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The Optare Fiasco

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Intro On Friday the 22nd May a fire broke out at Metroline Potters Bar [PB] depot, with the bus going up in flames being an Optare Metrodecker, this has since led to the grounding of every fleet of these vehicles in the UK since, however this is not the first time the Metrodecker has faced an issue... Route 134 Back in 2019, the 43 & 134 were the first 2 double deck routes to go electric upon tender, both were to get different batches of vehicles. The 43 received 37 Enviro 400 City EV vehicles (BDEs) at Holloway [HT] garage and the 134 received 31 Optare Metrodecker EV vehicles (OMEs) at Potters Bar [PB], as seen below: OME2663 & OME2667 by VP500 However, from the very start the 134 was plagued by issues. The batch of buses began arriving very late, however the 134 had already gained a temporary allocation of hybrids due to the ULEZ coming into force in April 2019, which affected the 134 at the time due to it terminating at Tottenham Court Road, which was within the zone. The t
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London Bus News Roundup - October 2021

Abellio London This months tender results have seen Abellio gain their first ever school route in the form of the 671, it will use an existing hybrid double deck from Fulwell (TF) depot. Meanwhile the orders for routes 322 & 433 have been announced, the 322 will be getting 8.7m Optare Metrocitys and the 433 will be getting Caetano e.Citys  Transfers: 2459 WS > QB LT700 WL > QB LT786 WL > TF Arriva London This months tender results has seen route 264 lost, adding to the growing collection of lost routes. It will pass to Go Ahead: Metrobus Croydon (C) depot in the second half of next year. On the other hand this set of tenders has seen Thornton Heath (TH) route 198 retained with existing hybrids, with a +1 PVR increase. In other news the 10 Volvo B9TLs bought from Tower Transit in 2018 are now being withdrawn and returned off lease, this is as a result of the 349s conversion to LT releasing DWs to AR, in turn releasing the 63 reg DWs over to EC. Meanwhile the 160s Ts are in
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London Bus News Roundup - September 2021

Abellio London The loss of the 49 has seen 9429-9447/9513-9520 be withdrawn to be returned off lease. The rest of the SN59 batch should follow once the 414 leaves in November. Transfers: 2458 WS > QB LT632-633 TF > QB LT787-788 WL > TF Arriva London The slow conversion of route 349 to LT began this month, with the first DW displaced to Tottenham (AR) at the end of the month, reason being to replace the VLWs at Edmonton (EC) using the 63 reg DWs at Tottenham (AR). Meanwhile the 319s first EAs began entering service, with all of the first 10 in use by the end of the month, this has seen HV138 go to Palmers Green (AD) presumably as a refurb float. Transfers: DW331 DT > DX DW413 E > AR HV138 BN > AD LT1/4/7/193/196-197 CT > E Go Ahead London The WVLs at New Cross (NX) are now slowly being withdrawn, with several already off for conversion to training vehicles. Meanwhile LTs from route 11s PVR cut began making their way over to Camberwell (Q) to help finish off the 176s
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London Bus News Roundup - August 2021

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Abellio London Withdrawn E400s 9448-9456 have been sold to The Green Bus, Birmingham. Meanwhile 9506 & 9512 have joined 9505/9507-9511 at Go Coach, Otford. Transfers: 8522 FW > BC 9404 BC > QB 9408 BC > QB 9424 WS > QB Go Ahead London During the latest set of tender results on the 6th August, it saw route 135 lost to Tower Transit (LI). Meanwhile route 153 has transferred from Northumberland Park (NP) garage to Waterloo (RA) garage, this is to make space for the pending W15 gain, as well as balance work due to routes 507 & 521 having PVR reductions, with the 507 getting a -6 and the 521 getting a -17. Transfers: WVL277 AL > BX WVN25 AL > BX Metroline With it being the final month of Alperton (ON) garage (on its current site) the first route moved to its temporary depot on the 28/08, with this being route 487, which has gone to Willesden Junction (WJ) garage. The next route to move will be route 204 to Edgware (EW) on the 04/09. Meanwhile it is now confirmed th
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The Streetdeck vs The Gemini 3 - Which is better?

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The Streetdeck vs The Gemini 3 - Which is better? Background on the Gemini 3 : Back in late 2013 the Gemini 3 was born, initially on a Volvo B5TL chassis, there was only 4 ever in London, all of which were demonstrators and were the following: V6 BF63HFE (Demonstrator for Go Ahead) VGD1 BF63HDE (Demonstrator for Arriva) VW1469 BF63HDG (Demonstrator for Metroline) V6 (2) BJ14KTL (Second Demonstrator for Go Ahead) Of these VGD1 & VW1469 remained in London after they finished their spells with Arriva and Metroline and headed off to Go Ahead by summer 2015 where they were renumbered WVL509 & 510. The B5TLs were quickly followed with the B5LH hybrid equivalent, which saw no more B5TLs ordered as London was heading towards a more hybrid based fleet at the time. The first set of B5LHs to arrive was Stagecoach's 13001-13032 for Plumstead (PD) depot for their flagship route 53, this was quickly followed by Metrolines VWH2001-2023 for Perivale [East] garage, where they were destined
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London Bus News Roundup - July 2021

Abellio London Recently withdrawn E400s 9505/9507-9511 have been sold to Go Coach. This month saw further E400s withdrawn, these being 9448-9453, with 9450 then being sold to The Green Bus. Other buses decommissioned are 8118-8121 & 8138-8141, which are returning off lease with 8118-8121 already sold to Vision Bus of Bolton. On the 27th July Abellio saw themselves become victorious in the latest set of tenders, seeing them win route 111 from RATP Group, this will run from Fulwell (TF) depot with 30 brand new electric DDs from 30th April 2022. Transfers: 2456 WS > QB 2482 BC > QB 8201-8204 GW > BC 8809 WL > TF 9421 WS > QB 9504 BC > QB 9506 BC > QB Go Ahead London The 3rd of July saw the second 2 of the trio of routes transfer from RATP Group to Go Ahead, these being routes 413 & S1. The 413 gained the former route 80 allocation of SEs, which had gained WHVs ousted from the 200 which began its conversion to new Optare Electrics. The S1 on the other hand is u
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London Bus News Roundup - Week Starting 14/06/21

Abellio London Transfers of the week: 2462 WS > BC 9428 GW > BC Go Ahead London School extras V108 & V624 are to be withdrawn after this week, last day of them existing being the 18/06/21. Transfers of the week: SE268 A > PL WHV74 AL > A WHV78 AL > A WHV79 AL > A Metroline The number of WHDs on route 7 per day has now seemingly increased from 4 to 6, with only 4 WHDs left to see their first day of service. WHD2709 & 2710 have received hydrogen branding. Transfers of the week: TE1313 G > W RATP Group This week saw the transfer of routes 293, 404, 467 & 470 from Epsom (EB) to Tolworth (TV), leaving just the 413 & S1 at Epsom (EB) for a further 2 weeks before they move to Go Ahead London and the garage closes for good. Transfers of the week: ADE40303/40493-40494 EB > TV ADE40459 HH > RP ADE40482 TV > AV ADH45026 EB > AV DDE20289-20294 EB > TV DE20092/20094 EB > TV DE20192 EB > BT DXE30284-30289 EB > TV SDE20284-20286/20302 EB &g
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