London Buses.

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Noted today on the M6 north around 15.30 was a NBFL with severe floor to roof frontal damage, it is in yellow overall advertising livery.

Probably the Stagecoach London example that introduced itself to a shop near Tottenham Court Road...... 

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Some more tender news from London.

All but one of the routes will be running their existing buses,in the case of routes 160,180 and 290 with electric buses(mostly on the 180, hybrid buses are the official allocation for part of it) and the existing buses on the 121,278 and W6 are to be allowed.

The one route to which that will not apply is the 153, which Metroline have won from Go Ahead London and in all likelihood will return to Holloway for the first time since 1987. New electric buses will be ordered for this route.

Existing diesel buses are to continue on routes 121 and W6,both retained by Arriva London at Enfield and Wood Green respectively.

Abellio London have held the 278 from their Hayes garage with their current five year old buses.

Stagecoach London have likewise held the 160 at Catford and the 180 at Plumstead. In the case of the latter, electric buses form about half the allocation on the route which is among the routes that serve North Greenwich station.

London United have retained the 290 at Fulwell.

All contracts are to begin from September of this year with the 121,153 and W6 starting in February of next year.

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One more for this week.

Bromley will continue running the B14 as Stagecoach London has retained it on tender. It will require new electric buses will replace the seven year old Enviros presumably to other routes. 

The new contarct starts next March.

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This was announced last week,however the first opportunity for me to sit down at a computer to post this is today. 

Sorry,not sorry. 

Seven routes,three of which are interlinked,had their news announced last week. In most cases most routes were retained however one of them-the only one to interwork-was gained by Go Ahead London from Sullivan Buses and is the 299(which interworks with the 389 and 399 in Barnet). The routes will return to Northumberland Park.

London United have held the 423(in old money the H23) at Hounslow Heath,likewise Abellio at Southall with the 482-this was moved into there when the garage in Hayes took over the E6 just a couple of weeks ago. Stagecoach London have held onto routes 161 at Plumstead and the 181 at the outstation to Catford in Sydenham.

All these contracts,plus a schoolbus only route Stagecoach held onto in South East London,begin their latest contracts in March next year.

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Routes 49 and 233 had their tender results this morning. 

Route 49 will continue to be run by London United from Shepherds Bush using the current electric double decker buses and this is to begin in September.

Route 233 was also held, in this case by Metrobus at Orpington. It will join the considerable amount of routes at that garage to be converted to electric buses(about half of their routes are due to be converted by around this time next year). The contract for this begins next February.

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Some very substantial tender news this afternoon to report.

Firstly I report the retention,by London United at Shepherds Bush,of the 148 which will keep the NB4L buses currently on it. Next is the 282 which Greenford has held-presumably with newer Volvos in time from one of Holloway, Willesden or Edgware. Also retained by London United is the H98, which Hounslow operates and is booked for NB4L buses although currently it has Enviros and Volvos.

Three routes were retained on the basis of new electric buses coming in time. Stagecoach London has retained the 169 at Barking and the 247 at Romford with new double decker buses due. Route 218 was held by London United however it will be run from Westbourne Park who've run it in recent times.

Routes 398,H9 and H10 will continue to be run by London United at Harrow with their current electric buses,likewise the C10 and P5 with Abellio(officially Transport UK) although some new electric buses are expected for the P5 at their Walworth garage. 

Finally Stagecoach London holds the 284,which like the 181 is run from the Catford outstation at Sydenham with existing buses and Plumstead will continue with the busy 422 using hybrids.

Not surprisingly the contract dates are spread out over a few months with the first of the routes mentioned due to begin their contracts in September,the latest in May of next year.

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Some news from London for you all this afternoon.

Six routes have had their futures decided this morning. Five of the have been held by their current operators,of which only one is to start its new contract this year. That is the 94,which London United have held with the initial delivery of electric double deckers at Shepherds Bush and this will start in December.

