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Post by george on May 30, 2020 12:50:40 GMT
I know this conversation has got a bit carried away in the Metroline thread but for me RATP in Steatham was strange despite having the 57 for years. Also even though it's rail replacment weird going on a CT PLus bus in and around Surbiton.
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Post by vjaska on May 30, 2020 13:34:26 GMT
I know this conversation has got a bit carried away in the Metroline thread but for me RATP in Steatham was strange despite having the 57 for years. Also even though it's rail replacment weird going on a CT PLus bus in and around Surbiton. It made a nice change for me as Streatham was predominantly South London (with Cowie and then Arriva following) & London General growing up in the 90's with a few other oddities like London & Country on the 57 before London United, Mitcham Belle with that delightful livery on the 201 & Connex on the 60, 315 & G1. The 45 also made it as far as Streatham Hill, Telford Avenue in it's London Central days. Brixton has a similar situation with the P4 & Stagecoach - Stagecoach's only route in the area ever AFAIK. They have got very near with the likes of the 185 passing through Camberwell and hiring buses to local operators such as Connex where Stagecoach Tridents turned out on the 196 (plus 60 & 157). As for Brixton, like Streatham, throughout the 90's, it was predominantly South London & London General with London Central thrown into the mix though the likes of Cityrama on the 196, Londonlinks on the 689 & later on, Connex with the 3, 196 & 322.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 15:52:42 GMT
Has anyone mentioned the Stansted coach service they ran ?
It’s nice seeing Metroline buses at Clapton Pond resting between their 393 duties. Might do the following trip once lockdown has fully come down.
393, 31, 237,235 all end to end. Clapton Pond to Sunbury Village. Has a nice ring to it.
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Post by barrypotter on May 30, 2020 16:09:49 GMT
Don't know where to post this, but the N20 will extend from Barnet Church, to the Hospital, from tonight. It's not on the duty cards, so probably won't be on iBus. Just a little late update. The 263 bus stops at Barnet Hospital (arrival on Wellhouse Lane and departure from the Stand), both have N20 tiles, but no timetable. The stops on Wood St do not have these. Don't know when these changed. Hope this is new news.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 30, 2020 16:15:45 GMT
Has anyone mentioned the Stansted coach service they ran ? It’s nice seeing Metroline buses at Clapton Pond resting between their 393 duties. Might do the following trip once lockdown has fully come down. 393, 31, 237,235 all end to end. Clapton Pond to Sunbury Village. Has a nice ring to it. I rode route 31 followed by route 393 both with Metroline last August Bank Holiday. All 4 routes seem outside Metroline's main territory.
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Post by rif153 on May 30, 2020 16:38:41 GMT
Has anyone mentioned the Stansted coach service they ran ? It’s nice seeing Metroline buses at Clapton Pond resting between their 393 duties. Might do the following trip once lockdown has fully come down. 393, 31, 237,235 all end to end. Clapton Pond to Sunbury Village. Has a nice ring to it. I rode route 31 followed by route 393 both with Metroline last August Bank Holiday. All 4 routes seem outside Metroline's main territory. I agree, the 31 was a surprising Metroline gain for me.
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Post by VWH1414 on May 30, 2020 17:05:07 GMT
I rode route 31 followed by route 393 both with Metroline last August Bank Holiday. All 4 routes seem outside Metroline's main territory. I agree, the 31 was a surprising Metroline gain for me. Tbf the 31 isn't too far out from Metroline territory, in fact the eastern section of the route between Camden Town and Harrow Road it serves a decent amount of what could be considered "Metroline territory" and then again once it reaches White City there is a fair few ML routes there including the 237, 260 etc so I'd say the weirdest part of the 31 being at ML is the section around Westbourne Park. Though it was an unexpected gain tbh. It seems Metroline want to expand Southwards into Central London more, as well as Eastwards. Some of the Western side of the operation has taken big hits from Abellio, with them going from having 8/10 of the E routes to now only having 3/10 E routes in total. On the more Western front of ML operations, AH, PA and UX have done the best, between the 3 of them of course they have got a better foothold in Hounslow, giving RATP some competition there, whereas previously RATP were somewhat dominating the area (Bar exceptions like the 237 & E8 etc). But overall they seem to be trying to go further eastwards as well, PB has been key recently in ML getting into the Enfield bus market, with the 231, 317 and 491, as well as securing some routes in the more eastern end of their "territory" such as the 125 and 382. Then of course they've tried to bag themselves their one "monopoly" like most operators tend to have one of* in Golders Green, the 139 gain further cementing them in the area. * - E.g. Arriva around Wood Green/Turnpike Lane, Stagecoach in Romford, Go Ahead in Putney, RATP in Kingston etc etc
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Metroline
May 30, 2020 20:06:44 GMT
via mobile
Post by LondonNorthern on May 30, 2020 20:06:44 GMT
I agree, the 31 was a surprising Metroline gain for me. Tbf the 31 isn't too far out from Metroline territory, in fact the eastern section of the route between Camden Town and Harrow Road it serves a decent amount of what could be considered "Metroline territory" and then again once it reaches White City there is a fair few ML routes there including the 237, 260 etc so I'd say the weirdest part of the 31 being at ML is the section around Westbourne Park. Though it was an unexpected gain tbh. It seems Metroline want to expand Southwards into Central London more, as well as Eastwards. Some of the Western side of the operation has taken big hits from Abellio, with them going from having 8/10 of the E routes to now only having 3/10 E routes in total. On the more Western front of ML operations, AH, PA and UX have done the best, between the 3 of them of course they have got a better foothold in Hounslow, giving RATP some competition there, whereas previously RATP were somewhat dominating the area (Bar exceptions like the 237 & E8 etc). But overall they seem to be trying to go further eastwards as well, PB has been key recently in ML getting into the Enfield bus market, with the 231, 317 and 491, as well as securing some routes in the more eastern end of their "territory" such as the 125 and 382. Then of course they've tried to bag themselves their one "monopoly" like most operators tend to have one of* in Golders Green, the 139 gain further cementing them in the area. * - E.g. Arriva around Wood Green/Turnpike Lane, Stagecoach in Romford, Go Ahead in Putney, RATP in Kingston etc etc I wouldn't doubt the 63 being won, it's not a long way from KC at the northern end.
