- East London (bus company)
East London is a bus company that was once a subsidiary of the
Stagecoach Group under the names Stagecoach East London and Stagecoach London, but is now part of investment bankMacquarie Bank as part of theEast London Bus Group . It principally operates services in the English capital city ofLondon , under contract to theLondon Buses arm ofTransport for London . Their legal name is East London Bus & Coach Company Ltd.History
East London and
Selkent were acquired by the Stagecoach Group from state-owned London Buses when its subsidiaries were privatised. Legally these companies still exist, and Stagecoach London's buses carry legal lettering for one or other of these companies.Both the buses involved in the
7 July 2005 London Bombings and21 July 2005 London Bombings belonged to East London.Garages
They have seven bus garages.
Barking
This garage holds 126 buses, and runs London bus routes 5 , 15 (Late night / Early morning journeys using buses from N15), 62, 145, 169, 287, 300, 325, 366, 387, 396, 24-hour route 369, Night route N15 & School route 687
History
Barking was opened in 1924 by the
London General Omnibus Company to cater for the increased demand from the new housing estates springing up in Becontree.Barking will be remembered by many enthusiasts as being the last garage to operate RTs on 7 April 1979. The scheduled requirement gradually dropped in the post war years and in 1992 a closure notice was served on the garage, but it wasn't implemented and by 1994 Barking had a scheduled requirement for 109 buses including Titans and Deltas.
Bus types in use
*
Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400
*Dennis Dart SLF /Plaxton Pointer 2
*Dennis Dart SLF /Alexander ALX200 Bow
This garage holds 95 buses, and runs London bus routes 5 ( Late night / Early morning journeys using buses from N15), 8, 15, 15H (Heritage Route), 158, 24-hour route 277, and Night routes N8 and N15.
History
Originally a tram depot, and later a trolleybus depot Bow was converted to motor bus operations in 1959 including the installation of large overground fuel tanks. Shortly after conversion the nearby Clay Hall garage closed with its allocation moving to BW. The garage received its first RM's in the early 1960s, some of which remained there right up until August 2004 for route 8 until the final Stagecoach RM's ran in normal service.
In 2005 when all Routemaster buses were withdrawn, Bow took over running of route 15H (Heritage Route) from Waterden Road (WA), due to its closing in December 2007. They have still got the last ever Routemaster built (RML2760), being preserved by Stagecoach / East London Bus Group and still comes out and play its part on route 15H (Heritage Route).
Bus types in use
*
Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400
*Routemaster Leyton
This garage holds 106 buses, and runs London bus routes 26 (Late night / Early morning journeys using buses from N26), 48, 55, 56, 97, 230, 24-hour route 69, night routes N26 and N55.
History
Leyton garage was built in 1912 by
London General Omnibus Company to replace an existing garage acquired from London Metropolitan, and was in an ideal position to benefit from developing areas. During theSecond World War the garage suffered bomb damage but was not rebuilt until a major renovation in 1955. The garage was the first to receive post war RT's and by 1947 78 were allocated. A further 30 were added for the trolleybus conversion program in 1959 and they lasted at the garage until 1972. Leyton was also the first garage to receive East London's new low-floor Trident/ALX400 in 1999. The current operational allocation is entirely low-floor.Bus types in use
*
Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400 Romford
This garage holds 91 buses, and runs London bus routes 5, 103, 174, 175, 247, 294, 296, 496, school routes 647 and 674, and Night route N86.
History
Romford bus garage was opened in 1953 to take the strain off of the nearby Hornchurch garage, and also to cope with the new Harold Hill Estate. Built in the post-war style of an underground station it was initially able to house 115 buses, although only 67 were allocated when opened. The allocation grew to 90 by 1958. In 1992 the garage was earmarked for closure due to the loss of routes under the new tendering procedure. The garage however remained open and by 1994 was allocated 84 buses, mainly Titans. In 2004 the allocation had dropped slightly to 76, although with a good year of tender wins in 2005 the garage is up to full capacity.
Bus types in use
*
Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400
*Dennis Dart SLF /Alexander ALX200 tratford
All operation have been moved to their new West Ham garage.
History
Stratford garage has had some identity crises in its time. Opened by Stagecoach in 1992 that garage is a large yard on an old industrial estate. It was originally called "Bow Midibus Base" and took over the midibuses from both Bow & West Ham garages. Stratford Garage is opposite
First London 's Hackney depot. It also housed the dedicated livery and adapted buses with rooftop flashing beacon for theLondon City Airport Contract.One vehicle from this garage was destroyed in the
7 July 2005 London Bombings . The driver of the bus,George Psaradakis , escaped serious injury and was able to return to work a few weeks later, although 13 passengers were killed. Stagecoach had a replacement bus handed over to them in October 2005 which was the firstAlexander Dennis Enviro400 off the production line and named "Spirit of London".West Ham
This garage holds 149 buses, and runs London bus routes 25, 26, 30, 86, 106, 241, 257, 276, D3, school route 678.
History
The garage was opened in February 2008 as the replacement for Stratford Garage (SD), all route were tranfered from Stratford to the new site, On the 18th May 2008, route 25 was moved from Rainham Garage to West Ham with Rainham Still carrying out the engineering for all buses at West Ham until the garage is fully built.
Bus types in use
*
Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400
*Dennis Dart SLF /Alexander ALX200
*Dennis Dart SLF /Plaxton Pointer 2
*Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Upton Park
This garage holds 109 buses, and runs London bus routes 101, 104, 115, 147, 238, 325, 262, 330, 376, 473, and Night route N550.
History
The largest garage in the east end of London, Upton Park was opened by the LRCC in 1907 but was requisitioned for the war effort in 1915 and was not returned to use until 1919. In 1931 it was totally revamped and enlarged to create a capacity of just over 200 buses. In 1988 the garage operated the X15 "Beckton Express" using ex-Green Line RMC's. The service was a trial, and even sold newspapers to commuters on board.
Bus types in use
*
Dennis Dart SLF /Plaxton Pointer 2
* DAF SB220LC550/Optare Delta (Trainer)
* Scania N113CRL/Wright Pathfinder (Trainer)
*Dennis Trident 2 /Alexander ALX400 Rainham
This garage holds 47 buses, It runs route 248. From 28th March 2009 It will also take over TfL route 372, also a tender win from Go-Ahead London - Blue Triangle.
History
This garage was opened in 2007 because the Waterden Garage was closed due to compulsory purchase for the Olympic Village development.
As from May 2008 all Buses along with the trainers was moved into the new West Ham Garage (WH) making the garage not operating any TfL routes, Rainham Garage will still be carrying out all the engineering work until the new West Ham garage is fully built by spring 2009 and with the rest of the old Parcel Force building removed and the new bus parking area made ready by April 2010.
Operational again from 27th September 2008.
Bus types in use
* DAF SB220LC550/
Optare Delta (trainer)
* Scania N113CRL/Wright Pathfinder (Trainer)
* Dennis Trident 2 / Alexander ALX400ee also
*
List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References
External links
* [http://www.elbg.com/ East London Bus Group website]
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