London Bus Garages
MB - PM

Loughton Bus Garage –

Street map reference

Garage code -	L
Garage opened –	19??
Garage closed –	19??
Max Bus Capacity –	150

Lea Valley Bus Depot – Leeside Road, N17 0QJ

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	LV
Garage opened –	2005
Max Bus Capacity –	68
Current Garage PVR –	67
Current Routes Operated –	73 149
Current types operated -	Mercedes Citaro Articulated

The depot is at the back of an industrial estate alongside the river Lee close to Northumberland Park. The depot was opened in 2005 to house the articulated buses for route 149 which were later joined by more MA's with the conversion of route 73.

Mandela Way Bus Garage – 5 Mandela Way, SE1 5SS

Street map reference

Garage code -	MA
Garage opened –	2005
Max Bus Capacity –	50
Current Garage PVR –	49
Current Routes Operated –	1 42 185 201 393
Current types operated -	Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini (VWL)
	DAF SB120 / Wright Cadet (DW)
	Volvo / Wright Merit (DWL)
	Scania / East Lancs Onmicity (ES)
	Volvo B7TL / President (VP)

Opened in late 2005 follwoing the relocation from the existing base at Ash Grove due to the impending move of Arriva into Ash Grove with artics for the 38.

Green Street Green Bus Garage – Farnborough Hill BR6

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	MB
Garage opened –	1986
Max Bus Capacity –	140
Current Garage PVR –	132
Current Routes Operated –	119 138 146 161 181 233 246 261 284 320 336
	352 353 354 358 464 B14 R2 R5 R7 R8 School routes: 654 664
Current types operated -	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer
	Dennis Trident/East Lancs Lolyne
	Scania CN94UD/East Lancs OmniDekka
	ADL Dart / East Lancs Mylennium
	Scania Omnitown / East lancs Mylennuim
	Dart / Caetano Nimbus
	Scania Omnicity
	Optare Solo

A former farm, Green Street Green depot was for many years the only garage for all of Metrobus' London tendered routes since the award of route 61 in 1986. More recentyly routes have been operated from Godstone and in Dec 2005 a new depot was constructed in Croydon to cope with new tender awards. The depot and company have steadily grown over the years and in 1999 the company was purchased by the 'Go Ahead Group' for the sum of £14Million. During mid 2005 major reconstruction started on the Green Street Green site to make improvements and provide an expansion. During these works a temporary base is being used at Polehill in kent which was the former base of Southlands Travel, a company once owned by Metrobus, and which was later aquired by Sullivan Buses.

Muswell Hill Bus Garage – Gordon Road, Hampden Road, Muswell Hill

Street map reference

Garage code - MH
Garage opened –	1925
Garage opened –	1990
Max Bus Capacity –	90

An LGOC garage opened in 1925 to serve the rapidly expanding housing estates of North London it initially had a capacity of 60 buses, although in practice around 100 could be acommodated by using the yard. Over the years a number of bus types were operated including LT's (single & double deck), TD's, T's, Q and some of the first red RF's. In latter years RM's were replaced by crew operated DMS's, which were in turn replaced by RM's and then Titans.

Beddington Bus Garage – Beddington Lane, CR0

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	MC
Garage opened –	1997
Garage closed –	2006
Max Bus Capacity –
Current Garage PVR –
Current Routes Operated –
Current types operated -	NONE

Originally opened by Mitcham Belle the yard was taken over in 2004 by Central Parking Systems under the Centra name following poor performance and a history of poor public relations. A huge overhaul of buses and other issues was undertaken by Centra, although it would appear that this has not worked out as well as hoped with the loss and subsequent early surrender of the route 127 conract to Metrobus.
Centra eventually shut doen the tendered bus operation handing back all contracts early to TfL and returning all the buses to the leasing companies. Some have found new homes in London, but the majority have moved out to the provinces.

Norwood Bus Garage – Knights Hill, London SE27

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	N
Garage opened –	1909
Max Bus Capacity –	115
Current Garage PVR –	84
Current Routes Operated –	2 176 249 417 432 N2 N176
	School route: 604 689 690
Current types operated –	DAF DB250LF/Alexander ALX400 (DLA)
	DAF DB250LF/Wright Pulsar Gemini
	Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 (VLA)

Norwood was opened in 1909 by the LGOC. The garage has had a steady allocation over the years and in 1951 took over some ove the vehicle for the Festival of Britain services from the nearby Norwood Tram Depot. In 1981 the garage underwent complete reconstruction, with the buses and staff being transfered temporarily to the reopened Clapham Garage until 1984. The allocation has mainly been Leyland Olympians, a couple of which still remain, and Routemasters until recently when new DLA's were allocated in it's completely double deck allocation which included the NC palatine olypians which came with the operation of the former LondonLinks routes 176/188. The garage also now supplies some buses and drivers for route 19 following the conversion from RM operation although on paper these are allocated to Battersea.

