Monday 9 January 2017

Bus types revealed for new London Bus routes - 13, 360 and 388



Route 13 will be using buses of this design
As the real route 13 will be withdrawn soon and route 82 will be renumbered to 13 in order to retain the route 13 identity, London Bus Routes has revealed the bus type for the new route 13 contract.


According to the London Bus Routes Service Changes page, Tower Transit has purchased 31 new Volvo B5LH MCV EvoSeti hybrid buses for their new route 13 (formerly 82) contract which commences on 1st April 2017. The bus type will also be added on routes 58 and 308. They will be operating the route from Westbourne Park (X) garage where they used to run the route 9H from with the old Routemasters between 2005 and 2014.

The Volvo B5LH MCV EvoSeti (fleetcode MHV) is also on route 63 from Peckham (PM) garage and routes 40, 42 and 185 from Camberwell (Q) garage - they are operated by Go-Ahead London General.

I thought Tower Transit was going to purchase the SRM’s for the new route 13 contract. Currently, RATP-Dev London Sovereign have six of the Volvo B5LH SRMs (fleetcode VHR) from Edgware (BT) garage as they usually appear on route 13. When RATP-Dev’s contract ends, it’s unknown which routes the SRMs will next appear on - we better wait and see as surprises always happen.

Moving on to route 360, Go Ahead London has placed an order for 14 BYD eBuses with Enviro200 MMC bodywork.


6th January 2017

BYD-ADL partnership scores again in London: Go-Ahead chooses to go electric on TfL Route 360

Just weeks after the inauguration of Europe’s biggest electric bus fleet, Transport for London operator Go-Ahead has selected the winning BYD-ADL (Alexander Dennis Ltd) partnership to supply a fleet of 14 10.8m BYD ADL Enviro200 EV buses to operate its 360 route. This is the first order BYD and ADL have won for the new 10.8m model.

The 360 route passes through some of the UK capital’s most prestigious areas, connecting South Kensington with Chelsea, Sloane Square and Vauxhall before terminating at the Elephant and Castle. The buses will be based at Go-Ahead’s Camberwell garage where BYD will install 14 of its own design charging posts.

Richard Harrington, Engineering Director at Go-Ahead Group, said about the decision to order the 10.8m BYD ADL Enviro200 EV: “The experience gained in electrifying routes 521 and 507 out of Waterloo was pivotal in deciding who to work with on route 360. Having the confidence that the product can operate on London’s streets and is capable of running a whole day without the need to recharge put this product to the front of what is becoming a very competitive market”.

Announcing the new order, for which BYD is again prime contractor, BYD’s UK Country Manager Frank Thorpe said: “This underlines the strength of our joint offer and we again look forward to working with Go-Ahead London on this exciting project. We anticipate delivering the vehicles in the second half of 2017”.

Robert Davey, ADL’s Group Commercial and Business Development Director, commented: “Along with our recent order from Merseyside this latest order illustrates the attractiveness of the BYD ADL Enviro200EV from an operational and passenger perspective, not to mention the benefits it provides to pedestrians and city dwellers with zero emissions. The stylish British-built ADL bodywork mounted on BYD’s well proven chassis, and underpinned by the best aftermarket support in the business is truly a winning combination.”

According to the London Bus Routes service changes page, they are expected to appear in October 2017.

Also, looking on the same page, CT Plus has placed their order for more Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City buses for their new route 388 contract which runs from Stratford City to Blackfriars via Hackney Wick and Bethnal Green. The new contract is expected to start on 21st January 2017. The Enviro400H City uses design cues based on the New Routemaster bus. Routes 133 and 333 are expecting to convert to these buses and is due to start on 21st January 2017. The Enviro400H City buses are currently in service on routes 26 and 78.

A quick recap regarding the three-door two-staircase New Routemaster - the final routes to be converted to those buses are:

Route 76 - operated by Go Ahead London General - expected date 28th January
East London Transit routes EL1, EL2 and EL3 - operated by Go Ahead Blue Triangle - expected date 18th February
Route 48 - operated by Arriva London - expected date 25th February
Route 254 - operated by Arriva London - expected date 3rd June

And lastly, a news update from LOTS:

This weekend duly saw the takeover by Metroline of route 235 with a large batch of new ADL E20Ds (DEL 2244-2265).   In turn Abellio has withdrawn a considerable number of older Darts in the 02/52=reg batches. Some more will come off once the new E20Ds (8162-70) already delivered actually go into service on routes U9 and H26.

As always, I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92

Multimedia


Image attribution
Julian Walker https://www.flickr.com/photos/wirewiping/30095222126/

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