Monday 30 September 2013

L1/Group News September 2013

General Note:
The Loaned Fleet (with same numbers): 
ex-Metroline VP317-347, 466-472, 474, 476, 477, 479. Code VPN  These will be returned when the 409 passes to Croydon Buses in 2014.
ex-GAL WVL124-126, on loan from Southdown PSV. Code WVN. These are expected to be returned when we lose the 266.


L1/Heathrow Buses


Heathrow North (HN)
The "Slough Locals" DEs are being refurbished and repainted to a base yellow:
DE391-399, DE494-504

All diesel buses from the 23 (except TEN111) will be repainted in Green Line livery, converted to LED displays (a first for L1/Group) with white LEDs, have an interior refit and be converted to one door for use on Green Line 701/702 when they are gained in November.

Some buses will be used on the 409 from November under the temporary contract, mainly VPNs will be used, the same buses used on the 408.

TE1256, the E45H demonstrator with non-standard doors is now in service on the 140 and 335.
The Volvo B5TL demonstrator is at HN, coded VTN1090 and will run from 2nd October on the 105. This will run on the 105 for three weeks before moving to SA for the 456.


Southall (SA)
Due to bus shortages, the conversion of Route 456 to full allocated double decker with increased frequency will be deferred, thus incurring penalties for us (it is currently allocated single deckers, but using mostly double deckers due to overcrowding). This has also led to Route 195 being pressured to be double decked too.
Both conversions are expected to be done by February. 
New E45Hs are being built for the 456 at this time (TE1300-1325), with TE1300 expected in service in November.

An experimental Optare Versa EV (Electric Vehicle), OVE1, will be trialled not in service tracing route 456 as part of a bid with other companies to see if electric buses can be used on certain routes.

The loss of the 7 means more E40Hs can be converted to E45Hs at a faster rate, and also allows space at SA. Route N7 will move to SA as of 2nd November.

The first of the early deliveries for the 83 contract is starting, with TE1258 (E45H) in service on the 456 already as of last week.

Brentford (DI)
All ex-First buses have L1/Group logos applied and are in a refurbishment at HN at the moment. 

We say farewell to one of our most popular routes - the 266. It is moving to London United, leaving TEs able to cover the 23 and relieve the spare buses issue for once! This also allows the WVNs to return to Southdown PSV.


Wembley (WE)
NBfLs from the trial at DI are at WE for driver training for Route 16.
Due to the future loss of the 18 and N18, N18 will move to WE from 2nd November.

Fulwell (LF)
All the E45Hs (some are converted from new E40H, some are newly built E45Hs) are ready for routes 85 and 213, for the takeover on the 2nd October. If you are lucky, one might be on driver training!

L1/Romford Buses

Upminster (UP)
The first Volvo B5LH/Plaxton President for the East London Transit is at UP for evaluation.
The full allocation of the 25 will now not include HO, thus increasing the allocation for UP.
Routes 147 and 238 will now have part allocations at UP to relieve U/HO. Route W14 will also move to UP to relieve HO for the 48/55/N55 win.
The first production E45H, TE1257 is in service in UP, running mainly on the 5 and 248.

Hackney (HO)
Routes 25 (the full HO allocation), 425 will move to SD in order to make room for new wins of 48 and 55/N55. E45H has been ordered for 55/N55, Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 3 (most) and Plaxton President (4) have been ordered for the 48. The Volvo Gemini 3s will be coded VT.

Stratford (SD)
Routes 25 (full HO allocation), 425 will move to SD. Existing TELs and TEs for the 25/425 will move for the change, which will happen before 2nd November.

Upton Park (U)
Route 147 will now have a part allocation at UP to create space.

OmniBus News : September


London OmniBus have been struggling a little since the win of trunk route 18. As a result, a lot of shifting has had to take place:
- Route 18/N18 will be run from Harrow Weald (HD) using new E40H / Enviro400H buses
- Routes 398, 408, 421 (DD) and 640 will remain at Harrow Weald (HD)
- Route 114/N114 will be retransferred back to Hayes West (HS) to make room for 18/N18.

