South London Bus Route: 320

Omnidekka 907 passes at Bromley South on a 320 to Catford Bridge.

  All rights reserved by GloriousWater

Route 320: Biggin Hill Valley Rosehill Road - Catford Bridge

Operated by: Go-Ahead London (Metrobus)

Garage: Orpington (MB)

PVR: 12

Length: 12 miles/19 kilometres

Allocation: Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka and Scania N230UD/Omnicity, both 10.6m

Timetable: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/320.pdf

Route 320 is another suburban route in Bromley, almost getting rural at the southern end all the way in Biggin Hill. It started on the 1st of September 1990 running from Bromley North to Westerham, Biggin Hill on Sundays, replacing the old route 20. It was allocated brand new Volvo Citybuses of Kentish Bus. It ran pretty much unchanged until November 1997 when its weekday allocation transferred to Selkent with old Leyland Titans. The Sunday service remained with Kentish Bus. In September 1998 operation transferred to Metrobus and the southern end was cut to Biggin Hill. It got brand new Volvo Olympians, some of the last step-entrance buses new to London. The lost southern section was replaced by new route 246.

Olympian 864 passes at Bromley South on a 320 to Biggin Hill Valley in 2002.

  All rights reserved by grahamwalker007

Fast forward to the 29th of September 2003 and new Scania Omnidekkas were delivered for the route, many of these are still in service and they're amazing vehicles, really fast and you can see everything from it because of its huge windows. These form part of today's allocation on the route.
Another seven uneventful years later, on the 28th of August 2010, the route was extended several miles to Catford via the route of the 208, which until this point ran alternating sections from Catford to Orpington and Lewisham to Bromley Common. This change allowed the 208 to run as a whole from Lewisham to Orpington. New Scania Omnicity DDs were bought for the extension on paper, though in reality they're rarely on the route because of MB's notorious fleet mixing.

Omnidekka 911 in Bellingham on a 320 to Catford Bridge.

  All rights reserved by GloriousWater

As you'll have noticed reading this post the 320 doesn't exactly have a long or eventful history. Well today it's getting more eventful as we see what sort of mad workings Metrobus will put on the route, though those have become rarer over the past few weeks. Among the double-deckers MB have been known to put 8.8m ADL Darts on the route and more recently there have been Scania single-deckers from the 358. The route itself can get crowded on the Bromley-Catford section but is a fast rural route near its southern end. As a whole the route is rather nice to travel on, especially if you want to experience a classic Scania thrash. I recommend you go on it when you have the time.

Omnidekka 901 leaves Bromley North in light traffic on a service to Biggin Hill Valley. 

  All rights reserved by GloriousWater

So here is the fleetlist, I only put MB's double-deckers on it despite the fact literally anything can go on the route.

Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka:
456 YN03DFC
457 YU52XVR
458 YN03DFD
459 YN03DFE
460 YN03DFG
461 YN03DFJ
462 YN03DFK
465 YN03DFU
466 YN03DFV
467 YN03DFX
468 YN03DFY
479 YN53RYM
480 YN53RYP
901 YN55PZC
902 YN55PZD
903 YN55PZE
904 YN55PZF
905 YN55PZG
906 YN55PZH
907 YN55PZJ
908 YN55PZL
909 YN55PZM
910 YN55PZO
911 YN55PZP
912 YN55PZR
913 YN55PZU
914 YN55PZV
915 YN55PZW
916 YN55PZX
930 YN56FDD
931 YN56FDE
932 YN56FDF
933 YN56FDG
940 YN56FDU
941 YN56FDV
942 YN56FDX
943 YN56FDY

Scania N230UD/Omnicity:
974 YR10BCE
975 YR10BCF
976 YR10BCK
977 YR10BCO
978 YR10BCU

I would like to thank grahamwalker007 for allowing me to use his photo.

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