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.

10 February 2025: John Parkin will present archive London bus pictures that he has taken over the decades with some "moving surprises" promised.

12 May 2025: Keith Wood will give a photo show entitled "40 Years as a Bus Nut".

16 June 2025: AGM.

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 Bus Review 2023 (£18.50).
Now in stock. 80 well-illustrated pages covering bus developments (both routes and vehicles) through the year.
View sample pages.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

Sunday 12 January

1. Go-Ahead London routes 51 and 244 transferred from Bexleyheath (BX) to Morden Wharf (MG) on Saturday 11th, taking with them a number of EN and WVL double-deckers and SE single-deckers. These changes are to make space at BX for the assumption of routes 99, 269 and 401 from Arriva on Saturday 18th January.

2. Other changes from 18th January are the withdrawal of irregular Arriva London route 347 (Romford to Ockendon) and contract renewals on routes 273, 422, B16 and SL3 (the latter two with electric buses due later).

3. Stagecoach London route 323 has been de-electrified, now worked by E20D single-deckers (36570-36574) transferred from Bromley (TB) to West Ham (WH). The five BYD/E200EVs latterly used (64201-64205) are due to be converted into bicycle-carrying vehicles for a service through the new Silvertown Tunnel from 7th April.

4. Arriva London started putting ES-class electric buses out on route 279 from 6th January. Most of the batch of 34 buses (ES51-84) for this trunk route were delivered last summer but have been stored pending charging infrastructure improvements at Enfield (E) garage.

5. Further new orders placed by Metroline with Wrightbus are for 52 WDE-class StreetDecks (for routes 266, U3 and U4) plus 20 WSEL-class GB Kites (for routes U1 and U2).

Sunday 5 January

1. The first of Go-Ahead London's new EBD-class BYD double-deckers entered service over the holiday. Those on route 320 (MB) started on Christmas Eve, while others appeared on route 101 (RR) from - appropriately - 1st January. Note that the 320 has jumped the queue and is using buses originally earmarked for the 333 (SW).

2. Lots more BYDs for Go-Ahead London and Metroline have been delivered to London but are believed to not yet be in operator stock. The use of Atlas Road garage (RP) as a store has ceased, with other RATP garages now being used. GAL EBDs (up to EBD94) have been noted at Hounslow Heath (WK), while some of Metroline BDEs (BDE2985-3030) are at Stamford Brook (V).

3. Fleetnumbers at Metroline have jumped ahead with the arrival of Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners WDE3113 and WDE3114, the first of 53 on order for routes 4, E2 and E8.

4. The use of Mercedes Citaro single-deckers on TfL work is almost ended. 18 of the 20 Irizar ie trams for route 358 (MB) have now seen service, with just one MEC still working into 2025, while route 108 (MG/NX) is now going fully electric with additional (ex-Red Arrow) SEe-class buses replacing the (ex-Red Arrow) MECs. RATP still has nine Citaros, mainly on route 117.

5. TfL route changes over the next two weeks are mainly to make space at Bexleyheath garage (BX) for routes won from Arriva from 18th Jan. On 11th Jan, routes 51 and 244 transfer to Morden Wharf (MG), as will school routes 624, 625 and 658 after the holiday.

Saturday 21 December

1. Several of Arriva London's ES-class Wright StreetDeck Electroliners for route 279 have recently moved from storage at Edmonton (where they have been since delivery in July) to Enfield (E) garage for driver training, suggesting that their introduction is due soon.

2. Stagecoach London's Enviro400EVs for route SL3 have been seen virtually complete at the ADL factory in Falkirk. Curiously, one had traditional mirrors, while others had cameras.

3. The Go-Ahead EBD-class BYD double-deckers have yet to enter service, but training is underway at New Cross (for route 321), Henley Road (473) and Orpington (320). Go-Ahead will need to free-up a large number of older double-deckers for contract wins at Bexleyheath from 18th January.

4. TLB724 stated that the last day of Metroline's operation of commercial route 242 (Waltham Cross to Cuffley) will be Saturday 4th January 2025, with Uno taking over from the 6th. Please note that it will in fact be Friday 3rd January.