The contract for route 195 has also been surrendered due to pressure from both TfL and L1/Group to convert the route to double decker (which we have not been able to provide). However it has been recently announced that the contract was retained by us, and with assistance from L1/Group we hope to be able to provide the double decker service wanted  by February. 8 Scania OmniCitys were drafted in to cover the 195 whilst the 408 got a few MAN MCVs last month, which have all already begun service. The new buses on route 408 will take over soon, following which the original MCVs will transfer again to East Hayes and Byfleet (which we obtained through L1/Group) for new commercial services. Route 421 will also have a mild service increase with leftovers from the 195. The 195 will get the four B5LH hybrid buses from Harrow Weald, before they are replaced by new MAN 18.290 / Plaxton President buses (two of which are already in service on route 114) and the single Enviro400. A few E45Hs destined for route 18 have thus entered service on the 114, 335D, 421D and 640, whilst others can be found on driver training for routes 18 and N18.

Our new services from Byfleet are:
39A: Chobham-Woking (Mon, Wed, Fri)
39B: Hermitage Estate-Woking (Thurs)
39C: Claydon Road-Woking (Tues, Thurs)
40: Ripley-Woking (Tues)
81: Woking-Barnesbury Estate
84: Chobham-Collingwood College SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
570: Ashford Tesco/Staines-Grovebarns loop (Mon, Wed, Fri)
571/572: Staines-Grange Farm (Mon-Fri Limited Service)
574: Ashford-Sunbury Tesco (Tues, Thurs)
637: Byfleet-Salesian School SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
663: Walton-Esher High School SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
690: Worplesdon-Kingfield Green SCHOOLDAYS ONLY

Thanks for reading our post, and we will keep you updated in times of many changes!
FRED BRUNDELL

Friday 27 September 2013

An introduction to Croydon Buses

Whether you like the place or not, Croydon is home to high numbers of people who need buses. We are a operator trying to run TfL bus services around Croydon, Sutton, Bromley, Lambeth, Merton, Southwark and Lewisham. We started in 2003 by local resident Tim Bale, who was fed up of the poor service, and dirty buses around Croydon, Sutton, Bromley, Lambeth, Merton, Southwark and Lewisham. We therefore started to buy some old buses, and opened up a depot in Dingwall Road, East Croydon (garage code is DR) to run and maintain our services from. The first buses we bourght were some old Leyland Titans and some Volvo Olympians, and very soon are buses started running Rail Replacement services and soon became a common sight at bus rally's across South East England as well as in the local area. Our livery is generally, maroon with mustard yellow, having been upgraded earlier this year.
Old logo used from 2003 to 2013. This has been applied to our Volvo Olympians and Leyland Titans.
Our new logo used from 2013 onwards. This will be applied to our future bus orders/acquisitions. Our breakthrough came on the evening of the 27th of September 2013, when TfL announced we had won the contracts for Route's 64, 409 (Converted to TfL operation), T31 and N64. We shall be buying new buses for these routes, which our first ever wins. We shall be buying 9 10.5m Citaro K's for Route T31. These will carry standard white Johnson electronic smart-blinds. We shall be buying 14 10.2m E40D  for Route 64. We shall be buying 9 Wrightbus / Volvo B5TL Streets Ahead for the 409. These shall carry standard white Johnson smart-blinds. Route N64 will be using existing E40D from the day route 64. We are extremely grateful to TfL for winning these contracts, and we look forward to winning more contracts! We can confirm we have placed a bid with TfL for Route's 54 and 75, and we've given them the options of: Existing buses sourced from company's such as Southdown PSV and Ensign Bus. Brand new hybrid buses, more than likely to be E45H built by L1/Group at Heathrow North Garage. So, that's it from us, we'll update you in a month's time, thanks for reading!

WLTM Tenders September 2013 (from TfL)

Tranche 157A
411: Awarded to Henlev London (formerly Quality Line) with new buses, contract starting 1st March 2014
641: Awarded to London United (formerly temporary contract) with existing bus, contract starting 1st March 2014.

