London Buses Discussion

Edvid said:

Bus routes turning fully electric in short order with new stock are very much the exception.* It's only the 377 Metrocities' third day in service, and their being based at Enfield - possibly one of the electrified garages worst affected by insufficient DNO grid capacity at present (as the nominally-converted 307 can attest to) - is likely a factor.

As for the order size, I believe it's typical of any route with a PVR of 3 and the operators/TfL see no reason to account for more spares than normal just because they're electric instead of diesel/hybrid.

[* It doesn't happen unless the route belongs to a Go-Ahead London OpCo, and even they don't manage it consistently.]

Click to expand...

RacsoMoquette said:

Speaking of Metrocities, I wonder when the E5 batch will leave QB (Battersea) for GW (Southall) due to the fact that availability of the YJ22 XXX on the 322 has increased significantly in recent months.

Click to expand...

Edvid said:

Volvo/MCV have officially joined the London Buses BEV party today, with the first BZL (VMSL2846, LF73 DXK) tracking on the 251 since 1129.

In addition the 265 all but made the conversion to electric over the weekend.

Click to expand...

Wimbledon: Electric double-decker bus catches fire during rush hour

Police declared a critical incident after the electric bus caught fire in Wimbledon.

www.bbc.co.uk

An electric double-decker bus caught fire during the morning rush hour in south-west London.

The Met Police said emergency services were called about the incident on Wimbledon Hill Road/Alwyne Road in Wimbledon shortly after 07:20 GMT.
No injuries have been reported but a critical incident was declared, police said.

Road closures and cordons are in place and are expected to be for some time.

A Met Police spokesperson said: "We thank the local community for their patience and co-operation as emergency services work at the scene."

People have been advised to avoid the area.

BBC News has contacted Transport for London (TfL) for comment.

Click to expand...

dodecahedron67 said:

Potters Bar fire was human error tbf, some genius forgot to put coolant in the buses so they got a bit too warm whilst charging.

This fire is probably more worrying

Click to expand...

Mikey C said:

I imagine the fire service had been informed it was an electric bus, but the new symbols on all London buses are a useful backup source of information.

Click to expand...

dodecahedron67 said:

Potters Bar fire was human error tbf, some genius forgot to put coolant in the buses so they got a bit too warm whilst charging.

This fire is probably more worrying

Click to expand...

Second London bus catches fire just a day after double-decker exploded

The hybrid London double decker bus was on fire this morning in North Woolwich, East London, with onlookers shouting 'what the f***' as they were urged to 'move back, get back'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A second London bus burst into flames this morning - completely destroying it less than 24 hours after an electric double decker exploded on the school run.

The hybrid vehicle caught fire in North Woolwich, East London, just before 7am today with onlookers shouting 'what the f***' as they were urged to 'move back'.

A video showed the bus ablaze before dawn at the junction of Factory Road and Store Road, while photographs taken later in daylight showed its burnt-out shell.
Firefighters confirmed no passengers were on the bus and there were no injuries, although it took around an hour to get the blaze under control. Crews set up an 80ft (25m) cordon at the scene and were investigating the cause this afternoon.

The bus involved in today's blaze was an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid that runs on diesel and electricity, with around 900 in use across 78 routes in London.

Only yesterday, a huge blast ripped the back off an Optare Metrodecker bus on route 200 in Wimbledon in south west London at 7.20am on its way to Raynes Park.

It came nearly two years after all Metrodeckers were temporarily taken out of service for safety checks in May 2022 when two were involved in a major fire at Potters Bar bus garage in Hertfordshire - before being returned to service only days later. Today, a London Fire Brigade spokesman told MailOnline: 'We were called at 6.49am to reports of a bus on fire on Factory Road in North Woolwich.


'No passengers were on the bus and there have been no reports of any injuries.
'Firefighters attended and brought the fire under control by 7.55am. One double-decker bus was destroyed by fire.
'A 25-metre (80ft) cordon is currently in place as a precaution. The cause of the fire is under investigation.'
Tom Cunnington, TfL's head of buses business development, told MailOnline: 'We are working with the operator, GoAhead, and the manufacturer, Alexander Dennis, to investigate the cause of this fire.
'London's bus network remains safe to use and we have no reason to suspect that this fire on a hybrid bus was linked to an earlier incident on an electric bus in Wimbledon.
'The bus was out of service when the fire happened and there are no reported injuries. TfL and the bus operators will not hesitate to take action if required to ensure the bus network remains safe.'
And a spokesman for Go-Ahead London told MailOnline: 'Go-Ahead London is urgently investigating a vehicle fire that took place today at approximately 6.40am on a double-deck diesel-hybrid bus in the Silvertown area.
'The bus was out of service and therefore carrying no passengers. Our driver safely exited the vehicle and is uninjured. 'We are grateful to the emergency services for their prompt response and are working with relevant authorities to establish the facts.'

Click to expand...