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Post by redexpress on May 30, 2020 22:17:02 GMT
And although it was a commercial route, Metroline in Luton with the 714, then 84A. Or even Metroline in the hamlet of Tyttenhanger Green on Herts council contracted route 305! Just remembered that Metroline have had a few other forays into the countryside - e.g. the short-lived shoppers' routes 719 and 721, one of which went to Hemel Hempstead.
A real oddity came in 1998 when Seamarks collapsed, and Metroline Commercial Services were given a short-term Herts CC contract to run the Sunday services on routes 343 (St Albans - Markyate?), 356 (St Albans - Borehamwood) and 357 (St Albans - Harpenden). Metroline had bought MTL London just a few weeks earlier, so were able to run the routes from PB using brand new DMS-class Darts.
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Post by VWH1414 on May 30, 2020 22:35:19 GMT
And although it was a commercial route, Metroline in Luton with the 714, then 84A. Or even Metroline in the hamlet of Tyttenhanger Green on Herts council contracted route 305! Just remembered that Metroline have had a few other forays into the countryside - e.g. the short-lived shoppers' routes 719 and 721, one of which went to Hemel Hempstead.
A real oddity came in 1998 when Seamarks collapsed, and Metroline Commercial Services were given a short-term Herts CC contract to run the Sunday services on routes 343 (St Albans - Markyate?), 356 (St Albans - Borehamwood) and 357 (St Albans - Harpenden). Metroline had bought MTL London just a few weeks earlier, so were able to run the routes from PB using brand new DMS-class Darts.
I find that Metroline have really stumbled into some odd routes over the years, both in HCC land and in London. Generally it seems to come through acquisitions or emergency tenders for HCC. AH brought a lot of oddities especially when they bought it off Armchair, in the form of the 493 and plethora of mobility routes they inherited, ML being around Richmond on the 190 still seems odd. I remember when they also had that outstation in Garston for Watford routes 318 and 346 with NSM660-664 operating out of there in 2005, though they sold it to Mullaneys c2008 I think. I would like to see ML get more HCC tenders though, would be nice to see them branche out into non TfL areas a bit.
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Post by vjaska on May 30, 2020 22:42:16 GMT
Tbf the 31 isn't too far out from Metroline territory, in fact the eastern section of the route between Camden Town and Harrow Road it serves a decent amount of what could be considered "Metroline territory" and then again once it reaches White City there is a fair few ML routes there including the 237, 260 etc so I'd say the weirdest part of the 31 being at ML is the section around Westbourne Park. Though it was an unexpected gain tbh. It seems Metroline want to expand Southwards into Central London more, as well as Eastwards. Some of the Western side of the operation has taken big hits from Abellio, with them going from having 8/10 of the E routes to now only having 3/10 E routes in total. On the more Western front of ML operations, AH, PA and UX have done the best, between the 3 of them of course they have got a better foothold in Hounslow, giving RATP some competition there, whereas previously RATP were somewhat dominating the area (Bar exceptions like the 237 & E8 etc). But overall they seem to be trying to go further eastwards as well, PB has been key recently in ML getting into the Enfield bus market, with the 231, 317 and 491, as well as securing some routes in the more eastern end of their "territory" such as the 125 and 382. Then of course they've tried to bag themselves their one "monopoly" like most operators tend to have one of* in Golders Green, the 139 gain further cementing them in the area. * - E.g. Arriva around Wood Green/Turnpike Lane, Stagecoach in Romford, Go Ahead in Putney, RATP in Kingston etc etc I wouldn't doubt the 63 being won, it's not a long way from KC at the northern end. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll go for it - they certainly never went for the 45 at it's last two awards the route received three bids in 2010 and 2 bids in 2017 and looking particularly at the 2010 award, I'd say it's more likely the third bidder was Arriva likely from BN especially as there was a reshuffle that did happen at the time in regards to CN closing. Back to the 63, the 2009 award had three bidders so that time, it's possible Metroline was one of them, certainly Travel London/Abellio & Go-Ahead would of bidded. The 2016 award had just Go-Ahead bid with no one else making a bid so Metroline clearly thought for whatever reason, it wasn't for them at the last tender.
