Route 233 Returns to Metrobus

Route 233 in last twenty years has spent most of it life at Dartford Garage/Orpington Garage in 1992 the route was awarded to Kentish Bus who ran it from Dartford Garage which is now used by Arriva Kent Thameside who have just lost this route. 

In 1997 the Route was awarded Metrobus and the route was based at Orpington Garage and was successfully retained by Metrobus with new buses in 2003, the buses which used to run on the 233 are still in service on the R network in Orpington so may possible serve the 233 again!

In 2008 the Route was awarded to Arriva Kent Thameside on 23/02/2008 and operatied from their Dartford base.

In year 2013 the Route has returned to Metrobus exactly 5 years later to the date above! (23/02/2013) Route 126 will be taken over by Metrobus from Arriva Kent Thameside exactly 1 month to this date 23/03/2012.

This is not the first time Metrobus have lost a route and regained it on tender in 2006 181 & 284 now 233 and more recently the 434 has been re-awarded to Metrobus from Abellio London who took over the Route in 2008!

Route 233 was previously allocated the following vehicles. These vehicles will be transferred to Lea Valley Bus Garage and are likely to have their fleet numbers changed to EN16-EN22.
E200Dart/Enviro 200 8.9m
1643 GN57BPF
1644 GN57BPK
1645 GN57BPO
1646 GN57BPU
1647 GN57BPV
1648 GN57BPX
1649 GN57BPY

Here are some Photos of the 233 with Arriva Kent Thameside and its allocated vehicles. The 233 uses 8.9m Buses due to a tight turn somewhere along the route.

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1643 GN57BPF Eltham 01/02/13

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1644 GN57BPK Eltham 01/02/13

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1645 GN57BPO Eltham 21/02/13

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1646 GN57BPU Eltham 08/08/12

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1647 GN57BPV Eltham 12/02/13

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1648 GN57BPX Eltham 27/12/12

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 1649 GN57BPY Eltham 14/02/13

Route 233 is normally operated with 8.9m buses, as you can clearly see below there are 4 examples of Single deckers on the Route, which are longer than 8.9m! As stated before these are allocated the smallest bus type because of a small tight turn along to route so Metrobus have of course ordered the same bus type!
 
The vehicles shown below was rarely seen doing the 233 and this bus is not 8.9m, it is 9.4m, but you haven't seen anything yet! These are allocated to the B13 and B15.

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 3949 GK53AOO Sidcup 19/09/12

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 3956 GK53AOX Eltham 14/02/13

 


















Now for the last set. These vehicles shown in the photo below are 10.8m, now as stated before the 233 uses the smallest kind of bus due to a tight turn, but if these are out then surely drivers must be extra careful whilst driving them! These 10.8m vehicles appeared on the 233 on a regular basis. 

The First Photo is a Enviro 200 which from the 428 allocation any passenger would think this is Midi bus when approaching the stop, when you actually get on the bus you will realise this has a second set of doors! You can also see that this is blinded for the 162, but of course was never used on the Route when with Arriva! A second Photo seen a month later is also provided.

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 4034 GN09AWC 21/01/13

 

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 4034 GN09AWC Eltham 21/02/13

Now for the Last two photos. Here we have have two Plaxton pointer darts which are also 10.8m from the 126 allocation which will be made redundant next month when the 126 is awarded to Metrobus, again these were common visitors on the 233 glad I managed to get two shots of these on the 233 I only noticed it is the same running number when comparing the photos. One of them snapped in the January Snow and the other on a cloudy day.

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 3299 Y299TKJ 18/01/13

Route 233 Arriva Kent Thameside 3298 Y298TKJ 01/02/13

As mentioned above Route 233 has now returned to Metrobus

Route 233 is now allocated the following
E20D/Enviro 200 8.9m
179 - YX62DYH
180 - YX62DYN
181 - YX62DYS
182 - YX62DZE
183 - YX62DZN
184 - YX62DZU

Here is a Photo graph of all of the fleet taken on the First date of operation.

Route 233 Metrobus 179 YX62DYH Eltham 23/02/13

Route 233 Metrobus 180 YX62DYN Eltham 23/02/13

Route 233 Metrobus 181 YX62DYS Eltham 23/02/13

Route 233 Metrobus 182 YX62DZE Eltham 23/02/13

Route 233 Metrobus 183 YX62DZN Eltham 23/02/13

Route 233 Metrobus 184 YX62DZU Eltham 23/02/13

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