Of the others,only the 225 will be looking for a new home-perhaps more accurately returning home after a very long time away as it has been won by Stagecoach London,presumably using spare diesel buses within the fleet. This will leave New Cross in March of next year.

Also in March,the 68(Abellio,NB4L) and 468(Arriva London,existing hybrids)have been held. The former runs from Walworth,the latter Norwood. Routes 268 and 287 are to get new electric buses for their new contracts with the former due to stay with Metroline at Cricklewood and due to start in June. The 287 will be run by Stagecoach as is now,presumably from Rainham though not confirmed as they are having work done to facilitate better charging points in Rainham garage. This will begin in March too.   

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One bit of news from London today,which concerns the 266. London United has lost it to Metroline,rumoured to be run from Cricklewood though not confirmed yet. It will get new electric buses and the contract will start in December,further adding fuel to the rumours about Park Royal garage.    

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One bit of news from London today,which concerns the 266. London United has lost it to Metroline,rumoured to be run from Cricklewood though not confirmed yet. It will get new electric buses and the contract will start in December,further adding fuel to the rumours about Park Royal garage.   

Confirmed to be returning to Cricklewood.

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Routes 273 and B16 in London have had their tender results confirmed today.

Both of them are staying at the current location, which in the case of the 273 is with Stagecoach London at Catford and the B16 with Go Ahead London at Bexleyheath. The latter is to gain new electric buses,the 273 is to retain its current minibuses. 

Both contracts start in January of next year.

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Been away in Leeds towards the end of last week-ironically at the time a First Leeds bus was torched in Harehills-and missed the opportunity to announce another Sullivans route has a new home. 

This one is the 298,which they've run since 2011 but from Feburary next year will be run by Uno of Hatfield for three years with double deckers-as opposed to midibuses which are on it today.   

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More news from the London tenders.

Five routes,plus a schoolbus route which interworks with one of those, have been given their latest contracts today. 

I will start with the routes that were held, which are the H2, H3 and the associated 631 in and around Golders Green and which are to be retained by Metroline at Cricklewood using the Solos currently on it today. This contract starts in June of next year.

The other three routes are changing operators, with two returning home (one of them after a very long time)and the other moving to a new location. 

The 337,a product of the 1991 Wandsworth changes,is to be run by Abellio from their Battersea garage and with new electric buses. Abellio,who currently run the 196, have lost it to Arriva London, presumably to be run from Norwood who last ran it in 1987. Both of them are to begin their latest contracts in May of next year. Also returning to Norwood is the SL6,the former X68 and for which that will begin in late March.

Not surprisingly all of them are to get new electric buses.

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Announced this morning is the news of a brand new route, the 310 in North London which Stagecoach London is to operate for a year at least. Using existing single deck buses,it will mirror the 210 between Golders Green and Finsbury Park before going under the low height railway bridge there to then go to Manor House and finally Stamford Hill. 

As of yet I don't know which garage is to run it but when I know I'll pass it on. It begins on August 31. 

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Some very late news which I saw earlier tonight. 

Sullivan Buses are to stop TfL bus work as of the arrival back home of the last bus. They cite a payment of over £150,000 owed by TfL as the reason for it. 

They operate the 217,298,299,W9 and many school routes among others. 

It is not known as to who will operate the routes. I will advise on this tomorrow as to what I know.

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Some very late news which I saw earlier tonight.

Sullivan Buses are to stop TfL bus work as of the arrival back home of the last bus. They cite a payment of over £150,000 owed by TfL as the reason for it.

They operate the 217,298,299,W9 and many school routes among others.

It is not known as to who will operate the routes. I will advise on this tomorrow as to what I know.

It was being suggested the following is to happen.

217-Arriva London, using existing buses from both Arriva and some of the Sullivan fleets and run from Tottenham.

299,389/99 to run from Go Ahead London at Northumberland Park earlier than expected.

298 to be run by Uno, again ahead of time.

W9 and 549 to be run by Stagecoach London. No details on which garage, however Walthamstow is the nearest. 

No details yet on the schoolbus routes.

The commercial work is to move to a different site altogether.