Tranche 158
7/N7: Awarded to London United (formerly L1/Heathrow Buses) with new NBfL buses (N7 existing buses) contract starting 22nd February 2014.
272: Retained by London United with new hybrid buses, contract starting 8th March 2014
440: Retained by London United with new hybrid buses, contract starting 8th March 2014
T31: Awarded to Croydon Buses (formerly Arriva London South) with new buses, contract starting 8th March 2014

Tranche 159
48: Awarded to L1/Romford Buses (formerly Stagecoach) with new hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014.
55/55N: Awarded to L1/Romford Buses (formerly Stagecoach) with new hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014.
56: Retained by Stagecoach London with new hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014
58: Retained by L1/Romford Buses with existing hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014
97: Awarded to L1/Romford Buses (formerly Stagecoach) with existing hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014
212: Awarded to Stagecoach London (formerly CT Plus)  with new hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014
215: Retained by Stagecoach London with new hybrid buses, contract start 22nd March 2014
W12: Retained by CT Plus with existing buses, contract start 22nd March 2014

Tranche 160:
148/148N: Retained by London United with new NBfL buses, contract starting 29th March 2014.
606: Awarded to Sullivan Buses (formerly Metroline) with existing buses, contract start 1st March 2014
611: Retained by L1/Heathrow Buses with existing hybrid buses, contract start 1st March 2014.
657: Awarded to L1/Romford Buses (formerly Arriva London) with existing hybrid buses, contract start 1st March 2014.

Tranche 161:
161: Awarded to Stagecoach (formerly Metrobus) with new buses, contract starting 10th February 2014
350: Retained by L1/Heathrow Buses with existing hybrid buses, contract starting 10th February 2014
482: Retained by London United with new hybrid buses, contract starting 22nd February 2014
H32: Retained by London United with new buses, contract starting 22nd February 2014

Tranche 162:
50: Awarded to London General (formerly Arriva) using new hybrid buses, contract starting 22nd February 2014
64/N64: Awarded to Croydon Buses with new buses, contract starting 8th March 2014
109/N109: Retained by Arriva with new hybrid buses, contract starting 15th March 2014

Tranche 162A:
409: Awarded to Croydon Buses (formerly commercial by Metrobus) using new buses, contract starting 8th March 2014. Temporary contract awarded to L1/Heathrow Buses, starting 9th November 2013.

Tranche 162B:
195: No suitable bid was received.  Therefore, London OmniBus will continue running the service.

Other News
Routes 13 and 82 have received their new Volvo B5LH/Wright Geminis at London Sovereign Edgware (BT).

Route 148 will be converted to NBfL, starting on 29th March 2014 (planned to be in stages).

Route E8 will be extended to Heathrow Central via 435 from new contract date.

Route 409 will initially be run by L1/Group Buses in order to integrate it into the TfL ticketing system as soon as possible, but it will run by Croydon Buses from 8th March 2014.

A new route, starting in March 2014 runs as 420 between Heathrow Terminal 6 and Denham via Iver and Iver Heath, bringing TfL buses to the areas served by London Underground for the first time. This is partly subsidised by Slough Council.

Routes 480 and 483 have been surrendered by L1/Heathrow Buses early due to a resident issue with the operator, and operational reasons itself.

Metroline have told if Route 186 is lost at the next tender, Route 113/N113 will be surrendered to London Sovereign. at Edgware, or tendered early.

October Tenders:

Tranche 163:
186: Northwick Park Hospital-Edgware (Metroline)
237: Hounslow West-White City (L1/Heathrow Buses)

Tranche 164:
92: St Raphael's-Ealing Hospital (L1/Heathrow Buses)
223: Harrow-Wembley Central (L1/Heathrow Buses)
E8: (Heathrow Central)-Ealing Broadway (L1/Heathrow Buses)

Tranche 164A:
420: Heathrow Terminal 6-Denham (new route)

Tranche 166:
125: Finchley Central-Winchmore Hill (Arriva London)
166: Epsom General Hospital-West Croydon (Arriva London)

Tranche 167:
54: Elmers End-Woolwich (Metrobus)
75: Croydon Town Centre-Lewisham (Metrobus)
123: Wood Green-Ilford (Arriva London)

Tranche 195 (four months early):
480: Richmond-Hanwell Terminus (L1/Heathrow Buses)
483: Maida Hill-Kew Riverside (L1/Heathrow Buses)

Thursday 5 September 2013

Henlev Buses News




This is the first Henlev buses post on this blog.
Artist Impression by JPT
One success is our commercial route 598 (Copt Gilders - Worcester Park) We are increasing the frequency of this route from every Half hour to every 15 minutes off peak, and every 10 minutes during rush hour. Our trial of the evening and weekend journeys to Hinchley wood however proved unsuccessful, and the service will be withdrawn with no replacement.
Withdrawn also will be the 4 Solo's on this route and they will be replaced by 7 8.9m ADL Enviro 200's. These will be marked SDE1-7. The sole Primo will still work the route when needed.



