Garages East Thames Buses

east lancs myllennium bodied scania n94ub on route 42 in june 2009



plaxton president bodied volvo b7tl on route 185 in december 2006

mandela way opened in late 2005 following relocation existing base @ ash grove. had peak vehicle requirement of 53 buses , operated london bus routes 1, 42 , 185. when ma (mandela way - west) closed on 30 april 2010 operated following types of buses:

volvo b7tl 10m/plaxton president (vp - route 185, used on route 1)
volvo b7tl 10.6m/wright eclipse gemini (vwl - route 1)
scania n94ub 10.7m/east lancs myllennium (els - route 42)
dennis dart/plaxton pointers (on loan london general)

following on ash grove s role, mandela way serviced east thames buses fleet. in last few months of east thames operation, route 1 moved next door mandela way - east (mw) (the original london general depot) still maintained east thames engineers.

most of routes once operated mandela way - west reallocated london central s & london general s other garages. exception route 393 has put out tender shortly after east thames buses took on running of route 201 , moved mandela way.

belvedere (bv)

belvedere garage leased harris bus in 1998 house operations moved crayford. harris bus went receivership in december 1999, , routes , garage taken on east thames buses.

this garage has peak vehicle requirement of 15 buses , operates routes 180 , part of 669 , n1. on 22 january 2011 route 244 transferred london central s bexleyheath garage. belvedere has been classed satellite garage engineering point of view little routine maintenance ever taking place there, limited engineering facilities existed @ until parent garage changing bexleyheath.

belvedere garage runs following models:

volvo b7tl 10.6m/wright eclipse gemini (vwl - routes 180, n1)

belvedere have operated following routes.

1/n1 – trips still run bv (belvedere), main crux of service has transferred on mw (mandela way - east).
53 = extras supplement service operated selkent pd (plumstead) whilst hole in blackheath being repaired
108/n108 = operated nx (new cross)
132 = operated bx (bexleyheath)
180 = still run bv (belvedere)
185 = run q (camberwell)
201 = during initial takeover of route, 50% of trips run bv (belvedere)
661 = operated bx
669 = 1 bus still operates bv, other operates bx
l1, l1x, l2, l3 – harris bus operated lakeside trips orpington, bexleyheath, swanley , gravesend respectively of these routes withdrawn time east thames buses took over. welling l4 never scheduled run bv (belvedere).