chessingtonbuses News May 2014

COMPANY NEWS:

L1/Heathrow Buses and Wellglade London (trading as chessingtonbuses) will split off operationally as planned from December 2014. Wellglade London will still share office with L1/Heathrow Buses at Heathrow North Garage, and some new route planning will be done by L1/Heathrow Buses due to their local knowledge. However, other than this, these two companies will no longer be in partnership. Fleets will be segregated, with different numbering systems. Walton Garage will be shared between the two companies, the code being WT (L1/Heathrow Buses) and WO (chessingtonbuses).

Operations:

Wellglade London have announced that they have ordered 7 10.8m Optare TempoSR Hybrids for Route 465 when won in November 2014, and 3 E27H/Wright Nebula Eclipse. One demonstrator will be with Wellglade London on Route 166 before Route 465 is gained.

The new E25H/Enviro 200 buses for Route 166 have arrived and are ready for the gain of the Route 166 on the 31st May 2014.

L1/Cards will be valid on chessingtonbuses Routes a & b when they are introduced. E25H/Enviro200 ex-L1/Heathrow Buses will move to chessingtonbuses for this. These buses are ex-5series and TfL operations.

WLTM May 2014 Tenders (from TfL)

Tranche 212:
53: Awarded to New Citybus (formerly Stagecoach) with new hybrid buses, contract start 20th December 2014
453: Awarded to New Citybus (formerly London General) with NBfL, contract start 20th December 2014
N53: Awarded to New Citybus (new route, night previously 53N/453N) with new hybrid buses, contract start 20th December 2014

Tranche 213:
465: Awarded to Wellglade London (formerly Epsom Buses/RATP) with new hybrid buses, contract start 29th November 2014

Tranche 215:
C2: Awarded to London General (formerly Abellio London) with NBfL buses, contract start 10th January 2015*
150D: Awarded to Docklands Buses (formerly L1/Romford Buses) with existing buses, contract start September 2014.
183D: Awarded to Sullivan Buses (formerly London Sovereign/RATP) with existing bus, contract start September 2014.

Tranche 216:
207D: Awarded to London United (formerly L1/Heathrow Buses) with new buses, contract start September 2014.
371D: Awarded to Abellio London (formerly London United/RATP) with existing bus, contract start September 2014.
E3D: Awarded to London OmniBus with existing bus, contract start September 2014.
E6: Retained by L1/Heathrow Buses with existing hybrid buses, contract start November 2014
H98: Retained by London United with new electric buses, contract start November 2014
U4: Retained by L1/Heathrow Buses with new hybrid buses, contract start November 2014

Other News:
The new garage site at Charlton, Bramshot Avenue has been bought by New World Holdings, trading as New Citybus. This is notable as Citybus (part of NWH) itself had a venture into London as Capital Citybus.

Upon request, Route E3 will get a school variant (called E3D) starting from Gunnersbury School/Brentford, running via The Ride, Boston Manor Road, Swycombe Avenue and Windmill Road to normal line of route up to Chiswick, Barrowgate Road.

* Route C2 will be diverted via Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus. The route will terminate at Piccadilly Circus, due to increasing concerns about stand space at Victoria, and the routes 8 and 25 already providing a very frequent service though the current C2 route between Oxford Circus and Victoria.

NBfL Conversion Timetable (all LTs):
24 - 22nd June 2013 (LT9-36)
9 - 22nd June 2013 (LT37-49, 51-70, LT99)
11 - 21st September 2013 (LT70-98)
15 - 2nd November 2013 (LT100-111, 166-180)
392 - 2nd November 2013 (LT1, LT50, LT111-165)
390 - 30th November 2013 (LT181-204)
38 (and N38) - 7th December 2013 (LT2-8, LT205-260)
16 - 1st February 2014 (LT261-282, 284-286)
7 - 15th February 2014 (LT283, 287-315)
148 - 15th February 2014 (LT316-343)
311 - 5th April 2014 (LT344-371 - this includes a 392 increase)
49 - 7th June 2014 (LT372-396)
22 - 21st June 2014 (LT397-423)
10 - 1st November 2014 (LT424-452)
8 (and N8) - 1st November 2014 (LT453-485)
74 - 1st November 2014 (LT486-516 - this includes a 392 increase)
98 - 1st November 2014 (LT517-550)
159 - 13th December 2014 (LT551-589)
453 - 20th December 2014 (LT591-629)
C2 - 10th January 2015 (LT630-653)
London OmniBus are also receiving 1 NBfL for their 718 Greenline service, numbered LC590 and registered LTZ1590.

