First Sell Northumberland Park Depot to Go Ahead

The Northumberland Park Depot of First London, together with all of its current routes, contracts and vehicles have been sold to the Go-Ahead Group. Allegedly it appears this will take effect within the current financial year towards the end of March.

There are fourteen Transport for London (TfL) contracted routes operated from this base namely

67,191,231,259,299,357,389,399,
476,616.692,699,W4,W10
which require a peak vehicle requirement
of around 130 buses.
Types operated are double-decks ADL Dennis Trident/Enviro400
and Volvo B7TL/Wright along with a small number of
Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall single-decks.

The Go-Ahead Group’s other interests in the London area are as follows.

Blue Triangle & Docklands Buses

Twenty-two TfL contracted bus routes 150,167,276,300,347,362,364,376,425,474,549,649,650,651,673,674,D6,D7,D8,EL1,EL2,N551W19 in North and East London are all operated out of two bases at Rainham, Essex or Silvertown in the Docklands with a peak vehicle requirement of around ninety buses. A mixture of ADL Enviro200 Darts single-decks with either Enviro200 or MCV bodywork are operated along with Scania OmniDekka, Scania OmniCity, Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President and Volvo B9TL/Wrightbus Gemini 2 double-decks.

London Central & London General

London Central operates thirty-one TfL contracted bus routes mainly around South East London and into Central London. These routes 12,21,36,37,42,45,63,68,89,108,129,132,171,185,225,229,321,360,363,401,422,468,486,621,625,626,658,661,669,B11,B16,P5,P12,X68 are operated out of four bases at Bexleyheath, Camberwell, New Cross and Peckham with a peak vehicle requirement of around five hundred buses.

A mixture of ADL Enviro200, Dennis Dart, DAF and Scania single-decks are used along with a batch of Wrightbus Electrocity Hybrids. The double-deck fleet consists of a selection of ADL Enviro Dennis Tridents or Volvo B7TL and B9TL type with either Plaxton President or Wrightbus bodywork.

London General operates forty-eight TfL contracted bus routes mainly around South and South West London and into the Central area. These routes 1,11,14,22,24,39,44,74,77,80,85,87,88,93,118,151,154,155,163,164,170,180,196,200,201,213,219,244,270,280,315,333,337,345,355,413,424,430,436,453,485,507,521,639,655,669,670,G1 are operated out of eight bases at Belvedere, Mandela Way, Merton, Plough Lane, Stockwell and Waterloo with a peak vehicle requirement of around six hundred and ninety buses. Again a mixture of single-decks is provided with types such as ADL Enviro200, DAF, Dennis Dart and Mercedes-Benz Citaro. With this operator some of the Enviro200s feature relatively rare Optare (East Lancs) Esteem bodywork. Double-decks are a mixture of Dennis Tridents with either Enviro400 or Optare (East Lancs) bodies, ADL Enviro400 and Enviro400 Hybrid, Volvo B7TL with a mixture of East Lancs, Plaxton or Wright bodies and Volvo B9TL/Wrightbus.

The other London operator

There is one more Go-Ahead company that operates TfL contracted routes, Metrobus with bases at Crawley, Croydon and Orpington. Forty-one routes operated are 54,64,75,119,127,130,138,146,161,162,181,202,261,284,293,320,336,352,353,358,359,367,405,464,465,612,654,B14,R1-R11,T32,T33,X26

and are served by around two hundred and ninety buses; single-deck Dennis Darts with a mixture of body types by East Lancs and Plaxton, ADL Enviro200, MAN, Scania OmniCity and Optare Solos, whilst the double-deck option is the Scania OmniCity or the same Scania mechanics with Optare Olympus bodywork.

All these combined means that before the takeover of Northumberland Park’s operations, the Go-Ahead Group’s subsidiaries currently operate between 20 and 21% of the bus services within the TfL route network.

Tony Wilson