Latest Update:  19 September 2018

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" *** 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.

*** - Note that the TLB Editor has a new address:     davestewart297@gmail.com       The  tesco.net addresses dave.stewart@tesco.net and lotsed@tesco.net should still work for another two months and are being forwarded.

Forthcoming Conway Hall meetings

Doors  open  from 6pm. sales stand from 6.30pm, event begins at 7.30 and is finished by 10pm. There is no charge.  Visitors are welcome, especially from other societies or if you buy something or join as a new member. Meetings are held monthly (except January, July & August) 

Conway Hall is located at Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Nearest Underground station: Holborn (Central and Piccadilly Lines) Buses: 1, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 59, 68, 91, 168, 171, 188, 243 & 521 stop nearby.

LOTS Meetings and Events

Society Meetings:   At Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1.   Doors open from 6pm. sales stand from 6.30pm, event begins at 7.30 and is finished by 10pm. There is no charge. Visitors are welcome, especially from other societies or if you buy something or join as a new member.   

The normal September meeting is now on 1st October due to hall bookings.

Mon 01 October:  Andrew Braddock, ‘London’s public transport viewed from inside and out’.  
Mon 22 October:   Bob Palmer, colour slides ‘Pure Nostalgia, Part 4’.
Mon 19 November:  John Parkin, A photographic celebration of London’s red and green buses since late 60s’.
Mon 17 December:  Jeff Tucker, ‘London and the Home Counties in the 1970s’.

The London Bus (TLB)

TLB647 was posted on Tuesday 14th August. The closing date for reports for TLB 649 was Wednesday 5 September and it is due for posting on Tuesday 18 September. The closing date for reports for TLB 650 is Wednesday 3 October.

New and Recent LOTS publications:

Also note that on the ‘membership’  page of this website is a new membership form. When you are due for renewal you should receive one of these, or you can print the one on the website.  Note at the bottom of  the form that there is a new way of renewing.  It can be paid directly to our bank account and then you must send the MemSec an email to let him know you have done it.

Please address your orders to LOTS Postal Sales, Unit G16 Lombard Business Park. 8 Lombard Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3TZ. Make sure that the 'Postal Sales' name is included prominently, so we can give the order the best attention. An updated Sales List was included with TLB636. You can use this list to order, or a letter is perfectly acceptable, and so is the Sales List printed off from our website.  In each case, please don’t staple cheques to the form – they really won’t get lost by us but might be when the banks try to process them electronically!
          
LOTS’ latest publications, available now:

SUP-36KK  London’s Major Operators Fleet Allocations June 2018 (£4.00)  **NEW**  This will be printed later in June and first available at Postal Sales by around 25th June. Thus you may order as soon as you like but they will not be dispatched until after the above date.  This and all the other recent publications can be bought over the counter at Alton (15July) and Potters Bar (28July).
 
LOTS LBM184 London Bus Magazine Summer 2018:   (£5.00) **NEW**  The principal feature is ‘The evolution of the London OMO Double Decker, Part 1’ (up to 1968) by M E Papes;  ‘A day on the road’ – Stephen Floyd is out for the day from the office to see how the operation works in practice;  lastly a short piece on ‘Electric buses’.  

London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2018:   (£6.50). 

LOTS London Bus Review 2017 (Greater London and Beyond)  (£11.00).

LOTS LBM183 London Bus Magazine Spring 2018:  Principal features are:  “Red buses and a Middlesex village”- Harefield, route 128 and its successors, also one about “The People’s League for Freedom” – buses in the 1958 strike. (£5.00)
 
From Mike Harris, the latest London bus maps:
Greater London Bus Map No.37, 14th April 2018 -  £2.00. 
Greater London Night Bus Map, 14th April 2018  - £4.00.  
From each edition of the series an amount of the price is donated to a charity.  In this case it is to the Firefighters Association.

TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1950:  (£7.00) (80-pages illustrated).
TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1949:  (£7.00) (96-pages illustrated).
TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1948:  (£6.50) (80-pages illustrated)
 
Recent titles from other publishers:
Stagecoach Group Fleetbook 2018 (all UK) from Andrew Woolhouse  (£18.00), 204 pages, A5 size with many colour illustrations .

Green no More by Peter Aves, 152 pages hardback, over 150 colour pictures. It presents a rather different aspect on the history of LCBS 1970-1988.  £30.00 (Capital Transport). 

