London Bus Route 86 - the conversion to electric buses

During the Summer of 2024, London Bus Route 86 made the full conversion to electric buses. They were about a year late entering service, today we are going to review them on the route. This is the second change I covered after route 396.

Stagecoach London 19822 (LX11BKV) is seen near Goodmayes Retail Park on route 86 heading towards Stratford.
Bus type seen: Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
Photo taken during: July 2022

The London Bus Route 86 runs from Romford Station to Stratford. It goes via Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes, Seven Kings, Ilford, Manor Park and Forest Gate. The route was first introduced on the 19th of August 1956, but I won't go too into depth about the history as I have covered that in a previous blog. You can view it here. The allocation for the last 7 years since it was last retained in 2016, were Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s from 2011 (11-reg) - originally new and allocated to the London Bus Route 53. These were worked by (2015/16) Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMCs from routes 294 and 498. The route operates out of Romford (NS) bus garage and run by Stagecoach London.

Stagecoach London 10301 (WLT 526) is seen in Chadwell Heath on route 86 heading towards Romford Station.
Bus type seen: Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC
Photo taken during: October 2021

At the time during Autumn 2022, routes 199 (Canada Water to Bellingham, Catford Bus Garage) and 86 were both being announced for their tender award. Those two routes of course Stagecoach retained. The award did specify new electric buses, but at the time it was unconfirmed - later found out to be Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliners. This would be at the time their first batch of Electroliners, usually Stagecoach go for Alexander Dennis so it does bring a change of bus model. However, they have ordered from Wrightbus before in 2014 with this being the Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 3 for route 53. The Electroliners for routes 199 and 86 would be ordered as part of one big batch, these being fleet coded (82001-82048). Route 86 would take the later batch (82015-82048), the earlier batch (82001-82014) would be for route 199 meanwhile. 

The buses for route 86 were supposed to enter service during July 2023. Unsurprisingly, this batch for the route faced a massive delay due to Romford (NS) garage, doing electrification and infrastructure works, as it was the first time electric buses were being introduced to that garage, this being new technology after all. Many months passed by and two entered service during January 2024. By June 2024, the route converted fully to electrics, it was a very, very, slow process as the buses arrived in Summer 2023 and were stored at Lea Interchange (LI) garage. Having said that, the route has since received a partial allocation at Lea Interchange (LI) to accommodate them all (as of 2024).

Stagecoach London 82022 (LV73FFJ) is seen in Goodmayes on route 86 towards Stratford.
Bus type seen: Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner
Photo taken during: July 2024

These Electroliners are part of TFL's new specification, that they have been running on new buses that have entered service since late 2021. The spec includes high backed seats, wood effect flooring (that is laminated), a new iBus display and USB chargers. The blinds also are also supposed to be LED displays however, the 86 and 199s batch did not come with those for some reason. Just normal blinds. I am not complaining though, those are easier to photograph. The mirrors have been mirrorless as standard on new buses since 2019 so not part of this spec. Nothing new. Basically you see the cameras of the view outside of both sides inside the drivers cab without having to adjust them. 

During the month of October, I took a ride on one. It had been quite a few months since they had entered service so I thought; "Might as well go on it". I happened to be at Stratford coming from the station (it was a Sunday afternoon if you were wondering) and rather frustratingly in my case the Elizabeth Line wasn't working east of Stratford up to Shenfield. What else could I do? After waiting patiently, one of the Wrightbus Electroliners appeared and I went upstairs to take my seat. Leaving Stratford Bus Station, it did not take long for the bus to be completely full, passengers were standing on the upper and lower decks. Let me tell you something, okay. Whenever there is engineering works on the Great Eastern Main Line and it involves the Elizabeth Line, travelling becomes a headache. You have to leave an extra hour or two, because there are rail replacement bus services and their frequency is not that good. Frustration. Ahhh. 

As for the ride, well, most of the time we spent ourselves being stuck in traffic on Romford Road, so between Stratford and Ilford the journey felt at times like a standstill, but not completely - if you know what I mean. After Ilford, the bus eventually quieted down between Seven Kings and Goodmayes. Also on this ride, we had to regulate twice (it's been a while since that's happened to me, usually it's only once...) at bus stops due to us catching up to another 86 bus. Because of that the journey took 50 minutes, well, almost an hour, as I alighted in Goodmayes. The ride certainly wasn't anything interesting for sure. At least there was a high backed seat! 

Upstairs iBus display.

Downstairs iBus display.

Upstairs and downstairs there is an updated iBus display. Notably on the lower deck the iBus display has been placed on the left, as opposed to it being on the right side behind the staircase. It is small like a square shape, so if there are long bus stop names it will certainly be a tight fit. The time of day is displayed underneath.

The interior from upstairs, notice there are grab handles instead of the poles which can be seen near the front of the bus.

Upstairs facing back, only four rear seats at the back compared to previously being five.

Downstairs interior facing forward.

Downstairs facing back, with the removal of the rear seat.

