Route 195

Route 195
5 July 2008

Route 195 recently had an extension from Ealing Hospital to Brentford. This serves the dual purpose of linking Brentford and Boston Manor with Ealing Hospital and Southall, and providing extra capacity on the busy section between Hanwell and Brentford. The extension means that existing double deck additional journeys on route E8 will be withdrawn when a new contract begins next year. One significant drawback of the change to the 195 is that it no longer serves the grounds of Ealing Hospital, which has led to some complaints from passengers. Additionally, Southall's notorious traffic congestion provides unique challenges in providing reliable services on routes in the area, and the extension cannot have helped.

The route is operated by Ealing Community Transport on a contract which began in April 2003 and has been extended to run until 2010. From the outset of batch of Caetano Nimbus bodied Dart SLFs has been the main allocation. 109 (KX03 HZR) illustrates these vehicles, which are painted in a livery combining London red with the company's own lime green and yellow colours, which are otherwise to be seen on the company's fleets of welfare minibuses and dustcards (!). The vehicle is seen in Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, outside Ealing Hospital, where drivers are now changed over, on Friday 25 April 2008. Across the road, behind the hedge, is Brent Meadow, leading across to the Wharncliffe Viaduct, one of Brunel's early works on the Great Western railway.

Photo © John Bennett.

The extension to Brentford required additional vehicles, and the introduction of new buses on Dockland's Buses' route 167 provided an opportunity for three of the previous vehicles to be snapped up by ECT, these being almost identical to, but slightly older than, the indigenous fleet. 117 (HV02 OXZ) is one of them, and was photographed on the same day as 109 but in Boston Road, Hanwell, passing the end of Rosebank Road. As the yellow/green stripe now falls foul of TfL livery regulations, these additions have been painted in plain red. The offset circle, derived from the not-for-profit company's recycling activities, is now confined to a logo – the company name did not feature in this way on earlier vehicles. Curiously, the front logo just has ECT, whereas the side one has ECT Bus.

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Chronologically 332 N/A

Numerically 194 196
See also routes E8

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