Route 286 Returns to London Central

Route 286 was introduced on 21st June 1986 and was operated by London Transport from New Cross Garage and two months later moved to Sidcup Garage. The 286 was introduced as a replacement for Routes 108 & 108B, the 286 ran from Greenwich, Cutty Sark - Eltham, Southend Crescent, which is the current terminus for route 124. In 1988 the 286 returned to New Cross Garage and by this time was operated by London Central pre-privatisation of London Buses

  In 1992 the 286 was operated by Transcity, which was then bought out by Kentish Bus in 1993 and moved the allocation to Dartford where it was operated for the last 20 years, Northfleet operated part of the allocation briefly. A lot of routes in South East London which were operated by Kentish Bus are now operated by Go Ahead London, London Central or Metrobus 108, 126, 132, 138, 161, 181, 225, 233, 284, 286, 422, with the 492 operated by Arriva.

In 1998 the 286 was extended from Eltham, Southend Crescent to Sidcup Queen Marys Hospital replacing the withdrawn section of the 233 which was diverted to serve New Eltham & Longlands Road, both routes meet up at Sidcup Station.

The 286 is now operated by London Central yet again, and like a few recent changes it is a route that has returned to the garage which operated the route in the past. The running numbers are NX 251+ , following the last gained route at NX route 129 which is NX 241+. The allocation of buses on the 286 is again Enviro 200s, but these are Euro 6 Versions which sound very different to the older Euro 4 & 5 Versions. I'm led to believe the current fleet will be modified to Flywheel Hybrid Technology sooner or later in the year

For the last three years the majority of Eltham's Routes have been transferred to Go Ahead London, before the 162 went to Metrobus in 2011 there were 6 Arriva Kent Thameside routes serving Eltham High Street and now there are only 2, but overall Arriva have lost quite a a lot of work to other operators recently in all parts of London, routes 34, 109/N109, 125, 192, 415, 640 & 657 are all set to change operator sometime this year and next year, adding to past routes losses in the past few years. Seems the operator is going through tough times, but I imagine they will start gaining work again.

Full Fleet List - Arriva Kent Thameside
2007 - 2014
3982 GN07 DLE
3983 GN07 DLF
3984 GN07 DLJ
3985 GN07 DLK
3986 GN07 DLO
3987 GN07 DLU
3988 GN07 DLV
3989 GN07 DLX
3990 GN07 DLY
3991 GN07 DLZ
3992 GN07 DME
3993 GN07 DMF
3994 GN07 DMO
3995 GN07 DMU
3996 GN07 DMV

Enviro 200s - for Enviro 200s
Go Ahead London: London Central
2014 - Present
SE198 YY14 WDT
SE199 YY14 WDUSE200 YY14 WDV
SE201 YY14 WDW
SE202 YY14 WDX
SE203 YY14 WDZ
SE204 YY14 WEA
SE205 YY14 WEC
SE206 YY14 WEF
SE207 YY14 WEH
SE208 YY14 WEJ
SE209 YY14 WEK
SE210 YY14 WEO
SE211 YY14 WEP
SE212 YY14 WEU

List of routes which have had allocations of Enviro 200s replaced with new ones

• Route C1 - 8101-8106 Part Allocation with Travel London/Abellio London, Contract awarded to London United 03.07.2010 - DE93-108
• Route 251 - DE1000-DE1014 Metroline, Contract awadred to London Sovereign on 03.09.2011 - DE57-DE70 
• Route 493 - DE57-DE73 London United, Contract awarded to London General on 31.03.2012 - SE175-SE193
• Route 233 - 1643-1649 Arriva Kent Thameside, Contract awarded to Metrobus on 23.02.2013 - 179-184
• Route K1 - SDE1-SDE10 London United, Contract awarded to Abellio London on 29.06.2013 - 8118-8127
• Route K3 - Partly converted to Enviro 200s mid contract from Route 493 with Route K2. Contract awarded to Abellio London on 29.06.2013 - 8806-8817
• Route 434 - 8107-8109 Travel London/Abellio London, Contract awarded to Metrobus on 31.08.2013 - 189-192
• Route 165 - DML44072-DML44081 First Capital, Contract awarded to Stagecoach East London on 28.09.2013 - 36556-36580
• Route 256 - 4000-4010 Converted Mid contract to Enviro 200s from Route 370. Contract Awarded to Stagecoach East London on 28.09.2013 - 36556-36580
• Route E10 - DES1695-DES1714, shared with E5 First Centrewest/Metroline West, Contract Awarded to TGM on 31.05.2014 - 3425-3433
• Route 286 - 3982-3996 Arriva Kent Thameside, Contract awarded to London Central 12.07.2014
• Following Up - Route 100 8321-8329, Route 192, EN1-EN13, Route 488 is to be confirmed.

Route 286 Facts:
PVR: 13
Operated from Dartford from 1993-2014
One of the two routes at NX that does not serve the borough of Lewisham where NX is based
Has been operated by London Central, Transcity, Kentish Bus, Arriva Kent Thameside and Go Ahead London: London Central
Has been operated with Enviro 200s in the past
Provides the only link to Greenwich Town Centre from Eltham High Street
Once operated with double deckers
LDP273 entered service on 14.07.2014

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