Saturday 24 October 2015

L1/Group News April-October 2015

General Notes:

L'Card is now accepted with Reading Buses, London OmniBus (49, 718), Thames Travel (except in Oxford area), chessingtonbuses, trentbarton and kinchbus. The MANGO card is also accepted on L1/Beeline, 7series, 5series, route461 and Surrey Locals.

TP2000 is currently touring Heathrow Buses garages.
TP2001 is currently touring Romford Buses garages.

TE511-519 are now training buses, and as they are are capable to run the 666, they can train for all routes. They are convertible in case they are needed in a Tube Strike, or an emergency.

The ADL E27H/Wright Nebula is starting a new fleet numbering series, thus the numbering for this type is separate from other single deckers.
Confirmed codes:
EWS - 8.8m model
EWT - 9.5m model
EW - 10.3m model
EWL - 11m model
EWF - 12.1m model

The only E27H/Wright Nebulas with the old "Gemini 2" front are in service for Routes H13/H14 (EW1-27). All subsequent buses have the "Gemini 3" front.


L1/Heathrow Buses


Heathrow North (HN)

Route 436 is renumbered to 7series 173 and extended from Weybridge via current 7series 73 to Staines, then Stanwell Moor, then to Heathrow Central via Terminal 5.
The Citaro buses (MCN1031-1042), already in pseudo-7series livery will be rebranded into 7series livery.

7series 73 is rerouted via Thorpe Village between Addlestone and Staines.
7series 73a is replaced by 7series 173.

7series 76 will be extended to Burnham, Garibaldi at all times. This means Beeline 2 will be reduced in frequency to every 20 minutes.

7series 78 gets an hourly night service between Heathrow and Slough.

7series 171 gets an hourly night service between Heathrow and Sunbury Cross.

Beeline 191 will be retimed for reliability.

7series 70 will gain a new trial of electric single deckers. Type to be announced at HN Garage Open Day. Fleet numbers are xxx 16xx.

The long-awaited BYD-K9 double deckers (x3) will arrive for use on Routes 278 and 456 from January, but first will be used from HN on Route 490 from November. These buses will be classed as BDE2201-2203. One will be displayed at HN Garage Open Day.

Route 9H and Routemasters will move to Heathrow North to allow a cascade of routes which distribute space across our garages to accommodate our route gains. Route 15H will stay at U.

Route 435 will gain a new batch of Diesel Euro 6 Citaros, which will replace all buses on this route. They will be coded MCN1043-1065. These buses may also stray onto the X26, X91 and 335 and will be in the same Citaro pool as the 335. However, the first day of these buses in service will be on the 435.
This also means that the 435 double decker workings diversion will stop, and all 435 buses will stop at stops between Staines and Thorpe Park.
A new theme-park related timetable will also be introduced in time for certain Thorpe Park events.

It has been noted that one of these new Citaros for the 435 ended up on the 495 after a bus broke down on the 495, and a bus off the 456 was substituted onto the 495. Yes, we are not going to do that again.

Route 335/N335 has been retained by a negotiated contract of 7 years, due to the new CNG gas buses being half of the allocation (the HN side, the WE side will still retain hybrid Citaros). These buses are SEG6-26 (LN65 Gxx).

Due to the use of Wandsworth Garage for TfL tendered services, RATP will lease part of HN for their Original Tour tour buses. All buses will have "HN" garage stickers on the sides.

Route N69 will be withdrawn between Barnet and Potters Bar, being replaced by the N20 when it passes to L1/Group control.

In November, Route 447 will finally pass to New Citybus control with its new buses, which means that this oddity of an east London route being run by a garage far out west will stop. Route 447 notably has had good reliability, but as costs were too high, we weren't able to retain the route from a closer garage.

Due to works at Walton Garage, Routes 151 and 216 will be run from HN Garage subcontracted to us from chessingtonbuses-Wellglade from December 2015. The buses will temporarily be run by us until the works at Walton Garage finish at February 2016.


Southall (SA)

Route 666 has a dedicated fleet at SA, consisting of TE69, TE665, TE666, TE667, TE668, TE669, TE670
TE69 is in an all over advert for NHS - Chlamydia
TE666 is in an all over advert for Gunnersbury Catholic School
TE668 is in an all over advert for Durex.
TE669 is in an all over advert for Stonewall/LGBT rights
TE670 is in an all over advert for the Philippines Tourism Board
Route 666 has been retimed in order to better reflect school times, and accommodate new Route 623 at Gunnersbury School.
Route 695 will only run northbound pm and southbound am, with only one journey each way. During the day, it will interwork with the 495.

To fill the space left by Route 70 moving to DI, Route 92 will move from WE to SA. 

Brentford (DI)

TEs 890-898 are in an all over advertisement for Brentford FC.

