Despre Superloop.

O serie de imagini din partea mea cu autobuze de la diverse companii surprinse prin Londra in luna februarie.

Abellio London Ltd

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrid:

2432

Arriva London

Wright New Routemaster:

LT214

London Central Bus Company Ltd - Go-Ahead

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC Hybrid:

EH309





EH101





EH105





EH106





EH92

Wright New Routemaster:

LT61





LT282





LT283





LT450





Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC:

SEe1





SEe4





Volvo B5LH/Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 Hybrid:

WHV128





WHV141

London United Busways Ltd. - RATP Group

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrid:

ADH45061





ADH45067





Wright New Routemaster:

LT85





Volvo B5LH - MCV eVoSeti:

VMH45324





VMH45332





Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC:

BE37015





BE37017





BE37023

Metroline Travel Ltd

Wright New Routemaster:

LT748





LT794





Volvo B5LH - MCV eVoSeti:

VMH2453





Volvo B5LH - Wright Eclipse Gemini:

VWH2023





Wright StreetDeck Hydroliner FCEV:

WHD2723

Stagecoach London:

Volvo B5LH/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400H MMC 10.4m:

13081

Autobuze turistice.

Golden Tours Ltd:

Volvo B5TL/MCV eVoSeti:

129





143

The Big Bus Company Ltd:

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400:

DA232





Volvo B9TL/Optare Visionaire:

DA325

Bombay Sapphire Afternoon Tea Bus:

AEC Routemaster:

204 CLT





UJD 546D





VLT 191

Cateva indicatoare de statii.

ADH45061,ADH45067, VMH45324 și VMH45332 aparțin de London Transit nu de London United.

Pentru cine nu știe, London Transit a fost creat după ce RATP s-a unit cu Tower Transit, in anul 2022. Tower Transit nu mai există acum, celălalt(e) garaj(e) fiind cumpărat(e) de Stagecoach London.

HCT Group (CT Plus) a avut aceeași "soartă", fiind cumpărata in totalitate tot de Stagecoach London.

Ultima companie independentă se retrage din contractele delegate de TfL în această seară

Cessation of TfL services

Following a meeting with Transport for London (TfL) we have reluctantly decided to withdraw from our TFL contracts from Friday night 2nd August.

Pressures on TfLs funding have clearly had a direct impact on our decision. Unfortunately, the remuneration for providing TfLs services has not kept pace with the increasing costs of service delivery. In addition, financial penalties as a result of an increase in traffic congestion post Covid, has further impacted on the viability of our TfL contracts.

At Sullivan Buses we have a number of contracts due to expire early next year. Under normal circumstances larger businesses would continue to renew contracts throughout the year. Therefore, the increased rates on new services would help to mitigate against any losses experienced on expiring contracts. Nonetheless despite tendering for numerous services, Sullivan Buses has not been successful in renewing our contracts. TfL have also failed to provide us with any meaningful feedback on tenders submitted.

In June we met with TfL representatives to discuss this and other issues the business was facing. TfL told us that they struggled to incorporate small businesses such as ours within their corporate model. Sullivan Buses is the only small business (SME) operating bus services for TfL in London. At that meeting we were unable to agree a way forward. The meeting ended with TfL requesting a date for our business to hand back all contracts.

At the time of the meeting in June TfL owed our business over £130,000. This is a considerable sum of money for a small business and the lack of these funds have undoubtedly impacted upon our ability to deliver the contracted services. Although the matter was resolved shortly afterwards, but not before TfL asked if they could 'repay in instalments'.

Coupled with delays in payments by TfL, we have decided that we can no longer sustain the further cuts necessary to meet the decreasing income received from TFL. Any inevitable reduction in funding will lead to a further decline in performance and this is not something we are willing to support.

During our discussion today we have offered TfL a solution that would alleviate travel disruption for many thousands of bus users.
TfL have assured us they will be working to restore services as quickly as possible.
Our Commercial operations in Hertfordshire are unaffected and will continue to operate as normal. Furthermore, we look to forward to once again developing our work outside of the capital.

TfL Routes affected: 217, 298, 299, 327, 389, 399, W9, 605, 606, 617, 629, & 549.
Sullivan Buses is London's only independent bus operator having supplied bus services and rail replacement services for London since 2002.
Sullivan Buses is the only SME delivering bus services for Transport for London.
In the last three years two other small businesses have left London. Australian owned Tower Transit exited London in 2021 and Community Interest Company, Hackney Community Transport ceased operations in 2022. No new operators have entered London since. We estimate that the shortfall in income from TfL contracts exceeds £200,000 per month.

The company employs 230 staff either directly or indirectly on TfL services. All are based at our South Mimms Depot in Hertfordshire.

Sursă: x.com

Pe scurt:

• Sullivan Buses este ultima companie independentă (nu știu exact în ce sens, poate reușește cineva să îmi explice) care oferă servicii pentru TfL.
• După pandemie, a fost din ce în ce mai greu pentru această companie să își reînnoiască contractele cu TfL, din lipsa de bani.
• În ultimul an a fost observată o scădere semnificativă în calitatea serviciilor oferite de Sullivan Buses, din cauza lipsei de personal, autobuze, reparații etc.
• Începând de mâine, toate rutele operate de ei vor fi date la alți operatori. Momentan nu se știe cui, acest anunț a fost publicat doar acum câteva ore la momentul scrierii.

Mi se pare destul de ”out of the blue” acest anunț, am crezut că va mai dura o săptămână până se retrag de tot. Sunt curios care operatori vor prelua rutele lor, mai ales linia 549 care urma să se desființeze la final de septembrie, după finalizarea contractului cu Sullivan Buses.

Poate in sensul ca nu e detinut de giganti precum DB, SNCF, NS, RATP etc.

Lista confirmată de transferuri:
217 -> Arriva
298 -> Uno*
299 -> Go Ahead
389 / 399 -> Go Ahead**
549 -> Stagecoach
W9 -> Stagecoach

* = Circulă cu program provizoriu, nu au destule autobuze opereze linia din câte am înteles
** = Nu circulă momentan

Linia 327 împreună cu liniile de școală (6xx) sunt suspendate temporar.

Cateva observații:

• Interesant cum Uno s-a oferit să opereze, ei având foarte puține autobuze dotate cu iBus, cititor de carduri etc.
• Stagecoach are prima linie în nordul Londrei, anume W9.
• 549 a ajuns înapoi tot la Stagecoach - mă așteptam ca schimbările pentru suspendarea liniei 549 și extinderea liniei W14 să intre în vigoare acum.

Comunicatul oficial al Uno în legătură cu linia 298 și programul provizoriu pentru astăzi:

Urgent Announcement

Unfortunately, Sullivans Buses are no longer able to operate the 298 between Potters Bar and Arnos Grove

We have been working with Transport for London to put together a skeleton timetable for tomorrow.

We will supply further information as things develop, we are currently working on arranging for staff to operate the service on Sunday

And for next week.  Please bear with us.

Program_298.jpg (68.9 KB; downloaded 549 times)

Sursă: Facebook - Uno Bus

Linia 327 a fost preluata de Metroline la garajul PB din Potters Bar si foloseste autobuze Enviro 200 (DE sau DEM).
Linia 720 (London Overground Rail Replacement) a fost preluata de RATP, momentan cu Enviro 200 (DLE) de la garajul SO din Harrow.

Se știe ce se va întâmpla cu MMC-urile de pe linia 217 (ale Sullivan Buses)? Vor fi folosite pe rutele lor comerciale?