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Post by kmkcheng on May 30, 2020 22:48:37 GMT
Just remembered that Metroline have had a few other forays into the countryside - e.g. the short-lived shoppers' routes 719 and 721, one of which went to Hemel Hempstead. I remember these shopper routes. I seem to recall it was run using VPs from HD. They used to run a couple of school routes (I think it was subcontracted from Mullanys) for Parmiter’s school which used the VPs which were then used on those shopper routes between school start and finish time. Metroline also ran a couple of routes in Watford based at Mullany’s depot and using drivers based at NW. There was the 346 which was a Watford circular route and used the solos that were bought for H1/2/3 before they lost those routes. They later introduced the 318 which was marketed as the ‘Abbots Langley flyer’. When Metroline withdrew from both routes, Mullanys took over running them and the 318 still runs today.
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Metroline
May 31, 2020 10:09:23 GMT
via mobile
Post by LondonNorthern on May 31, 2020 10:09:23 GMT
Just remembered that Metroline have had a few other forays into the countryside - e.g. the short-lived shoppers' routes 719 and 721, one of which went to Hemel Hempstead. I remember these shopper routes. I seem to recall it was run using VPs from HD. They used to run a couple of school routes (I think it was subcontracted from Mullanys) for Parmiter’s school which used the VPs which were then used on those shopper routes between school start and finish time. Metroline also ran a couple of routes in Watford based at Mullany’s depot and using drivers based at NW. There was the 346 which was a Watford circular route and used the solos that were bought for H1/2/3 before they lost those routes. They later introduced the 318 which was marketed as the ‘Abbots Langley flyer’. When Metroline withdrew from both routes, Mullanys took over running them and the 318 still runs today. Wasn't the PS5 also run by ML?
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Post by kmkcheng on May 31, 2020 10:14:35 GMT
I remember these shopper routes. I seem to recall it was run using VPs from HD. They used to run a couple of school routes (I think it was subcontracted from Mullanys) for Parmiter’s school which used the VPs which were then used on those shopper routes between school start and finish time. Metroline also ran a couple of routes in Watford based at Mullany’s depot and using drivers based at NW. There was the 346 which was a Watford circular route and used the solos that were bought for H1/2/3 before they lost those routes. They later introduced the 318 which was marketed as the ‘Abbots Langley flyer’. When Metroline withdrew from both routes, Mullanys took over running them and the 318 still runs today. Wasn't the PS5 also run by ML? PS5 was one of the Parmiters school routes I was mentioning and I think the other was PS7
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Post by rif153 on May 31, 2020 11:28:18 GMT
I agree, the 31 was a surprising Metroline gain for me. Tbf the 31 isn't too far out from Metroline territory, in fact the eastern section of the route between Camden Town and Harrow Road it serves a decent amount of what could be considered "Metroline territory" and then again once it reaches White City there is a fair few ML routes there including the 237, 260 etc so I'd say the weirdest part of the 31 being at ML is the section around Westbourne Park. Though it was an unexpected gain tbh. It seems Metroline want to expand Southwards into Central London more, as well as Eastwards. Some of the Western side of the operation has taken big hits from Abellio, with them going from having 8/10 of the E routes to now only having 3/10 E routes in total. On the more Western front of ML operations, AH, PA and UX have done the best, between the 3 of them of course they have got a better foothold in Hounslow, giving RATP some competition there, whereas previously RATP were somewhat dominating the area (Bar exceptions like the 237 & E8 etc). But overall they seem to be trying to go further eastwards as well, PB has been key recently in ML getting into the Enfield bus market, with the 231, 317 and 491, as well as securing some routes in the more eastern end of their "territory" such as the 125 and 382. Then of course they've tried to bag themselves their one "monopoly" like most operators tend to have one of* in Golders Green, the 139 gain further cementing them in the area. * - E.g. Arriva around Wood Green/Turnpike Lane, Stagecoach in Romford, Go Ahead in Putney, RATP in Kingston etc etc I agree with that very detailed analysis. Talking of the Enfield bus market which Metroline are gaining more and more routes in I can't resist saying how much I like the 307 more so back when it had beastly TEs, of course that only passed to Metroline in 2015 showing how Metroline are giving Arriva a run for their money in Enfield. Without wanting to seem like a pedant here I would point out that after the buyout of First, Metroline would have had 9/10 E routes having all of them but the E11. It was then in 2014 they lost the E1 to Abellio (the start of the onslaught), E3 to RATP and E10 to Arriva.
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