South London Bus Routes: 138 and 336

Metrobus 164 at Bromley North stand having just finished its duties on the 138.
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Route 138: Coney Hall Chestnut Avenue - Bromley North

Operated by Go-Ahead London (Metrobus)

Garage: Orpington (MB)

PVR: 3

Length: 5 miles/7 kilometres

Timetable: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/138.pdf
Allocation: Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart 8.8m

Metrobus 267 in Bromley South on a 336 to Locksbottom.
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Route 336: Locksbottom Pallant Way - Catford Bridge

Operated by Go-Ahead London (Metrobus)

Garage: Orpington (MB)

PVR: 7

Length: 11 miles/17 kilometres

Timetable: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/336.pdf

Allocation: Alexander Dennis Dart SLF/East Lancs Esteem 8.8m

Routes 138 and 336 are two suburban routes serving Bromley and operated by Go-Ahead's Metrobus. Looking at the routings you may be wondering why these two very different routes are in the same post. The reason is that they have many historical similarities and virtually share a fleet with every short SD route in the garage.

The 138 in its (almost) current form started on the 14th of July 1990, the same day as the 336. It ran from Catford Bridge via the current 336 to Bromley North before turning to Coney Hall via Hayes. It actually started in the postwar period but it's a bit hard to find details on a route that old. The 336 ran from Bromley North to Bromley Common garage, also following its current route. Their Sunday services were both withdrawn on the 19th of January 1991. Both routes started with Optare minibuses which was really foolish in my opinion as they get really packed even with proper buses, let alone 'bread vans'.

The 138 passed to Metrobus on the 2nd of December 1995 with new Optare Metroriders and has stayed with them since. On the 17th of August 1996 the 336 was extended to Locksbottom Pallant Way from Bromley Common on award to First and regained its Sunday service. It used Mercedes-Benz minibuses, however the minibuses were unreliable and were frequently replaced by Darts.

Metrobus 906 in Catford on a terminating 138 circa 1995-6.
 All rights reserved by suggy182

Centrewest DP1 at Bromley North as an odd working on the 336 in 1996.

 All rights reserved by ndl642m

In 2001 TFL converted both routes to Dart operation on paper though they were basically using Darts only at this point, the 138 getting knackered old ones and the 336 brand-new examples on award to Metrobus. The reason for the 138 getting old step-entrance Darts was that there were fears about low-floor buses damaging their chassis on the speed humps in Downham. Judging by the state of some of these roads it's amazing they're still in one piece.

Metrobus 716 in Bromley on the 138 before it was allocated in 1996.
 All rights reserved by ndl642m

Metrobus 387 in Locksbottom on the 336 when new in 2001.
 All rights reserved by suggy182

On the 25th of September 2004 the 336 took over the 138's Bromley-Catford section with the 138 being cut back to Bromley North. The 138 got new low-floor Mini Pointer Darts to replace the knackered step-entrance ones. In 2006 both routes again got new buses along with several other routes at MB, these ones being ADL Darts with East Lancs Esteem bodywork. These form the allocation of the 336 today, the 138 getting new Enviro200s on retender in 2013. I urge you to get on the Esteems, they're very good buses especially for the crowding they're subjected to every day. The E200s are also pretty good but don't thrash as much.

Metrobus 268 in Bromley South on the 336 to Catford.

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The 138 is not as crowded now, but the 336 takes a lot of load because it passes several schools and desperately needs longer buses, the current 8.9m Darts are just too small. Unfortunately there are some bollards in the way in Downham preventing that for the near future. The 336 does have some nice fast sections through Bromley Common which are fun to ride on if the bus isn't crowded but good luck getting one, in November the 336 was named London's 8th most overcrowded route. Still the fast sections make the ride fun in a way. As for the 138 it's a short hop between both ends and could do with an extension to make it more useful. I have a sneaking suspicion it'll get cut soon but that's just me. Otherwise, just two average suburban routes.

And here is the fleetlist, since Metrobus mix their buses a lot there's no point in keeping the allocations separate so these are all the 8.8m buses in Orpington depot.

ADL Enviro200 Darts:

148 YX60FTO
149 YX60FTP
150 YX60FTT
151 YX60FTU
152 YX60FTV
153 YX60FTY
154 YX60FTZ
155 YX60FUV
156 YX60FUW
157 YX60FUY
158 YX60FVA
159 YX60FVB
160 YX60FVC
161 YX60FVD
162 YX60FVE
163 YX61ENC
164 YX61ENE
165 YX61ENF
166 YX61ENH
167 YX61ENJ
168 YX61ENK
169 YX61ENL
170 YX61ENM
171 YX61ENN
172 YX61ENO
173 YX61ENP
174 YX61ENR
175 YX61ENT
176 YX61ENU
177 YX61ENV
178 YX61ENW
179 YX62DYH
180 YX62DYN
181 YX62DYS
182 YX62DZE
183 YX62DZN
184 YX62DZU
185 YX13AJO
186 YX13AJU
187 YX13AJV
188 YX13AJY
(185-188 is on paper the batch for the 138)

Metrobus 155 in Coney Hall on the 138 to Bromley North.
  All rights reserved by GloriousWater

ADL Dart/East Lancs Esteems:

228 PO56JEU
229 PO56JFA
230 PO56JFE
231 PO56JFF
232 PO56JFG
233 PO56JFJ
234 PO56JFK
235 PO56JFN
236 PO56JFU
257 PN06UYL
258 PN06UYM
259 PN06UYO
260 PN06UYP
261 PN06UYR
262 PN06UYS
263 PN06UYT
264 PN06UYU
265 PN06UYV
266 PN06UYW
267 PN06UYX
268 PN06UYY
(257-268 is on paper the batch for the 336 and used to be shared with the 138)

Metrobus 268 in Bromley South on the 336 to Catford.
  All rights reserved by GloriousWater

ADL/Transbus Mini Pointer Darts:

251 SN54GPV
252 SN54GPX
253 SN54GPY
254 SN54GPZ
255 SN54GRF
256 SN54GRK
271 SN03YBA
272 SN03YBB
273 SN03YBC
274 SN03YBG
275 SN03YBH
276 SN03YBK
277 SN03YBR
278 SN03YBS
279 SN03YBT
280 SN03YBX
281 SN03YBY
282 SN03YBZ
283 SN03YCD
284 SN03YCE
285 SN03YCF
(These buses are usually on Orpington's R routes but stray sometimes)

Many thanks go to suggy182 and ndl642m for allowing me to use their images.

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