Sullivan Buses Back in London

[allticketspls]

According to this months BUSES.

Sullivan Buses have been awarded the 5 bus Route 298 Turnpike Lane - Potters Bar at the expense of Arriva London. This brings Sullivan back into the fold of London Bus operators after an absence that some consider far too long.

 

[Deerfold]

According to this months BUSES.

Sullivan Buses have been awarded the 5 bus Route 298 Turnpike Lane - Potters Bar at the expense of Arriva London. This brings Sullivan back into the fold of London Bus operators after an absence that some consider far too long.

contract starts 01/09/2012

 

[causton]

According to this months BUSES.

Sullivan Buses have been awarded the 5 bus Route 298 Turnpike Lane - Potters Bar at the expense of Arriva London. This brings Sullivan back into the fold of London Bus operators after an absence that some consider far too long.

Turnpike Lane as well! Currently running to Arnos Grove.

This was posted on the Sullivan Buses site a short while ago and has placed an order for 6 Enviro 200s. London Bus Routes lists the PVR as 6 and as you have said the PVR is now 5 - I wonder if there is a frequency reduction considering the extension! (Or perhaps the Cranborne Road extension - used to be all the time, now weekdays only during the daytime - has been removed altogether).

I see Dean every once in a while - he runs a route from my school and seems to always turn up to drive the bus himself. He's a nice guy and didn't deserve to lose the 383 like he did and this seems to be a step back in the right direction
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contract starts 01/09/2012

Just wondering, where is this date from? It's over a year away! Sullivan's site and a few google results agree on "4 February 2012" - although TfL has nothing on their site yet!

 

[Deerfold]

Turnpike Lane as well! Currently running to Arnos Grove.

This was posted on the Sullivan Buses site a short while ago and has placed an order for 6 Enviro 200s. London Bus Routes lists the PVR as 6 and as you have said the PVR is now 5 - I wonder if there is a frequency reduction considering the extension! (Or perhaps the Cranborne Road extension - used to be all the time, now weekdays only during the daytime - has been removed altogether).

I'm not sure where Turnpike Lane has come from. There's no changes to the route or frequency. The current PVR is 5. Presumably the 6th that Sullivan is ordering is a a spare.

Just wondering, where is this date from? It's over a year away! Sullivan's site and a few google results agree on "4 February 2012" - although TfL has nothing on their site yet!

Apologies - slip of the fingers, it is indeed 04/02/2012!

 

[causton]

I'm not sure where Turnpike Lane has come from. There's no changes to the route or frequency. The current PVR is 5. Presumably the 6th that Sullivan is ordering is a a spare.

PVR is 6 on Saturdays - so to avoid Sullivan having no spares there may be a few tweaks w.r.t frequency on Saturdays! (It would be worth Sullivan having at least one TfL-spec double decker just in case, seeing how often double deckers fill up on the Arriva ones provided currently, but what do I know!)

 

[Deerfold]

PVR is 6 on Saturdays - so to avoid Sullivan having no spares there may be a few tweaks w.r.t frequency on Saturdays! (It would be worth Sullivan having at least one TfL-spec double decker just in case, seeing how often double deckers fill up on the Arriva ones provided currently, but what do I know!)

Why would the PVR be higher on a Saturday when the daytime route is shorter The current Saturday schedule only seems to need 4 buses - based on http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/298.htm

The only way I could see it needing 6 buses is if there's 30 minutes of recovery time at each end of the route - a little excessive on a 39-minute journey.

 

[causton]

Why would the PVR be higher on a Saturday when the daytime route is shorter The current Saturday schedule only seems to need 4 buses - based on http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/298.htm

The only way I could see it needing 6 buses is if there's 30 minutes of recovery time at each end of the route - a little excessive on a 39-minute journey.

I'm taking the information from the same place as you! http://www.londonbusroutes.net/details.htm#283 Check the PVR

"5* *6 Saturdays"

So perhaps Arriva does give a lot of recovery time... or it's outdated from the Cranborne Road extension. I'm sure it's probably a bit of both and do agree that 4 buses might just be able to do it, but if LBR says 6 I'm not one to argue with it :P

 

[317 forever]

I'm not sure where Turnpike Lane has come from. There's no changes to the route or frequency. The current PVR is 5. Presumably the 6th that Sullivan is ordering is a a spare.



Apologies - slip of the fingers, it is indeed 04/02/2012!

Route 298 used to start from Turnpike Lane. I think it was when it was converted to midibus operation on 1.2.92, and replaced by an increased service on route 121, that it was curtailed at Southgate, although it does now serve Arnos Grove.

 

[philjo]

And the 298 used to go out to Clare Hall at South Mimms.
That was diverted to Cranborne Road in 2002 (I think), and the Cranborne to South Mimms section replaced by the 398 Potters Bar to Borehamwood bus operated by Sullivan's. This is a Hertfordshire Cc funded route so out of the travelcard zones (previously I could use a travelcard out to South Mimms)
Unfortunately due to HCC funding cuts the 398 is now only hourly so I use the 84 most of the time instead.

When it went out to Clare Hall, it often turned round within a couple of minutes but if it was running late (which is frequently did) the buses would be turned back in Potters Bar or run together in pairs as the next one would have caught it up.
They changed the timetable so it was scheduled to arrive in Clare Hall a few minutes after the previous one left to give 15 minutes recovery time which improved things.

 

[causton]

I must say since the 398 has been made hourly when I see it around PB/Bwood it's actually on time now - would be thinking more people catching 1 bus instead of 2 would make it a bit slower! And going to the station before doing the high street loop is more sensible too as well

 

[philjo]

I think the 398 bus now does another route in Borehamwood before leaving again as the next 398 back to Potters Bar in the new timetable with some recovery time. It does seem to generally run to time unless you get that grumpy driver who always claims my plus bus ticket isn't valid!
Problem for me is that now it is hourly it does not connect with the trains I use to get to/from Potters Bar so it is quicker to use the 84 & walk!
(though the 84 in the afternoon is getting very unreliable - it was 20 minutes late the other day so missed my train)
I see the 398 each morning/evening but it is always going the opposite direction.
Yes, the 398 serving Potters Bar Station in both directions means that you don't need to run from the traffic lights to catch the train any more - as previously often it was running late so you had 3 minutes to get from the traffic lights to the station for the train.

 

[causton]

If only there was some way they could link up the 298 with the 398 now they're going to be run by the same operator, like one bus an hour going on from Cranborne Road to Borehamwood. TfL wouldn't like it though!