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Metrobus' New Dart('s)

A little while ago, Metrobus gave up their two remaining Marshall Darts inherited from First Orpington numbered 142 and 143. London General have recently transferred one of their old spare Darts to partially to replace 142 at C, and partially for a top up. I therefore went to Addington Village to cover it running on the T32.

392 (ex LDP192) on the T32 at Addington Village

Note the makeshift fleet numbers in the lower front windows

Makeshift fleet Numbers

The other Replacement. 286

My Photo Archives (Post 1?)

This is probably my best night shot so far...

189 at Addington Village

Here we see a regular bus seen on the T32, an 8.9m Enviro 200 bought for the winning of the 434 back in August. 189 is leaving the drop off point at Addington Village heading off to stand before the return journey to New Addington. The T32 is probably the most varied route for buses in London, because it can have anything from these mini E20D's, to an Omnidekka! This route is supposed to be withdrawn in 2015, and be partially replaced with the 314. I really do enjoy the journey on the T32 and its buses, but as they say, everything has their time.

Buses Excetera in a Nutshell Part Two: Route 479/489

Lets start off with the 489.

The original 489 which was operated by NorthDown was introduced in (insert year) and ran as a Monday-Saturday, evenings only and Sunday Service (Bit weird, I know). I do have a panel timetable of this route that you can view on the right.

As you can see, the route ran from Tolworth to Bookham/Guildford, which is nearly the same as the present day 479/489, just without the extension to Tolworth from Epsom.

The 489 was eventually discontinued, and then revived by Buses Excetera after the Sunday 479 service was discontinued, which created competition with then Sunray Travel's 479. Many people preferred to use Excetera's 489 as it was cheaper, more reliable, and the drivers were friendlier too.

Sunray couldn't cope with this, and it lead to the repossession of their working fleet, which meant they had to borrow Olympians off Southern Transit. A short while after, failure to meet payments lead to the repossession of the loaned buses, which meant they had to borrow B10M's from Edward Thomas & Son until the schools went back after Summer half term.

On Tuesday the 10th of September 2013, Sunray travel went into liquidation, and did not run a service at all. Sunray advised customers to use Excetera's 489 service for buses to Epsom. The Sunray Saga was over.

At present, Buses Excetera are running both routes in tip-top shape, with clean, on time buses and freindly drivers. The 479 usually runs Full Size buses such as single deck Eclipse fusions, and Enviro 300's, although occasionly Darts can slip onto the route. The 489 is regularly run with double deck Presidents, although sometimes, single deck workings can occur.

For photos, please visit my new Flickr page here.

Break in Blogging

Just to let you guys know, I will be taking a break from blogging for a while, but i will be back at the end of the month

Buses Excetera in a Nutshell Part One: Route 516

Here is (yet another) new series on this blog. In this series, I hope to focus on the Excetera Routes around Surrey. Lets start with the 516.

Route 516 is a bus route in Surrey which starts in Epsom, at Kiln Lane Sainsbury's , before continuing onto the High Street and scooting off south, passing Leatherhead, and shooting up Box Hill, and down the other side, before arriving in Dorking Town Centre!

The main buses seen on this route are Dennis Darts of all lengths, Prototype E200's, and of course, my lovely Primo J222ETC!

I do hope to record a journey on this route someday, but all i have to share at the moment are photos of this spectacular rural route across Surrey. Enjoy!

S30 ETC at Epsom, Clock Tower

J222 ETC at Kiln Lane, Sainsburys

J222 ETC at Kiln Lane, Sainsburys

J222 ETC at Kiln Lane, Sainsburys

J222 ETC's Engine

J18 ETC at Epsom, Clock Tower

S29 ETC at Epsom, Clock Tower

Photo of the Month (January 2014)

Here we are! Looks like we made it into another year after all. Happy new year everybody! Lets start the year off with something that we can all enjoy. An out of London photo.

J14 (J14ETC) ex- AE56 MDO on route 25 at Guildford Library