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Latest update: 3 September 2008 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. News updates will usually be weekly, by Sunday evening, but if major stories arise we will attempt to announce them sooner. Reports more than a month old and already reported in TLB are deleted. Reports for the TLB Editors and communications to Society Officers can be sent by e-mail to "lotsed@tesco.net" lotsed@tesco.net. TLB covers the operations and vehicles of around 120 companies working local bus services in Greater London and the Home Counties in the region roughly bounded by the old London Transport country-bus operating area. Each issue 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. Society news Forthcoming Conway Hall meetings Monday
22nd September: Eamonn Kentell, a photographer of some
distinction whose work featured in many past LOTS Reviews will present
a digital bus picture show entitled "A digital look back at London over
the past 35 years, 1973 to 2008". (see eamonnsphotos.fotopic.net).
Monday 20th October: Tony Wilson, also a photographer of some renown(!), presents a colour slide show entitled: "NOT IN (the usual) SERVICE - a look at some of the less run-of-the mill operations in and around London, interspersed with a few deviations and diversions along the way (so to speak). Monday 24th November: Presentation by Simon Thomas, Contracts Tendering Manager London Buses: "Contracting Bus Services from the Private Sector", including a powerpoint show. Simon will answer general questions. Monday 22nd December: A free Christmas Bus Rides evening in Central London. Conway
Hall is located at Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. The London Bus (TLB)
LBM 144
Summer 2008 edition of London Bus Magazine (£4.00). Main
articles include: London Bus Garages, Then and Now - No.6
Romford, by David Kemp; London's Low Emission Zone (LEZ) -
a photographic article mainly by Tony Wilson; A Trip through
Suburbia by Michael Dryhurst; Escape from Rainham by David
Bosher.
SUP-36X London's Major Bus Operators, Fleet
Allocations (£2.50), availble now. LOTS has several new publications now available from our
Sales Department. London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2008 (£6.50),
London Buses in 2007 (£7.00), SUP-44A London Bus Disposals
(£10.00). Sunday 7 September:
Chingford Royal Forest Hotel, bus display (11am - 4pm) and local bus
rides. Sunday 7 September: Dorking,
Country bus rally and running day at the Council Offices. Sunday 14 September: Heritage
Day on the Metropolitan Line. Electric locomotive Sarah Siddons and a
1938 Tube stock will run between Harrow or Watford and Amersham.
Various buses from the 1950s will run a special service between
Amersham Station and Amersham Old Town in connection with Amersham
Heritage Day and Amersham Museum which will be free to Heritage ticket
holders. Heritage travel by special trains must be booked in advance
by calling the London Transport Museum on 020 7565 7298 and costs
£20 per person (plus up to two children), except the first 1938
stock journey (10:26) from Harrow to Amersham via Watford which costs
£25. Full details on www.ltmuseum.co.uk.
Sunday 14 September: Amberley,
West Sussex, bus show Sunday 14 September:
Southampton, route 4/6 running day Fri/Sat 26/27 September: Guided
tour at LT Museum Depot at Acton Town. (Also on 24/25Oct) London General is to
operate RM 9. From Lewisham High St stop E (0800), NX Garage
(0810), Surrey Quays Stn (0820), Pevkham Bus Stn (0830),
Camberwell Garage (0835), Oval Station (0840), Victoria Wilton Road
(0850). Arrive Duxford 1030, depart 1630. Fares
Adult single £8, adult return £10, Under 16s
and Seniors, single £7, return £9. Admission
fees to Duxford are not included.
Sullivan Buses are taking a number of buses, including RML 2428, to Duxford. Picking up points include Woodside Park Station at 8.23; New Barnet Station at 8.44; Stirling Corner/Barnet Lane 8.20; Borehamwood Town Centre/Station "Woods" pub at 8.33; Potters Bar Station at 9.14. Full details of all picking up points are available at www.sullivanbuses.co.uk or by phoning 0798 2234698. Return fares are £8 per person with a family ticket (2+2 or 1+3) costing £24. Fares exclude admission. Passengers wishing to travel to Duxford on RML 2428 will be able to transfer onto it at South Mimms or Potters Bar. Buses return from Duxford at approx 16.30. Main event from
the station car park, turn right out of Amersham
Met.Station, 2 mins walk. Free bus departures
all over South Bucks 0940-1740. Timetables in advance
£5 incl. P&P (they are £6 on the day) from Peter
Cartwright, 54 Guinions Road, High Wycombe, Bucks
HP13 7NX (also from Peter at the LOTS 22nd Sept London meeting, on
buses at the Amersham 'heritage day' on 14th Sept, and on RML2440 at
Showbus 28th Sept). The route network is very extensive (pvr = 28), so
a timetable is essential for your planning.
Principal feeders,
subject to vehicle availability, include these (all return after the
event):
316 Hemel Hempstead Bus Stn stop 2(0951) via Bovingdon (1009). 336
Watford Junction stop 5(0949) via Rickmansworth Stn (1014).
353
Windsor St Leonards Rd (0920, 0950,1020) via Slough Bus Stn
stop 1 (0937,1007,1037), Gerrards X (0955,1025,1055).
359
Aylesbury Bus Stn stop 11 (0933) via Wendover Clock (0947).
362
High Wycombe Bus Stn stop 18(0950).
441
Staines Stn (0918) via Egham(0928), Windsor St L./Rd (0945), Slough Bus
Stn stop 7(0958), Beaconsfield, Aylesbury End(1023 as a
398).
