The E-Line Buzz

Many of you may have heard e interesting tender results in October 2013. One that I was very shocked about, and brought me very strong opinions and mixed emotions too: The E3. 

Many of you know that I have strong opinions of the E3, mainly because I am a regular user of the service myself. The E3 was awarded to London United RATP Group, from Metroline West's Greenford Garage.

First London DN33577 (SN09 CDX) stands at
Greenford Broadway on route E1.
©Jacob Cartmann

To top the E3's result up, route E1 was awarded to Abellio London from Hayes (WS) garage, and then the E10 was awarded to Tellings Golden Miller (TGM) from Heathrow, making a comeback to London, previously operating in the same area, but on other routes such a route 112. All routes were previously operated by Metroline West's Greenford Garage.

Metroline TE1751 (SN09 CGV) is seen on route E1 at
Greenford Broadway prepared for a short trip to Ealing.
©Jacob Cartmann

Route E1 runs between Ealing Broadway and Greenford Broadway, one of the least busiest bus routes in the Ealing borough, and at the same time, one of the shortest too, only taking about 5-12 minutes end to end, depending on the speed of your driver and also depending what time of day too. The route has a PVR of 7, and used to share vehicles from a strong batch of 37 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s, all 'SN09' plated. The route runs via Drayton Green and Sutherland Avenue. The fleetlist for the Enviro 400s can be seen just below the next paragraph.

Route E3 was the biggest result out of all of the routes in this tender, as it is the longest and busiest E-Line route. Route E3 runs between Greenford Broadway and Chiswick, Edensor Road and is now running out of Stamford Brook (V) garage. The PVR of the route is 26, and it was formerly allocated 'SN09' Enviro 400s as well, shared from the batch of 37 buses with the E1. The E3 runs via (From Greenford), Hanwell, West Ealing Broadway, Northfields, South Ealing Popes Lane, Acton Town, Acton High Street, Bedford Park, Turnham Green and terminates at Chiswick, Edensor Road. The route is lengthy and takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to do end-end during the peak. The route has now been awarded to London United RATP Group.

First London DN33593 (SN09 CFG|) nearing journey's end, on
route E3 towards Chiswick, Edensor Road.
©Jacob Cartmann

The registration of the Enviro 400s, with their First fleetnumbers too:

   SN09 CDU - DN33575 - TE1715

   SN09 CDV - DN33576 - TE1716

   SN09 CDX - DN33577 - TE1717

   SN09 CDY - DN33578 - TE1718

   SN09 CDZ - DN33579 - TE1719

   SN09 CEA - DN33580 - TE1720

   SN09 CEF - DN33581 - TE1721

   SN09 CEJ - DN33582 - TE1722

   SN09 CEK - DN33583 - TE1723

   SN09 CEO - DN33584 - TE1724

   SN09 CEU - DN33585 - TE1725

   SN09 CEV - DN33586 - TE1726

SN09 CEX - DN33587 - TE1727

SN09 CEY - DN33588 - TE1728

SN09 CFA - DN33589 - TE1729

SN09 CFD - DN33590 - TE1730

SN09 CFE - DN33591 - TE1731

SN09 CFF - DN33592 - TE1732

SN09 CFG - DN33593 - TE1733

SN09 CFJ - DN33594 - TE1734

Metroline West TE1741 (SN09 CFV) is seen on stand at Greenford
Broadway, whilst on route E3.
©Jacob Cartmann

