MMCs frequently intermix. A lot of enthusiasts have said that the 330 is a very appropriate service for using the smart hybrids, given that most of the time is spent stuck in traffic and theoretically the diesel engine should barely be used, whilst the 474 should be much more fast-paced. After initial teething problems are addressed it'll be interesting to see how these buses perform in comparison to conventional hybrids and whether more will be ordered in the future by the company, especially for slow-moving routes like the 330 where hybrid technology is particularly effective.

One of the quirkier types under the old contract, a Scania Olympus.

Unlike the other three routes which were straight retains, Stagecoach London actually gained the 474 from Go-Ahead London, making it a contract change. Yes, shock horror, West Ham (WH) garage actually won a route as opposed to their relentless stream of losses over the years... The 474 runs between Canning Town and Manor Park, serving Silvertown, London City Airport, North Woolwich, Beckton and East Ham en route and is comfortably in my top 10 favourite TfL bus services, purely because the views offered and communities served are incomparable to any other bus route. Riding the 474 between Cyprus and Canning Town is always a treat and I would definitely recommend trying it before December, when they send it away from the fast section in Silvertown. Instead, between London City Airport and Canning Town, it will run via Connaught Bridge, Custom House (for Crossrail) and Keir Hardie Estate, with the purpose for this being to provide a link to the Elizabeth Line from the airport. As the 474 will serve Keir Hardie, the 241 is being removed to avoid duplication, whilst the 330 extension provides Silvertown with a bus service, even if most of the long-standing links Eastbound are disposed of. I have mixed reviews regarding the new routeing - although I'm gutted about the route no longer going through the desolate area of Pontoon Dock, it does mean the 474 will cross the Connaught Bridge too, which offers even more beautiful views than Bascule, whilst Keir Hardie is quite fun for a housing estate because of how narrow it is. At present, a peak vehicle requirement for 14 vehicles is sufficient to operate a 12 minute frequency from Monday-Saturday, although this drops to 4 buses per hour on Sundays and during the evening. Its new routeing is slightly longer and theoretically should require an extra bus, but TfL will probably just cut the frequency instead. At the moment though, the 474 is only five miles long and runs 24/7.

Gemini 2s were the most common type under Go-Ahead London

Despite running wholly in East London the 474 has never been operated by Stagecoach until now, who have dominated the area for many years. Blue Triangle ran the route since its creation and although they were absorbed into Go-Ahead London a few years ago, this transfer to a completely different company was a big deal. Although the service wasn't perfectly reliable, I did really like the former operator, purely because of the variety of bus types used on the service. For the past seven years, the bulk of the allocation consisted of Wrightbus Gemini 2 B9TL vehicles, but all sorts of oddities appeared alongside them, including the Volvo MCV demonstrator VM1, the last centre staircase Plaxton Presidents in London, some B7TL Geminis which I've had floored to bits on the 474, as well as my favourite type in London, the Scania Olympus. I completed my first end-to-end journey on this last model and perhaps unsurprisingly it contributed to the very high rating awarded. I was, however, secretly hoping that Stagecoach London would win the route, based on the assumption that they would order E400 MMCs and they are my favourite modern double deckers at the moment. My wish was granted and whilst I will miss the eclectic mix offered by Go-Ahead, the reliability did need some sorting. However, this change was far from a smooth introduction, as the smart hybrids turned up two months late and unlike the other retentions, simply continuing with the current allocation wasn't an option.

These existing E400s still work the service occasionally.

Sourcing buses from the existing fleet wasn't too much of a problem, given that many Stagecoach garages have spare Trident ALX400s which aren't necessarily allocated to a specific route. However, using these rather old buses on the newly acquired 474 wouldn't look particularly impressive, so instead most of the ALX400s were used on other West Ham (WH) garage routes like the 158, 241 and 330 to begin with. Apart from one which managed to sneak out early in the morning, on Saturday 5th May 2018, the first day of the new contract, the route was fully worked by 11/12-reg ADL Enviro 400s. This was slightly disappointing - whilst only being an interim measure these voith gearbox buses are hardly renowned for their ability to reach high speeds. My point was proven two weeks later, where I decided to sample the service under Stagecoach and had my worst 474 journey to date - there was far too much regulation for my liking, along with a bus which crawled through the fast section in Silvertown. It also rattled and squeaked so much I had a headache upon arrival into Beckton Bus Station, so I couldn't even appreciate the views properly. Thankfully, these buses don't work the 474 much anymore as I would've been pretty hacked off having to see these through a full contract term. Whilst appearances of Trident ALX400s were infrequent at first, within a couple of weeks it became quite common for them to appear regularly, which excited many enthusiasts.

A quick trip to East London in the evening peak was necessary to grab a shot of these.

Even though I have rotten luck with this type of bus, apparently they can be really fast and some people were lucky enough to have them thrashed through Silvertown. The main reason I was glad about their emergence though is that they will always be the flagship type of bus for Stagecoach, so seeing them on the route really emphasised the introduction of the new operator - a warm welcome, if you like. Once the smart hybrids arrived the Tridents vanished completely, but it was nice having them for a couple of months at least. In terms of service, bar the first day which inevitably had its ups and downs, the route seems to be pretty reliable. The only weakness I've identified is that when East London grinds to a halt (the accident-prone A13 and M25 mean this is often the case), the 474 falls apart much more easily than under Go-Ahead, with the new operator being seemingly reluctant to dish out curtailments, although I'm sure simply a little practise will have this resolved in no time. Interestingly, in addition to the major re-routing which will be implemented in December, a smaller amendment was introduced under the new contract, which involves Eastbound buses using a side street (Store Road) to access the North Woolwich Ferry, rather than undertaking a double run. This avoids the traffic queues and therefore saves time, which is a thumbs up from me. The first smart hybrids were spotted towards the end of June and debuted on the 474 in late July, although they did venture onto the 330 only a couple of days after.

Notice any difference?

As they're part of the same batch as those now working Catford (TL) routes, performance-wise there shouldn't be much difference at all to the one I sampled, although six buses at West Ham garage (11033-11038) have even more technology to show off. Due to the increasing unreliability of bus blinds, which TfL still insist on using, these vehicles are part of a trial which involves the use of LED displays instead. However, they're much more advanced than the dot matrix examples typically found out of London, in the sense that they can almost replicate the traditional Johnston font and are fitted with sensors that adjust according to light levels, which means they are easier to see in sunny weather but are also crystal clear at night. They can also easily adapt to the space available, so the size of the number depends on the length of the destination.  From photos, I initially thought that they looked disgusting, although after seeing them running around in real life I'm beginning to really like their appearance and ability to emphasise the route number, if possible. As swanky as they are however, these LEDs are very expensive, so it'll be fascinating to see if TfL are willing to put up with the higher costs for the promised improvement in reliability. For selfish reasons I really hope they're not implemented en masse - due to the extremely high refresh rate photographing them is no easy task, especially on a phone where the shutter speed can't be adjusted easily without the use of a third-party app and for this to be effective, you usually end up spending money. After taking around 700 photos of the 474 above at Canning Town, not a single one portrayed the entire display correctly and I ended up having to cheat in order to produce a clear shot. Luckily, I had a picture where the top half alone was displayed and another where only the bottom half was shown, so after sticking the two together on preview my picture doesn't look so bad. These LEDs are still time-consuming though and if the trial is successful that's some of my expenses down the drain - you never know, I might persuade myself to purchase a proper camera and all the benefits that come with it...

Thanks for reading and stay safe!