Latest Update: 19 April 2024

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.

LOTS Meetings and Events

We now meet at The Gallery at Alan Baxter, 77 Cowcross Street, Farringdon. It is already used by several other societies (including TLURS) so may be familiar to some of you. It is three minutes walk from Farringdon Station (Met/Circle/H&C lines, Elizabeth line and Thameslink).

We shall start and end earlier than at Conway Hall as the venue is locked by 9pm. Therefore doors will open at 6pm, meetings start at 6.30pm and finish at 8pm, then Q&As and sales stand but all out by 9pm.

Booked dates in 2024 are 13th May, 17th June (AGM), (revised date) 30th September and 18th November.

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)

TLB 716 was posted on Tuesday 16th April. The closing date for reports for TLB 717 is Wednesday 1 May and it is due for posting on Tuesday 14th May.

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 the order the best attention. An updated Sales List was included with May 2023 TLB705. 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:

Sales list – A new edition was attached with TLB705 and will be found on the sales page of this website.

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.

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

NEW 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.

SUP 45A London Bus Garages, allocations and routes - September 2023. £5.50

This is a new SUP from LOTS listing all garages operating TfL routes from A to X. Each has a based fleetlist and a list of routes, types allocated and basic M-F PVR figures.

SUP24J Service Vehicles current fleet April 2023 £5.00.

NEW London Bus Magazine No 207, Spring 2024 (£6). Main articles are a photographic record of 50 years of Showbus by Toy Wilson, a history of Green Line route 727 by Richard Moseling and anecdotes from at London Transport canteen by Jeff Morss.

London Bus Magazine No 206, Winter 2023 (£6). Main articles are by Colin Stannard on his long career plus an account of the relatively recent bus wars in Guildford between Arriva and Stagecoach. by Andrew Babbs.

From Mike Harris, the latest Greater London bus maps:

New editions of the Greater London Bus Map dated 29 April 2023 are now available for (£2) and a Night Bus Map for 29 April 2023 (£4) From each edition of the series an amount of the price is donated to a charity. In this case it is to the Architectural Heritage Fund. Copies are available from www.shop.busmap.co.uk and from the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

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

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 that 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.

LOTS Info Service:
Andrew Robertson, Curry Farm, Halstead Lane, Knockholt, Sevenoaks,TN14 7EP.
Or e-mail lots.info@btinternet.com.

Vacancies:

Arriva has a vacancy for a Schedule Compiler

Finsbury Park

Full time

Do you enjoy solving problems?

Are you good with puzzles?

If so, you may be the person we are looking for to join our Commercial Department as a Trainee Schedule Compiler.

The role is currently based at our head office in Finsbury Park. The role, as part of our busy team, is essential for the future commercial success of the business.

You will undertake training in all aspects of schedule compilation using both manual and computer based methods, including:

The compilation of time and duty schedules, and rotas to meet the requirements of the company and Transport for London.
Estimating resource changes in response to internal or Transport for London initiatives.
The analysis of performance data in relation to improving schedule efficiency.
Liaising with other departments to ensure that up to date information is maintained.

The skills required for you to be successful in this role are:

A high degree of numeracy especially when using hours and minutes.
Ability to maintain a high level of concentration.
Excellent analytical and problem solving skills with great computer skills.
Determination to work through complex problems until the best solution is found.
Excellent attention to detail.
Well organised, self-motivated and flexible in your approach to your work.
Good team focus but also comfortable working on your own.
Ability to communicate effectively at various levels.

In addition it would be desirable if you had some understanding of bus operation in London and the ability to quickly acquire a good working knowledge of Arriva London’s Trade Union agreements. On occasion you will be expected to investigate any of our routes across north and south London and must be flexible to work outside of normal office hours, including evenings and at weekends.

Appointments will be subject to completion of a satisfactory period of probation. The training period will depend on the ability of the individual candidate but may take up to 9 months.

