Stagecoach loses routes 5, 15 and 115

A new month and some new bus news!

We’ll start off with Stagecoach who after losing routes 103 and 175 to Arriva London, have now lost their flagship routes 5, 15 and 115.

From LOTS:

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

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
5	Stagecoach London	Blue Triangle	30	New & existing double deck (a)
6 (24h)	Metroline	Metroline	24	New Euro VI hybrid double deck
15/N15	Stagecoach London	Blue Triangle	23	2015 Euro VI New Routemaster
18/N18	Metroline West	London United	44	New Euro VI hybrid double deck (b)
22/N22	London General	London General	22	New Euro VI hybrid double deck (c)
98/N98	Metroline	Metroline	23	New Euro VI hybrid double deck
115	Stagecoach London	Blue Triangle	18	New Euro VI hybrid double deck

(a) 22 vehicles will be Euro V diesel (built 2010), remainder will be new Euro VI hybrid.

(b) 12 vehicles will be existing (built 2016).

(c) 10 vehicles will be existing Euro V hybrid (built 2012), which will be upgraded to Euro VI.

Contracts will commence on the following dates:

26th August 2017: Routes 5, 15/N15 & 115.

21st October 2017: Route 22/N22.

11th November 2017: Route 18/N18.

9th December 2017: Routes 6 & 98/N98.

Just a quick note - London General and Blue Triangle are part of Go Ahead London and London United is part of RATP-Dev.

Also, it will be the first time we’ll see a three-door two-staircase New Routemaster route change hands to another operator, as the New Routemaster buses are owned by TFL and leased to private operating companies at the cost of £1 per bus per year.

Routes 5, 6, 18, 22, 98 and 115 will be using new Euro VI hybrid double deck buses and it will be interesting to see which bus type the operators will be purchasing for their new route contracts.

Update 23:10pm 01/04/2017

The heritage route 15H (which uses AEC Routemasters) will continue to be operated by Stagecoach London from West Ham (WH) garage, as the route is a separate contract from the main route 15.

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Multimedia

London Buses Route 15 Stagecoach New... by clondoner92


London Buses Route 15 LT400 and RM1941 at... by clondoner92

Image attribution

By Aubrey Morandarte from Guildford or Coventry, England - Stagecoach London LT252 on Route 15, Blackwall, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40981922