Tuesday 17 December

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
166	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	TBC	New electric single deck
202	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	16	Existing hybrid double deck
319	Arriva London South	Arriva London South	19	Existing electric double deck
H12	London Sovereign	London Sovereign	14	Existing hybrid double deck
K1	London United	London United	14	Existing diesel single deck
K3	London United	London United	11	Existing diesel single 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:

Monday 16 December

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
30	Metroline	Metroline	TBC	Existing hybrid double deck
67	London General	Arriva London North	10	Existing New Routemaster
95	Metroline West	Metroline West	15	New electric single deck*
231	Metroline	Metroline	7	Existing diesel double deck
241	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	13	Existing hybrid double deck
304	Blue Triangle	Blue Triangle	10	Existing hybrid double deck
330	Stagecoach East London	Blue Triangle	10	Existing hybrid double deck
397	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	6	Existing diesel single deck
474 (24h)	Stagecoach East London	Blue Triangle	14	Existing hybrid double deck
491	Metroline	Metroline	9	New electric single deck
D6	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	14	Existing diesel single deck
R9	Metrobus	Metrobus	3	Existing diesel single deck
W16	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	10	Existing diesel single deck

* Route 95 will initially operate with existing hybrid 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 14 December

1. RATP Dev is planning to sell its London bus operations (comprising London United, London Sovereign and London Transit) to First. The deal is subject to French Government and TfL approval but, if it goes ahead, it will presumably lead to another round of mass bus renumberings. Interestingly, there are still almost 40 buses in the current RATP Dev fleet that were bought new by First London before they withdrew from the London market in 2013.

2. The first of the new model single-deck electric buses from BYD are now arriving. One in unmarked London red was seen at the factory in China a couple of months ago, while the first for Uno was at Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham in November and was noted this week at the BYD premises in west London.

3. Route 358 has been over half-converted to Irizar ie tram operation, with 14 of the 20 buses noted in use so far.

Saturday 7 December

1. TfL route 266 passed from RATP (RP) to Metroline (W) on Saturday 7th November. It is intended to be mainly operated by VMH-class buses transferred in from EW and HT.

2. To free up VMH buses for the 266, Metroline has put more of its WDE-class StreetDeck Electroliner buses into service at EW, mainly on route 113. Some of the new buses had been in store for as long as 6 months.

3. Arriva has assigned class codes to some forthcoming double-decker orders. EE1-30 will be the 30 AD Enviro 400EVs for routes 196 and SL6, while ED1-66 will be the BYD B11s for routes 34, 141 and SL1.

4. Most of Go-Ahead London's 75 new EBD-class buses are now in London, along with some from the follow-on order. However, many are currently being stored at other premises, including BYD at Hounslow and adjacent to the RATP garage at Atlas Road. Also at the latter is BDE2993, one of the first of the type for Metroline.

5. RATP has ordered 17 WrightBus StreetDeck Electroliners for use on routes 31 and N31. Transport UK has also ordered another 29 of the type (for routes 270 and 337), along with 13 ADL Enviro 100EVs for the G1.

6. The Switch MetroCity on loan to Stagecoach entered service on route W5 on 1st December, although it will also appear on the 379 at times. Stagecoach fleetnumber 89999 has been allocated.

7. Apart from a timetable change to route C10 on 21st December, there are no more TfL route changes scheduled for 2024.

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.

1 February
Elstree & Borehamwood Transport Collectors Fair, Allum Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree & Borehamwood, WD6 3PJ. Open 10.00 - 16.00hrs. Telephone enquiries to Julian Bowden on 07932 812268. (LSS)

1 March
Shoreham Transport Fair, The Shoreham Centre, 2 Pond Road, Shoreham, BN43 5WU. Open 10.00 - 15.30hrs. Details from Julian Bowden on 07932 812268.

23 March
Wood Green transport event. Vintage London buses operating on part of routes 29, 121, 144, 251 and W3. For more information contact 0795 652 8474.

29 March
Route 19 Running Day.

5 April
South East Bus Festival, The Kent Showground, Detling. Open 10.00 - 16.00hrs. (LSS)

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)

A national event list can be found here.