Building London’s Underground (From cut-and-cover to Crossrail) by Antony Badsey-Ellis.  (376 pages about the civil engineering that created LU)  £30.00 (Capital Transport).

The Streets of London Transport by Mick Webber. (96 pages of “evocative photographs showing buses, trams and trolleybuses of London Transport at work during the period from 1933 until 1969”. Includes 12 pages of colour. £19.95   (Capital Transport).
 

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Latest news 

Sunday 16 September

1) Saturday 15th saw two more London routes change hands. CT Plus took over the D6 from Go-Ahead with new E20Ds and Tower Transit took the D8 from Go-Ahead using VNs released from the frequency reduction on route 25.   Two weeks on and no further deliveries of E20Ds to RATP, although more new E40Ds continued to re-equip Stagecoach West Ham routes 241/330/474.
 
2) After White Bus put five new E20Ds into service in west Surrey two weeks ago, on 15th September Falcon Coaches followed suit with five of their own when they took over Mon-Sat route 461 (Kingston & Addlestone), this marking the end of Abellio Surrey’s operation.

Thursday 6 September

1) The type-mix at Harrow and Edgware with London Sovereign continues apace with routes 288i, 303 and H18H19 plus part of the H14 using new DLE and older DE class Enviro200s. The main part of the H14 is worked by SPs and the H12 by VHs  until new ADHs ordered for those routes arrive.   Metroline route 186 is now at Harrow Weald with a collection of older VW class Volvo B9TLs.   Route 113 is gaining more new VMHs (B5LH/MCV).

Sunday 2 September

1) On 31st August it was made known that introduction of the first section of the Elizabeth line will be delayed from December 2018 to Autumn 2019. It remains to be seen whether the various bus service changes that are linked to this and planned for 8th December 2018 will get deferred too.
 
2) RATP had to make late arrangements to take over the 288/303/H18/H19 from Arriva, H12 from Metroline and 293 from Go-Ahead from 1st September.   The  new parking ground at Parr Road Stanmore could not be made ready in time so temporary parking of 30+ buses is now at North Wembley.  Very few new buses had been delivered so around 20-odd buses that had been surplus since June had been retained to assist.  The result has been that ‘wrong types’ are working temporarily on a number of RATP routes for now.  However, SP-class Scanias on H14 and Tempos on 293 are the ‘proper’ allocation although VH-class B5LHs are temporary on the H12 until more SPs can be mustered.
 
3) Metroline had been gathering VWs for route 186 from 1st September, ousting the last main batch of VPs from the fleet (Willesden retain just five).  Route 32 lost its LTs for TEs and TEHs on its move to Edgware Garage.  Metroline has begun to put VMH-class Volvo B5LH/ MCV buses onto route 113, the first went into service on 31st August.  That date also saw electric Optare MetroDecker MD1 on Tower Transit route 23.  
 
4) This weekend (1/2/3 September) were big days in the country areas.  Considerable  service changes in NW Kent (Arriva and Go Coach), in mid-Surrey and West Sussex (Metrobus and Southdown PSV),  in west Surrey (expansion of White Bus and  Falcon Coaches).   Full details were in TLB648.  White Bus’ five new E20Ds YX68 ULT/U/V/W/Y were the first 68-reg buses to go into service in  the ’LOTS Area’ on the 1st of the month.

Sunday 26 August

1) Further new Stagecoach London E40D-Smart Hybrids have remained in store through August.  Although initially meant for West Ham, sixteen (11001-016) have now moved to Catford for route 136 which traverses the Mayor’s latest Low Emission Bus  Zone  (LEBZ) in Lewisham and Catford. More new E40Ds to follow to both Catford and West Ham in September.
 
2) CT Plus’ new E20Ds have been delivered ready for the take up for route D6 on 15th September; some may be used on the W13 in the meantime. Five new E20Ds with 68-marks are now with White Bus, these to allow for the take-up from 1st September of routes 48, 437, 462, 463, 500 in west Surrey.  
 
3) There are now 40 VMHs at Metroline (WJ) awaiting service, hopefully to run on routes 113 and 274 in due course.   As well as that, the electric BYD/ADL buses still await entry into service on routes 46 (Metroline) and 70/C1 (London United).  However, it is possible that one Metroline BEL together with Yutong electric YT1 may work on route 603 on 28-31August in a comparison trial.
 
