Parent | Go-Ahead London |
---|---|
Founded | 1999 |
Headquarters | Barking |
Service area | East London |
Service type | Bus operator |
Routes | 28 (September 2023) |
Hubs | Barking, Barking Riverside, Canning Town, Beckton |
Depots | 2 |
Fuel type | Diesel, Hybrid and Electric |
Chief executive | David Cutts |
Website | www.goaheadlondon.com |
Blue Triangle Buses Limited,[1] trading as Go-Ahead London, is a bus company operating services in East London. The Blue Triangle brand is a subsidiary of Go-Ahead London and operates most of its services under contract to Transport for London. It is the operator of the East London Transit service.
In August 2002, Blue Triangle took over route 185 at short notice after London Easylink ceased trading.[2]
On 29 June 2007, Blue Triangle was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group.[3] The sale included eight Transport for London and nine Essex County Council routes and approximately 60 buses, but not the charter fleet which were retained by Roger Wright trading as The London Bus Company.[4]
In May 2016 a new garage opened in River Road, Barking. It initially opened with an allocation of 22 buses to operate route 147 but has a capacity for 155 buses. It was built on the site of a former Ford commercial vehicle sales and repair site.[5][6] In July 2016, all of the routes and buses from Rainham garage were transferred.[7]
As at January 2024, River Road garage operates routes 5, 101, 104, 147, 304, 364, 368, 396, 608, 646, 652, 656, 677, 679, 686, 687, EL1, EL2, EL3 and N15. Some buses are regularly shared with Henley Road garage.[8]
As at September 2023, Henley Road garage operates routes 5 (Early/late trips from route N15s allocation), 15, 69, 115, 366, 649, 650, 651, D3 and N15. Some buses are regularly shared with River Road garage.[9] This garage also acts as a storage for the Here East bus fleet.
As at May 2015, Rainham garage operated routes 167, 193, 300, 347, 362, 364, 368, 376, 462, 498, 608, 646, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 656, 667, 674, 679, 686, EL1, EL2 and W19.[10] On 27 June 2015, route 498 passed to Stagecoach London.[11] In July 2016 the garage closed with all operations transferred to Barking (River Road).[7]
Blue Triangle owned a number of special vehicles including an ex Green Line AEC Routemaster, ex London Routemasters and AEC Regent III RTs for use on charter duties. These vehicles were not included in the sale to Go-Ahead Group and remain in the ownership of Roger Wright's London Bus Company.[19]
As at May 2015, Blue Triangle's London services had a peak vehicle requirement of 131 buses.[10]