User:Class455/London Buses route 434

London Buses route 434 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Coulsdon, Ridgemount Avenue and Whyteleafe South,Wapses Lodge Roundabout. It is operated by Metrobus.

History
Route 434 commenced on 30 August 2003. It originally ran between Ridgemount Avenue in Coulsdon and Whyteleafe Station. The contract for the route was awarded to Metrobus with existing Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer bodies from Orpington (MB) Garage. Due to tight turns along the route, the route requires the use of the shorter 8.9m buses

Metrobus (2003-2008)
Metrobus commenced operating route 434 from its Orpington Garage. It initially used 2 existing Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer bodies. On April 16, 2005, the route transferred to Godstone, and gained a PVR (Peak Vehicle Requirement) Increase of 1, so one additional Dart was allocated to the route. In 2006, the route was then transferred to the new Croydon Garage, and was extended from Whyteleafe Station to Whyteleafe South,Wapses Lodge Roundabout. During 2007, the Dennis Darts which had been used on the route since its formation were withdrawn and replaced with younger Y reg Darts (357 and 358) from Orpington and one existing W reg Dart (319)which had been refurbished. During that time, one of the buses, 317 (W317VGX) took the honour of being the last Blue and Yellow liveried Metrobus vehicle in service whilst working this route. It was withdrawn on 16 August 2007. On December 20th 2007, Metrobus lost the route to Travel London. Metrobus handed over the route to Travel London at the end of August 2008. The W reg Dennis Dart, 319 was withdrawn when the contract expired, the Y reg Darts transferred to Orpington, and were withdrawn in 2011.

Travel London/Abellio London (2008-2013)
Travel London started operating the route at the end of August 2008 from Beddington (BC) Garage. Three new Alexander Dennis Enviro 200's were ordered, but were delayed until late September 2008, so Dennis Darts were on loan. The Enviro 200's eventually arrived and were numbered 8107 to 8109. In October 2009 Abellio bought Travel London from National Express, thus the 434 was now operated by Abellio London. On January 31, 2013, Abellio lost the contract to Metrobus and Metrobus took over the route on August 31, 2013. 8107-8109 were withdrawn from service and transferred to Abellio Surrey

Return to Metrobus (2013-present)
On August 31, 2013, Route 434 transferred back to Metrobus from Croydon (C) garage. Four new Alexander Dennis Enviro 200's were ordered, although the PVR remained at 3.These were built to the ECWVTA specification with the emergency exit door moved further forwards rather than being at the back of the bus. The 4th bus was used for routes 130, 355, 359/T32, 367 and 455. These were numbered 189 to 192 When the route passed back to Metrobus, the 434 now ran daily instead of Monday to Saturday with the addition of a Sunday Service, and the last 2 journeys which terminated at Purley were extended to Whyteleafe South. In August 2014, the Hail and Ride sections on the route were converted to fixed stops operation. This meant instead of the iBus saying "Hail and Ride section" it would now say "Hail and Ride" followed by the name of the location. There were no bus stop poles introduced. A new timetable was also introduced to Improve the reliability of the route.

On September 1 2018, Metrobus successfully retained route 434, continuing to use its existing fleet of Enviro 200's. Refurbishment of the fleet was completed in January 2019.

On January 8 2019, Transport for London released a consultation to propose changes to the route in the Coulsdon area. The changes would see the 434 being withdrawn between Coulsdon Town Centre and Ridgemount Avenue and instead diverted into the new Cane Hill Park Estate. The section between Coulsdon Town and Ridgemount Avenue would be replaced by route 404. The proposal also included a frequency increase from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes. However, in November 2019 as a result of opposition from local residents in Coulsdon, this plan was scrapped and the 404 was instead chosen to be extended to Cane Hill Park, starting on April 5, 2020.

Current route

 * Ridgemount Avenue
 * Rickman Hill
 * Chipstead Valley Road
 * Coulsdon Town Station
 * Woodcote Valley Road
 * Purley High Street/Tesco & Purley Station
 * Northwood Avenue
 * Kenley Station
 * Whyteleafe Station
 * Well Farm Road
 * Whyteleafe South, Wapses Lodge Roundabout