L1/Group - The Story So Far

L1/Heathrow Buses

Heathrow Buses was formed in 2004, with the win of the tender of the route 140 and Surrey County Council routes 555, 556 (now withdrawn) and 557. This opened a base in Heathrow North. However, the original site was then swamped by Terminal 6 in 2006, so it was relocated to west of the site, still on the Bath Road. This garage is HN (Heathrow North). Also, in 2005, Brentford Dockside and Southall garages opened mainly due to tender wins of the 266, 267 and new routes such as 335 (South Harrow-Chiswick), 392, 456 (Chiswick-Greenford), 480 (Hanwell-Richmond) and 495 (Hanwell-Wimbledon), which we had won. They linked in with the expansion of the Tube network under Ken Livingstone.

Pre-merger, Heathrow Buses was a sizable company in West London, and Berkshire (with the 7series off Abellio/Arriva/First). Notable trunk routes operated by Heathrow Buses included 392 (Hanwell-Brixton), 278 (Turnham Green-Newington Green) and X26 (Heathrow-Croydon).

L1/Romford Buses

Romford Buses was formed in 2005, with the win of the tender of many Romford local routes. This opened the original UP base, firstly in Upminster. It is now in Hornchurch, due to expansion. Gradually, the company grew as more routes were added. The largest gain at this time was the 86/N86. Romford Buses bought shares in Alexander-Dennis in 2006.

Pre-merger, Romford Buses was centred around Romford and Hornchurch, taking many routes off First, Stagecoach and Arriva. The largest route operated pre-merger was the 5/N15 (Romford Market-Canning Town/Paddington) and 86/N86 (Stratford-Romford/Harold Hill).

I am part of the founding members of L1/Romford Buses, and initiated the merger with Heathrow Buses.

Merger -  L1/Group Buses

In 2008, Romford Buses and Heathrow Buses merged. The new joint group was named the L1/Group. Since then, the joint group bought hybrids from Alexander-Dennis, notably the Enviro 200 and Enviro 400 Hybrids. Since then, these buses have been the staple London bus for L1/Group. However, when Au became part of management in 2012, this has changed and currently, the well known "type trials" on Route 456 is currently in progress. 

Even two new logos has been trialled, made by (now) London OmniBus' Fred Brundell and (was) our Jake Nibhall. The garages with Fred's logo are now HN, DI, SA, SD and UP. The garages with Jake's logo are WE, HO and U. 

We are now currently the largest bus operator in London, and have grown to where the two "mega-garages"/headquarters of each company have doubled in size. Heathrow North Bus Garage is now situated in Colnbrook, and houses a bus refurbishment centre, the DVLA ex-Stanmore office, the small ADL factory for Enviro 200H and 400H for London (built under agreement from ADL) - this had come from Romford Buses' share in ADL. 

Expansion

After buying First Centrewest's Alperton, Hayes, Uxbridge and Greenford garages (and since selling Hayes to London OmniBus, Uxbridge to London Underground and Greenford to Ealing Community Transport, respectively), Stagecoach London's Upton Park, First Capital's Lea Interchange and Metroline's Brentford bases, we have gained a number of TfL routes, including the 25 between Oxford Circus (soon Victoria) and Ilford - the most frequent bus route in London, operated by the largest amount of buses (70). 
In June 2013, First Berkshire (Slough) and Abellio London West (and Surrey) will be under L1/Group control, thus gaining Slough, Byfleet and Fulwell bases under L1/Heathrow Buses.

Transport for London has since re-assigned the Heritage Routes to L1/Group, and has since added the routes 159H (as it was the last proper Routemaster route), 94H (as it passes Oxford Street) and 25H (to aid capacity and in joint with an extension).

Rail

In 2011 we had also won the bid to run the Great Western franchise temporarily after First Group's franchise had finished, then won the franchise outright in 2013. Also in 2013, we had won the combined Great Northern, South Central and Thameslink franchises, and was part of the consortium that won back the Virgin Trains franchise off First Group (along with Stagecoach and Virgin Groups).

Also in 2011, we had restarted the Crosslink service by Anglia Railways, now restructured with new Class 172 trains. L1/London Crosslink is now running successfully and has been profitable for a few years now.

And as this continues on, the L1/Group just grows. I'm now the head of L1/Group, and is making it my own.

Au - L1/Group.