Go-Ahead Parade The South-East

It's pretty convenient that I have the opportunity to lump two similar service changes together, even though they occurred some five weeks apart...

There was something uncanny about the blinds on these Citaros, particularly when displaying Penge.

For those of you unfamiliar with the 227, I've misled you with the photograph above. It actually runs between Crystal Palace and Bromley North, with intermediate destinations including Penge, Beckenham and Shortlands, taking around 35 minutes to complete a 6 mile end-to-end trip. At peak times, 12 vehicles are required for an impressive 8 minute frequency, with a modest drop to 5 buses per hour on Sundays and during the evening. A low bridge at Shortlands Station infuriatingly prevents the use of double deck vehicles on this intensely busy service, still regarded as a South-East London trunk route despite its short length. Under the old contract, high capacity 12m Mercedes-Benz Citaro vehicles were operated out of Stagecoach London's Bromley (TB) garage, although shorter ADL Enviro 200s also ended up appearing quite frequently. The Mercs were the only examples at Stagecoach London and were adored by bus enthusiasts for their power, being well-suited to the hilly nature of the 227, but their reliability did start to decline towards the end of their seven years on the road. These exotic buses sadly do not have a future within the capital, being a non-standard type, whilst their length deems them inappropriate for the majority of London bus services. This was a rather significant loss for Stagecoach, who (sort of) operated the route for an impressive twenty one years. They were pretty competent too, even though roadworks in Penge caused the service to fall apart during their final week.

The rear door is really far back on these Streetlite max vehicles, something I only noticed after opting for a nearside shot.

Only a few years ago, Go-Ahead at Orpington (MB) garage seemed to be on a losing streak, but recently they've started to become successful again, grabbing some fairly substantial routes over the past year, usually from Stagecoach. One advantage of this change is the union of the 227 and 358, since the latter route operates in very similar territory, also being exceptionally busy and restricted to long single deckers. Brand new Wrightbus Streetlite max vehicles, the first examples of this length in the capital, were ordered for the new contract. All of them were available for day one (Saturday 22nd June 2019) and have remained dedicated to the 227 since then, with only one stray onto the 358 so far. They are slightly shorter than the Citaros and given their less commodious interior arrangement, enthusiasts questioned whether they would be appropriate for such a heavy duty service. From my observations, the reduced capacity isn't a problem when the service is running well at regular 8 minute intervals, but when the gaps become longer travelling on them becomes much more unpleasant, whilst at rush hour people are being left behind frequently. They are also no match for the Citaros when it comes to climbing hills, so are generally disliked by both enthusiasts and the general public.

If Citaros weren't banned due to their lack of stop-start technology, by adding 1.5m and some Go-Ahead logos you could imagine an alternative future for the 227.

To my amazement, the service has been consistently decent since day one, although the 358 will have given controllers some practise. That said, the changeover hasn't been smooth, the most obvious problem being with the iBus system, where buses would display the non-existent destination 'Crystal Parade.' This caused dysfunctional announcements
heading Westbound and even Citymapper claimed buses were serving this alleged location. It took a while to fix, but buses are correctly advertising Crystal Palace now. Another questionable move by Go-Ahead is their confidence that only one spare Streetlite will be adequate for the next five years - on day three a break down and accident proved that this was not sustainable, so an ADL Enviro 200 and short Mercedes Citaro K (MBK1, seen above) demonstrator were thrown out, a custom which has continued regularly since Go-Ahead took over. These buses have an even smaller available capacity than the Streetlites and having sampled MBK1 during the evening rush, it is by no means suitable for the 227. It may be allocated to the equally busy 358, but it is so long and indirect that passengers tend to be dispersed. One final issue, again relating to the Streetlites, is their poor turning circle, which results in some difficulty when it  comes to navigating the roundabout at Bromley North. In short, Go-Ahead operate the 227 very well, but their choice of buses could bring them to their downfall...

One shortfall with photographing in the dark is that vehicles almost always have to be stationary, unless your camera is exceptionally competent.

The 208 also has a fairly long-standing history with Stagecoach, so its move to Go-Ahead on Saturday 27th July 2019 was also pretty remarkable. Enthusiasts of a certain age will typically associate this route with Trident ALX400s, although the enforcement of a green bus corridor back in April meant that they could no longer appear, despite two remaining at Bromley (TB) garage right until the 208's last day. The long wheelbase 56-reg Trident E400s also visited the 208 regularly, but were withdrawn in January; some still remain in London, but they've been converted to open-top and operate on the mega sightseeing bus tours. Their indirect replacements, ADL Enviro 400 MMC 'smart hybrids', occasionally wandered onto the 208, though officially allocated to the 261. Most commonly, the 208 used some rather uninteresting 'classic' ADL Enviro 400s, equipped with the generally disliked voith gearbox, but I don't doubt that their inability to provide a clickbait youtube video was overshadowed by their comfortable lazzerini seating and functional air cooling system, which I don't doubt that the locals appreciated. These vehicles will be refurbished and redeployed onto the 128 from October, which Stagecoach have managed to pick up in East London, where they have been far more victorious as of late. One more exotic feature under Stagecoach was the single crosslink from Catford (TL) garage during term time, which was often in the form of a Volvo/B5LH Enviro 400 MMC, but disappointingly on their last day of operation a voith E400 was sent out instead, being almost identical to the 208's regular diet.

My luck was pretty poor during this snapping session, where the sun either hid behind clouds or a vehicle passed by at the worst possible moment.

Often regarded as the backbone of South-East London, the 208 is certainly no picnic. It operates between the key destinations of Lewisham and Orpington, via Catford, Downham, Bromley and Petts Wood. It stays urban throughout and only properly becomes residential in between Bromley Common and Orpington, which is the only part of the route that isn't also served by other high frequency double deck services. Despite this, the 208 is oversubscribed, with the 12 minute Monday to Saturday daytime frequency being completely inadequate. Even the drop to 4 buses per hour is questionable on Sundays, but actually pretty generous during the evening. Amazingly, only 16 buses are required at peak times for the 11-mile trek, which takes around 80 minutes to complete. Stagecoach managed the route very well, having several years of experience on their side, as well as the convenience of a garage situated almost on the line of route. I don't doubt that this will be another major loss for them, but a few more routes around the Bromley area are up for tender in November, so perhaps they will strike lucky then.

Lewisham was actually pretty busy at 8am on a Saturday morning, emphasised by the trio of buses in this photo.

For the seemingly invincible Go-Ahead, this win probably didn't mean as much as it would to any other London operator, but complacency is never desirable. The company ordered another batch of brand new ADL Enviro400H MMCs for this contract change, having stuck religiously to this type over the past year, contrasting their habitual indecisiveness. This batch arrived prematurely, but were sent to work straight away on the Wimbledon tennis shuttles, helping out alongside Go-Ahead's commercial services fleet when they weren't sat outside the station broken down. So far, they have not appeared on any other routes at Orpington (MB) garage, but I don't doubt that one will sneak onto the 320 sooner or later. As usual, the service was in bits on day one, but with each random check on the London Vehicle Finder I've noticed small improvements and I'm confident Go-Ahead will be able to match the high standards set by Stagecoach. The new MMCs are equipped with intelligent GPS technology, which prevents buses from exceeding the speed limit specific to each street travelled on, and have been described as gutless by enthusiasts, but a functional service is surely all that matters for such an important route.

I wish Go-Ahead all the best in operating both the 227 and 208 for the next five years. Thanks for reading and take care.