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New route 476 kills two
birds with one stone. As well as adding still
further augmentation to the 73, which with its
fifty-five buses is the busiest route in London,
it takes a little pressure off the 76. The 76 itself was
awarded back to Arriva London North, who lost it
to First (then Capital Citybus) in 1998 after
seventy-five unbroken years of operation from
Tottenham garage, whose return to the 76 today
was as if they'd never left. They even resumed
the same running number sequence (AR101+) they
left off with five years ago. All that's changed,
other than the entry into service of a mixed bag
of new Volvo B7TLs and DAFs, is the removal of
the last mile from Tottenham 'Swan' (conveniently
right outside the garage) to Northumberland Park
Station. That section is taken up by the new 476,
which follows the 76 to Stoke Newington and then
shadows the 73 as far as Euston.
Both First
and Arriva have come up good from this. For
First, the new 476 runs as many buses from
Northumberland Park as did the old 76, while
Arriva's regaining of the 76 fills space at
Tottenham lost by the transfer of the 24 to
Metroline last November.
TOP
PICTURE: Tottenham now runs VLWs, exemplified by VLW 123 (LF52 UOW) turning
out of Tottenham Green. New DLPs and existing
DLAs were also in evidence today.
BOTTOM
PICTURE: Northumberland Park's fleet of
1998-vintage East Lancs-bodied Dennis Arrows has
switched from the 76 to the 476, but will be
replaced by 10.5m Volvo B7TLs (President-bodied
this time) shortly. The 259 will also be
converted. For now, 432 (R432 ULE) is seen
at the same spot as the VLW above, only viewed
ninety degrees to the right.
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