June Tenders:
Tranche 230:
51: Woolwich-Orpington (Stagecoach)
161: North Greenwich-Chislehurst (Metrobus)
422: North Greenwich-Bexleyheath Garage (London Central)

Tranche 231:
20: Debden-Walthamstow Hoe Street (London General)

Tranche 234:
127: Tooting Broadway-Purley (Metrobus)
412: West Croydon-Purley (Arriva London)

Tranche 235:
90: Southall North Station-Feltham, Leisure West (L1/Heathrow Buses)
235: Brentford, Great West Quarter-Sunbury Village, Three Fishes (L1/Heathrow Buses)

Tranche 239:
52/52N: Willesden Garage-Victoria (Metroline)
382: Mill Hill East-Southgate (Arriva London)

WLTM April 2014 Tenders (from TfL)

Tranche 205:
414: Awarded to London General (formerly Abellio London) with new hybrid buses, contract start 13th December 2014

Tranche 210:
177: Retained by Stagecoach London with new hybrid buses, contract start 13th December 2014
322: Awarded to Arriva London (formerly Abellio London) with new hybrid buses, contract start 6th December 2014
432: Awarded to London General (formerly Arriva London) with new hybrid buses, contract start 6th December 2014
G1: Awarded to Abellio London (formerly London General) with new hybrid buses, contract start 6th December 2014

Tranche 211:
240: Awarded to London Sovereign (formerly Metroline) with new hybrid buses, contract start 13th December 2014

Other News:
Route 311 is partly converted to NBfL unofficially, for driver training and eventual early introduction before the official conversion date, due to an increase on Route 392.

Route 53N and 453N will be merged to be Route N53 - up for tender.

Upon request, Route E3 will get a school variant starting from Gunnersbury School/Brentford, running via The Ride, Boston Manor Road, Swycombe Avenue and Windmill Road to normal line of route up to Turnham Green or Chiswick, Edensor Road.

Also, a new garage site is up for sale at Charlton, Bramshot Avenue.

NBfL Conversion Timetable (all LTs):
24 - 22nd June 2013 (LT9-36)
9 - 22nd June 2013 (LT37-49, 51-70, LT99)
11 - 21st September 2013 (LT70-98)
15 - 2nd November 2013 (LT100-111, 166-180)
392 - 2nd November 2013 (LT1, LT50, LT111-165)
390 - 30th November 2013 (LT181-204)
38 - 7th December 2013 (LT2-8, LT205-260)
16 - 1st February 2014 (LT261-282, 284-286)
7 - 15th February 2014 (LT283, 287-315)
148 - 15th February 2014 (LT316-343)
311 - 31st May 5th April 2014 (LT344-371 - this includes a 392 increase)
49 - 7th June 2014 (LT372-396)
22 - 21st June 2014 (LT397-423)
10 - 1st November 2014 (LT424-452)
8 - 1st November 2014 (LT453-485)
74 - 1st November 2014 (LT486-516 - this includes a 392 increase)
98 - 1st November 2014 (LT517-550)
159 - 13th December 2014 (LT551-
453 - 20th December 2014

April Tenders:
Tranche 212:
53: Trafalgar Square-Plumstead (Stagecoach London)
453: Marylebone-Deptford Bridge NBfL (London General)
N53: Marylebone-Plumstead (new route)

Tranche 213:
465: Kingston-Dorking (Quality Line/RATP)

Tranche 215:
C2: Victoria-Parliament Hill Fields (Abellio London - possible NBfL)
150D: Becontree-Gants Hill (L1/Romford Buses)
183D: Jew's Free School-Golders Green (London Sovereign/RATP)

Tranche 216:
207D: Twyford School-White City (L1/Heathrow Buses)
371D: Ham, Greycourt School-Kingston (London United)
E3D: Brentford, The Ride-Chiswick (new school route)
E6: Bull's Bridge-Greenford Station (L1/Heathrow Buses)
H98: Hayes End-Hounslow Bus Station (London United)
U4: Heathrow Terminal 6-Uxbridge (L1/Heathrow Buses)

L1/Group News March-April 2014

General Notes:

The Loaned Fleet (with same numbers): 
ex-Metroline VP317-347, 466-472, 474, 476, 477, 479. Code VPN  These will be returned when the 483 is lost - these buses are now only allocated on Routes 483, 666 and 695 from DI.

