Saturday 14 August 2010

Firework Services

No doubt many of you will have seen, or at least heard the fireworks over Plymouth on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Of course there is mass movement of people after the event which always causes some drama. 


This was the first year I've witnessed what happens on the Plymouth side. Usually I view the show from Mount Edgcumbe, but this year travelled into Plymouth for a change. 


PCB strangely seemed to be running mostly 'standard' vehicles you would expect to see on the routes. Shockingly there was even a Mini Dart on the 8 to Laira that I saw, but was then followed on a 9 by a Volvo B7 decker. Certain workings of the 43 were also in the hands of a Volvo, but all other routes seemed to use the standard Dart or Citaro working. I must admit I was hoping to see some more interesting vehicles e.g. Volvo Citybus'. But I suppose with the poorer frequency at that time of the day they can't afford to leave people at the bus stop waiting for something low floor to come along. 


First had 4 deckers lined up for the Park and Rides straight after the event. This included a mix of Enviros and Tridents all working hard to deliver the masses. Several simply operated dead trips back into Royal Parade so to not waste any time. Other routes were mainly covered by other Tridents. The 1A service that I used had X80 liveried Trident 32763 on, with the chief driver trainer none the less at the wheel. The Trident was packed but I don't think the service left anyone behind. 


All in all an interesting experience. Very slow traffic when coming away from the town though as you would expect. As to whether I'd do it again, I think I'll just stick to the much calmer Cornish side!

1 comment:

  1. so you didn't the coach running on the 86's that night then, 20108 was doing the 22:50 86 back to tavi

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