Wednesday 4 November 2015

Latest News and Updates



Yes driverless trains strike too!
Firstly, sorry about the lack of posts recently but I have been busy preparing for a short holiday and as I'm leaving tomorrow I thought I'd better give you an update on the London Transport services before I go.

First off, we have the latest London Buses tender awards:


Notification of Tender Results
4th November 2015
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route Current Operator New Operator PVR Vehicles
·    57 (24h) London United London General 27 Existing diesel double deck
·    65/N65 London United London United 27 Existing & new diesel double deck
·    85 (24h) London General London United 15 New battery hybrid double deck
·    213 (24h) London General London General 20 Existing diesel double deck
·    265 London United London United 12 New diesel single deck
·    371 London United London United 15 Existing diesel single & double deck*
·    E2 Metroline Metroline 15 Existing diesel double deck
·    E5 Metroline West Abellio West London 12 New diesel single deck
·    E7 Metroline West Abellio West London 10 New diesel single deck
·    E8 Metroline Metroline 15 Existing diesel double deck
·    E9 Metroline West Abellio West London 8 Existing diesel double deck
* Includes five battery hybrid single decks.

Contracts will commence on the following dates:
28th May 2016: Routes E2, E5, E7, E8 & E9.
2nd July 2016: Routes 57, 65/N65, 85, 213, 265 & 371

So routes 85 and 371 will be getting hybrid buses whilst the rest will have used/new diesel buses. We really should have been seeing more electric buses by now in order to help combat emissions!

Next up, a 'news update' from LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society).

Sunday 1 November

1)      The first of Tower Transit’s new E20Ds (DMV 45112-4 and DM 45115-20) arrived in the past week at Lea  Interchange Garage.  Meanwhile, all seven of Go-Ahead’s latest E20Ds (SE 261-267) are now in use on route 352.  More of Metroline’s new E20Ds (batch DEL 2145-2154)  are now running at Uxbridge, invariably on routes 331 and A10.

2)      Next deliveries from ADL to London should be the 19 E40H-‘City’ buses (HA 1-19) for route 78 later in November. These are the first production examples of the ‘MMC-City’ variant first seen at the NEC show four weeks ago.

3)      30 (of the 42) LTs (batches 513-516 and 564-601) due for Arriva route 149 have now been delivered and most are in service, allowing DWs in the 4** range to replace older DWs and VLWs at Enfield.   The 39 LTs (LT 602-640) for Abellio route 159 are due to follow on during mid–November as that route will be taken over from Arriva from 12th December.

4)      Route 295 passed from Tower Transit to Metroline West at Willesden junction Garage from 31st October. However, only a handful of the new Volvo B5LH/ Gemini 3 buses (batch VWH 2122-2144) had been delivered so, by a set of vehicle moves from other garages,  a mix of VW and VWH, some being loaned from Willesden and Potters Bar,  are assisting on the route at present.  The newest buses are to the revised body style already used on Go-Ahead’s WHVs at Croydon Garage.  

5)      An historical note now: This weekend marks 34 years since the closure on the night of 30/31 October 1981 of the old Plumstead (AM) and Abbey Wood (AW) Garages and the transfer of most of their allocations and routes to the new (and current) PD Garage in a different part of Plumstead.  The MD class featured prominently in that change-over!

At least the fleet code for the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City has been revealed which is ‘HA’. I just thought it would have a unified fleet numbering system like the New Routemaster with their ‘LT’ fleet code.

Also, the Docklands Light Railway held industrial action over operational safety and here are the latest press releases' from RMT and TFL. This shows that driverless trains are not immune to strikes according to my previous article about driverless trains for London Underground.

As I've said above, I have been really busy lately but I will write an article commemorating the 10 year anniversary of Route 15H when I return in a few days time and I'll hopefully have some first-hand reports on the local buses, along with some video for you. Also, if you check out my  Dailymotion channel you'll be able to watch the latest videos that I've recently filmed in London.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92

Image attribution
"DLR train 95 at West Silvertown" by Oxyman - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DLR_train_95_at_West_Silvertown.jpg#/media/File:DLR_train_95_at_West_Silvertown.jpg

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