Who would not be intrigued by a bus that is called a tram? That question tempted me to go for a trip on the Irizar, i.e., tram (100 per cent electric) operated by Go-Ahead London on route 358 from Orpington to Crystal Palace (picture above: The Irizar, i.e., tram on route 358, shown above at Bromley South station heading towards Orpington).
Another motivation for trying out the Irizar ie tram was that, on the Nestrans website, the promotional video for the Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) includes the stylised image of an articulated bus that has a vague resemblance to the extended Irizar ie tram. Whether, of course, the Aberdeen Bus Rapid Transit project will indeed involve articulated single decker buses; and whether those buses might be Irizar ie trams, is of course, exclusively a matter for NESTRANS to determine. But to my eyes at least, the bus in the promotional video does look a bit like the articulated Irizar ie tram.
The Irizar ie tram at the Orpington station terminus, charging up for the journey to Crystal Palace.
On my first outing, I picked up the 358 at the terminus at Orpington station, where the bus I did catch was on charge (photograph above) when I arrived at the bus stop. My mid-morning journey from Orpington to Bromley South was very smooth, the seats comfortable and the lighting very effective, though in the daytime, the large windows provide plenty of natural light. The interior of the bus is air-conditioned, so the four small slot windows that you can see on the photos do not open.
The Irizar ie tram moving on to the bus stand at Orpington station terminus
The 358 operates at a frequency of 10-16 minutes, with an off-peak journey time end to end of some 67 minutes, according to the timetable at Orpington. That may well be an ambitious target, as the two day-time journeys that I took were 30 minutes for Orpington to Bromley South station; and, then 60 minutes from Bromley South to Crystal Palace, though admittedly the latter trip was during the evening peak.
The Irizar ie tram on the 358 route has a capacity for 35 seated passengers and one wheelchair, with two doors, one at the front and one in the middle. 16 of the seats are located in front of the rear door, the remaining 19 behind. There is space for one wheelchair and room also for a pushchair or pram. The motorised wheelchair ramp is operated by the driver from the cab and retracts under the chassis. This was operated on my second journey to accommodate a wheelchair passenger.
The bus comes with a helpful electronic screen showing the next stop and progress along the route. There is also a separate screen above the wheelchair bay.
The single bus fare for each trip was £1.75, payable using a pre-loaded Oyster card, or using a debit card on the ticket machine reader when boarding the bus at the front of the bus. On London buses, drivers do not sell bus tickets: they simply monitor the scan of the reader as each person boards. The £1.75 fare is called a “Hopper” and is valid for one hour from first touching a ticket reader; and can be used on multiple buses within that hour. I travelled using a one day travelcard from Watford Junction which sits in a special fare zone outside zone 9, the limit of the Greater London fare zones. As a paper ticket, that travelcard cost £32.30 and covered peak travel on trains, buses, the underground, overground, cable car and trams in Greater London for all zones (1-9) in Greater London.
A one day travelcard in traditional paper ticket format. The Oyster card is available to purchase from a London Underground ticket machine or visitor centre located at central London major rail stations: it costs £10 to buy and then can be loaded with money for use on a pay as you go basis, with fares capped at the relevant one day travelcard fare for the number of zones in which it is used.
Finally, I did wonder why Go-Ahead had acquired these Irizar ie tram buses for South-East London. So far, the 358 is the only route (from 675) that currently use this interesting bus. Some weeks after traveling on the 358, I did discover that the Kent Fastrack service that connects Dartford, Ebbsfleet and Gravesend (www.kent-fastrack.co.uk) is also operated by Go-Ahead and recently, the company has obtained a fleet of Irizar ie trams to operate on that network, which also includes dedicated busways along parts of the various routes in that network. Something to try out on my next trip to the South East of England!
The photographs are my own and have not been subject to any manipulation other than cropping to reduce the size.
Steven Ardron
