Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Route X26 awarded back to Metrobus with double deck buses



In this article, I have an exciting news update from LOTS from the recent London Bus tender awards:


Friday 28 October

The following TfL contracts have been awarded:
·         110 re-awarded to London United with new Euro VI diesel single deck, PVR 7. Start date 29 April 2017
·         111 (24 hour) re-awarded to London United with 2010 Euro V diesel double deck, PVR 25. Start date 29 April 2017
·         204 re-awarded to Metroline with 2010 Euro V diesel double deck, PVR 15. Start date 29 April 2017
·         206 re-awarded to Metroline West with 2012 Euro V diesel single deck, PVR 12 which includes two 2009 built Euro IV diesel.
·         236 re-awarded to Tower Transit with new Euro VI diesel single deck, PVR 17. Start date 29 April 2017
·         394 re-awarded to CT Plus with new Euro VI diesel single deck, PVR 10. Start date 29 April 2017
·         427 awarded to Abellio West London (currently Metroline West) with new Euro VI hybrid double deck PVR 23. Start date 8 April 2017
·         433 re-awarded to Abellio London with 2012 Euro V diesel single deck, PVR 10. Start date 20 May 2017
·         464 awarded to Abellio London (currently Metrobus) with new Euro VI diesel single deck. PVR 3. Start date 20 May 2017
·         617 awarded to Sullivan Buses (currently Arriva London North) with 2010 Euro V diesel double deck, PVR 2. Start date 1 April 2017.
·         629 awarded to Sullivan Buses (currently Arriva London North) with 2010 diesel double deck, PVR 2. Start date 1 April 2017.
·         S3 re-awarded to Quality Line with 5 2015 Euro VI diesel single deck and 3 new Euro VI diesel single deck, PVR 8. Start date 8 April 2017.
·         X26 awarded to Metrobus (currently Quality Line) with 2012 diesel double deck, PVR 10. Start date 15 April 2017.

In 2012, Go Ahead Metrobus lost their X26 contract to RATP Dev Quality Line/Epsom Buses operating from Epsom (EP) Garage. It’s interesting that since then, Go Ahead Metrobus has won the contract back using 2012 diesel double-deck buses operating from their Croydon (C) garage once again.

Go Ahead Metrobus operated the route X26 contract from 2005 till 2012 with various Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) increases; history of the route can be read here and on Wikipedia.

Here’s the issue; since the X26 is an express airport route which takes passengers from Croydon to Heathrow Airport, the existing double deck buses need to have luggage racks, just like Epsom Buses’ single-door Mercedes-Benz Citaro’s do.

Also, with the other route contract awards, only route 427 will have new Euro VI double-deck hybrids, while the rest will have new or existing diesel buses.

As always, I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92

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Image attribution
By Au Morandarte - Flickr: IMG_3442[1], CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33003099

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