More details here: https://arriva.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Careers/details/Schedule-Compiler_JR027729-1

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

Latest news

Friday 19th April

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
697	London United	Metroline West	3	Existing diesel double deck
H22	London United	London United	12	Existing diesel single deck

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
697	7th September 2024	3rd September 2027
H22	1st March 2025	25th February 2028

Monday 15th April

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
33/N33	London United	London United	18	New electric single deck
71	London United	London United	13	Existing hybrid double deck
371	London United	London United	14	Existing electric single deck*

* Two vehicles are double deck. Certain journeys will continue to be operated by diesel vehicles.

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
33/N33	9th November 2024	7th November 2031
71	6th July 2024	2nd July 2027
371	6th July 2024	2nd July 2027

Sunday 14 April

1) Route 306 passed from Metroline to Transport UK this weekend, and so far has been wholly worked by new Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners. Delivery of these is continuing, now starting into the batch ordered for the 133 (fleetnumbers 3059 to 3085). An arrival out of sequence is 3103, a one-off technically to top up the allocation on route 111. It was delivered to Fulwell/Twickenham (TF) during the week, but has now entered service from Battersea (QB) on the 133.

2) The application of Transport UK fleetnames to the 870-strong fleet is ongoing. Observations today suggest that about a quarter still carry Abellio lettering.

3) The three Stagecoach Scania OmniCity buses that transferred from West Ham (WH) to Lea Interchange (LI) with route 97 did not last long and are now withdrawn. Remaining in use are three at WH (now mainly on the 241) plus the four at Plumstead on the 96. RATP's pair at Hounslow (AV) are also still going.

4) There are no TfL route changes planned for next weekend (20th April), which is somewhat unusual. There is however the London Marathon on the Sunday (21st April), which will result in numerous route diversions and curtailments.

Friday 12th April

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
341 (24h)	Arriva London North	Arriva London North	19	New electric double deck
H37	London United	London United	13	Existing diesel single deck
SL3	Stagecoach Selkent	Stagecoach Selkent	15	New electric 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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
341 (24h)	12th October 2024	10th October 2031
H37	1st March 2025	25th February 2028
SL3	18th January 2025	16th January 2032

Sunday 7 April

1) The two Go-Ahead Women liveried Ee-class electrics at Bexleyheath (Ee244 and Ee245) were the first 24-reg buses to enter TfL service, doing so on 28th March. They are also now correctly tracking on LVF.

2) Talking of registrations, Arriva London withdrew its last 57-reg buses from service in February, these being EN-class E200s off route 318. The only 57-reg buses still in normal TfL service are Stagecoach London 36037/36038, to be found on the 309, 394 or W5, but probably not for long.

3) Route S3 was transferred from RATP Dev (TV Tolworth) to Transport UK (BC Beddington) on 6th April, and is using diesel E200 buses until electrics are delivered. This appears to have had some unexpected side-effects to release suitable 9m buses. Several of the MetroCity electrics that were ordered for Southall (GW) but which have been working from Battersea (QB) have now been moved to Fulwell (TF) and are working route H20, while a couple have now moved to BC for use on the 315.

4) Next weekend (13th April) will see route 306 going from Metroline (Holloway HT) to Transport UK (Battersea QB). This will be the third operator (and fourth garage) for this route, even though it only started in December 2019. New Electroliners 3048-3058 for the route are currently being delivered.

5) Stagecoach London has started to receive the 16 Electroliners ordered for route 242 (fleet numbers 82049-82064), though none are yet in service.

6) New publications Fleetbook 2024 and SUP39D were delivered during the week and can now be ordered.

Friday 5 April

Fleetbook 2024 and SUP39D are now available to order from Postal Sales and will be on our sales stand at the South East Bus Festival, Detling tomorrow.

SUP39D

Sunday 31 March

1) Although route 97 did transfer from West Ham (WH) to Lea Interchange (LI) this weekend, a couple of Scania Omnicity buses have remained on the route alongside the Wright StreetDecks.

2) Go-Ahead London has been using mainly elderly WVN-class buses on routes 262 and 473, taken over from Stagecoach London this weekend. New electric double-deckers are due later.

3) Ee-class buses Ee244 and Ee245 in Go-Ahead Women all-over adverts have entered service from Bexleyheath (BX) on route 132. Note that these are currently tracking on LVF as Ee226 and Ee227 in error - those buses remain in service at Camberwell.

