Final London Bendy Buses Disappear

Arriva London MA49 Marble Arch July 2007   (click to enlarge)

The conversion of Transport for London route 207 to double deck buses will mean that the last of a fleet of over 350 bendy buses in London have now been taken off the Capital’s roads.  Those displaced buses are now a regular sight on the streets of Leicester, Merseyside Tyneside and Malta amongst others. However in the Capital they have been replaced with 500 new vehicles of which more than 50 are hybrid diesel-electric double deck buses.
As they came off service yesterday the buses were withdrawn and stored at Hayes, Uxbridge and Willesden Garages of First London. The peak vehicle requirement for the 207 route has been 35 EA-class bendies operated out of Hayes (HS) Garage for the past 5 or 6 years. From today thirty-nine Polish built brand new 10.8m Scania OmniCity H41/22D double-deckers (fleet numbers SN36031-36069) will run the route.

The Mayor of London fulfilled his pledge to banish bendy buses from the streets of London as the last bendy bus to run in the Capital set off on its last journey in passenger service in the early hours of this morning.

It is claimed that there is a substantial overall saving to TfL of £7.4m per year, because the slight increase in contract costs is more than offset by an expected reduction in fare evasion, following the conversion of all 12 articulated routes. 

http://www.london.gov.uk/media/press_releases_mayoral/final-bendy-buses-banished-streets-london
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16091997
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/photos/farewell-londons-bendy-buses-photo-100000956.html

London Central MAL82 Westminster June 2007 

Information by Tony Wilson, Martin Arrand, Daniel Sellers & Ken Jones