709
West Croydon stop WN(0830) via Norbury, Streatham
Odeon (0847), Brixton T/Hall (0856),
Kennington, Trafalgar Sq/ Cockspur St(0914), Oxford Circus stop
RD (0923), Baker St stop E (0930) then
non-stop.
714/727
Dorking North Stn(0845) via Leatherhead Bull(0858), Surbiton Stn stop
NB(0919), Kingston Wood St stop P1(0928), Teddington
Clarence(0934), Heathrow North stop BP(0958), Uxbridge Belmont Rd
stop E(1019).
724
Hertford North Stn (0832), Hatfield Stn(0848), St Albans
Stn(0903) or St Peter's St (0907), Garston Garage(0920), Watford
Junction stop 5(0930), Rickmansworth Stn(0944).
Advertisements None Non-members may
wish to look at a sample issue of TLB.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for joining LOTS! Latest news 1) The service change
programme in south London all went ahead as planned on 30th August with
the new buses in place on routes 293 and 466 but the E200s are not yet
here for the 166 or 434 and existing fleet Darts operate
instead.
2) New ADL E200 Darts and Trident/ E400s for Metroline have been flooding in in the past week or so, the E200s (DE 859-877 batch) initially on route E6 but will also work the 326, and the E400s (TE 878 upwards) for Cricklewood, mainly on route 16. Some of the latter are buses ordered initially for route 460 but are now on the 16 to be compared with the hybrid Trident/E400s when they arrive shortly. Sunday 24 August 1) At Metroline the
iBus programme is proceeding apace, with Harrow Weald and North
Wembley now being treated. At HD, the leased ET class
of six East Lancs bodied Tridents has now been withdrawn, and the last
couple of DMS class Darts at Potters Bar were withdrawn in the past
week. The were last (but one, inherited from Thorpe's) of 79 Marshall
boded Darts that operated with the company.
2) After the Metroline
TPLs came back home from Docklands Buses, two (237/8) were loaned to CT
Plus from 16th August to allow for the extra buses needed on the route
388 extension. Metroline still has a couple of TPs on loan
to Docklands Buses even though all their nine SOC class Scanias are now
in service - still temporarily on route 474 for the time being.
3) Now that London
Central garages have been completed for iBus, London General garages
are now under way with Stockwell the first. Thus, the float of PVLs has
been continually on the move between LC and LG garages as
required, most of them having now landed at Stockwell.
1) London Buses tender
results issued in the past week:
2) Another significant new
vehicle order comes from London United with the first Optare Versas for
London. Nineteen are due for route 391 whose tender renewal
begins on 13th December.
3) Another allover advert
campaign has appeared in the past week in London. It is from
"VISA- proud sponsors of the London Olympics 2012" and are blue-based.
Thus far, two Metroline (Volvo B7TLs VP 494 and 496 from Holloway) and
two East London (Tridents 18206 and 18232 from Bow) buses have
been seen. Additionally, many of the RMs on the Heritage 9 and 15
have gained VISA adverts, although in the normal advert positions.
4) Further to last week's news,
several of the Big Bus Visionaires are now in service in London, but
the two Universitybus Scania/ Olympus buses are still not in use.
1) The seven Polish
built Scania OmniCity single-decks intended for route 293 at the
end of this month are now in the UK, as are the remainder of the
OmniCity double-decks (SOC 1-9) for Docklands Buses. A few
of the latter started going into service this past week,
initially on route 474, as there is allegedly a restriction at
present on the 425.
2) The first of ten Volvo B9TLs with Darwen East Lancs Visionaire open-toppers for Big Bus arrived in London in the past week, though not yet in service. The two Scania/ Darwen Olympus double-decks (206/7) at Universitybus are now in stock and should appear on route 614 shortly. 3) The influx of
Metroline TPs to Brentford Garage during the iBus conversiion
programme has meant a full temporary conversion of route E8 to
double-deck with several on the 190 as well. HCT (CT Plus) is
another operator who is likely to hire a couple of extra buses, to
allow for iBus conversions on their own fleet and for an extension on
16th August of route 388 from Blackfriars to Temple Station (but
having to proceed to Trafalgar Square to turn and stand).
4) Further to the recent
order from London General to serve the recent tender wins at Sutton and
Merton Garages, it comprises 54 x AD Trident/ Optare Olympus d/ds
for routes 93/151/154 and 40 x AD E200Dart/ Optare Esteem s/ds for
routes 80/163/164. This is the first landmark order for the new
Optare (formerly including Darwen East Lancs) combine.
Delivery is intended to start towards the end of this year and continue
until March 2009.
1) Now that the summer
shut-down at Alexander Dennis' at Falkirk is over, deliveries of
Enviro400s to Arriva London (for Palmers Green and South
Croydon) and Metroline have resumed. Metroline's new ones
are going into service from Cricklewood Garage on route 16. The
iBus programme at Metroline continues to provide odd allocations and
currently eleven TP class Tridents are running from Brentford Garage
alongside based TAs and have temporarily converted route E8 to
double-deck.
2)The Docklands Buses'
new Polish Scania OmniCity double-decks had still not been reported
into service as at 1st August, although that remains imminent. The two
at Metrobus are now working on Crawley local routes rather than the
409/411. On 1st August, Universitybus' two Scania d/ds, this time with
Darwen Olympus bodies, had arrived with Scania in Hertfordshire and
were awaiting delivery.
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