MrMaguire
What if London Central never lost the 172?
This bus was new to now defunct operator Armchair in January of 2003. It was then passed to Metroline, and later withdrawn.
The 172 came up for tender, and Abellio won the contract with existing buses, which was fine, except they didn't have spare buses to use. So they acquired this bus along with 14 of its sisters, refurbished them, and then used them on the 172, from March of 2011 until about this time last year.
But what if Abellio had never won the 172? What if London Central had retained it at New Cross with existing buses? This is something I've often thought about. The Y reg PVLs, being 10 years old and Euro 2, probably wouldn't have fit the bill. But Go-Ahead did have a number of spare buses, some of which were leased, that they could've used.
If we stick with PVLs, going over the numbers: '273-280 would've been available after the loss of the 35 and 40, so that's 8. Then out of '260-271, 9 would've been available, which would've covered the needed 7 (I think) for a total of 15. Then the older PVLs, including its former allocation, could've acted as refurbishment cover across the network.
There's also the possibility that '356-361 could've been retained in some way for the contract, though that's only 6 buses.
Then I suppose that allocation of 02 reg PVLs would've lasted until 2016, assuming no 2-year contract extension, and the route most likely would've been retained or lost with hybrids, depending on how TfL was feeling.
The bus in the photo is former 9833, and now with Pimp My Tour London. In case it isn't obvious, it has an open top now. I got a really nice shot of this as it was pulling out at the perfect angle. Unfortunately it was spoiled by a passing car.
What if London Central never lost the 172?
This bus was new to now defunct operator Armchair in January of 2003. It was then passed to Metroline, and later withdrawn.
The 172 came up for tender, and Abellio won the contract with existing buses, which was fine, except they didn't have spare buses to use. So they acquired this bus along with 14 of its sisters, refurbished them, and then used them on the 172, from March of 2011 until about this time last year.
But what if Abellio had never won the 172? What if London Central had retained it at New Cross with existing buses? This is something I've often thought about. The Y reg PVLs, being 10 years old and Euro 2, probably wouldn't have fit the bill. But Go-Ahead did have a number of spare buses, some of which were leased, that they could've used.
If we stick with PVLs, going over the numbers: '273-280 would've been available after the loss of the 35 and 40, so that's 8. Then out of '260-271, 9 would've been available, which would've covered the needed 7 (I think) for a total of 15. Then the older PVLs, including its former allocation, could've acted as refurbishment cover across the network.
There's also the possibility that '356-361 could've been retained in some way for the contract, though that's only 6 buses.
Then I suppose that allocation of 02 reg PVLs would've lasted until 2016, assuming no 2-year contract extension, and the route most likely would've been retained or lost with hybrids, depending on how TfL was feeling.
The bus in the photo is former 9833, and now with Pimp My Tour London. In case it isn't obvious, it has an open top now. I got a really nice shot of this as it was pulling out at the perfect angle. Unfortunately it was spoiled by a passing car.