Transdev London

Transdev London is one of many operators of London Buses and is owned by the Transdev Group of France, an international transport group, who operate urban bus, tram and light railway networks worldwide.

Company history

London United Busways was set up as a subsidiary of London Buses in 1989. The company was a "reincarnation" of the former London United Tramways, an operator of trams and trolleybuses in west and south west London absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933. The company adopted the former tram company's device, based on the coat of arms of the City of London, as its logo. Upon privatisation in 1994, it was purchased by a management buyout and renamed London United.

In 1995, the company purchased Stanwell Buses Ltd (trading as 'Westlink') and took on its routes, vehicles and two garages - located in Hounslow Heath, Middlesex and Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.

In 1997, the bus company was purchased by French transport group Transdev.

In 2003, London United purchased struggling bus operator London Sovereign, part of the Blazefield Group, and has since adapted its livery and vehicles to a similar style to its own. The buyout came with around a dozen routes operated on contract to Transport for London (TfL) as well as two garages at Harrow and Edgware in Middlesex.

In April 2006, the company commenced a rebrand of all of its vehicles with the Transdev name and logo, effectively removing the London United and London Sovereign names. This was completed in September the same year.

Overview

Transdev London operates approximately 60 routes on contract to TfL and employs around 600 staff.

London United

Their legal name is London United Busways Ltd.

Garages

They have six bus garages.

Fulwell

This garage holds 107 buses, and runs London bus routes 71, 131, 216, 267, 290, 371, 24-hour routes 65 and 281, and school routes 371, 671, 681, and 691.

Fulwell also operate shuttle buses to and from Twickenham Stadium on behalf of the RFU on event days.

History

When new, the 11 acre site was described as one of the finest plants in the country and was the main depot of London United Tramways with 20 covered tracks. The garage is nowadays divided into two sections, one used by Transdev & the other by Tellings-Golden Miller (TGM, now owned by Travel London). The TGM side has been used by the Grundy company (manufacturers of metal school dinner trays), London Buses Sales Department (to sell of surplus London vehicles until privatisation in the late 1980s), and Kelly construction, before TGM moved in. Fulwell was the first garage in London to receive trolleybuses, and together with Isleworth was the last to operate them some 31 years later. The last trams operated from the depot in 1935, although some of the tram tracks were, until recently, still visible in the cobbled entrance surface. The garage has never reached its capacity, even taking in much of the work from Twickenham (AB) when it closed in 1970, and in 2001 107 buses were allocated. In 1999 the garage housed 13 London Country buses after Arriva Croydon & N. Surrey shut its Leatherhead garage. The buses on route 85 were operated from the forecourt with Arriva drivers.

Bus types in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m / Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Dennis Trident 2 9.9m / Alexander ALX400 (TA)
* Volvo Olympian / Alexander RH (VA), used on non TfL services only
* Scania OmniDekka 10.6m (SLE)
* Scania OmniCity (SP)
* Volvo B7TL 10m / Alexander ALX400 (VA)

Hounslow

This garage holds 120 buses, and runs London bus routes 9 (late and early journeys), 27 (night service only on this 24-hour route), 81, 110, 111 (24 hours), 120, 203, 222, H32, H37, H98, school routes 696, 697, 698 and Night bus N9.

History

Hounslow garage was opened by the London General Omnibus Company in 1913 on the former site of the District Railway's Hounslow Town station. The garage along with many others was requisitioned in the First World War. Hounslow was the subject of two firsts in 1925 and 1930 with the first pneumatic tyre buses and the original Dennis Dart allocated respectively. The garage had one problem though: the roof was too low and only open toppers and single deck vehicles could use the depot until the mid 1930s when the roof was raised. A London Transport survey in 1947 found that 92 vehicles were allocated to Hounslow, a garage with a capacity of 72. This was mainly achieved by parking buses on a plot of land behind the garage that was also used to stand vehicles terminating there on layover. The garage was rebuilt in the early 1950s and included a new bus station in front of the garage. The planned allocation was now up to 120 vehicles, although the allocation in 2002 was 127. Hounslow was one of the few garages in London not to operate DMS double deckers: its first one-person-operated double deckers did not arrive until 1982, in the shape of the M class Metrobus for routes 111 & 202. With the allocation still high, Hounslow runs a number of night services on behalf of other London United garages to enable it to fit the buses into the garage. It was also the first garage in London to operate a low-floor bus with the arrival of Dennis Lance SLF/Wright Pathfinder LLW1 direct from the Coach & Bus show.