Notably the interior has changed with these buses, Stagecoach moving away from it's blue interior (it's called Beachball, but I have always thought they looked like Pac-Man!) This is an example. It's been around before on Arriva's and CT Plus ADL (Alexander Dennis) Enviro 400 City Hybrids, so the moquette is nothing new. Something that has pretty much been the norm for the last couple years now, is the removal of the middle rear seat. I assume it's to discourage people from sleeping across all five seats, which can happen if you have travelled on a night bus or later in the day. Downstairs there is no rear window, presumably due to the electric stuff that is making the bus operate. The staircases also light up too. 

USB charging ports and stop bells behind each seat.

Downstairs at the back. If you sit at on the left or right hand side, you get two charging ports.

Even at the front!

The seats are comfortable actually. Did I mention these were high backed seats? I feel like the seat being high backed, gives you more privacy compared to the other ones, not that I am bothered about that. Stop bells are at EVERY seat. Yes. EVERY seat. Shaped like a little circle too, a simple push of the button forward, great that it has been implemented. This is only upstairs though. Downstairs get the normal stop buttons on the poles like before. Hey, look at least you have USB charging ports. Speaking of them, they are everywhere! We live in a digital era where access to information and entertainment is important, but also charging our devices too! They can save us when we are in a pickle - that said will they be faster than the chargers we use today? Probably not. Still better than nothing, you have the option and at the front on the upper deck!

Rear iBus display seen here, I could actually see myself in the mirror and through the iBus so I had to blur them!

Finally, there's the rear iBus display for wheelchair users to view as they face the opposite way of travel. These are of lower quality and are not correctly centred together. Probably might bug you and if there are longer bus stops/destinations then they get cut off. Maybe this will get addressed in a future software update or something - at the moment nothing has been said when I published this blog.

All of the buses have been delivered, like I said at the beginning of the post and they have since been straying onto route 247 (Romford Station to Barkingside), which is destined to get their own batch of Wright Electroliners soon. (Update: As of publish on the 30th of August 2025, this batch has since made their entry into passenger service fleet coded 82099-117.)

Stagecoach London 82044 (LV73FGK) is seen on stand at Romford awaiting a journey towards Barkingside. This is one of the batch ordered for route 86.
Taken during: October 2024
Bus type seen: Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner
Photo taken by: Fabio Tanniguchi.

Current allocation:

82015 - LV73FFA 82033 - LV73FFW
82016 - LV73FFB 82034 - LV73FFX
82017 - LV73FFC 82035 - LV73FFY
82018 - LV73FFD 82036 - LV73FFX
82019 - LV73FFE 82037 - LV73FGA
82020 - LV73FFG 82038 - LV73FGC
82021 - LV73FFH 82039 - LV73FGD
82022 - LV73FFJ 82040 - LV73FGE
82023 - LV73FFK 82041 - LV73FGF
82024 - LV73FFL 82042 - LV73FGG
82025 - LV73FFM 82043 - LV73FGJ
82026 - LV73FFN 82044 - LV73FGK
82027 - LV73FFO 82045 - LV73FGM
82028 - LV73FFP 82046 - LV73FGN
82029 - LV73FFR 82047 - LV73FGO
82030 - LV73FFS 82048 - LV73FGP
82031 - LV73FFT
82032 - LV73FFU

Stagecoach London 82051 (LV24EUY) is seen at Goodmayes Tesco on route 86 towards Stratford. Note the updated front and LED blind.
Taken during: August 2024
Bus type seen: Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner

Stagecoach London 82051 (LV24EUY) is seen on a different day at Goodmayes Tesco on route 86 towards Stratford. Rear destinations at the back as you can see!
Taken during: September 2024
Bus type seen: Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner

As you can see above, a newer batch of Electroliners entered service at North Street (NS) garage, mainly for route 86 and 247 at times too. Fleet coded (82049-82064) they were actually ordered for route 242 (Homerton Hospital to Aldgate) which was won in February 2024 from Arriva London. The charging infrastructure has not been set up at Ash Grove (HK) garage yet, meaning they have had to use other temporary buses existing in their fleet. They entered service during the summer and some operate on route 199 over in South London too. The updated front is part of the newer facelift (like how cars get updates to their models for example) for the model going forward, but this is part of the TFL Bus Safety Standard. These have LED blinds, that show the destination at the rear and a see through sky light on the roof. Of course, it is only temporary and not for the long term!

The previous Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s that were allocated to route 86, have transferred south of the river over to Plumstead (PD) garage and work routes 96, 422 and also 472. These replaced the last of Scania Omnicity Double Deckers that were in operation for London. Some have made their way to Rainham (RM) garage for route 165, which is temporarily using double deckers - it's usually a single decker route! I wish Stagecoach all the best for the next 7 years. 

Update: This post was written around April 2025, but I can confirm that as of typing on the 30th of August 2025, Route 242 has started to receive their intended Electroliners, while Route 247 has converted fully with them. 

Thank you for reading for this post, take care and happy riding!