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

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). 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.

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.

Next meetings:
24 November: "Getting Fastrack Moving – My part in the mobilisation." A presentation by Ben Knowles of Go-Ahead.
9 February: "Confessions of a Bus Spotter." A presentation by Kim Rennie looking back over 50 years.

The London Bus (TLB)

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 Bus Magazine No 213, Autumn 2025)  (£6.00).
Including articles on London Transport Blind Design and Merlins in Ulster.

NEW SUP-45C London Bus Garages Allocation and Routes (£6.50).
List of all London bus garages with route and bus allocations as at 1 September 2025. 60 pages with 8 colour photos.

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

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.

NEW SUP-48A Country Area Bus Route Directory - Part 1: North and East (£7.50).
NEW SUP-49A Country Area Bus Route Directory - Part 2: South and West (£7.50).
SUPs 48A and 49A together list all bus routes in our 'country' area, showing the main points served, the operator/s, days/times of operation and basic frequencies. There is also an overview of each of the operators covered. Correct to 1st September. A5, 52 pages (part 1) or 60 pages (part 2), each 8 colour photos.

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

Vacancies

LOTS requires a new sub-editor (or perhaps two) to cover the Current Vehicle News section in TLB. Please e-mail lotstlbeditor@gmail.com if you think you may be interested in helping out.

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:

Monday 27 October

1. First Bus London's Park Royal garage (PK) is being wound down, with route 224 lost to Metroline (who are using DEL class E200s from Athlon Road) on 11th October and route 220 transferred to Stamford Brook on 18th. Route 18 had been due to move to Westbourne Park from the latter date, but this has been deferred pending the completion of electric charging infrastructure.

2. The 59 BYD B11E02s for First Bus London routes 18 and 31 (BDE47178-47236) are now being delivered but are going into store, mainly at Park Royal.

3. Route 144 passed from Arriva London to Go-Ahead London on 11th October and is being worked by WHV and MHV class hybrids from Northumberland Park, pending the release of existing electric double-deckers from other routes.

4. Go-Ahead London started working route 477 between Orpington and Dartford on 26th October, taking over from Arriva Kent Thameside. Three SE class E200s have been repainted to a pale green livery with 'Kent Country' fleetnames and allocated to the Fastrack base in Dartford.

5. With lots of ED class electrics entering service on routes 34 and 141 from Palmers Green garage, Arriva London has started cascading HV class hybrids to Barking (DX) to replace elderly DW and T class diesels on routes 150 and 175.

6. The first 75-reg buses to enter TfL service were a Wrightbus Kite for Transport UK (1766 on route C10 on 16th October) and a BYD B11E02 for Go-Ahead London (EBD126 on 22nd October). Conversion of route 188 to electric operation is taking a long time, with just six of the expected 25 EBDs in use through September, joined by another six so far this month.

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

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

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

Wednesday 8 October

1. The introduction of more ED-class BYD electrics at Palmers Green (AD) has allowed Arriva London to start transferring HV-class hybrids to Barking (DX) to replace DW and T diesels on routes 150 and 175.

2. Arriva London has also moved lots of HV-class hybrids from Tottenham (AR) to Grays (GY), following the introduction of more ES-class electrics. The HVs have replaced most of the DW and T diesels on routes 66, 103 and 370.

3. New Bakerloop route BL1 started on 27th September using Go-Ahead London BYD/ADL electrics Ee38-49 in a brown and white livery.

4. Go-Ahead London has ordered more DEL-class StreetDeck Electroliners (for routes 200, 230 and 486), EBD-class BYDs (for the SL7), SEL-class GB Kite Electroliners (for the B11, B12, B15 plus top-ups on the 184 and 219) and SEO-class E100EVs (for the 162).

5. Conversion of Go-Ahead London route 188 to EBD-class electrics started on 10th September but only six buses have been recorded to far (from a PVR of 22).

6. Metroline has ordered 35 10.4m single-deck BYDs for routes 95, 268 and 491, and a further 10 double-deck BYDs for the 240. Earlier BYDs BDE2986-3014 and BDE3050-3094 are now coming into London (from storage in Cardiff) and may enter service soon.