There are currently plans to relocate the garage away from the town centre, and allow the expansion of the adjoining bus station. In 2005 there was an unsuccessful planning application for a site in Hanworth Road. This was largely due to a campaign by residents overlooking the site.

In late 2007 the bus station in front of the garage was closed for re-building. The overall roof was removed and the eight bus bays demolished. In their place have been built just two stands for routes 120 and 281. The other seven routes that previously served the bus station now stand on the garage forecourt (the old bus station) but pick up passengers in the road outside.

Bus types in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 10.8m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DP)
* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Dennis Trident 2 9.9m/Alexander ALX400 (TA)
* Volvo B7TL 10m/ Alexander ALX400 (VA)

Hounslow Heath

This garage holds 57 buses, and runs London bus routes 116, 411, 423, 482, H22, H91, 24-hour route 285, and school route 641.

History

Hounslow Heath was the original operating base of Stanwell Buses, a company set up by London Buses just prior to de-regulation. They traded as Westlink, hence the garage code WK, and initially operated routes 116/117/203 which were all joint London/Surrey contracts. Stanwell Buses was taken over by London United in 1999 and recoded internally as HH. London Buses still use the code WK. The depot has also been extended over the former Travellers Coaches yard next door.

Bus types in use

* Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 Dart 10.2m (DE)
* Dennis Dart SLF 10.8m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DP)
* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Scania OmniCity (SP)

hepherd's Bush

This garage holds 111 buses, and runs London bus routes 49, 24-hour routes 72, 94, 148, 220, and Night bus N97.

History

Bus types in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m / Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Dennis Trident 2 9.9 m & 10.5m / Alexander ALX400 (TA/TLA)
* Volvo B7TL 10m / Alexander ALX400 (VA)
* Volvo B7TL 10m / East Lancs Myllennium Vyking (VE)
* Scania OmniCity (SP)
* Scania N230UD 10.5m / East Lancs Olympus (SO)

tamford Brook

This garage holds 77 buses, and runs London bus routes 9, 27 (day time service only), 148 (day time service only), 283 and 391.

History

Stamford Brook opened as a bus garage in 1980 after a 2-year project costing some £2 Million started in 1978. Originally built as Chiswick Tram depot, it had lately been used to operate the British Airways bus service between Heathrow Airport and the West London Air Terminal in Kensington.

The original plan was to create a temporary home for the R (Riverside) buses and staff whilst that garage was re-built with a view to taking on the workload from Mortlake and Turnham Green which were to close. However this idea was changed and the garage took on the work from Turnham Green which closed and also inherited the garage code V. Following service reductions, Mortlake & Riverside closed in 1983, with some of their work moving to Stamford Brook.

Later that year Stamford Brook took on the A1 & A2 'Airbus' routes following the withdrawal of the existing British airways services from London - Heathrow Airport. These vehicles were transferred in 1994 to West Ramp (which became an outstation of V) leaving the garage with an allocation of MRL's, M's, L's and Darts.

The garage closed in 1996 and became a store for unlicensed vehicles for possible future use, and reopened in 1999 when it was reutilised to cater for increased demand in the area. In 2001 the allocation consisted entirely of Dennis Darts. When route 9 was converted form Routemaster to one person operation, it was moved from Shepherds Bush to Stamford Brook, and double deckers reappeared at the garage.

Bus types in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Scania OmniDekka 10.6m (SLE)
* Scania N230UD 10.5m / East Lancs Olympus (SO)
* Volvo B7TL 10.6m/East Lancs Myllennium Vyking (VLE)
* Volvo B7TL 10m/Wright Eclipse Gemini (VR)

Tolworth

This garage holds 100 buses, and runs London bus routes 265, 467, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, 24 hour route 57 and school bus routes 613 and 665. Also seasonal K50 - see below.

