The Circle of London : London Sovereign Edgware Garage Metroline Edgware Garage

Today I visited Edgware Garage in North West London, this is one of a few shared garages in London, it is shared between two companies, these being London Sovereign and Metroline. On the London Sovereign half it houses 62 Buses which range from Dennis Enviro 200s to Polish built Scania Omnicitys and on the Metroline quarters it holds 66 Buses which range from just Volvo Plaxton Presidents to Trident E400s.

Metroline VPL202 Y202 NLK at Edgware Garage

The Garage was officially opened in 1925 by the London General Omnibus Company and at the time only holding 30 Buses. However in 1984 a restoration program took place and the Garage was replaced with a new 100+ Base, that would have light maintenance facilities and a Bus wash. In spring of 1999 London Sovereign had won/retained routes 13,114,183 and 292. The 183 was respectively won of Metroline from Harrow Garage (SO). When these routes were won/retained, they saw Edgware Garage as a perfect opportunity to base their operations as it was closer to the routes which they ran and would ease dead mileages. Subsequently Sovereign's Borehamwood Garage ceased London operations. So Sovereign as they were known as at the time took out a 10 year lease on this garage and they became the sole operator of this garage right until summer of 2000 when Metroline moved back in. Metroline moved back into EW following the retention of the 107,113, 204 and 240. The Route 186 moved back into EW in October 2006 following a reallocation from Harrow Weald (HD). However this did not mean there were any capacity issues at the garage, but it now meant that there was now stiff competition for TFL contracts. However it seems strange that the only routes to be shift between operators is school route 605 which was lost by Metroline to London Sovereign who will commence running of the route in September 2012 in time for the start of the new academic year. Both companies at the Garage seem to be performing well however, with Metroline retaining Routes 113,186 and 204 and London Sovereign gaining the Route 251. There were a few oddities today in the Garage in the form of, DPS599 SN51 TBX which has now been decommissioned, DPS627 and Metroline VP486 LK03 GMU. Credit to both London Sovereign and Metroline staff for allowing me on their premises, more photos from the visit are displayed below.