4) The first MetroCity electric buses on Transport UK route E5 started running on Friday 28th March, ironically using some of the 2022 batch ordered for the 322. Of the 13 new examples meant for the E5, all but three have now appeared on route 322 from Battersea (QB).

5) Stagecoach London's new Wright StreetDeck Electroliners are gradually appearing on route 86, although full conversion is believed to be awaiting charging infrastructure completion. 8 of the 34 buses have so far seen use, with the remainder in store at Lea Interchange (LI). Delivery of the next batch (for route 242) is imminent, with examples seen en-route from Liverpool Docks.

6) Next weekend (6th April) route S3 passes from RATP Dev to Transport UK, initially to use diesel E200s from Beddington (BC) until electrics are delivered.

7)Also next weekend, Saturday 6th April is the South East Bus Festival at Detling (near Maidstone). Hopefully there will be a couple of new LOTS publications available. On the Sunday (7th) there is a running day centred on Hertford.

Wednesday 27 March

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
4	Metroline	Metroline	17	New electric double deck
22/N22	London General	London General	18	New electric double deck
88 (24h)	London General	London General	22	New electric double deck
117	London United	London United	10	Existing diesel single deck
176 (24h)	London Central	London Central	22	Existing New Routemaster
281 (24h)	London United	London United	21	Existing electric double deck*
419	London United	London United	12	Existing diesel single deck
681	London United	London United	3	Existing hybrid double deck

* Certain journeys will continue to be operated by hybrid vehicles.

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
4	28th September 2024	26th September 2031
22/N22	19th October 2024	17th October 2031
88 (24h)	7th December 2024	5th December 2031
117	7th September 2024	3rd September 2027
176 (24h)	9th November 2024	9th November 2029
281 (24h)	6th July 2024	2nd July 2027
419	9th November 2024	5th November 2027
681	6th July 2024	2nd July 2027

Sunday 24 March

1) Route 76 along with about 20 LT-class New Routemasters (quantity and numbers to be confirmed) transferred from Go-Ahead London (NP Northumberland Park) to Arriva London (SF Stamford Hill) this weekend. The route has been with Arriva before but always worked from Tottenham (AR) garage.

2) Making its debut at the Barking Garage open day this weekend was Stagecoach London E40H 12400, now repainted in 1933-style red, white, black and silver and named 'East London Ambassador'. The associated running day on routes 62 and 145 saw a wide variety of vehicles working, seemingly covering most decades from the 1940s (G351 and RT1) to the 2000s (ex Stagecoach Trident 18453).

3) Next weekend (30th March) sees Go-Ahead London take over routes 262 and 473 from Stagecoach Lea Interchange. Both routes will be run from Henley Road (DS) and use new Ee-class electric double-deckers once delivered. Go-Ahead is also moving route 376 from Silvertown (SI) to River Road (RR) with the 376 (and 396) due to get electric single-deckers in due course. (amended item)

4) Scania OmniCity buses are nearly at the end of the road. RATP Dev's last pair (SP40051 and SP40206) are clinging on at Hounslow (AV) for school routes and the H98. Stagecoach still has 27, including 23 at West Ham (WH) for the 97 and just 4 at Plumstead (PD), normally to be found on the 96. Route 97 is scheduled to transfer to Lea Interchange (LI) garage on 30th March, which will see the Scanias replaced by Wright StreetDeck hybrids.

Monday 18 March

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
6 (24h)	Metroline	Metroline	18	Existing hybrid double deck
98/N98	Metroline	Metroline	22	New electric double deck*
188 (24h)	London Central	London Central	22	New electric double deck
355	London Central	London General	13	New electric single deck
360	London Central	London Central	11	New electric single deck

* Route N98 will be operated by existing hybrids until further notice.

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
6 (24h)	7th December 2024	3rd December 2027
98/N98	7th December 2024	5th December 2031
188 (24h)	9th November 2024	7th November 2031
355	7th December 2024	5th December 2031
360	7th December 2024	5th December 2031

Sunday 17 March

1) Over half of Transport UK's first batch of Wright GB Kite electric single-deckers (1705-1712) are now in service on route R70 from Fulwell/Twickenham (TF). This batch had been intended for route E7 from Southall (GW), with later batch 1725-1736 earmarked for the R70.

