Tower Transit

Tower Transit[2] is a Transport for London contracted bus operator operating mainly in west and east London. It is a subsidiary of SeaLink Travel Group.

This article is about the London bus operator. For the Singapore operator, see Tower Transit Singapore.

Tower Transit
A Tower Transit Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL on route 25 in April 2014
ParentTransit Systems
Founded22 June 2013 (2013-06-22)
HeadquartersWestbourne Park Garage
Great Western Road
London
W9 3NW[1]
Service areaGreater London
Service typeBus operator
Routes26 (May 2015)
Depots2
Fleet437 (May 2015)
Websitewww.towertransit.co.uk

History
Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL on route 266 in October 2013
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on route 23 at Charing Cross in February 2014

In June 2013, Transit Systems purchased First London's Atlas Road (Park Royal), Lea Interchange (Leyton) and Westbourne Park garages with 24 London bus routes and 412 buses.[3][4][5][6] Also included were contracts to operate three routes (425, N550 and N551) that had yet to commence.[7][8][9]

In October 2014, Tower Transit purchased Impact Group[10] which operates 130 small buses for local authorities and schools out of depots in Ealing and Croydon.[11] This was sold in August 2018 to the HCT Group.[12][13]

In January 2020, SeaLink Travel Group acquired Tower Transit and Transit Systems.

Garages

Tower Transit operates two bus garages.

Lea Interchange (LI)

As at July 2020, Lea Interchange garage operates routes 58, 236, 262, 308, 339, 473, 488, D8, W14, W15.[14]

History

The garage opened in 2007 to replace the Waterden Road, Stratford garage that closed as part of the development of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Waterden Road was opened in 1996 after a number of tender wins.

Lea Interchange began operating route 69 on 30 April 2016. CT Plus took over operation of route 26 and route N26 on 25 June 2016. Go Ahead took over operation of the route 212 and route 444 on 7 March 2020.

Westbourne Park (X)

As of December 2019, Westbourne Park garage operates routes 13, 23, 28, 218, 228, 328, 452,C3, N28 and N97[15]

History

Westbourne Park Garage was part of the re-construction programme undertaken by London Transport in the early 1980s. As was common practice at the time, the new garage replaced two older garages - the small and inadequate Middle Row (X), and the larger former trolley bus garage at Stonebridge (SE). The new garage, which opened in 1981 in Great Western Road, and is of unusual design in that it is built beneath the elevated A40 Westway, the roof of the garage being profiled to match the concrete flyover. Originally, the garage allocation consisted of AEC Routemasters, and a small number of Daimler Fleetlines to B20 "quiet" specification for route 18. These were supplemented in 1983 by a number of Leyland Titan for comparative trials. A new 180 metre bus parking area was built on a raised platform over railway lines as part of the Crossrail project opening in 2017.[16][17][18]

Metroline took over the operation of route 295 on 31 October 2015.[19] On 5 March 2016, Westbourne Park took over the operation of route N97 from London United.[20] On 3 October 2020, Westbourne Park depot also took over the operation of route C3 from Abellio London.

Atlas Road

On 1 October 2011 this garage opened when part of Westbourne Park garage was closed to make way for Crossrail construction works, with operation of routes 28, 31, 328, N28 and N31 transferred. Atlas Road operated as an outstation for Westbourne Park, so buses are seen on Atlas Road routes and vice versa. With the completion of Crossrail works, all routes returned to Westbourne Park in June 2017 with Atlas Road retained as a maintenance centre.[21] It closed in October 2017, being taken over by London United.[22]

Fleet

As at May 2015, the fleet consisted of 437 buses.[23]

References
  1. "Tower Transit Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  2. Companies House extract company no 8536416 Tower Transit Operations Limited
  3. "FirstGroup Announces Sale of Eight London Bus Depots". FirstGroup. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  4. "Tower Transit announces First Group partial acquisition". Transit Systems. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  5. "Date set for Aussie takeover of London bus routes". Australasian Bus & Coach. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  6. Hurst, Brian (12 June 2013). "Redland company takes wheel of London's big red buses". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. Bus tender results Route 425 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  8. Bus tender results Route N550 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  9. Bus tender results Route N551 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  10. Companies House extract company no 4464220 Impact Group Limited
  11. Tower Transit expands with Impact Archived 2 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 31 October 2014
  12. "Impact acquired by HCT Group" Coach & Bus Week issue 1355 15 August 2018 page 7
  13. HCT Group purchases Impact as it grows again Route One 15 August 2018
  14. Carr, Ken (May 2015). The London Bus Guide (5 ed.). Boreham: Visions International Entertainment. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-9931735-3-0.
  15. "Tower Transit - Bus Garage Locations". Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  16. Planning Application Greater London Authority 18 July 2012
  17. MacLennan, Peter. "Crossrail Awards Padington New Yard Contract". Crossrail UK. Crossrail UK. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  18. Tower Transit completes Westbourne Park extension Route One 31 October 2017
  19. Tender News Bus Talk (Go-Ahead London) issue 34 June 2015
  20. "Two routes to change operators in March" Buses issue 726 September 2015 page 18
  21. "Fleet News" Buses issue 750 September 2017 page 78
  22. "Atlas Road changes hands, Belvedere is vacated" Buses issue 753 December 2017 page 24
  23. Carr, Ken (May 2015). The London Bus Guide (5 ed.). Boreham: Visions International Entertainment. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-9931735-3-0.
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