I know this news is old but it’s still worth relaying the story about an independently owned bus company purchasing new buses for their London Bus route contract.
From Alexander Dennis
Sullivan Buses adds TfL route with eight new ADL Enviro200
Independent operator Sullivan Buses has chosen Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) for a fleet of eight new Enviro200. The new midibuses entered service on 4th February 2017 on Transport for London (TfL) route W9, which Sullivan Buses won after a successful tender.
14th February 2017
Built to TfL specification, the 9.7m Enviro200 have two doors and 33 seats. Their Cummins Euro 6 engines are matched to Voith transmissions and use state-of-the-art stop/start technology. ADL was the first bus manufacturer to bring this innovative technology to market.
The Enviro200 are built to Low Carbon Emission Bus standards, and their environmental advantages are matched by their low fuel consumption, which helps to ensure low operating costs.
Route W9 runs between Southgate and Enfield in North London. In addition to school buses, it is Sullivan Buses’ second TfL service after route 298, which the operator won five years ago with six previous generation Enviro200, and retained upon retendering. They will be joined later this year by route 217, for which 12 Enviro400 double deck buses have been ordered.
Dean Sullivan, Owner and MD of Sullivan Buses, comments on his choice of ADL: “Sullivan Buses are the only independent operator suppling bus services to Transport for London. As a result when submitting our bids we needed to work closely with a vehicle manufacturer. We built up a good working relationship with ADL over a number of years and have been impressed with the quality of vehicles supplied over that time, so we naturally chose ADL again to partner with us though the process. I am grateful for the assistance we received during the bid process and for ADL’s commitment to deliver the buses on time and within budget. This gave us considerable confidence especially given the tight lead times from placing the order to commencing the service.
“Passenger and driver reaction to the new buses has been fantastic with several complementary remarks on the first day of service alone. We are looking forward to continuing to work with ADL on future TfL projects.” Martin Brailey, ADL’s Regional Sales Director London and the South, says: “We are delighted that Sullivan Buses has been successful in winning these TfL routes and has chosen ADL buses for them. These orders are a testament to ADL’s customer focus, which makes the Enviro200 and Enviro400 the buses of choice for independent operators as much as for anyone else, and I look forward to continuing to support Dean Sullivan as his company goes from success to success.”
I would like to add that the new buses have an interior colour scheme based on the Enviro400H City, which is similar to the New Routemaster.
Here’s a quick update from LOTS:
A few double-decks have drifted onto Stagecoach routes 165 from Rainham and 178 from Catford and more may follow. This is indirectly to produce enough single-decks to cover the company’s take up of routes 167 and 362 in the coming weeks, pending late delivery of new E20Ds. Many other new E20Ds have flooded into CT Plus for their take-up of routes 397, W11 and W16, with more to come to replace older Darts on 394 and W13. Delivery began in the past week of Tower Transit’s MV-class Volvo B5LH/MCV EvoSeti buses which are due to take over route 13 on 1st April as well as the 308 and part of the 58 in east London.
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Route 254 to convert to New Routemasters
Sullivan buses wins route W9 and retains 298