2) Metroline's single Optare MetroCity electric single-decker (OEM2750) has been off the road since January, with its duties on route PB1 being covered by elderly Optare Solo OS68 or a DES-class Enviro 200.

3) Go-Ahead London Ee173-176 have recently entered service from Camberwell (Q), having been stored at Morden Wharf garage since delivery last July. It is presumed that these were intended for Sutton (A) but diverted due to the ongoing inability to use the type on route 151.

4) Last weekend (9th March), Stagecoach London took over route 379 from Go-Ahead London. Switch MetroCity electric single-deckers will be used when delivered, with diesel Enviro E200s standing in for now. On the same date, the two-bus route 497 operated by Stagecoach London was withdrawn, being replaced by an extension of route 346.

5) Next weekend (23rd March) route 76 passes from Go-Ahead London to Arriva London at their recently re-opened Stamford Hill garage (SF). The existing LT-class New Routemaster buses are likely to transfer across.

6) A reminder that on the 23rd March there is an open day at Stagecoach London's Barking garage, with vintage buses (mainly RTs) running on routes 62 and 145.

Thursday 14th March

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
150	Arriva London North	Arriva London North	15	Existing hybrid double deck
175	Arriva London North	Arriva London North	14	Existing hybrid double deck
406/418	London United	London United	14	Existing hybrid double deck
U1/U2	Metroline West	Metroline West	TBC*	New electric single deck
U3*	Metroline West	Metroline West	TBC*	New electric double deck

* Please note that the final routes to be awarded and associated PVRs are subject to the review of responses in respect of the ‘Proposals to reroute U1, U2, U3 and E7 in Hillingdon’ consultation. The outcome of this review will be published in due course.

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
150	12th October 2024	8th October 2027
175	12th October 2024	8th October 2027
406/418	29th June 2024	25th June 2027
U1/U2*	26th October 2024	24th October 2031
U3*	26th October 2024	24th October 2031

Monday 11 March

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
R1	Metrobus	Metrobus	6	New electric single deck
R2	Metrobus	Metrobus	4	New electric single deck
R3	Metrobus	Metrobus	6	New electric single deck
R4	Metrobus	Metrobus	6	New electric single deck
R8	Metrobus	Metrobus	2	New electric single deck
R11	Metrobus	Metrobus	10	New electric single deck

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:

Route	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date
R1	29th March 2025	26th March 2032
R2	29th March 2025	26th March 2032
R3	29th March 2025	26th March 2032
R4	29th March 2025	26th March 2032
R8	29th March 2025	26th March 2032
R11	29th March 2025	26th March 2032

Sunday 3 March

1) Arriva London's Barking Garage (DX) lost route 325 on tender to Go-Ahead London from today and the ENL-class buses latterly used have moved to Croydon (TC) to take over the extended route 312. The 325 is now using SE-class diesel buses gathered from various locations.

2) Superloop SL2 did indeed start, making use of the capacity at DX from the loss of the 325. Buses employed are from the HA37-53 batch, latterly at Brixton (BN).

3) New route 439 (Whytleafe to Waddon) is allocated Go-Ahead SEe-class electrics from Croydon (C), while existing route S1 has the OM-class Optare MetroCity buses previously used on now-withdrawn route 455.

4) New route S2 started, using brand new SEe-class buses from Sutton (A) garage (SEe304-312 batch), although the route and buses were not tracking on live data services on the first day.

5) Stagecoach London has moved 3 of the Switch MetroCity electric buses that were awaiting entry into service on route W5 to Catford (TL) for temporary use on route 124.

For earlier news read LOTS TLB

Coming Events
(LSS) = LOTS Sales Stand booked to attend

These are publicised as a service to the readership; LOTS has neither any involvement nor responsibility for any event noted. Many events have admission fees, I have included them where they have advised, you should check with organisers or websites before attending if costs worry you. We usually confine this listing to events with an expected London bus interest or within easy reach of London. Full national event lists can be found in the April issue each year of ‘Buses’ magazine and at

https://www.classicbuses.co.uk/++Events-diary.html

Events that seem likely to go ahead are below, although you should check before travelling. LSS= LOTS Sales Stand should attend).