Society news

This page gives up-to-date major news items to supplement our monthly newsletter, •The London Bus• (TLB). Items noted here will be incorporated in the next issue of TLB in greater detail. Reports more than a month old and already reported in TLB are deleted. Each issue of TLB is typically 40 pages containing references to around 300 routes and 1000 vehicles, together with the business and political news, the publicity output of the companies, forthcoming exhibitions and rallies, and much more. To get the full picture, why not join now? Go to the Membership Page for details.

If you need to contact us with anything to do with membership, subscriptions to TLB or LBM and queries over postal sales, email lotsmemsec@gmail.com and it will be passed to the correct person. Reports for TLB/LBM or queries to other society officers can go via the TLB Editor lotstlbeditor@gmail.com and it will be passed to the correct person.

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com. This E mail address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales Bulletin.

Meetings and Events

We meet at The Gallery at Alan Baxter, 77 Cowcross Street, Farringdon. A three minute walk from Farringdon Station* (Met/Circle/H&C lines, Elizabeth line and Thameslink).

Doors open at 6pm, meetings start at 6.30pm and finish at 8pm, then Q&As and sales stand but all out by 9pm when the venue is locked.

Alisha Juszczyk's presentation "Bus Stories Through the Lens" has had to be postponed.

*Exit from Farringdon station (Met side), turn east and go up Cowcross Street until you reach the Leon restaurant. Opposite there is a passageway, cross the cobbled courtyard to the far right corner and go down the stairs to the basement meeting room known as 'The Gallery'. We would advise that you do not drive to the venue, parking space is rare and charges apply for 24 hours. There are several coffee shops and a Wetherspoons on Farringdon Road.

The London Bus (TLB)

Notice about TLB723 (November)

Unfortunately some copies of TLB723 (November 2024) were affected by a page collation error and had pages 25 to 36 plus the Sales List missing, with other duplicated pages in their place. Could we ask members to please check their copies and get in touch (e-mail to lotstlbeditor@gmail.com) if yours is affected. We will then arrange for replacement copies to be sent out.

New and recent LOTS publications

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com. This email address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales list.

Please address your orders to LOTS Postal Sales, Lombard Business Park, 8 Lombard Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3TZ. Orders are processed weekly. Make sure that the 'Postal Sales' name is included prominently, so we can give your order our best attention. You can use the Sales List printed off from this website this list to order, or a letter is perfectly acceptable. In either case, please don’t staple cheques to the form.

NEW London Route Review 1946-1952 (£18.00).
A4 glossy 172 pages. Full details of all changes to Central Area bus, tram and trolleybus routes during the period, including garage/depot allocations and vehicle types for bus routes. Includes 47 black & white photos, with three historic colour photos on the covers.
View sample pages.

NEW SUP-45B London Bus Garages Allocation and Routes (£6.00).
List of all London bus garages with route and bus allocations as at August 2024. 60 pages with 8 colour photos.
View sample pages.

NEW SUP-46A London Transport Trolleybuses - Allocations and Disposals 1948-1962 (free digital download).
Allocation histories and disposals for all LT trolleybuses. 102 pages.

NEW SUP-47A London’s Advert Buses 1969-2024 (£8.00).
All known all-over advert buses in the London area (not London Country). Over 1000 buses and over 4000 adverts listed, with dates. 76 pages, 18 colour photos.
View sample pages.

London Bus Review 2022 Greater London and Beyond (£17.00).
A4 glossy, 80 pages, 135 colour photographs with extensive captions. This is the ORIGINAL annual Review made with about 50 years’ experience.

LOTS London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2024 (£8.50).

SUP 39D Transport for London's Bus Operators Fleet Allocations and PVRs - March 2024 (£5.50).
TfL operators' fleets with garage allocations and a simplified PVR table.

NEW London Bus Magazine No 209, Autumn 2024 (£6.00).
Features include "Royally serving different Standards by motorbus"London Transport Ticket Machines in the 1980s and 1990s and Buses to Zoos.

See the Publications page for details of LOTS publications or the Sales Bulletin on the Sales page for our current stocklist.

Vacancies

Nil.

Non-members may wish to look at a sample issue of TLB.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for joining LOTS!

Industry and general news

Major news items to supplement our monthly newsletter:

Wednesday 27 November

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
44/N44	London General	London General	18	Existing hybrid double deck
61	Stagecoach Selkent	Stagecoach Selkent	10	New electric double deck
77	London General	London General	18	Existing hybrid double deck
261	Stagecoach Selkent	Stagecoach Selkent	14	New electric double deck
308	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	14	Existing hybrid double deck
403	Metrobus	Metrobus	8	Existing hybrid double deck
488	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	9	Existing diesel single deck

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/or vehicle delivery timescales.

The hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Saturday 23 November

1. After numerous postponements due to infrastructure issues, the Irizar ie tram electric buses for Go Ahead London route 358 finally started working on Wed 20th Nov. Nine out of the 20 IE-class buses have so far been used.

2. Also on 20th November, 2 passengers were taken to hospital after a Stagecoach London E400 on route 145 struck a tree in Hedgemans Road, Dagenham. Perhaps surprisingly, the roof of bus 10196 was completely ripped off.

3. From 18th Nov until 20th Dec, route 146 from Bromley to Downe is terminating at Keston due to road works. A shuttle service numbered 546 runs from Keston Church to Downe High Street and is being operated by Ensignbus using a plain white Mercedes Sprinter minibus.

Monday 18 November

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
46	Metroline	Metroline	17	Existing electric single deck
D8	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	Stagecoach Lea Interchange	7	New electric double deck
N5	London Sovereign	London Sovereign	*	Existing hybrid double deck
N20	Metroline	Metroline	*	Existing New Routemaster
N550	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	*	Existing hybrid double deck
N551	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	*	Existing hybrid double deck

* Night only routes using buses sourced from day route allocations.  

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/or vehicle delivery timescales.

The hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Sunday 17 November

1. After a couple of months with Arriva London, former Sullivans TfL route 217 was taken over by Go-Ahead London on a 1-year contract from 16th November. WVN-class buses gathered from DS/SI and AL are being used from Northumberland Park (NP) garage.

2. Kingston Cromwell Road Bus Station re-opened on 16th November after being closed for rebuilding since August 2023. Interestingly, the new configuration is very similar to the previous one, retaining provincial-style nose-in stands that are not found anywhere else in London.

3. The issues with the TfL live bus running data feeds appear to have been resolved and all routes now seem to be logging correctly, even the W9.

4. Route 257, along with about 16 buses, has been temporarily transferred from Leyton (T) to Lea Interchange (LI) garage to allow rebuilding work for electric buses at T. This is due to last for around 6 weeks.

5. There are no planned TfL route changes next weekend (23rd Nov).

Monday 11 November

1. Go-Ahead London took over the North Kent Fastrack routes from Arriva Kent Thameside on 10th November. Although many of the Irizar ie tram electric buses have already been delivered, the infrastructure is not yet ready, while the plan to utilise Mercedes Citaro buses off TfL work was also affected by similar delays elsewhere. Instead, the services are being covered by about a dozen existing SE-class E200s from around the fleet, along with seven ex Sullivans E200MMCs acquired from EnsignBus (now SEN58-64), five former Luton Airport Citaros (now MEC70-74) and a pair of Volvo B7RLEs loaned from Metrobus (6003/6013).

2. Go-Ahead London has placed several large orders, including 38 more BYD B11E02s (for routes 129 and 320), 131 Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners and 53 Wrightbus GB-Kites. Routes for the latter types are to be announced.

3. Arriva London has also ordered some of the new BYD double-decker (the B11E02), with 66 due for routes 34, 141 and SL1. A further order is for 30 ADL Enviro 400EVs for routes 196 and SL6.

4. Stagecoach has ordered 13 StreetDeck Electroliners for route 247 (NS), which will be numbered 82083-82095. The 17 ADL Enviro 400EVs for the SL3 (TB) are expected to be numbered 80401-80417.

5. Former Sullivans TfL route 217 passes from Arriva London to Go-Ahead London next weekend (16th November), and should be operated by existing WVL and WVN buses.

6. The Metroline base at Kings Cross (closed in June 2023) will be re-opened from 30th November to run routes 30 and 274 once again. This is to make space at Holloway (HT) for other route tendering wins.

7. Following an accident, Walthamstow Bus Station is closed until 20th December while new pedestrian crossings are installed.

8. Further details of next weekend's Camden Town Vintage Bus Running Day are now available.

Sunday 3 November

1. As planned, Stagecoach London has sent a couple of the Wright StreetDeck Electroliners intended for route 242 over to Catford (TL) for use on route 47 (plus the 199). Three more from the batch have been working on route 86.

2. The demise of Stagecoach London's Optare Solo fleet is confirmed, the last working recorded on LVF being on 5th October. They are now in the process of being towed away from West Ham garage (WH) for scrap.

3. Photos taken at the BYD factory in China have been seen on Facebook that showed various buses awaiting delivery. Among them were Metroline BDE3008, lots of Go-Ahead EBDs numbered up to EBD86 and a new design single-decker in London red.

Friday 1 November

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
55/N55	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	29	Existing New Routemaster
56	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	18	Existing hybrid double deck
87/N87	London General	London General	19	Existing New Routemaster
219	London General	London General	12	Existing electric single deck
230	London General	London General	11	New electric double deck
432	Arriva South London	Arriva South London	10	Existing hybrid double deck

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/or vehicle delivery timescales.

The hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Saturday 19 October

1. Lots more EBD-class double-deckers have arrived for Go-Ahead London, being noted at Southampton Docks or at BYD in London. These have included a number in red and white for eventual use on Superloop route SL4 next year (when the Silvertown tunnel opens).

2. Other deliveries have included the first of Metroline's Wright GB-Kite single-deckers (WSE2931 and WSE2936 noted), most of the outstanding Volvo/MCV double-deckers for Stagecoach London (86190 and 86203-86208, with 86200 to follow) and also most of the Wright Electroliners for Stagecoach route 257 (82065-82082).

3. Recent and forthcoming TfL route changes are mainly contract renewals. In quite a few cases, new electric buses are specified but will be introduced "in due course", rather than from the contract start dates. Examples include Arriva London route 341, Go-Ahead London route 22, and Metroline routes U1, U2, U3 and U4.

4. Work to make PDFs of older LOTS publications available on-line is nearing completion. All but a handful of TLBs and SUPs can now be downloaded for free from the archive at www.ltsv.com/lots/.

Friday 18 October

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
258	London United	Metroline	12	Existing diesel double deck
293	London United	London United	6	Existing diesel single deck
412/685	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	8	New electric double deck
415	Transport UK London	Transport UK London	9	Existing New Routemaster
434	Metrobus	Metrobus	4	Existing diesel single deck
677	Blue Triangle	London General	1	Existing hybrid double deck
U5	Transport UK West London	Transport UK West London	11	Existing electric double deck

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/or vehicle delivery timescales.

The diesel and hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Saturday 12 October

1. Arriva London EKL1 has now been delivered to London. This is the first of 11 Wright GB-Kite single deckers for route 255 from Thornton Heath (TH).

2. Arriva London has added some T-class Enviro 400s to the allocation at Grays (GY) garage, these working alongside the existing DW-class buses on route 370. The Ts came from Edmonton (EC) and several DWs have gone the other way for use on route 217 and rail replacement work.

3. The ex-Hackney CT Optare Solos with Stagecoach London are all but finished. Just one example (47916) is showing on LVF as having worked into October (but see also the next item).

4. Following the TfL cyber attacks last month it appears there has been an impact on live bus running data, as displayed on LVF and other websites. Some routes, particularly those that have had changes to their schedules, are only showing some of the buses working at any given time (for example the 4, 131, 180 and 201) while some are showing no buses at all (for example the 210, 290, 390 and W9). Until these issues are resolved, it would be helpful if members could report any observations that relate to possible bus transfers.

Thursday 10 October

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Previous Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
217	Sullivan Buses	London General	12	Existing diesel double deck
Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
60	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	20	New electric double deck
312	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	12	New electric single deck
405	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	10	New electric double deck
466	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	20	New electric double deck
485	London General	Transport UK London	4	New electric single deck
499	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	8	Existing diesel single deck*

* One vehicle is diesel double deck.

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/or vehicle delivery timescales.

The diesel vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards.

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Sunday 6 October

1. In addition to the 75 BYD B11s reported last week, Go-Ahead London has now ordered 32 ADL Enviro 100EV single-deckers for routes 233, R1, R3, R4 and R8 (all MB).

2. RATP has ordered 20 Wright GB-Kite Electroliner single-deckers for route 33.

3. Due to delays in installing charging equipment at Ash Grove (HK, for route 242) and Leyton (T, for route 257), some of Stagecoach London's new Wright StreetDeck Electroliners are going to be temporarily redeployed to routes 47 (TL) and 247 (NS). Delivery of the batch for route 257 (82065-82082) has now started, while 82064 from the route 242 batch is now at Catford (TL) for driver training.

4. Further vehicles ordered by Stagecoach London are 11 Volvo BZL/MCV single-deckers for routes W13 and W14 (LI), to be 66090-66100, plus one Volvo BZL/MCV double-decker for the school working on route W13 (LI), to be 86226.

5. The 51 Volvo BZL/MCV double-deckers on order for Arriva London routes 243 and 341 (AR) are to be numbered EZ1-51.

Coming events

These are publicised as a service to the readership. LOTS has neither any involvement nor responsibility for any event listed. Some events have admission fees. Please check before attending if costs are a concern. We usually confine this listing to events with an expected London bus interest or are within easy reach of London.
(LSS) = LOTS' Sales Stand expected to attend.

Sunday 17 November
Camden Town Vintage Bus Running Day in support of the BBC Children in Need Appeal.
Free vintage buses on routes 24, 29, 134 and 214 with a feeder service on route 68.
Further details here.

A national event list can be found here.