London Bus Route 173 - new electric buses

The London Bus Route 173 has recently received a contract renewal, in October 2025. Operated by Stagecoach London, they have retained the route with new electric buses. 

Stagecoach London 14124 (LF70YUY) is seen in Chadwell Heath on route 173 towards Beckton Station.
Bus type: BYD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 EV (Electric bus)
Photo taken during: July 2021

Running from King George Hospital to Beckton Bus Station, route 173 goes via Little Heath, Chadwell Heath Lane, Chadwell Heath, Becontree Heath, Dagenham Heathway Station, Ripple Road and Newham Way. 

The route has been in operation since 1987. I am not going to go too in depth into the history here, as I already published a blog in regards to that back in 2021 and not much has changed since then. I will provide a link here (or at the end of this post in case you cannot access it). 

Stagecoach London first gained the route in October 2020 from Arriva London, operating at Barking (BK) garage. These used at the time brand new BYD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 EVs, which did not arrive until April 2021 as the garage was not electrified. In April 2025, it was announced that the route would be retained for 7 years with new electric buses from October 2025. Now, you may wonder "why retain the route with new electric buses again if they just got the buses 5 years ago?" Well, you see Transport For London (TFL) right, lease buses with bus operators instead of owning them outright. What does that mean? Well, the bus operator, decides whether to retain the route with the same buses they are currently using or get new buses. Usually, this could be for the duration of the contract, which is 5 years (but for bus routes with electric/zero emission contracts this is 7 years from I have seen), usually for TFL bus routes (there are exceptions obviously). The bus operator may decide they want to refresh the bus fleet so that local bus routes are using the same bus type, this might make it easier when doing type training (learning the bus model), as a bus driver would have driven that same bus model on a different route. Of course there is a lot more to this, but I am still trying to understand it myself so I would rather not blabber on too much about it. Maybe it made sense to you, maybe it didn't. It's like leasing a car, basically. Anyways, moving on.

Stagecoach London 14127 (LF70YVC) is seen on the stand at Beckton Bus Station on route 173 heading to King George Hospital. This bus at the time had the OVO Energy wrap and has since been removed.
Bus type: BYD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 EV
Photo taken during: May 2023

The BYD/ADL Enviro 400 EVs were withdrawn by Stagecoach London rather quickly. These will return back to the leasing company where they will find somewhere else to go, it only seemed like yesterday when these vehicles entered service. This is how it's going to be for the foreseeable future, electrics being replaced by newer electric buses on bus routes. Certainly strange I have to admit but the TFL bus contracts are what they are. I thought they were decent buses to be fair and my bus rides on them were not too bad. 

Stagecoach London used to be known for being quite loyal to Alexander Dennis bus products over the past few decades, however this has changed in recent years, as they have decided to order from other bus manufacturers. One of those is Wrightbus and in particular the Streetdeck Electroliner EV, which has seen quite a lot of orders for bus operators over the past few years. Stagecoach seem to be quite a fan of them and this route (yes, the 173 bus route) among many others have or are in the process of being operated by them. 

Onboard 82113 (MF25HHT) one of the Electroliners intended for route 425 on the upper deck.

As it's not really good for a bus to be in storage for too long, these Electroliners have been deployed on the route over the past few months (between October and February) and make up the main allocation, although there is a catch... This batch currently on the route is actually intended for route 425 (Clapton, Nightingale Road to Ilford, Hainualt Street) fleet coded 82113-36, however, not all the batch is at Barking (BK) garage these being spread around other garages. This is how I understand it at the moment;

82113 - MF25HHT is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82114 - MF25HHU is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]                            

82115 - MF25HHV is at Rainham (RM) [TEMPORARILY]                                

82116 - MF25HHW is at Rainham (RM) [TEMPORARILY]                               

82117 - MF25HJV is at Rainham (RM) [TEMPORARILY]                                 

82118 - MF25HJX is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]                              82119 - MF25HJY is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]                              82120 - MF25HJZ is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]                              82121 - MF25HKA is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82122 - MF25HKB is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82123 - MF25HKC is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82124 - MF25HKD is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]                            

82125 - MF25HKE is at Ash Grove (HK) for route D7 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION] 

82126 - MF25HKG is at Ash Grove (HK) for route D7 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION] 

82127 - MF25HKH is at Ash Grove (HK) for route D7 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82128 - MF25HKJ is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82129 - MF25HKK is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82130 - MF25HKL is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82131 - MF25HKM is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82132 - MF25HKN is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82133 - MF25HKO is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82134 - MF25HKP is at Barking (BK) for route 173 [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82135 - MF25HKT is at Barking (BK) for route 173 I think? [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

82136 - MF25HKU is at Barking (BK) for route 173 I think? [TEMPORARY ALLOCATION]

As Bow (BW) garage is still doing electrification work at their bus garage, it will take some time for them to enter service on route 425. Either way, I managed to board one at the beginning of April. I got one from the first stop at King George Hospital to Chadwell Heath (near the station) and for the most part are pretty identical to the other Electroliners currently in service; skyline roof (not all the way), wood flooring effect, USB chargers, high back seats, updated iBus screen and LED blinds.  

The iBus screen was working I can confirm but, it didn't co-operate with my camera on this occasion.

The iBus screen as you can see above may seem like it wasn't in use, however, it was I assure you. It kept flickering back and forth giving you no chance to see what the next stop was. Either way the journey was not very long as I boarded the bus in the evening, being the only person on the upper deck, most of the other passengers were on the lower deck.  

Uno [University Bus] 1461 (LF70YUR) is seen at Elstree and Borehamwood Station on route 292 towards Colindale Superstores.
Previously 14118 and later 84118 under Stagecoach London.
Bus type: BYD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 EV (Electric bus)
Photo taken during: December 2025
Photo taken by: Aubrey

Some of the BYD/ADL Enviro 400 EVs that were formerly operated by Stagecoach London have found new lives. Uno (University Bus) acquired these for the 292 bus route (Colindale Superstores to Borehamwood, Rossington Avenue), which they gained from Metroline Travel back in December 2025. At the moment, the route is running with a mixture of diesel and electric double decker vehicles. This is on a temporary basis, as the route will receive electric buses and be fully electric at somepoint. 

Uno [University Bus] 1505 (YX12FNH) is seen at Elstree and Borehamwood Station on route 292
towards Colindale Superstores.
Previously London United RATP Group ADE2, London Sovereign RATP Group ADE40402 and more recently First Bus London 32774.
Bus type: Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 (Diesel bus)
Photo taken during: December 2025 
Photo taken by Aubrey

The Enviro 400 above did operate on the 292 bus route under London Sovereign, so it's not in unfamiliar territory but it's with a new operator this time. 

As for the 173 bus route? Well it's actual buses have not actually arrived yet. The route will eventually use Electroliners, basically identical to the ones currently operating - this is a basically a sneak peek of what's to come!

Stagecoach London 82122 (MF25HKB) is seen in Chadwell Heath on route 173 towards King George Hospital. 
Bus type: Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner EV (Electric bus)
Photo taken during: April 2026

These Electroliners are spreading all over East London, Stagecoach seem to be a big fan of them. Keep an eye out for more coming soon, including the ones due for route 173!

Thank you for reading and happy riding!