Our Southern region division (Henlev South) are also running well since the takeover of Southern Vectis. A new full time bendy bus route (18 Yarmouth-Apse Heath) has begun, producing excellent results!
6 10.5m Citaro K's will transfer from Henlev London for Trials on the 4,6,9,37 and 38. The other two Citaro's will move to Barwell for work on the T88 (Tolworth-Bookham)


Our new garage at Hayling Island has enabled us to win routes 30 &31 from stagecoach. the contract commences on 1 Jan 2014. The bus type has not yet been decided.


So to sum up, we have had a nice and successful month. Goodbye all, we look forward to the next posts!

Sunday 1 September 2013

L1/Group News August 2013

General Note:
The Loaned Fleet (with same numbers): 
ex-Metroline VP317-347, 466-472, 474, 476, 477, 479. Code VPN 
ex-GAL WVL124-126, on loan from Southdown PSV. Code WVN

Also, a new record for record setting Heathrow North - after the northern expansion of the building at Heathrow North to make 75% of the site under one building, the building itself has just gained the Guinness World Record for largest building in volume and land footprint, beating Boeing's Everett Factory - ironically also near an airfield, and the flower market in the Netherlands.

Finally, all the L1/Group E20H and E40H with modifications have meant they are now new models called E25H and E45H by ADL. The default London ADL integral hybrid products are now the E25H and E45H.


L1/Heathrow Buses


Heathrow North (HN)

The "Slough Locals" DEs are being refurbished and repainted to a base yellow:
DE391-399, DE494-504

Most former Abellio Surrey buses have been returned to lessors or Abellio, and the OTNs/DEs have now replaced them into service from HN, converted 1 route at a time. Some routes will transfer to London OmniBus to help with their bus excess (and our bus shortage). These are:
39A: Chobham-Woking (Mon, Wed, Fri)
39B: Hermitage Estate-Woking (Thurs)
39C: Claydon Road-Woking (Tues, Thurs)
40: Ripley-Woking (Tues)
81: Woking-Barnesbury Estate
84: Chobham-Collingwood College SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
570: Ashford Tesco/Staines-Grovebarns loop (Mon, Wed, Fri)
571/572: Staines-Grange Farm (Mon-Fri Limited Service)
574: Ashford-Sunbury Tesco (Tues, Thurs)
637: Byfleet-Salesian School SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
663: Walton-Esher High School SCHOOLDAYS ONLY
690: Worplesdon-Kingfield Green SCHOOLDAYS ONLY

The OTN numbers will stay the same to ensure there are plenty of spares. This may also mean no Citaros will move from the 7series to Surrey/Beeline.

On the 31st August, we say farewell to Route 408 as it moves to its intended home at London OmniBus. The buses used will be re-deployed elsewhere, including Surrey Locals.


VP1090 has been returned from HN and trials back to London OmniBus

Southall (SA)

Due to bus shortages, the conversion of Route 456 to full allocated double decker with increased frequency will be deferred, thus incurring penalties for us (it is currently allocated single deckers, but using mostly double deckers due to . This has also led to Route 195 being pressured to be double decked (which has been costly as TfL also want it double decked, thus the contract has been surrendered).


Brentford (DI)

All ex-First buses have L1/Group logos applied and TEN111 is in a refurbishment at HN at the moment.

Wembley (WE)

Route 16 will fill the void that will be caused by the loss of Route 18.

Fulwell (LF)

The TEs for 85 and 213 are now being built and prepared at ADL Heathrow North.
The garage is now called LF - L1/Group Fulwell.

Byfleet (BF)

The garage will close on 31st August 2013 as all operations will move to Heathrow North.


L1/Romford Buses

Upminster (UP)

Route 375 will get a PVR increase to 12 as demand means an increased frequency to Epping Cock is needed.

Routes 372, EL1, EL2 when received, will be based here.
The launch routes for the Volvo B5LH/Plaxton Presiden will be the EL1/EL2 East London Transit buses, coded VP.

Hackney (HO)

The garage is renamed from "Lea Interchange", to reflect the garage code.

Route 425 have their new TEs delivered and are in service on the 425

Routes N550/N551 are now operated by L1/Romford Buses as of 31st August using existing TEs.

Stratford (SD)

DWs are now being removed from service so they can be prepared for the 205/438.

Upton Park (U)

No new changes