106 The London Bus
since closed. In 1959 the route
took the then vacant number
86 and in 1963 the North Street
allocation was withdrawn.
Tendering saw the route pass
to East London in March 1993,
by which time it had taken on
its current termini. Operation
transferred in its entirety to
Romford following closure
of Seven Kings garage. Four
years later Bow garage gained
a share, which was transferred
to Stratford in 2001 with the
remainder of the operation
following in 2005.
The Stratford site was
redeveloped as part of theOlympic Park and its bus
operations moved to a new
garage at West Ham in 2008.
Following retendering in 2009,
operation transferred again
to North Street although,
since 2013, West Ham has also
provided two vehicles.Back to double-deck
The present day route 247
(Romford-Barkingside) dates
from 1992 when the 247A was
renumbered as part of London
Buses’ policy of abolishing route
suffixes. It was introduced in
1950, initially linking Collier
Row and Harold Wood. With theexception of one short-lived peak
duty from Hornchurch garage,
operation passed to the newly
opened North Street in August
1953.
Although Seven Kings provided
a partial allocation between 1986
and 1993, the route has been
associated with North Street ever
since. It took on its present route
in 1993 when it was one of a few
services in the area to receive
Wright Handybus-bodied Dennis
Dart single-deckers with East
London Hoppa branding.
Low-floor single-deckers
took their place in 1999 and it
received double-deckers in 2004.
These were 9.9m TransBus
ALX400-bodied Tridents, a rarity
in Stagecoach London’s fleet
where most Tridents are 10.8m
long. They can be told apart
as they have only one window
between the front and centre
doors.
In April 2017 the 247 was
one of seven services in the
Barkingside area to be included
in a trial of route branding to see
if this led to passenger growth.
Several vehicles received yellow
branding setting out the route
and frequency of the service.
Following award of a new
contract in March 2018, newer
Alexander Dennis Enviro400
double-deckers are being
introduced.
In 1970 route 294 replacedLondon Bus Garages
ABOVE: RMA3,
one of 13 former
British Airways
Routemasters
operated from
North Street
on route 175 in
1975/76. They
had been built
for the service
linking Heathrow
Airport and the
West London
Air Terminal and
lacked proper
destination
displays.
TONY WILSON
RIGHT: Alexander
Dennis ALX400-
bodied Trident
18453 leaving
Stratford bus
station for
Romford on
route 86.