4) 30/31August and 1September are the last days of this season of London General route 68 in Southend - open-top RML2318 (as well as the usual  WVL83) are due to be operated.

Tuesday 21 August
 
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:
 
Route   Current Operator                      New Operator               PVR    Vehicles         
20         London General                         CT Plus                             10     New Euro VI hybrid double deck
54         Stagecoach Selkent                  Stagecoach Selkent          17      New Euro VI hybrid double deck
75         Stagecoach Selkent                  Stagecoach Selkent          14      New Euro VI hybrid double deck
96         Stagecoach Selkent                  Stagecoach Selkent          24      2014 Euro VI hybrid double deck
123*      Arriva London North                  Arriva London North          20     2010/11 Euro V diesel double deck
158*      Stagecoach East London          Arriva London North          18     Double deck (details TBC)       
178       Stagecoach Selkent                  London Central                   9      2012 Euro V diesel double deck
244       London Central                          London Central                  12     2010 Euro V diesel single deck
275       Stagecoach East London          Stagecoach East London   13     2012 Euro V diesel double deck
291       Stagecoach Selkent                  London Central                   6       2012 Euro V diesel double deck
301       (new route)                                Arriva London North          10      2010/11 Euro V diesel double deck
428       Arriva London North                  Arriva London North         TBC    2010/11 Euro V diesel double deck
689       Arriva London South                  Arriva London South           0**   2010 Euro V diesel double deck
B11      London Central                          London Central                    5      2010 Euro V diesel single deck
B15      Arriva London North                  Arriva London North            6      2009 Euro IV diesel single deck
 
* Operates 24 hours at weekends.
** Uses 1 bus from route 250 allocation..
 
All Euro IV and Euro V vehicles will be upgraded to Euro VI emissions standards.
 
The above contracts will commence on the following dates:
 
8th December 2018: Routes 178, 244, 291 & 301.
26th January 2019: Routes 96, 428, B11 & B15.
2nd March 2019: Routes 123, 158 & 275.
23rd March 2019: Route 20.
20th April 2019: Route 689.
27th April 2019: Route 75.
4th May 2019: Route 54.

Sunday 19 August

1) Electric Optare MetroDecker MD 1 is now at Tower Transit and is likely to be trialled soon on route 23.   Dart PDL120, out of service  for three years, is back after being converted to electric propulsion by Magtec;  it is to be used on route 312 from Arriva Croydon (TC) Garage.   The BCI tri-axle bus  (TA 1) at Go-Ahead  is now due to enter service next Saturday 25 August on route 12. 
 
2) The results of the massive consultation on bus services for when the Elizabeth line opens has been published.  We printed the proposed changes in  TLB635 (July 2017):
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/elizabeth-line/

Friday 17 August

This has appeared from an unofficial source about proposed route and frequency changes across Central London.  It is likely to be credible but dates are missing. We would expect that TfL would offer most of the changes to formal consultation in due course.” 
 
 https://853london.com/2018/08/15/tfl-plans-permanent-cutbacks-for-routes-53-171-and-172-in-huge-bus-axe-scheme/

Sunday 12 August

1) Go-Ahead’s  B5LHC-SRMs VHP 1 and 2 continued to be out every  day on route 37 in the past week, although the BCI  tri-axle is not expected to be in use until 25th August.   The nomadic electric Yutong bus YG18CVS is expected to begin service on Metroline route 46 in the coming week.
 
2) London City Tour closed down after service on Friday 10 August. Already LCT had been advising their passengers that they could use OLST buses and the LCT vehicles have already been advertised for sale.  Meanwhile the first of should be ten UNVI-bodied open-toppers for OLST has been out on the road, thus far just testing.
 
3) There is no sign yet of any of the 34xDLEs, 7xDXEs and 20xADHs needed by RATP for 1st September  although Wright’s has started to deliver three months early the 12 x B5LH/Gemini3s (VH 45298-309); these would operate from Edgware on route H12 until they move to the 79 in November. 

For earlier reports refer to TLB or join LOTS!

Forthcoming events (updated 19 September)

These events are provided as a service to readers, LOTS has no involvement nor responsibility for any event noted below: