Random Observations - November 2018

You know the drill with these...

The number plate here contains the code for the operator Hallmark took over from. Coincidence?

Although the bus pictured above clearly isn't working a TfL service, this change has occurred in the London area. Hallmark Coaches, an operator in Surrey who recently took over a bunch of ex-Abellio routes, have decided to order some brand new vehicles to complement their recent successes. The previous allocation was arguably much more fascinating, with a mixture of Scania OmniCity SDs in addition to Wright Eclipses, with the latter type being impossible to find on the TfL network. The replacement Wrightbus Streetlites entered service in August and unfortunately you can't track them down on LVF, but now a good number should be out and about regardless. They contain a fairly generic interior and are short wheel forward variants, bringing a considerably decrease in the available capacity compared to the former long single deckers, although usually on non-TfL services this isn't a problem. The best place to ride one without having to travel too far or indeed pay a fare is around the Heathrow area on route 555 ; I would advise taking it between Terminal 4 and Central Bus Station or vice versa, as at Hatton Cross drivers are often reluctant to allow passengers on board with the plethora of TfL services also providing the link. I found this out the hard way.

Sadly this route is no longer with us...

London boasted a fairly extensive network of "900-series" mobility bus routes only a few years ago, but their viability has been questioned by TfL who have been gradually withdrawing them, meaning we are now down to just one. The latest victim was route 965, which would've passed years ago if it wasn't for protests from the residents - since then TfL have decided on a new policy to ignore most complaints by the looks of it. It was actually one of the most frequent mobility services available, providing a single return journey on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was even re-routed to serve more uncharted territory only a couple of years ago to replace a woefully infrequent non-TfL service around Surbiton. The bus used to leave Riverhill at around 10 in the morning and return to Kingston Sainsbury's around three hours later, serving Tolworth, Lovelace Gardens and Surbiton in the process. Interestingly, the Sainsbury's stand is now vacant at Kingston, whilst Riverhill residents face a 15-20 minute walk for their nearest bus service. This terminus was very odd, being an extremely quaint mobile home facility surrounded by beautiful woodlands and having an eerily peaceful atmosphere. Access to it was through a very narrow country lane which buses really struggled with, although from what I've heard locals really appreciated having this lifeline available to them. My journey was fairly busy into Kingston on one random Friday morning in August - during its existence the route ran from Tolworth (TV) garage with London United providing some sort of Enviro 200 for the duty, either from the K2 or K4 allocation. Whilst this route was certainly an enjoyable ride, I do prefer the 969 and I'm really glad that it holds the title of being London's last mobility service. However, with the recent consultation regarding the re-routing of the 110 around Whitton, I imagine the 969 is under threat too, so get over there pronto before it's too late...

Congrats to the passengers at the top for their fifteen minutes of fame.

The annual Notting Hill Carnival always throws up a load of unusual manoeuvres as a result of the extensive road closure around this area. A declining number of special suffixed "X" services run over the bank holiday weekend to ferry passengers to and from the event, although lots of changes also occur to the "normal" bus routes, which are either sent on hectic diversions, split into two or given frequency increases. An example of the latter is shown here, with the 328 having a bunch of additional buses allocated due to its proximity to the Notting Hill area. This also resulted in some rare workings, which Tower Transit like to avoid, such as the MCV EvoSeti on the 328. Ever since these buses joined Westbourne Park (X) garage, bar their trial runs on the 23 they have refused to venture away from their allocated 13 service, so seeing a load on other services was certainly something worth reporting about. During the carnival, approximately 50% of 328s ran between Harrow Road and Golders Green, essentially acting as a supplementary service, whilst the other half bravely soldiered on to Chelsea World's End, taking an extremely lengthy diversionary route around Shepherd's Bush, which for two days only did offer this area a much more direct link to Golders Green than what the 260 offers at present!

Messed this up completely because of the sun - I will return for a better picture some day!