History

Tolworth is one of the newest London bus garages and is built on the site of a former coal yard behind Tolworth railway station.

Tolworth was originally planned in the late 1990s following the closure of Kingston Garage and the announcement that the site was to be part sold off and part converted into the new bus station. A recruitment centre was opened on Tolworth Broadway long before building work ever started.

The sale of the Kingston site was brought forward somewhat, and this appeared to catch out the operator as Tolworth Garage was not yet ready. Buses were temporarily parked in a car park in Kingston until the new 100 capacity bus garage finally opened in early 2002. In recent times the yard has been used to store Routemasters coming out of service.

Bus types in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 8.8m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPK)
* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPS)
* Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart 8.9m (SDE)
* Dennis Trident 9.9m/Alexander ALX400 (TA)
* Volvo Olympian/Alexander RH (VA)
* Dennis Dart SLF 10.8m/Caetano Nimbus (DN) on hire from Blue Triangle

Christmas Park & Ride

Transdev hold a 5-year contract (2004–2008 inc) to operate route K50, the Kingston - Chessington World of Adventures, Christmas park & ride service. Different vehicles have been used each year, depending on what is available at the time. The service runs daily from early November to mid January each year.In 2004 this was operated by class LLW Dennis Lances and in 2005 by single door Darts DP1 - 11. In 2006 it is mainly being operated by Dennis Dart SLF/Caetano (DN) on hire from Blue Triangle.In 2007 DP's 2-11 returned to the route, with each one being named after one of Santa's Reindeer.Each year the buses have had vinyl adverts for the service applied to all lower panels. In 2004 they were green, turquoise in 2005 and blue in 2006 and again in 2007.

London Sovereign

Their legal name is London Sovereign Limited.

Garages

They have 2 bus garages.

Edgware

This garage holds 62 buses, and runs London bus routes 13, 114, 183, 292, and Night route N13.

History

When Edgware garage was first opened by the London General Omnibus Company in 1925 it had space for 24 buses, but there was plenty of room adjacent to the Underground station which had recently been built. In 1939 a new building was built next to the original building which was to become the new bus station, while the remaining open parking area was used to store vehicles for the trolleybus replacement program. In 1984 a new 100 bus garage was built on old railway land at a cost of £4.5 Million. However in 1992 Edgware garage was planned for closure as Cricklewood garage was to become a fully functioning garage with new facilities. The outdoor parking area and the bus station then became a midibus base in 1993, with a new bus wash and light maintenance facilities provided in the yard. Then in 1999 London Sovereign, who had won some recent tenders in the North-East London area, took on a 10-year lease on half of Edgware garage and invested in a new maintenance facility which was to replace its former base at Borehamwood. In late 2000 Metroline moved back into the other half of the garage, making it one of the few garages to be shared by two operators.

London Sovereign can trace its roots back to independent Borehamwood Travel Services (BTS), which ran a series of ex-Kelvin Central MCW Metrobuses, as well as new Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties Palatines and a collection of other vehicles. In 1993 it won its biggest London Buses contract, to operate route 13 (Golders Green - Aldwych) with leased AEC Routemasters in its orange livery. It then sold out in 1994 to the Blazefield Group's Sovereign subsidiary, and it became Sovereign London. In 2003 it was sold to the Transdev group, which turned it into London Sovereign.

Bus types in use

* Volvo B7TL 10.6m/Plaxton President (VLP)
* Scania OmniDekka 10.6m (SLE)
* Volvo Olympian/Alexander RH (VA)
* Volvo B7TL 10.6m/East Lancs Vyking (VLE)

Harrow

This garage holds 39 buses, and runs London bus routes 398, H9, H10, H11, H13, H14, and H17.

History

Bus type in use

* Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (SDO)
* Dennis Dart SLF 9.4m/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DPF)

External links

* [http://www.lonutd.co.uk London United]
* [http://www.londonsovereign.co.uk/ London Sovereign]
* [http://www.transdevplc.co.uk Transdev plc UK]
* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk Transport for London]