The Circle of London : Abellio London Beddington Cross Garage Enviro 400 MMC Route 109

A visit to Abellio London's Beddington Cross garage was in order today, and for one reason only..The garage is home to Abellio London who are the remains of Connex and Travel London who were part of the national express group. We visited this location the last time it gained new buses back in June 2012 and we're back here almost three years later. The new buses come in the shape of the highly applauded Enviro 400 MMC model buses, of which 28 have recently been delivered. The new style Enviro 400s which in actual fact is just a face-lifted E400 (with a lot of 'major' changes) took up service on the recently won 109, which duly passed from Arriva to Abellio London on the eve of 30th of January 2015.

The new buses, numbered between 2487 & 2513 have been received much praise from drivers and passengers alike with one driver, noting they are have a much smoother ride than the previous models operated, which allows them to accelerate quicker, although in the same breath, he also uttered they have been modified so that their top speed is limited.

The relatively small base was opened at the start of the Millennium in the year 2000 following the unexpected expansion of the unsettled Connex Bus who also ran the Southern and South Eastern Rail franchises at the time. The purpose built garage was built to house the route 3 which was won of London Ceneral in 1999. after a very long stint with the operator.

The small base is comprised of two storage units as well as a compound which includes a bus wash amongst the other normalities you'd expect in a Bus Garage. From the compound visible, is the Metrobus Croydon Depot which is located literally across the road! That tied up with Arriva Garage TC which is only a short distance away makes for perfect competition across the whole Croydon borough especially at the time when tenders are submitted.

Although not a purpose built depot, in its own right, the company Abellio, since taking over Travel London, who themselves took over the below-par Connex operation, have gone a long way to somewhat turning it into a base fit for a purpose, which is to win, sustain and retain work, this has become evident in the recent tender wins which has seen 455 and T33 won in recent years and more recently the 201 as well as the S3. The Route 109 is the latest of many to transfer here and without any further descriptive text, all the photos from the visit are placed below.