Route 483D will be based here using existing double deckers.

Route 70 will be converted to double deck using E45H/Presidents, moved to Brentford Garage and extended to Turnham Green Church.

Route 278 will gain an order of Volvo B5LH/ADL Presidents as half the allocation (VP2201+)


Wembley (WE)

Route 79 will receive existing TEs. To make room for the 79, Route 92 will move to Southall. The TPLs ordered against the contract will be used on the 278 at Romford Buses.

Route X43 from September 2015 runs from here. Special branded "Red Express" TPLs with interiors similar to Green Line buses (as seen by London OmniBus 718). They will not have iBus screens, but rather the L1/Info system will act via iBus as an information system.
Route N20 will from November 2015 run from here.

Route 143D/643 won from Metroline will be run from here. The new buses will be for most routes at WE in general, but allocated to these routes.

Fulwell (F) and Walton (WT)

Route 411 now has its Optare TempoSR hybrids, hence the diesel ones have moved to Hemel Hempstead. The 411 will be permanently run from Walton Garage (see exception later on) in order to relieve Fulwell Garage. This will mean that Walton will be listed separately, as Walton will no longer be an outstation for Fulwell.

Routes 74 and N74 is now run from Fulwell, where new NBfLs are on 74, and N74 has current/new E45Hs.

chessingtonbuses have gained Routes 151 and 216 with Optare buses. Due to works at Walton Garage for these routes, route 411 will be running from Fulwell and routes 151 and 216 will run from Heathrow North by Heathrow Buses until these works are completed. This will occur from 12th December 2015 until February 2016.


Route R68 has new E45H/ADL Presidents for the new contract with the extension to Turnham Green. Once the works are complete, Route R68 will move to Walton Garage.

Bracknell (BL)

Beeline Route 391 now has E27H (EWF66-68, 70-89).
TEN115 is in an all over advertisement for Launchpad charity.

Hemel Hempstead (HE)

Due to the withdrawal of the 797 (Stevenage-London Victoria via Hatfield), this service has been taken over by L1/Heathrow Buses from this garage with coaches displaced from X25 Railair. Initially it will use Citaros displaced from Beeline.

L1/Romford Buses

Hornchurch (UP)

Routes 62 and 169 will use new TPLs, as part of an order that replaces the current TELs on the 25, cascading them to replace TEs within UP.
Route 362 will use EWs when it is transferred from Blue Triangle.

A few new E45Hs intended for newly gained school routes will eventually settle on Route 25, with these school routes gaining buses formerly for the 25 amongst other routes.

Existing spare DEs are currently being stored at UP, and are being repainted into the 2005 Romford Buses livery.
Routes 9, 9A, 73 were gained from First Essex, and new competitive routes of 220 and 220A started early in 2015 using mostly existing DEs.

TELs 760, 761 and 769 are in an all over advert for the Philippines Tourism Board

New VPs (B5LH/Presidents) have been ordered for East London Transit, especially for Route EL3.
More VPLs have been ordered for Routes 368, 25.

Route 471 has been returned to Hornchurch temporarily until the new buses for New Citybus arrive. This will be done in November 2015.

The Stansted operations of Arriva-TGM have been bought by L1/Romford Buses. Routes 59, 509/510 (rebranded as sx509, sx510) will run using initially existing Citaros ex-7series, but will use new E27H 12m buses.
The fleet numbers have not been finalised, but 20 E27H 12m buses will be ordered for the 59/sx509/sx510.

Hackney (HO)

Route W15 has been lost, with the DEs moving to UP for Essex routes.

Route 278 will get a batch of ADL E45H/Presidents (ordered partly against the 79 contract).

Route 373 will run from Hackney Garage, using existing double decker hybrids. New hybrid buses will appear in the new year (B5LH/Presidents) as part of the large batch involving the 25 and 368. 

A route will be assessed to be moved from HO to make room for Route 274 and the additional accommodation for the extra hydrogen fuel cell buses and associated equipment.

Stratford (SD)

Route 97 will move to U, and to take its place, Route 43 will move here.

Route 43 gains an order of Volvo B5LH/ADL Presidents for the new contract.

LTs 475, 476, 485 are in an all over advert for the Philippines Tourism Board - on Routes 8 and 15

Upton Park (U)

Route 9H will move from here to Heathrow North to make space for Route 97.

Somehow, Route 135 will be run from this garage with some of the new hybrid buses being delayed. Similar buses diverted from Route 278 will run this route initially.

Stansted (ST)
The Stansted operations of Arriva-TGM have been bought by L1/Romford Buses. Routes 133, 308 and the night service of sx510 will be based here, using initially existing DEs, but eventually using new E27H 12m buses.
The fleet numbers have not been finalised, but 19 E27H 12m buses will be ordered for the 133 and 308.