[GB] One year after (1): London

Revisiting the country 1 year after I left, I could already see quite many new stuff around in terms
of buses (but not in terms of buildings/scenic spots). Just wanna share some shots I got in Jul 2010.

Firstly it is the capital city of London. One vehicle type I can observe growing in large number is the
Scania Omnicity d/d. There were loads of 09/59-reg Omnicity on the London streets and they appeared
on many routes including 8, 10 & 148, replacing the Tridents/Volvos/DAFs:





Another type expanding rapidly is the Enviro 200 Dart. While the d/d E400 is growing at a slow rate in the year,
its s/d relative seems to be doing quite well and many new 59/10-reg E200s are joining London routes like C1
(became operated by Transdev), RV1, 95, 316, 440 and a lot more:





Other random shots in London:

RML2272 on rail replacement service:



On the same day two of his brothers were busy bringing happiness to the newly wed:



Isn't the one below the eldest London bus in service (exc. the RMs)?











Thanks for viewing!

[ 本帖最後由 ML29 於 2010-8-15 10:48 編輯 ]

師兄,提一提你...

There were loads of 09/59-reg Omnicity on the London streets and they appeared
on many routes including 8, 10, 59, 137 & 148, replacing the Tridents/Volvos/DAFs:

09 / 59-reg scania omnicity 基本上係10 同148 的''掛牌車'' ...
而 8 就應該比較少有出omnicity,反而同一屬廠的 205 則有omnicity 做 ''掛牌'',

而 59 同137 我諗你應該係想講 新vdl/wrightbus 而唔係omnicity 吧?
如果者應該只有59 係有新wrightbus做''掛牌'', 137 只係間中''攝一攝''....

follow scania omnicity  @ 148



[ 本帖最後由 louispoon 於 2010-8-15 11:54 編輯 ]

原帖由 wrightap 於 2010-8-15 08:46 發表
師兄,提一提你...

09 / 59-reg scania omnicity 基本上係10 同148 的''掛牌車'' ...
而 8 就應該比較少有出omnicity,反而同一屬廠的 205 則有omnicity 做 ''掛牌'',

而 59 同137 我諗你應該係想講 新vdl/wright ...

多謝wrightap兄提點！
老人病發作，記錯了59/137的新車做Omnicity……另外同樣用新Wright的還有
23、427，139也好像見過。
我也看到205有新Omnicity，8我試過一天內看到兩部……
還記得看到8竟然有新車很驚訝，明明去年來倫敦時還是用最舊的
ALX400 Trident。

另外想問師兄266是否有E400做掛牌？我連續很多天傍晚時分都看到有E400行
266，但查過網上的倫敦巴士網都是說這條線用ALX400 Trident。

[ 本帖最後由 ML29 於 2010-8-15 11:20 編輯 ]

原帖由 ML29 於 2010-8-15 02:57 發表

多謝wrightap兄提點！
老人病發作，記錯了59/137的新車做Omnicity……另外同樣用新Wright的還有
23、427，139也好像見過。
我也看到205有新Omnicity，8我試過一天內看到兩部……
還記得看到8竟然有新車很驚訝，明明去年來倫 ...

Those on the 207 are VNs (B9TL). There are only up to 4 Gemini 2 DLs on the 23 as that is all First have, and there can't be any Gemini (B9TL/DL) on the 139, since Cricklewood garage, where 139 is operated out from, hasn't got anyway. You are quite possibly thinking about the 159, in which case, like the 137, the new DWs come from the 59, as all of which are operated out from Brixton garage.

And in London, there is no such thing as fixed allocations (掛牌 in HK terms). Vehicle allocation on routes are purely determined by the vehicle types specified by the contract agreed with TfL, which says nothing more that things like "new/existing low floor double deckers". New vehicle allocation for certain routes tend to be pretty stable at the early months after contract renewal/start, but as time goes by, esp. if a garage have multiple routes operated with similar types, then the vehicles just get mixed up completely. In the case of the 266, officially it is supposed to be operated with TAs, but in real life the vehicles it gets is mixed with all Cricklewood-based double deck services i.e. 16/32/139/189/210/266/332, so practically, any Tridents that Cricklewood has, that is TA/TAL/TP/TPL/TE and even TEH (they are making odd appearances on the 139 these days), can show up in any of these services.

The same goes on the 8 as well. It is supposed to be operated with 03-plate Tridents, but practically, any Tridents, long or short, old or new, will do. With 205, also based at Bow garage like the 8, now operated with Scanias, they just get mixed into the double decker pool. Nothing special really.

The only time you can see anything resembles a fixed allocated is when a garage has a specific type of vehicle in which they have no alternative services they can put into, like all of the bendibuses (obviously).

for ML29- and other London visitors:

my suggestion is that before coming to London, you should check with this website:
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/
It will give you the best *online* information on route allocation ,and what is operated from where.

I'd be happy to assist specific queries/questions- but pls use English!

If you are really interested in what goes on in London, the best bus fan society is http://lots.org.uk
But their detailed information is only available as paper based publications and not on line.

In London,as said above by NV58, specific vehicles are not allocated to specific routes by the garage, but normally garages tend to allocate the correct type to the route, with only a couple of 'odd' vehicles.
Below are two typical examples of how this works in practice:

1. Bow garage has an allocation of 25 Scanias for route 205. Most of the scanias would be seen on route 205, but at least one trident a day would appear on the 205.
Bow operate the 8 26 30 - and those will see a scania on them on most days.

2. Down in south London, Arriva's TC garage has 18 E400 trident for 16 workings on route 466.
In practice, route 466 would see at least a couple of DAF d/ds, while at least 3 E400 tridents would appear on any of the other d/d routes in TC: 50 60 194 197 312 [the rarest] 412.

But.. untypically, Arriva's N garage has 32 E400 tridents for route 133. So far, those tridents only appeared a couple of times on the 176, and once on the 2- and the garage operates the 2 176 249 415 417 432...

regards

Yoram

follow one more

跟 2 張 Scania Omnicity  @ 148

原帖由 NV58 於 2010-8-15 18:22 發表


Those on the 207 are VNs (B9TL). There are only up to 4 Gemini 2 DLs on the 23 as that is all First have, and there can't be any Gemini (B9TL/DL) on the 139, since Cricklewood garage, where 139 is o ...

原帖由 yblumann 於 2010-8-16 21:03 發表
for ML29- and other London visitors:

my suggestion is that before coming to London, you should check with this website:
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/
It will give you the best *online* information  ...

Many thanks to NV58 & Yoram for the very detailed replies.
I did stay in UK for a year but only spent 2 days in London...this time I've stayed there for
a week and it's a good chance for me to explore a bit more about London buses.

Yoram, I did check your website before going...really an informative one.  I was really not
familiar with the garages in London and that's why I was surprised when I saw some routes
not using the bus types listed, as I had an impression that the bus type used on routes in
London were quite fixed (unlike Coventry where you can quite often see a s/d bus on a d/d
route). Now I learn more about it.

So does it mean that 260 & 266 are operated by different garages? I stayed in North Acton
and I could see these two Metroline routes every day. 260 is always using President B7TLs
while 266 is operated mainly by ALX400 Tridents (both long & short, front & middle staircase)
with  some President Tridents & Enviro 400s.

Looking forward to my next visit to London so that I can explore more about London buses.