 As the agonising process of fleet standardisation continues at an alarming rate, we're starting to see more and more eccentric types disappear under the radar, in such a short space of time too. For this paragraph, our focaliser is the Scania Olympus double deckers operated by Go-Ahead London, which were found at Barking (RR) garage for school services, in addition to Orpington (MB) garage for use on the 353. Although this type of bus was my favourite in London, from an engineer's perspective they were probably some of the most hated vehicles in the fleet, with maintenance being a nightmarish task. These buses were also fuel guzzlers, so their economic viability could also be questioned. Nonetheless, they offered variety on the bus scene and to see them replaced by, in comparison, fairly monotonous ADL Enviro 400s is a sad sight. For the 353, these are 07/08-reg Trident models sourced from various garages, including Camberwell (Q), whilst the buses have grown accustomed to the relaxed allocation policy at Metrobus fairly quickly. Realistically they probably only have a few years left in London service, with a more permanent solution being required for the 353, but for now they are definitely nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, a couple of these buses have received a rather abrupt and premature exit, including the vehicle pictured above, due to the horrific fire at Orpington garage on Thursday morning which destroyed 11 vehicles in total. Luckily, no injuries were sustained and due to the skill of the operator as well as the availability of newly transferred E400s, a full service was achieved just hours after the incident occurred.

Looks quite fresh for a teenage bus doesn't it!

One of the more bizarre recent innovations involves a Dart Pointer which was withdrawn from service prematurely a few years ago. Magtec have converted this bus to a completely electric vehicle and the project took just shy of three years. It re-entered service on Friday 17th August 2018 on route 312, where it runs alongside Optare MetroCity single deckers which also use electric technology. Riding this vehicle was a really odd experience, with the interior being a juxtaposition in itself - there's evidence of the brand new installations such as wires dangling across the ceiling, but the interior lighting is filthy! Having a pretty much silent bus with such rattly bodywork in addition to doors which almost slam shut was almost hilariously oxymoronic, but it's great to see these old gems having an opportunity to last just that little bit longer. Unfortunately, after a promising first week or so, appearances started to become erratic and its most recent history includes a twenty-five day break, three days on the road, fifteen days off, four days on the road and now almost another month has elapsed since this vehicle was last seen in service. Hopefully, these teething problems aren't to the detriment of the bus's future as I was really looking forward to perhaps seeing more of these around, but at the end of the day it is new technology so we shouldn't expect too much!

Even more electricity...

Electric bus trials have become increasingly common as of late, but they're always more interesting when entering service with a company that doesn't already have any buses of this type, as it introduces electric vehicles to a route for the first time. Recently, the 23 was graced with the technology for a trial lasting roughly 50 days, which saw an Optare Metrodecker EV operate from Westbourne Park (X) garage. This vehicle had seen service in London before, albeit under Go-Ahead London on route 36. Its appearances were pretty consistent, with no particularly long periods of absence, perhaps suggesting that the recent order of this type by Metroline for the 134 was a wise move after all. The bus was pretty unique, having an unusually curved bodywork as well as a kidney-shaped window at the rear, which is something I've never seen before. Its interior was welcoming with a red and orange colour scheme, whilst the sounds produced were not dissimilar to that of the MetroCity single decker. Overall, this electric double decker seemed much more refined than the BYD equivalents ploughing up and down the 98 and I certainly look forward to seeing more than one of these things in action.

Looks just like the allocation, no?

Another type which has been demonstrated a lot is the Wrightbus Streetdeck "micro-hybrid", with one of these trial buses pictured above. It runs alongside fellow Wrightbus hybrids which make up the allocation, although they are Volvo B5LHs as opposed to an integral product. Unusually, this demonstrator has turned up in full London United livery, suggesting that it'll be staying for a while. It is based at Park Royal (RP) garage and works route 18, although does seem to enjoy taking long holidays away from service. Based on my brief ride on this vehicle, it did seem much more sprightly compared to the examples currently on the 44, essentially sounding like a speedy Wrightbus Streetlite, except with much higher-pitched whines to make the engine just a tad more annoying. My driver was really going for it though and it'll be interesting to see if this trial is deemed a success and whether RATP decide to order the type en masse. There's a similar vehicle to this at Norwood (N) garage working Arriva London routes there, but unfortunately it seems to have taken a liking to the school 690 service as of late.

New and classic Routemasters side by side at Hampstead Heath.