SN09 CFK - DN33595 -TE1735

SN09 CFL - DN33596 - TE1736

SN09 CFM - DN33597 - TE1737

SN09 CFO - DN33598 - TE1738 

SN09 CFP - DN33599 - TE1739

SN09 CFU - DN33600 - TE1740

SN09 CFV - DN33601 - TE1741

SN09 CFX - DN33602 - TE1742

SN09 CFY - DN33603 - TE1743

SN09 CFZ - DN33604 - TE1744

SN09 CGE - DN33605 - TE1745

SN09 CGF - DN33606 - TE1746

SN09 CGG - DN33607 - TE1747

SN09 CGK - DN33608 - TE1748

SN09 CGO - DN33609 - TE1749

SN09 CGU - DN33610 - TE1750

SN09 CGV - DN33611 - TE1751

Route E10 was a somewhat interesting result, seeing Tellings-Golden Miller make a homecoming to London service. The route runs between Northolt, Islip Manor and Ealing Broadway Station with a frequency of up to every 15 minutes. The route is restricted to 8.9m single deckers for the sake of the terminus at Islip Manor, which is a very small roundabout like stand, and is too tight to accommodate longer buses. If it wasn't for the stand, even full size single deckers could've made it onto the route if that was the case! The route has a PVR of 8, one higher than the E1. The route was allocated 8 of 20 8.9m Enviro 200s, these with 'YX09' plates. The other buses were allocated and still are allocated today to route E5, between Perivale Tesco (Former Hoover Building) and Southall, Toplocks Estate. The route E10 runs via (From Northolt) Northolt Station Belvue Road, Kensington Road, Smith's Farm Horseshoe Crescent, Ferrymead Estate, Greenford Broadway, Scotch Common and Ealing Broadway taking about 30-40 minutes on average end to end.

The registration of the Greenford 8.9m Enviro 200s were:

YX09 FMA - DMS44401 - DES1695

Interior and exterior of typical DES on route E10. ©Jacob C.

YX09 FMC  - DMS44402  - DES1696

YX09 FMD  - DMS44403  - DES1697

YX09 FME  - DMS44404  - DES1698

YX09 FMF  - DMS44405  - DES1699

YX09 FMG  - DMS44406  - DES1700

YX09 FMJ  - DMS44407  - DES1701

YX09 FMK  - DMS44408  - DES1702

YX09 FML  - DMS44409  - DES1703

YX09 FMM  - DMS44410  - DES1704

YX09 FMO  - DMS44411  - DES1705

YX09 FMP  - DMS44412  - DES1706

YX09 FLN  - DMS44413  - DES1707

YX09 FLP  - DMS44414  - DES1708

YX09 FLR  - DMS44415  - DES1709

YX09 FLV  - DMS44416  - DES1710

YX09 FLW  - DMS44417  - DES1711

YX09 FLZ  - DMS44418  - DES1712

YX09 FMU  - DMS44419  - DES1713

YX09 FMV  - DMS44420  - DES1714

The E1 ended up having Enviro 400 Hybrids, in a small batch of 8 buses. Personal note here, but I was very confused on why the E1 was awarded with hybrids. The routing today has never seen anything called 'traffic' as it uses back streets throughout the entire route. On top of that, it's a 5-10 minute route, so it doesn't need hybrids, and also I've never understood why the PVR of this route is 7. Usually, especially on the Greenford end, about three buses are on stand at the same time and one on stand at Haven Green. So why was the PVR not dropped slightly, I will never understand that. Delivered with Lazzerini seats and the newest Abellio 'royal red' livery inside, this is part of a quite large batch, although the rest of it will go to Abellio's head garage: Battersea (QB) for routes C3 and 49.

Like most first days, they don't go as smoothly as you want. Route E1 was somehow a victim, on this route I don't understand. There was a 17 minute wait between buses, even though the whole route takes less than 17 minutes itself, and there were 5-7 buses present! There was no incident unlike the E3 who had major delays on Sutton Court Road or anything, considering the E1 uses back streets. There were no curtailments, probably because it is impossible to have one on the E1 (If there is actually a photo of a curtailment, please link it in the comments section below!) so I can't possibly imagine what the problem was. 

The new registrations for these buses are:

SK14 CTZ - 2444

SK14 CUA - 2445

SK14 CUC - 2446

SK14 CUG - 2447

SK14 CUH - 2448

SK14 SYY - 2449

SK14 SYZ - 2550

SK14 SZC - 2551

To know what you'll see on the E1 for the next few years, and even the 112 (Whilst it still has time at Abellio left) and 350 as an odd working:

©Lawrence Abel

©Jacob Cartmann

©Jacob Cartmann

The E3 gained existing buses at the end of the day, roughly around the same age as the Enviro 400s were, except that the Scania Omnicities are '59' reg. When the tenders were announced, the route was said to be getting double deckers, then quickly confirmed as new double deckers, most likely in the form of more Enviro 400s. However, in January, TfL announced route 10 would be getting New Buses for London, and so London United cancelled the order of the new buses and announced they would refurbish the existing buses on route 10 at Hants & Dorsets trim and send them to the E3. When this was announced, buses from 148 in February were quickly moved to the 10 as refurbishment covers whilst the 10's batch itself was given a refurbishment ready for the 31st May. As the batch of Scania Omncities, numbered SP137-62 contains 28 buses, and the PVR of the E3 is 26, this made a perfect match with enough to use on the route plus two spare buses.

