Latest Update:  21 April 2019

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. 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 to 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 davestewart297@gmail.com and it will passed to the correct person.

Note that the TLB Editor has a new address: davestewart297@gmail.com.  

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, 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 next meeting is on Monday 29 April: Peter Batty, Commercial Director Arriva London, My 40 years in London’s Transport.
Monday 20 May: An Electric Evening: London’s first generation trams (Eddie Dawes) and British provincial trolleybuses  (John Parkin).
And then Monday 01 July (AGM), 22 July (bus rides), 30 Sept, 21 Oct, 25 Nov, 16 Dec.

The London Bus (TLB)

TLB656 was posted on Tuesday 16 April. The closing date for reports for TLB 657 is 1 May and it is due for posting on Tuesday 14 May.

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 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.

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:

LOTS LBM187 London Bus Magazine Spring 2019:   (£5.00)  Main articles are A history of Green Line routes 706 & 707',  'On the Fringe' looking at bus services around the border of Central and Country buses prior to LCBS, and Buses and pubs in south London, plus the usual Around & About and letters features.

London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2019:   (£7.00). 

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

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.
Also, NEW in the Historical series -
The 1976 Greater London Bus Map, 10th April 1976 - £4.00
The 1952 Greater London Bus Map, 6th July 1952 (Second Edition) - £4.00

TLB Extra – Vehicle news of 1948 to the 1980s:  (£6.50/£7 each year) (80-pages illustrated)
 
See the Publications Page for details of LOTS publications or the Sales Bulletin for our current stocklist.

Announcements

1) We regret to announce that Colin Lloyd, who has handled part of the Current Vehicle News of TLB for the past 32 years, passed away on Wednesday 3rd April after losing his battle with cancer and other associated medical problems.  Fuller details will be in April TLB for LOTS members but for anyone who needed to contact him with news must, for now, re-direct to davestewart297@gmail.com

2) Would Mr. P M, who paid a sum of money into our account on 8th March, please contact our Membership Secretary via lotsmemsec@gmail.com or by post at our South Wimbledon office address.

Latest news 

Sunday 21 April

1) The major disruption in central London since last  Monday 15th affected 53 day routes and 62 night routes that had to be curtailed or diverted.  The group ‘Extinction Rebellion’ (climate change peaceful protestors) set up encampments at Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, Parliament Square and Waterloo Bridge and blockaded all approach roads.  From Friday 19th a handful of routes could revert to Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square as there were no blockades there.   By about 1730 on Saturday 20th protestors had been moved from Oxford Circus and some routes (but not all) were resumed there.   A full list of service alterations will be in May TLB.
 
2) Since the total closure of Hammersmith Bridge on the afternoon of 10th April local bus services were badly disrupted. As the closure is to be long-term a major set of route alterations is imminent, affecting routes 33, 72, 209, 265, 419 and 485, with night buses on 33 and 72 being revised to be different to the day services.
 
3) The conversion to two-way of Tottenham Court Road duly occurred from midday on Saturday 20th and the long-awaited change to the layout at Highbury Corner should be on from Monday morning 22nd. 
 
4) The introduction of Stagecoach’s new E40D Smart Hybrids (batch 11301-335) proceeds slowly with 26 of them now in use across routes 47, 54, 75, 136 and 199.   RATP’s new DXEs (11.5m E20Ds) for route H37 are now in use theron. The ten new StreetLites for Metrobus route 200 (Horsham & Gatwick) are at present In course of delivery. 
 
5) Building of Metroline’s electric  double-decks is now well under way and due for routes 43 (37 x BYD/ADL E400City) and 134 (31 x Optare MetroDecker-EV).  Deliveries are expected by June.

Wednesday 17th April
 
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:
 
Route             Current Operator           New Operator                PVR     Vehicles
29/N29            Arriva London North        Arriva London North        36        2013 Euro V hybrid double deck
34                    Metroline                        Arriva London North         22        Hybrid double deck (details TBC)
52*                  Metroline                         Metroline                          18        2014 Euro VI hybrid double deck
102*                Arriva London North       Arriva London North         26        Hybrid double deck (details TBC)
109/N109       Abellio London                Abellio London                  26        2015 Euro VI hybrid double deck
192                 London General              Arriva London North         15        New Euro VI diesel single deck
 
* 24 hour route (34 at weekends only).
** Already upgraded to Euro VI emissions standards.
 
The above contracts will commence on the following dates:
 
9th November 2019: Routes 34, 102 & 192.
7th December 2019: Route 52.
11th January 2020: Route 29/N29.
1st February 2020: Route 109/N109.

Saturday 13 April

1) London’ s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) duly came into force last Monday 8th April and requires buses to be electric, hybrid or diesel Euro-VI (the latter including Euro-V that has been upgraded to Euro-VI standard).  After the weekend of 6/7th April, remaining Tridents, older AD E200s and E400s,  VDL DB250s, Volvo B7TLs and Scanias were stood down or had been transferred to outer suburbs earlier.  Additionally some night routes worked from outer London garages were transferred to be operated by more compliant vehicles.  For example the N279 lost its older E400s from Enfield in favour of HVs from Edmonton.  The rest of Metroline’s new VMHs went into service by the 7th, notably at Holloway on routes 43 and 271, thus clearing out the last non-compliant E400s.
 
2) Last Wednesday afternoon 10th April structural damage was discovered on Hammersmith Bridge and all traffic was curtailed on either side, causing route 72 to be split and the 33/209/419/485 curtailed on the south side.  This time it seems that the closure will be very long term and more formal route changes must be expected.
 
3) After several weeks in store, Stagecoach’s new E40D ‘smart hybrids’ (11301-335) at Catford have started to enter service on routes 47/54/75/136/199 and the first handful of older E400Hs (batch 12261-292) have begun to transfer to Plumstead, ultimately to oust Volvos 13001-032.  Staying with Stagecoach, its open-top (and non-ULEZ compliant) Tridents were withdrawn after the 7th and the newly converted E400s (now upgraded) (batch 19131-136) began to take over on the Megasightseeing service in London.  The other new  batch of buses, London United’s DXEs, began replacing the only Optare Tempos in London from 12th April.
 
4) Most of the Central London changes outlined almost eight months ago (see TLB649 p14) will now go ahead – although a few will not. The proposed curtailments of 11 and 19, the rerouteing of 22 and new route 311 will now not proceed.  The main changes begin on 15th June with routes 3, 4, 9, 14, 35, 40, 45, 53, 59, 67, 76, 134, 149, 171, 172, 205, 242, 341, 388, 476 essentially as planned last year although the 388 will terminate at Liverpool Street (but see 12th October list) and with route RV1 withdrawn.   The second phase comes on 12th October with the 48 withdrawn but to compensate the 26 gets an increased frequency, the 388 gets extended to London Bridge and the 55 diverts to Walthamstow  Central. While the 100 is projected to St Paul’s.

For earlier reports refer to TLB or join LOTS!