On Friday 9th November 2018, Metroline very kindly decided to operate a free service on route 24 with their own RML903, an AEC Routemaster, with donations instead of fares to raise money for the poppy appeal. It ran alongside the regular service for pretty much the whole day and was extremely popular with enthusiasts and ordinary passengers alike, with both frequently taking photos of this unordinary event. I took a brief ride from Hampstead Heath to Camden Town and, as ever, the enthusiasm from the members of crew on board was exceptional, offering a truly world-class service which the regular bus routes can only dream of achieving. On Friday 16th November, the same bus was used on the number 4 in order to raise money for children in need, which I'm sure was also a great success. There's was also a running day with several Routemasters on Sunday 25th November between Moorgate and Barnet - timetable here. It's quite rare for me to show up at these events, but they're honestly so much more fun than you might initially think and if you're able to I would definitely recommend them. 

Continuing the poppy theme...

I've always been really disorganised in regards to snapping the buses will all-over-ads for the poppy appeal, although this year I decided to get my act together and obtain some photographs of the ones which won't be possible next year. Whilst you might initially not consider the 88 to be an endangered route and indeed it is not, its taking a slightly unconventional move and losing its allocation of New Routemasters in favour of ADL Enviro400Hs instead - ironically these used to work the 88 pre-conversion. When the route is merged with the C2 next year (no longer serving Warren Street but being extended via London Zoo to Parliament Hill Fields), the long wheelbase NRMs won't be able to navigate the tricky roundabout at the new Northern terminus, which justifies the removal of these horrid buses. I do have mixed feelings about this consultation - the C2 is certainly underused since its removal from Victoria and merging it with the 88 definitely isn't a bad idea, although the prospect of not having a direct link between Oxford Circus and Warren Street/Mornington Crescent is a tad irritating. The journey to the former destination will still be possible by bus via routes 73 and 390, but going via Tottenham Court Road does take so much longer it's probably quicker to walk. I've always thought about diverting the 134 to Oxford Circus via the fast Great Portland Street route instead, but that costs money so it won't happen. A bonus of this change, though, is that the 88 finally gets its proper buses back and does have the chance to re-enter the top 10, at a time when so many other services are falling down. Exciting times(!)

Is that a third set of wheels?!?!?!?!

Admittedly, this post has been overwhelmed with demonstrator vehicles, but this one definitely beats the rest in terms of drama. The enthusiast community were overjoyed when the announcement revealed Go-Ahead London would be trialling a tri-axle double decker at Camberwell (Q) garage - a type of bus which TfL haven't permitted for years and years. Theoretically, introducing them on routes where length isn't a problem is a very practical idea, offering a higher capacity and even allowing frequency reductions in some cases whilst the overall number of seats provided stays the same, therefore saving money. The vehicle itself is a BCI Excellence model, which has been made suitable for service through a Vantage hybrid conversion, but it'll be interesting to see if this bus proves itself as so far the other Vantage buses have been a complete disaster and hopelessly unreliable. It is extremely sophisticated especially for a TfL bus, with no grab poles but high-backed lazzerini seats and a snazzy blue interior. The iBus screen has superior capabilities, there are phone holders, USB charging and an air conditioning unit available, although this doesn't seem to work very effectively. There are also beeping sensors which detect when the bus is too close to pedestrians and all the features it possesses are advertised on the outside of the bus.

Its entry into service was far from smooth, however. Despite showing up at Camberwell (Q) garage in the summer, it ended up back in the workshop countless times due to various problems including those relating to the braking system. Initially, the plan was to use this vehicle on the peak-hours only X68 service, but due to its crosslinked routes being inappropriate for these long vehicles, the 12 has been chosen instead. This does cause problems as the tri-axle does not, unlike the normal allocation of New Routemasters, have open boarding or indeed three doors. However, the 12 is still a very busy route and it should be appropriate for operation with these high capacity vehicles. TA1, which is ironically the code for the vehicle, does have those annoying Hanover LED displays which flicker like crazy, so if you can't adjust the shutter speed to low levels try to snap the bus at night. It's also worth noting that the 12 won't be serving Oxford Circus until December due to the closure of Westminster Bridge - it's currently curtailed at Whitehall. From a passenger experience, the tri-axle is not like any other double decker around, with the high specification interior being a shock for many. Its engine is quite intriguing - sometimes it's almost completely silent but at other times it sounds like there's a drill in the rear compartment, but as long as it works fine then that's tolerable.

Whilst the BCI Excellence does have its quirks and may not be the wisest choice for mass orders, it would be brilliant to see tri-axles making a return to London.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!