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Abellio London
Abellio Surrey


Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC on route 109 in Croydon in January 2015
ParentAbellio
FoundedMay 2009
HeadquartersCamberwell
Service areaGreater London
Surrey
Service typeBus services
Routes51 (March 2018)
Depots7
Fleet743 (March 2018)
Websitewww.abellio.co.uk

Abellio London is a bus company operating services in Greater London. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operates services under contract to Transport for London. Until September 2018, services were operated in Surrey under the Abellio Surrey brand.

History

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart on route 407 in Purley
Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2 on route 211 on Whitehall
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on route 452 on Kensington Road
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 on route 343

The origins of Abellio can be traced back to June 1998 when National Express commenced operating routes C1 and 211 under the Travel London brand. In August 2000, National Express sold the business to Limebourne, who in July 2001 sold out to Connex. In February 2004, National Express repurchased the business.[1] Further expansion in 2005 saw the purchases of the London bus operations of Tellings-Golden Miller with a depot in Byfleet and various Surrey County Council contracts.[2]

Travel London operated contracts on behalf of Transport for London, Surrey County Council, and Kingston University. Operations were split between three registered companies; Travel London Limited,[3] Travel London (Middlesex) Limited,[4] and Travel London (West) Limited.[5] The Surrey routes were rebranded as Travel Surrey in September 2007.

In May 2009, National Express sold Travel London to Abellio. The sale included 66 routes, 36 Transport for London tendered services and 30 Surrey County Council and Kingston University routes. All vehicles, depots and staff were included.[6][7]

On 30 October 2009 the businesses were rebranded as Abellio London and Abellio Surrey.[8]

In November 2014 an Abellio bus caught fire in Wallington, with one of its rear tyres exploding. A casualty was treated by London Ambulance service.[9]

Abellio London

Abellio operates six garages in London and Surrey. Beddington Cross, Battersea and Walworth are operated by Abellio London Limited[3] and Fulwell, Hayes and Southall by Abellio West London Limited.[5]

Armstrong Way (GW)

As of April 2020, Armstrong Way garage operates routes 195, 207, 427, E5, E7, E9, E10, E11, N207 and weekend night route E1.

Battersea (QB)

As of April 2020, Battersea garage operates routes 24, 49, 156, 159, 344, 345, 414 and C1.[10]

This garage was established by Q-Drive in the late 1990s, hence the QB code.[11] Travel London's original bus garage was situated further north towards Stewarts Lane railway depot which was the home of the Gatwick Express, a rail franchise then operated by its parent National Express. Connex moved into these premises after purchasing the Limebourne business in July 2001.[citation needed] In December 2015, Battersea garage started operating route 159.[12]

Beddington Cross (BC)

As of April 2020, Beddington garage operated routes 109, 130, 201, 270, 367, 407, 433, 464, N109 and S4.[10]

Fulwell (TF)

As of April 2020, Fulwell garage operates routes 267, 290, 481, 490, H20, H25, H26, H28, K1, R68, R70.[10]

Hayes (WS)

As of April 2020, Hayes garage operates London bus routes 278, 350, 482, H28, U5, U7 and U9.[10]

Walworth (WL)

As of May 2020, Walworth garage operated routes 3, 45, 68, 196, 381, 415, 484, C10, P5, P13, N3, N68 and N381.[10] On 30 April 2016, routes 35 and 40 passed to London Central.

After being closed by London Regional Transport in the 1980s, Walworth garage was reopened by Travel London in 2005, who needed more garage space after some contract wins.[13][14][15]

Former garages

Southall (AB)

Southall garage opened on 29 July 2017, when routes E1, E5, E7 and E9 were transferred from Hayes.[16][17] It was replaced by Armstrong Way (GW) garage in July 2019.[18]

Abellio Surrey

Abellio SurreyAlexander Dennis Enviro200 in January 2014

Abellio operated one garage in Byfleet. It held 50 buses and was the base for several Surrey County Council tendered routes as well as some commercial services.

This garage was operated by Tellings-Golden Miller and was sold to National Express in June 2005.[2] It was rebranded as Travel Surrey in September 2007 and ran buses in a livery of white with a red skirt. Renamed Travel London, in September 2007 it was rebranded as Travel Surrey. In October 2009 it was rebranded Abellio Surrey. In September 2017, all 17 of its Surrey County Council tendered routes passed to other operators.[19]

As at July 2017, the remaining routes were commercially operated services 441 and 461.[20] Route 441 was taken over by White Bus in March 2018 and route 461 by Falcon Coaches in September 2018.[21][22][23]

Fleet

As at March 2016, the fleet consisted of 769 buses.[24]

References

  1. ^ National Express buys 200 London buses The Daily Telegraph 27 February 2004
  2. ^ a b National Express Group purchases the London Bus Division of Tellings Golden Miller National Express 1 June 2005
  3. ^ a b Companies House extract company no 3786162 Abellio London Limited
  4. ^ Companies House extract company no 3792590 Travel London (Middlesex) Limited
  5. ^ a b Companies House extract company no 689260 Abellio West London Limited
  6. ^ National Express Group PLC agreement to sell Travel London National Express 21 May 2009
  7. ^ NedRailways acquisition reinforces long term commitment to UK transport market Archived 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine NedRailways 9 June 2009
  8. ^ NedRailways announces launch Abellio London and Abellio Surrey Archived 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine NedRailways 30 October 2009
  9. ^ Burning bus explodes in South London street BBC News 5 November 2014
  10. ^ a b c d e Services in London Abellio
  11. ^ Carr, Ken (September 2014). The London Bus Guide (4 ed.). Boreham: Visions International Entertainment. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-9570058-6-0.
  12. ^ Abellio London now operates route 159 Abellio 16 December 2015
  13. ^ LRT tenders Commercial Motor 9 March 1985
  14. ^ Green light for new energy efficient bus infrastructure Transport for London 24 February 2005
  15. ^ Solar powered bus garages BBC News 24 February 2005
  16. ^ Abellio London & Surrey wins three new routes in West London Abellio
  17. ^ "Fleet News" Buses issue 750 September 2017 page 66
  18. ^ Two more new garages open but will others close? Buses issue 773 August 2019 page 24
  19. ^ Forthcoming bus timetable changes Surrey County Council
  20. ^ "Abellio Surrey maintain a commercial toehold in Surrey" Buses issue 749 August 2017 page 7
  21. ^ "New operator for Route 441 from 17th March 2018" Abellio 14 March 2018
  22. ^ "New operator for Route 461 from 15th September" Abellio 6 August 2018
  23. ^ "Falcon Coaches to take over Abellio's remaining Surrey route" Coach & Bus Week issue 1357 28 August 2018 page 11
  24. ^ Abellio facts & figures Abellio 29 March 2016
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