Celebrating a British icon 125
nine years before. These were
fitted with neatly angular Optare
Olympus bodywork – a rare
chassis-body combination.
At the time when the low
emission zone took effect, the
company had already embarked
on a refurbishment programme
to extend these buses’ lives, but
it was not very far advanced.
A more immediate solution
was required, and Go-Ahead’s
response was to swap the
Enviro400s almost overnight
with new MCV EvoSeti-bodied
Volvo B5LH hybrids from its
Peckham garage.
The EvoSetis ran on the
93 for most of 2017, sharing
some duties with similar buses
fitted with Wright Gemini 3
bodywork; so these were the
vehicles we featured in our
article. However, behind the
scenes the refurbishment
programme on the Olympus-
bodied Enviro400s continued.
They were overhauled, repainted
in London’s current all-over red
livery, and upgraded to the ‘clean’
specification required for the low
emission zone.
Towards the end of 2017
they started to reappear on the- Now they’re back in large
London by Bus
LEFT & BELOW:
Route 1 still has
Wright-bodied
Volvos of Go-Ahead
London, but Eclipse
Gemini-bodied
B7TLs like VWL42
new to East Thames
Buses in 2004
have given way to
Gemini 3-bodied
B5LH hybrids
like WHV148
passing the Strand
Underpass created
out of part of
the old Kingsway
Subway that took
trams between the
Embankment and
Holborn.BELOW: New
hybrids like
Enviro400H MMC
EH96 have ousted
older vehicles from
route 14.