Norbiton Bus Garage – Gordon Road, Kingston Upon Thames, KT1

Street map reference

Garage code - NB
Garage opened –	1952
Garage opened –	1991
Max Bus Capacity –	116

Kingston Garage had for years suffered capacity problems so LT decided to build a new garage at Norbiton in 1952. However when it was built the maintainace requirements had been understated and there was no room for major work to be carried out so a facility was opened nearby on London Road which undertook work for NB, K, Twickenham and Mortlake garages. An announcement was made and work started in 1981 to rebuild and modernise Norbiton which would enable Kingston Garage to close. This was finally finished in 1984 and Kingston duly closed with buses moving to Norbiton. However deregluation was just around the corner and two low cost units were set up to compete for routes, 'Westlink' based at the old Kingston Garage and 'Kingston Bus' at Norbiton. Kingston bus however was not a success, plagued by legal battles and industrial unrest and with the arrival of London United in 1991 taking on some of the Kingston area routes, Norbiton was to close, left with just two routes and 15 buses.
Some of the original building is still in evidence today, however the site is now a Wickes store.

Northumberland Park Garage – Marsh Lane, London, N17

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code - NP
Garage opened –	1991
Max Bus Capacity –	160
Current Garage PVR –	137
Current Routes Operated –	67 91 191 215 259 299 341 357 379 389 399 476 W6
	W10 N91 N341 School routes: 616 699
Current types operated -	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital
	Dennis Trident/Plaxton President (TN)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (VTL)

Opened in 1991 to house the Walthamstow Citybus operation, an offshoot of Capital Citybus, the operation steadily grew especially after the collapse of the London Forest company. Capital Citybus was bought out by the management team in late 1995, and subsequently by First Group in 1998 becoming First Capital.

Romford Bus Garage – North Street, Romford, RM1 1DS

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	NS
Garage opened –	1953
Max Bus Capacity –	115
Current Garage PVR –	94
Current Routes Operated –	5 103 174 175 247 294 296 496 School route:608 647 674
Current types operated -	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200

Romford bus garage was opened in 1953 to take the strain off of the nearby RD(Hornchurch) garage, and also to cope with the new Harold Hill Estate. Built in the post-war style of an underground station it was initially able to house 115 buses, although only 67 were allocated when opened. The allocation grew to 90 by 1958. In 1992 the garage was earmarked for closure due to the loss of routes under the new tendering procedure. The garage however remained open and by 1994 was allocated 84 buses, mainly Titans. In 2004 the allocation had dropped slightly to 76, although with a good year of tender wins in 2005 the garage is up to full capacity with a PVR of over 90.

North Wembley Bus Garage – East Lane, Wembley, HA9

Street map reference

Garage code -	NW
Garage opened –	1987
Max Bus Capacity –	70
Current Garage PVR –	46
Current Routes Operated –	Routes: 206 232 245 251
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (DLD)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DLD)
	Dennis Dart SLF 8.8/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DLS)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital (DML)
	Trainer (V)

North Wembley was opened as a midibus base in 1994, and in latter years buses have been gradually been getting longer, although still single deck. NW has no maintainance facilities, and therefore all maintainance is carried out by Harrow Weald Garage.

New Cross Bus Garage – New Cross Road, London, SE14

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	NX
Garage opened –	1952
Max Bus Capacity –	200
Current Garage PVR –	150
Current Routes Operated –	21 36 171 172 225 321 436 C10
	N21 N36 N171 School route: 621
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (LDP)
	Mercedes-Benz O530G (Articulated) (MAL)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (PVL)

Said to be the largest of Londons bus garges with space for over 300 buses the garage was fully opened in 1906. The garage has never been even close to it's capacity due to the close proximity of other garages, but has at various times been used to store surplus vehicles. The garage allocation has fluctuated over the years, from 191 in 1966 to 132 in 2001. The garage also houses some of the private hire fleet which is painted in the style of the former London General company. New cross was also the garage for two special services, first in 1972 when it operated en ex-Tilling ST on route 100 and the DAF/East Lancs Mylennium LPG powered buses for the Millenium Dome services M1 & M2. In 2003 the garage also began operating Mercedes Benz articulated buses on route 436.

Alperton Bus Garage – Ealing Road, Alperton, Middx, HA0.