Route E3's first day wasn't as smooth as intended, but at least there was a valid reason unlike route E1. It was alright in the morning until more buses came on around 0900 and 1000, long after SP138 and SP162 performed together the first ever London United E3 service on this new contract. However, due to roadworks and a diversion in the Chiswick area, buses on route E3 suffered major gaps between each other and also several curtailments, most to Acton High Street or Acton, Horn Lane (which technically still is the high street, just the western end), Southfield Road, Wilkinson Way or Hanwell Broadway. SP158 was curtailed about 5 or 6 times on separate journeys!

The registration of the Scania Omnicities are:

YP59 ODT - SP137

YP59 ODU - SP138

YP59 ODV - SP139

YP59 ODW - SP140

YP59 ODX - SP141

YP59 OEA  - SP142

YP59 OEB  - SP143

YP59 OEC  - SP144

YP59 OED - SP145

YP59 OEE  - SP146

YP59 OEF  - SP147

YP59 OEG  - SP148

YP59 OEH  - SP149

YP59 OEJ  - SP150

YP59 OEK  - SP151

YP59 OEL  - SP152

YP59 OEM  - SP153

YP59 OEN  - SP154

YP59 OEO  - SP155

YP59 OER - SP156

YP59 OES  - SP157

YP59 OET  - SP158

YP59 OEU  - SP159

YP59 OEW  - SP160

YP59 OEV  - SP161

YP59 OEX  - SP162

This is what the new E3 will look like until the next contract renewal, in 2019, or 2021:

©Jacob Cartmann

©Lewis JN

©Lawrence Abel

The E10 gained new buses, in the form of more Enviro 200s. Now I know many of you may be disappointed, but wait, these aren't any old Enviro 200, these are actually different. Along with the fact they are owned by Tellings-Golden Miller, these Enviro 200s have a ZF Gearbox, one that London has never seen before. Usually we have Allison gearboxes, unless it's Stagecoach they'd have Voith gearboxes hence the really high scream. Other than that, nothing new. If this goes well, then the Enviro 200 might become even more popular. The Allison gearbox wasn't very popular with Go-Ahead London as drivers were complaining they were hard to handle and engineers say they are hard to maintain in good shape which is why route 462, 219, 327 and 491 received Wright StreetLites.

Unusually, these buses came with the Arriva Yellow stripe/ band which make them look smart. Nice to know that the 100% red rule isn't being followed exactly, because I am slightly bored of seeing just red buses. In my own opinion, I think the red rule should only be applied to buses running in the central London area, but in the suburbs they should be allowed to have skirts and liveries and even route branding, like route 11 originally had on it's 53-reg WVLs. There is no clear indication the buses belong to Tellings-Golden Miller or their Hatton Cross base in Stanwell, as they have Arriva Logos too! 

The new registration for these Enviro 200 buses are:

YX14 RYO - 3425

YX14 RYP - 3426

YX14 RYR - 3427

YX14 RYT - 3428

YX14 RYU - 3429

YX14 RYV - 3430

YX14 RYW - 3431

YX14 RYY - 3432

YX14 RYZ - 3433

The E10 didn't get off to the best of a start, like I've mentioned above with the E1 and E3. Several drivers were confused on where to go, a lot didn't know how to use the blinds correctly, and there were several turns, several to Greenford Broadway, Smiths Farm and Ferrymead Estate. There was bunching of two or three buses together, because the drivers couldn't remember which way they had to go.

To round off the post, here are some photos of the new buses on the E10:

©Jacob Cartmann

©Lawrence Abel

©Lewis JN

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