There have been an order of 40 new diesel E40D and E20D (25/15) just as trainers or Beeline:
25 E40D (TEN114-139) (LU63HEA-H,J-P,R-Z, JN63CNT): TEN114-119,121,139 for Beeline, TEN122-134 for 7series (74/75 peaks, X74). As a first, all of these buses will have LED displays.
15 E20D (DEN12-26) (CU63SNT-V, HN63HEA-H, RM63FRD-G): All trainers, convertible to normal buses if needed.

The last TE, TE1999 (chassis) is being constructed at this moment, the first TP, TP2000 demonstrator, will be used by all garages before being allocated to Route X91 at HN. Both buses will be showbuses. Note that TE1900-1999 are all E45H to the new style, TE1900 will be in service from June 2014.

Another new showbus will be a new TE6, to replace the TE6 that was sadly lost in the M4 accident in November 2013. This will get a special interior, original Heathrow Buses logos and numberplate HN52ADL, 52 denoting as the number killed.

9 new showbuses (and one modified) for 'Bus of the Year' have been released earlier on Tube Strike week - TE1110-TE1119 all have had new liveries, and interiors (vinyl floor design and new moquette, and where needed, painted bars) to match:
TE1110 - Shillbeer livery (interior like DM2646)
TE1111 - London Transport RM1 livery + interior (ENVIRO 450H TE1111) - existing showbus
TE1112 - Low Floor Livery 1990s (interior like LU LLWs)
TE1113 - London Transport 1980s (M1) livery + interior
TE1114 - Heathrow Buses livery 2003 (as in TAN1) + interior
TE1115 - London Transport RT1 livery + interior
TE1116 - Green Line 1960s (RMC) livery + interior
TE1117 - London Country 1930s (ST821) livery + interior
TE1118 - Beeline livery 1990s
TE1119 - Romford Buses livery 2004 + interior
All buses will have their retrospective liveries until December 2014, then they will unfortunately either be repainted in red (except TE1111, which will be repainted in 1980s livery like RM111) or move outside London (TE1116, TE1117, TE1118). All buses will keep their existing interiors afterwards.

TE1256, the E45H demonstrator with non-standard doors will now move across each of the garages over 25 weeks (three weeks at each garage, 4 at UP), moving to HO on 19th February, before moving to SD from the 12th March, then U on the 2nd April and returning to HN on 23rd April for use on Route X91.
It has turned out that the rear door of the outward swinging style is successful and is currently out on all new E45H, and retrofitted on current E45H/E40H.

The Volvo B5TL demonstrator for Route 456, coded VTN1090 is now permanently on Route 456 at SA.

The modified E40H/E45Hs (as opposed to the new-build E45Hs), approx up to TE1000, are now re-classed as E42H (Enviro 425). Therefore, the unmodified E40H (TE1) stays as it is, the modified E40H to E45H standard are classed as E42H, and those built as E45Hs stay as E45H.

L1/Heathrow Buses

Heathrow North (HN)

Rebuilding has been completed, after the crash in December. ADL are back to normal.

Route 457, a new route for TfL, has been won by us and will use new hybrid Optare TempoSR 10.7m (OTM) from 31st May 2014

The E350H from First Essex that was being evaluated for use on 7series is returning back to First Essex.

7series, Beeline and Surrey Local routes have had frequency changes. New Route 73A is an extension of Route 73 on certain Brooklands Museum events days, such as the Spring Gathering on the 13th April 2014

Hydrogen and CNG buses at Southall have infrastructure at Heathrow North.
Seven Scania KUB270/Enviro 300SG (12m) will be shared between 7series X74 and new 7series X75:
SEG4-10 (LR63 CNK-P, R)

When gained, Routes H13 and H14 will run from HN using E25Hs.

Route 461 will be extended to Staines from Addlestone in April 2014, existing buses ex-5series will be transferred. Those buses will be replaced by older Citaros from Beeline, which will get new E45H.

For better reliability, routes N95 and N117 have been re-routed. 
Route N95 will run via Park Lane, Piccadilly instead of via Oxford Street, Regent Street between Marble Arch and Piccadilly Circus. 
Route N117 will be rerouted via 495 (and thus Kew Riverside) and London Road between Chalker's Corner/Mortlake and Busch Corner/Isleworth. Affected areas including Twickenham and Richmond will have alternatives including Routes 281N, N22 and an extended N335, which is extended via the former N117 route to Twickenham.