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code –	ON
Garage opened –	1939
Max Bus Capacity –	130
Current Garage PVR –	87
Current Routes Operated –	79 83 92 95 223 224 487 N7 N10
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital (DM/DML)
	Trident/Plaxton President (TN)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (VTL)
	Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini (VNZ)

One of three garages built by the LPTB, and the only one to survive, Alperton Garage opened in June 1939.When it opened it had an allocation entirely of STL's which were reshuffled from Cricklewood, Hanwell, Harrow Weald, and Willesden garages. As Alperton was a new garage and had plenty of headroom it was one of the few garages able to take utility Guy Arabs, and at one stage these made up it's complete allocation and lasted until 1954 when they were replaced by STL's! By 1972 the local area had grown faster than expected and even though Alperton was a new garage it still needed to park a dozen or so buses on nearby Glacier Metals car park overnight. The garage was enlarged in 1978, and encompassed the adjacent LT Lifts and escalators deepartment which had to move out to new premises. During the reconstruction works 18 vehicles were outstationed at Stonebridge. in 1982 the garage allocation was entirely Metrobuses both crewed and OPO. One Metrobus still remains although this is used exclusively on the 'Neasden Tesco' contract. by 1995 alperton was doing most of the maintainance for the Centrewest operation and had also become the home of the training fleet.

Potters Par Bus Garage – High St, Potters Bar, EN6 5BE

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	PB
Garage opened –	1930
Max Bus Capacity –	155
Current Garage PVR –	108*
Current Routes Operated –	82 84 217 231 234 263 384 W8 W9 N20
	School route 626 634
Current types operated –
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (DLD)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital (DMS/DML)
	Dennis Trident/Plaxton President (TP)
	* - Includes London Transport tendered routes only

Opened in 1930 at a cost of over £48000 by the LGOC subsidiary ‘Overground’, it was nearly closed in the 1960’s as it was too far north to be useful to the red bus network. It survived but soon faced closure again in the 1980’s during de-regulation. This time it was saved after crews accepted a revised pay agreement and the depot tendered for and won Hertfordshire County Council routes. During the Second World War and in the run up to the Festival of Britain the garage was used as a storage facility for buses. In 1952 the garage allocation consisted entirely of RT’s with some 68 as a daily requirement. In 1973 the experimental FRM1 was allocated to the garage for single bus route 284 and lasted there until 1976. The garage has seen an interesting mix of buses over the years ranging from Ford Minibuses and A class Dodges to Volvo Ailsa’s and the route branded X43 Scania’s when Finchley Garage closed. The garage currently has an allocation of 133 buses with the majority being Low-Floor buses.

Plumstead Garage – Pettman Crescent, London, SE28 0BJ

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	PD
Garage opened –	1981
Max Bus Capacity –	185
Current Garage PVR –	143
Current Routes Operated –	53 96 99 122 177 291 386 453 472
	- School routes: 625 672
Current types operated –	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400
	Mercedes-Benz (Articulated)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200
	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander Pointer

Plumstead is well sited to serve the growing area of Thamesmead, and was built in 1981 to replace the existing Plumstead and Abbeywood garages and was intended to be called Thamesmead. Built to hold 185 buses at a cost of £6M, when opened in 1981 it had an allocation entirely made up of MCW Metrolpolitans, and by 1983 had changed entirely to Titans. PD has never quite reached it’s capacity, although in 2001 it had grown to 159 and todays allocation is creeping up towards the 180 with the introduction of Mercedes Artics for route 453.

Peckham Bus Garage – Blackpool Road, Peckham, SE15

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	PM
Garage opened –	1951
Max Bus Capacity –	90
Current Garage PVR –	66
Current Routes Operated –	37 63 363 P12 N36 N63
Current types operated –	Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 (AVL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (LDP)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (PVL)
	Trident / Enviro 400 (E)

The new Peckham garage was converted from a local authority maintainance depot and opened in 1994 with a capacity for 75 buses. In 2000 the garage put Lonodns first Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 bodied low floor vehicles into service on route 63 alongside NV's and DRL/DPL's. Peckham Garage won bus garage of the year in 2004, although this turned out to be a poisoned challis for the garage, losing almost half of it's work in the next years tender awards.

Perivale Bus Garage – Alperton Lane, Greenford, UB6 8AA

Street map reference

Garage code -	PM
Garage opened –	1951
Max Bus Capacity –	90
Current Garage PVR –	66
Current Routes Operated –	90 205 297 460
School Routes	611
Current types operated –	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (DLD)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (VP)
	Dennis Trident/Plaxton President (TP)

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