7. Transport UK has put the last of the E100EVs ordered for the G1 (1051-1063) into service, and has also received the first of the next batch of GB Kites (1743-1761, which are due for route 493 in the spring).

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

Route 81 will initially be operated by existing hybrids.

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:

Friday 19 September

Apologies for the lack of updates recently.

1. Go-Ahead has started using DEL-class StreetDeck Electroliners from Bexleyheath (BX), with 6 in use so far, initially on route 401 but now also spreading to the 99 and 269. Many more DELs have been delivered and are in store at various locations.

2. Metroline has also put more StreetDecks into service, converting routes 266 (W, using WDE3139-3163) and 98 (AC, using WDE3112-3128 that were originally intended for route E8). The 266 conversion has released VMH hybrids, which are now moving to Lampton (SG) for route 81.

3. Eleven of the 32 SEO-class AD E100EVs ordered by Go-Ahead have now been put into service at Orpington (MB), primarily on route 233 with a few appearances on route R8. Routes R1, R3 and R4 should follow soon.

4. Arriva London has now put 40 ES-class StreetDecks into service at Tottenham (AR), converting route 243 and part of route 341. These routes (plus the 41) had been due to get EZ-class Volvo/MCVs, which have been delayed, and the ES buses being used are those intended for south London routes 50, 194, 250 and 289.

5. Transport UK put new Kite Electroliners 1738-1742 into service at Walworth (WL) on routes C10 and P5, although they had been expected to go to Battersea (QB) for the 485. The latter route started using newer Kites 1301-1305 from 19th Sept.

6. Arriva London has put a few ED-class BYD B11E02s into service from Palmers Green (AD) on routes 34 and 141, plus just one (ED34) on Superloop SL1.

7. Go-Ahead is also taking more BYD B11E02s, with six (of 25 ordered) now in service on route 188 (Q).

8. At the Catford Garage open day on 13th September, Stagecoach London E40D 11011 was unveiled in a new 'retro' livery. It carries late-1980s LBL 'tape-grey' livery, and even has suitable orange/brown seating moquette.

9. All nine of the E400EVs ordered for Stagecoach London route 287 from Rainham (RM) (80418-80426) are now in use from Bromley (TB), primarily on school routes but also appearing on routes 61, 261 and SL3. New StreetDecks 82145-82171 are expected soon for the 61 and 261.

10. Go-Ahead London will be starting a new operation under the 'Kent Country' brand to work route 477 between Dartford and Orpington from 26th October. This follows Arriva's decision to withdraw the route. The route will be run from the Fastrack depot in Dartford, although details of vehicles and livery are not yet known.

Friday 12 September

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

Routes E9 and SL8 will initially be operated by existing hybrids.

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:

Wednesday 10 September

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

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

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

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

* Seven-year contract term..

* Current route 472 (24h) will be restructured as routes SL11 and N472 in early 2026 on a date yet to be confirmed.

Coming events

1 November
Aldenham Transport Spectacular, Allum Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree & Borehamwood, WD6 3PJ. Open 10.00 - 16.00hrs. Information: www.facebook.com/aldenhamtransportspectacular. (LSS)

2 November
Muswell Hill running day raising money for The Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Vintage buses running on parts of routes 43, 210, W7("212"). See here for a map - buses run from around 1030. (Please do not use the telephone number previously published here and elsewhere as it is no longer available. The event is confirmed as going ahead.)

15 November
252 event not going ahead on this date.

16 November
Camden Town Running Day raising money for Children in Need. Vintage buses operating on parts of routes 31, 134, 253. See here for a map - buses run from around 1030. (Please do not use the telephone number previously published here and elsewhere as it is no longer available. The event is confirmed as going ahead.)

16 November
"Reading Runabout" event organised by The Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust.

29 November
103 event not going ahead on this date.

6 December
Zero2 Bus Museum opens in Great Yeldham.

13 December
20th Anniversary Route 159 Road Run starting at the Ace Café. Up to 20 buses on site and a commemorative programme followed by an optional West End Lights Tour.

8 February 2026
70th anniversary of RM1 entering service. Roadrun for RMs and invited vehicles from the Ace Café via Golder's Green over Route 2 to Crystal Palace.

A national event list can be found here.