MasterSpenny said:

Another fire has happened for the second day running, this time with an E400 hybrid

Second London bus catches fire just a day after double-decker exploded

The hybrid London double decker bus was on fire this morning in North Woolwich, East London, with onlookers shouting 'what the f***' as they were urged to 'move back, get back'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Click to expand...

Mikey C said:

Wow, that's a serious fire, there's very little left of the body!

Click to expand...

JD2168 said:

I have not seen a bus that fire damaged since First South Yorkshire ALX400 30566 was destroyed by fire on the M18 a number of years ago.

Definitely not a good week for London’s buses with these incidents happening.

Click to expand...

Bishopstone said:

I took a ride on the SL1 today, from Walthamstow to North Finchley, late morning in grey London weather.

In contrast to the doom-laden anecdotes from the days after the service launched, we departed at 11.12 and arrived at North Finchley by 11.55, having reached Arnos Grove in exactly half an hour. The bus was about half full for most of the journey.

The need for the SL1 to emerge from the Ravenside Trading Estate stop onto the Kenninghall Flyover from a standing start is a bit hairy, but this aside it was a great run and I continue to believe Superloop is an excellent initiative that will become increasingly popular.

I changed onto an SL10, and this also ran efficiently and in accordance with the timetable, to Harrow.

Click to expand...

Goldfish62 said:

Drawing conclusions from the first weekday of operation when there were new roadworks and a traffic accident on the North Circular were always going to be ridiculous. Didn't stop a lot of people though, Roger French included.

Click to expand...

CyrusWuff said:

Whilst it may have been an extreme example, the fact is that the majority of the SL1 route is on roads that don't currently have bus lanes, so delays are inevitable.

Click to expand...

JD2168 said:

Definitely not a good week for London’s buses with these incidents happening.

Click to expand...

Bishopstone said:

I took a ride on the SL1 today, from Walthamstow to North Finchley, late morning in grey London weather.

In contrast to the doom-laden anecdotes from the days after the service launched, we departed at 11.12 and arrived at North Finchley by 11.55, having reached Arnos Grove in exactly half an hour. The bus was about half full for most of the journey.

The need for the SL1 to emerge from the Ravenside Trading Estate stop onto the Kenninghall Flyover from a standing start is a bit hairy, but this aside it was a great run and I continue to believe Superloop is an excellent initiative that will become increasingly popular.

I changed onto an SL10, and this also ran efficiently and in accordance with the timetable, to Harrow.

Click to expand...

Busaholic said:

If TfL buses section had liaised with TfL's roads section in good time, then the introduction of the SL1 might have been put back by a week. The roadworks had been known about for some time apparently, but London's public transport has been bedevilled by lack of liaison between different parts since its creation. Of course, it might have been a decision taken at a political level to go ahead anyway on that date.

Click to expand...

Busaholic said:

Just one last point. I'm interested to know your experience of changing from one Superloop route to another, but from the point of view of an ordinary non-enthusiast passenger, maybe with mobility or visibility problems. In other words, was it simple and seamless for someone maybe unfamiliar with the area and unused to bus travel?

Click to expand...

Bishopstone said:

Heading west, the change is simple because the penultimate stop on SL1, called North Finchley High Road, is the first stop on route SL10, so you wait where you're deposited! Heading east the interchange is made within North Finchley bus station, which whilst not attractive is at least sheltered from the elements. I didn't notice any audio or visuals highlighting where changes to the next Superloop segment should be made, so perhaps that could be considered.

Another Superloop observation is that I remain surprised they've chosen a route for the Bromley-Croydon segment that requires the use of single deck vehicles. In the interests of (kind of) serving Beckenham and (kind of) serving West Wickham, they've given themselves a capacity constraint they may live to regret when/if the service becomes very popular. I thought the concept was more about the 'end-to-end' than traditional London bus routes, which are focused on the 'via', in which case I'd have considered running via Hayes: there are about four different bus routings from Bromley South to Hayes, so pick the fastest! Admittedly, I'm no expert on the traffic conditions prevailing on the various approaches to Croydon, so maybe that was a significant factor.

Click to expand...

Busaholic said:

Thanks for the North Finchley obs.

On the Croydon to Bromley routeing, I'm bemused too. It strikes me as a compromise, but for unexplained reasons. The necessity for single deckers with this routeing, though, might just indicate that some bus planners feel the routeing will be altered in some way not too long after its introduction which would still require them.The most obvious would seem to be the inclusion of Shortlands station: when I had a shop there in the late 1970s there were regular passengers who boarded the 725 and 726 Green Line coaches to Croydon, admittedly before Tramlink from Beck Junction had been conceived. A less likely reason would combine this deviation with an extension of the Heathrow to Croydon Superloop route to Bromley as per the old X26. I believe there is also a desire to serve West Wickham centre, but quicker from Bromley and which wouldn't go close to either Beckenham or Eden Park. Finally, TfL might find it difficult to get this route started by amending a contract to an existing bus route, such as the 119. Might they be forced to put it out for genuine tender? I shan't be holding my breath.

Click to expand...