Saturday 16 April 2016

L1/Group News November 2015-February 2016

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.

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)

7series 177 is a new service run with new E27H/Wright Nebula (EWLs)

There will be 39 second hand Citaros from Heathrow Airport work being moved to 7series, after offside door is removed and other interior work is done. MCN1002-1030 (BV57JYR, S, T, U, W, X, Y, Z, BV57JXR, S, T, U, W, X, Y, Z, BV57VFY, Z, BV57VGA, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, L, M, N) (former MCA11-39) (Routes 75, 79, 79A, 175).

This will mean a re-allocation of nearly all 7series routes:

70/70a: DE, BEE, EW. 71: OTN. 72: MCN. 73: OTN. 74: MCN, TEN. 75: V, MCN, TE, TEN. 76: OTN, V. 77: MCN, V. 78: MCN. 79/79a: MCN, EWF. 170: OTN. 171: OTN. 172: OTN. 173: MCN (Euro 6), OTN. 174: MCN. 175: MCN. 176: MCN. 177: EWL. X74: SEG, MCN (Euro 6), TEN. X75: MCN. X78: OTN, MCN.

7series 70 will gain a new trial of electric single deckers. Type BYD ebus-ADL E200. Fleet numbers are BEE1, 2 (new number sequence for electric buses).

The long-awaited BYD-K9 double deckers 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 BDE1-3. 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.
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.

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 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.

There are some changeover point changes, which will mean less terminus changeover points to save costs on staff shuttles:
90 - changeover point changed from Feltham Leisure West to Hatton Cross
207 - changeover point changed from Southall North to Southall Town Hall
235 - changeover point changed from Sunbury Village to Hounslow Heath
237 - changeover point changed from Hounslow West to Hounslow Heath
335 - changeover point changed from South Ruislip to Harrow Bus Station
E9 - changeover point changed from Yeading Barnhill Estate to Yeading White Hart
E10 - changeover point changed from Northolt to Yeading White Hart

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 - under refurbishment
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 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) and Chiswick (CK)

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

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  ADL E45H/Presidents (ordered partly against the 79 contract).

There are some changeover point changes, which will mean less terminus changeover points to save costs on staff shuttles:
311 - changeover point moved from Kew Riverside to Turnham Green Church

Routes 70, 205 (when contract is novated), 278/N,  369 (when gained), 483D, 495 will move to Chiswick Garage when Commerce Road site shuts.

Wembley (WE)

Route 79 will receive existing TELs. 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 Heathrow 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 rufrom here. The new buses will be for most routes at WE in general, but allocated to these routes.

Fulwell (TF) 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 was 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.
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 Volvo B5LH/ADL Presidents as half the allocation (VP2201+) (this is swapped with the ADL E45Hs from DI due to the impending garage changes)

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.

Route 274 and the additional accommodation for the extra hydrogen fuel cell buses and associated equipment will be based in Hackney, as it seems due to the partial move of the 205 to CK will allow easier space management in both HO and SD.

Route 69's E400MMC Virtual Electric buses (TEE4+) are to enter service after the preliminary 4 that are already in service (TEE4-7) to convert the whole service to virtual electric buses, although this does mean the conventional hybrid part of the route will now move to U.

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

When Chiswick (CK) is built, the 205 will half move to that garage in order to alleviate space concerns. Route N205 is unaffected.

Upton Park (U)

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 - now this is rectified.

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.
19 E27H 12m buses will be ordered for the 133 and 308.

All of these E27Hs are expected to enter service in May 2016.

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