Southall (SA)

Route 456 is not fully double decker due to reasons below:

Hydrogen, Electric, and Compressed Natural Gas single deck buses (ironically) will be trialled on the 456 for TfL and L1/Group:

Two hydrogen VDL SB200/Wright Pular 2s:
WS9-10 (HY63 GEN, HY63 GEM)

Two BYD Electric Buses:
BE1-2 (LT63 BYD, LS63 BYD)

Two Optare TempoSR Electric (10.7m):
OSE3-4 (OP63 ARE, LT63 TSR)

Three CNG Scania KUB270/Enviro 300SG (12m):
SEG1-3 (LR63 CNG, LR63 CNH, LR63 CNJ)

Two CNG MAN Ecocity/Caetano:
MCG4-5 (YN63 YTS, YN63 YTT) 

These buses will run extra services on the route every day. The infrastructure for the electric buses to run are based in Southall Garage. Hydrogen and CNG tanks will be based at Heathrow North Garage.
12m buses are prohibited from running between Southall and Greenford due to tight turns, hence the 12m buses will only run between Southall TH and Chiswick.

The Volvo B5TL demonstrator for Route 456, coded VTN1090 is now permanently on Route 456 at SA.

Brentford (DI)

Route 311 and some extra 392 buses have been converted from conventional E45H to NBfL operation as of the 5th April (pushed forward conversion day).

Route 239 has been lost on tender and will leave on the 31st May 2014
Part of Route 480 has been retained, a sole double deck working between East Acton and Richmond (return), but the rest will move to Tower Transit.

Due to a PVR increase due to increased demand for the route, Route 392 will now have a PVR of 45, supplemented initially by existing TEs, before new NBfL addon orders from the 311 and 74 orders.

Wembley (WE)

Route 113/N113 will be run from Wembley Garage using new E45Hs, joining on the 26th April 2014.

Route 224 has been lost on tender and will leave on the 31st May 2014

Route 335 is now partly run from Wembley using MCs ex-Southall Garage.

Fulwell (F) and Walton (WT)

Route 411 will be gaining new Optare TempoSR diesels temporarily before the permanent Optare TempoSR Hybrids arrive, when the route is gained. These diesels will then transfer to non-London (Hemel Hempstead) operations.

Walton Garage has been acquired as an outstation for Fulwell, which will operate one bus each on Routes 411 and 418 when gained.

Also, when gained, Routes 74 and N74 will be run from Fulwell, where new NBfLs will be introduced (on 74).

Bracknell (BL)
Bracknell will re-open in June 2014, moving most Bracknell-based Beeline routes to the bus garage.

The following routes will move to Bracknell:
Beeline: 151/A, 153, 155, 171, 172, 190, 194, X94, part of 191
7series: part of 72

Hemel Hempstead (HE)
Bought from Arriva and Henlev Groups - this operation will be influenced by trentbarton, rebranded and routes restructure by January 2014. New buses - Optare TempoSR diesel and hybrid will be used. Route 320 (now berry) will use new E45Hs.

L1/Romford Buses

Upminster (UP)
East London Transit will be surrendered early by Blue Triangle on the 4th January, as all the buses have been delivered for some time now.

Routes 66 and 499 have had their contracts novated to L1/Romford Buses. Existing E45H/E40H (for 66) and existing E25H (for 499) have been transferred from the conversion to NBfL for the 15 and double deck conversion of the 456.

Hackney (HO)

E45H are now being used for 55/N55, recently gained from Stagecoach. Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2 (x5 - the last new Wright Gemini 2s), Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 3 (VT x15) and Plaxton President (x9) are being used on 48, recently gained from Stagecoach.

Stratford (SD)

Route 8 will be converted to NBfL buses in 2014. SD will host these buses next year.

Route 15 will lose 2 LTs - LT99 has transferred to London United for the 9, and LT164 has moved to DI for the 392.

Upton Park (U)

No new news.

chessingtonbuses, part of L1/Group and Wellglade Group

Chessington (CH)

This garage has been bought from Henlev Group. Route 166 is planned to run from here. Route 418 will be transferred to Fulwell under L1/Heathrow Buses.
Wellglade are also evaluating local services around Chessington and the surrounding area to the south. New Route a will start in June 2014 with existing E25H.