Bus and Light Rail videos - February 2017

To round this month off, I will show you my videos which feature London Buses, Tramlink, and Docklands Light Railway services.

Buses and Trams outside East Croydon station

Buses and Trams outside East Croydon station by clondoner92

Optare MetroDecker EV comes to London Bus route 36

LOTS have published their usual weekend London Bus news and they’ve given us another update on the electric bus project for London.

From LOTS:

1) The all-electric Optare MetroDecker-EV is due to be trialled with Go-Ahead on route 36 during April.  New Cross Garage’s limited charging facilities are being upgraded to allow for this and the two Irizars (EI 1 and 2) to enable a more long-lasting overnight charging. Trustybus has a Citaro-K demonstrator (BT66 TZE) for the next two weeks, usually to be found on route 410 Harlow – Waltham Cross.

London Bus tender awards: retains for Metroline and Metrobus

A short news update for you all showing the recent London Bus tender awards.

From LOTS News

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

Arriva are preparing to operate London Bus route 48

Arriva London have just published a news story on their website announcing preparations to operate route 48 from Stagecoach London.

From Arriva London

Arriva London is pleased to have been awarded the contract to operate TfL bus route 48 between Walthamstow Central and London Bridge.

The new contract starts this Saturday 25th February operating from Ash Grove garage in Hackney, requiring 70 drivers and 25 buses.

New logo for Arriva

A major transport company owned by the German government ‘Deutsche Bahn’ (DB) has unveiled their new logo for their subsidiary company Arriva.

Electric buses and SRM Volvo B5LHC update

The three-door two-staircase hybrid New Routemaster buses entered service on route EL3 on Saturday 18^th February 2017. We are still waiting for them to appear on the rest of the East London Transit routes, EL1 and EL2.

Here’s an update from LOTS:

1) At Stagecoach, the first few E400Hs for route 277 at Bow and E20Ds for route 273 at Catford have entered service in the past week. Saturday 18th saw the first suburban route to go over to LTs when Go-Ahead took over the 387 at Barking from Stagecoach and renumbered it to EL3. For a while the EL1/2 will keep its WVLs until more LTs are available.

New Routemasters come to East London Transit services

I haven’t given you a New Routemaster update for a while now so I thought it was about time that I did.

The new East London Transit routes EL1, EL2 & EL3 contract starts on Saturday 18^th February 2017 operated by Go Ahead Blue Triangle from River Road (RR) garage. The new contract requires the three-door two-staircase hybrid buses called the New Routemaster, purchased directly by TfL and leased to private operators for their route contracts.

National Express sells their c2c franchise to Italian state owned Trenitalia

National Express has sold their Essex Thameside franchise to Trenitalia, owned by Italian state railways.

From National Express press release

Step-free access for Tottenham Court Road station

Tottenham Court Road Tube station becomes step-free in preparation for the Crossrail Elizabeth Line service.

From TFL press release

The final milestone in the upgrade of Tottenham Court Road Underground station has been reached, with the station now providing step-free access to both the Central and Northern lines.

Tottenham Court Road becomes the 71st Tube station providing step-free access, making travel in central London easier for older and disabled people and other customers who find it difficult to use stairs or escalators. It will give a greater choice of travel options for everyone, and will directly benefit parents and carers with children and buggies.

London Bus contracting gains and retains for Arriva London

Some more news to report on - but this time it’s from the recent London Bus tender awards.

From LOTS:

Consultation on Bakerloo Line Extension

This is hot off the wire as TFL is currently proposing an extension for the Bakerloo Underground line.

From TFL Consultations

We are proposing to extend the Bakerloo line beyond Elephant & Castle to Lewisham, serving Old Kent Road and New Cross Gate, and would like to hear your views.

Papers for 8th February 2017 TFL board meeting

TFL have released the first board papers for this year, so I will be showing you bits from the board papers (dated 8^th February 2017) to see how Transport for London are progressing.

To begin with I will show you some extracts from the Commissioners report.

Council owned bus company “Thamesdown” sold to Go Ahead South Coast

Hot off the press:

Swindon Borough Council has sold the municipal bus company Thamesdown Transport to Go Ahead South Coast.

From Swindon 24

Thamesdown Transport Limited has been taken over by a major commercial bus operator after councillors agreed to sell the Council’s shares in the company.