Route 13's VH's and Arriva's ENL's

Route 13's VH's

In December 2012 it was announced that Transdev (London Sovereign) had retained route 13 and longside the N13 which operates between Aldwych and Golders Green (N13 extended to North Finchley) and has a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 20 buses. The 13/N13 is Transdev's only route which operates in the Centre of London.

The contract which was due to start in late August 2013 was awarded with 'new Hybrid buses'; this led to a month of speculation into the bus type which would be ordered. The New Bus for London was a 'hot favourite' as it was a hybrid, could operate through tourist hotspots and would act as a 'replacement' for the older Routemasters which operated on the route in the past. However, Leon Daniels (Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL) did reveal that route 13 wasn't on the 'list'.

With the NBfL ruled out, there were two choices left; either the E40H or the Volvo B5LH Gemini 2 - it was later revealed to be the Gemini 2 which has been a favourite for many bus operators in London.

The introduction of the VH's on the route will direct the 55reg SLE's which previously operated the route, to route 292, which has its contract retained from December this year. The vehicles may be refurbished, but if they will or not is currently unknown, and we shall have to wait and see.

This move will release the VLP's from the the company and will be returned their leasers (VLP's 18-27); as London Sovereign has leased a large amount of buses which they currently operate.

The outstanding SLE's will also remove approximately 10 VLE's which currently operate on route 114 and will probably be sent back along with the VLP's. 

After the increasingly speedy delivery of the VH's, route training began from early July and the buses were seen out and about on the streets of London. Here's a picture of VH1 at Golders Green.

A few weeks later after route training and three weeks before the contract renewal date, a few VH's entered service, with more following the next day.

Although they are evidently not equipped with company logos at the moment, they are in production and shall soon be applied to the buses, (and hopefully the DE's which haven't been stickered up for 2 years). We shall hopefully see the new hybrid logo (which has been applied to some of the LT's) on the buses too, as at the moment, there is no visual evidence to say that they are actually hybrids!

I personally would like to see an odd-working of the buses on either the 114, 183 and 292 and see how well the perform on them!

A funny fact about these buses is that some of the batch feature both the garage code and route number in their registration; 'BT13'.

Before I forget to mention; a stylish new moquette of rich crimson with gold ellipses has been specified for these buses, contrasting with the light gray panels and flooring; I personally am not to keen on the colour scheme, but I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of it...

Now that the the Gemini 3 not too far away from entry in service, these could well be one of the last examples of Gemini 2 Hybrids to enter service in London!

To round off this part of the post; here's a picture of a VH on the N13 passing through Finchley.

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Arriva's ENL's

The 1st of June saw route 491 handed over from Arriva London to Go-Ahead London with brand new Streetlite's.

This led to the Enviro 200's which previously operated on the route becoming practically useless as they had 'no where' to operate - a bus off the road and sitting in a garage isn't making the company any money!

Arriva therefore decided to send the buses to different places where extra buses were required:

• Arriva Essex and Shires: Garston (GR)
• Lee Valley (LV)
• Clapton (CT)

Straight after Arriva ceased operation of route 491, the Enviro were sent to be refurbished before they transferred.

Below is ENL11 which was spotted at the Hants & Dorset Trims Workshop in June.

 All rights reserved by EHBusman1958

A few weeks later, the Enviros did transfer to their intended destinations.

Arriva Shires and Essex were the first to receive these refurbished buses. The intention for them being sent here was for the contract renewal of the H18/H19, which would allow the remainder of the Cadet's to be refurbished and to operate on routes 268, 288, 303 and the 305 - you can still however, find the Enviro's on practically all single decker routes operated by the garage!

 All rights reserved by Graham Smith

As you can see above, some of the batch are equipped with White-On-Black Blinds, with some with the old Day Glo - it is predicted that the whole batch should soon be equipped with the newly specified blinds.

Seen below is ENL18 which is also equipped with White-On-Black blinds operating on route 393. 

 All rights reserved by Graham Smith

The thing which interests me the most about the picture above is the way the fleetcode has been applied.

Enjoy the rest of the pics!

 All rights reserved by Mark Collins

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