Reminding me of home

I nearly forgot the most interesting spots of the holiday in Orlando, so lets take a step back and have a look at these before continuing. 

Firstly, was this Routemaster, WLT 951, which certainly seems to have got around a bit. She was seen outside an English style pub/restaurant type set up a short walk from where we were staying. She looked in very good condition, though seemed to be used more as a tool for capturing the attention of customers more than anything! This bloke kindly stopped his bus to allow me to get a photo of the 2 posed together, quite a rare shot! I've taken this overview of its history from www.countrybus.org: 

RM951  WLT 951         new: 8/5RM5/8
              11/61 NX into service on 141
               1965 NX
               5/66 NX to Aldenham overhaul
               5/66 NX from overhaul
               5/66 WN transfer
               1967 WN
               8/69 WN repaint
               3/73 PM transfer
               5/73    Aldenham overhaul, body changed to B910
               5/73 X  after overhaul
               9/74 Xu unlicensed
               3/75 X  relicensed
               6/76 X  repaint
               3/78    Aldenham overhaul, body changed to B786
               3/78 GM after overhaul
               1/82 GM showbus
               9/82    Aldenham overhaul; no body change.
              10/82 CA (N) after overhaul
                    GM transfer: showbus
                    CA (N) transfer: showbus
               6/86    withdrawn, 
               9/86    bought by Clydeside Scottish
               5/89    taken overby Western Scottish, #C63
               8/90    sold to Lister (Bolton)
                       sold to Brakell Omnibus Sales (Cheam)
                       sold to Kangaroo Colnbrook for export to Australia.
                       but remained in England. (seen around Windsor and Surrey)
               1997    sold back to Brakell.
               3/98    bought by Jim Moore, Hillsboro, Texas USA,
                       exported to USA: shoppers shuttle service
               3/00    in preservation by Jim Moore, Hillsboro, Texas
               7/05    bought by Atlantis Limo, Orlando, Florida
              11/08    retired for preservation by Scoobey Meltcher

The best find came in the shape of JHW 62E, an Ex Bristol Omnibus, Bristol Lodekka. She looked like she may have been sat there a while, on the grass verge of this duel carriageway coming into the centre of Orlando. From what I could see she was actually serving very little purpose. There was a billboard next to the bus advertising space for RVs, but there was no real green site anywhere near the bus! The interior of the Lodekka was completely stripped, but there was a what looked like a generator along with some CCTV installed on the back of the bus. Good to see she's still surviving though, and in relatively good nick. 

The Isle of Wight

I'm back from the 'break' to the old IOW! Good to see the automatic posting system has done its job properly. The days were unfortunately packed to the rafters, as well as the centre we stayed at resembling something like Fort Knox, in its protection systems! But there we go, a few photos were grabbed, and I shall start with some photos of the 'Island Breezer' liveried Leyland Olympians. These have only just returned from their winter break, so I was quite lucky with the timing. It is also rumoured that they may be approaching there final year/s doing the route, so its certainly good to get them now. K742/3 ODL are the only 2 I managed to catch on camera! Both were following me round the whole 4 days! Though saying that, I don't know how many there are in total! SO I'll let the photos do the talking now!

And a video!

Here's a quick video of one of the high floor buses. Though this also caters for the disabled in that it has a ramp that fold out very quick and easily, still meaning any passenger can use it. Perfect! 

Innovation in America (2)

The simple things are always the best, and buses in America used some very simple things to make traveling just that bit easier. The one most interesting was the rear doors. These are interestingly not operated by the driver, and instead by putting slight pressure on it this then release them and they swing open. So simple yet it saves time, keeps in the heat (not that you really need in in the states!) and gives the driver one less thing to worry about. They also close automatically after a certain period, and when the driver takes the handbrake off. This also means its impossible to open them from the outside meaning there's no chance of fare dodging. This is such a simple solution and I really think the manufacturers were onto something here, I could really see this being used here in Britain. 


Another simple little tool used was the bell was simply a long metal wire running along both sides of the bus you pulled to activate it. Much like the rubber strip found on VRs and Olympians of old, this is such a simple yet effective way to doing this, rather than having countless poles which just get in the way. Of course these days they are used for standing passengers, where as America has grab handles hanging from the roof. Sometimes the simple things are certainly the best! 

Innovation in America (1)

There were certain points that really did impress me with American public transport. Firstly was the ticketing system. The driver deals with no cash himself, all buses are fitted with a type of self service machine. The downside to this is you have to know the fares! For someone who had never used one before, I had to ask the driver how much the day ticket was and show me what I was needing to do to get my ticket. You then place the coins and notes into the dispenser and press a button when you have the correct fare in the 'hopper'. A simple and effective system. I presume therefore they carry a flat fare for any single and return unless they operate a zonal system for each fare stage i.e. $1 per zone etc. The system sounds much simple than ours, but there is no information about fares whatsoever! $4.50 was all I paid for my 'Day Pass', which I thought was very good value, especially considering the distance you can travel with it. The drivers never check tickets themselves. Instead you swipe them through a reader whenever you enter a bus, and it checks the type of ticket and date etc using the magnetic strip reader. Again this saves boarding time, though unfortunately in most cases the drivers didn't wait for all the passengers to sit down before moving off which of course some do find challenging when trying to reach a seat. 


Another interesting point was that every single bus had a bike rack fitted to the front which folded down using controls in the cab. This was used several times with the passenger loading the bike themselves. Again this is another point where there is just so little interaction between driver and passenger giving a bit of an impersonal feel. The dash is high enough to make sure the bikes to not obstruct the view, but of course the driver has to take that bit more care when pulling up towards a car to that he doesn't squash the rack in the process! Of course we have seen the Devon Bike Bus Nationals as well as Darts carrying racks on the rear in years gone by, but the idea has never really caught on.

Buses in the states!

Now this is something I never actually ended up posting about, even though this was some 8 odd months ago, so please excuse me if my memory hasn't served me 100%. 


On the holiday we stayed in Orlando, Florida, of course the tourist magnet of the USA. Surprisingly though, public transport was comparatively scarce when compared to what I would have expected. You would assume there would be loads of shuttles to the various theme parks and so on, and indeed in the morning and evening peak, there were, but these had no stops along the way. They simply went from A to B on pre booked tickets with the holiday you booked on, and generally there were few people using each service. 


The service buses themselves were operated by a company called 'Lynx'. Unfortunately, no, the fleet was not entirely operated with Leyland Lynxs (hmm do I put Lynxes, to be correct in grammatical terms, even though technically is should be Lynxs?). I actually have no idea who made the buses, but they used only 2 different types, a high floor and a low floor, though both offered disabled access across the board. The gearboxes on both types sounded very similar, but the engines were certainly different. What is somewhat confusing is there's no real identity. True they are basically in a monopoly situation so why do they need to be specific liveries, but all the buses were painted in different plain bold colours. There was no hint of branding for each route due to this, it was simply random. I suppose it does make it a bit more interesting, but brand identity seems to have been completely forgotten about. 


The bus station itself was certainly impressive. It looked very modern and airy, the waiting area was also very well kept. Generally it was all kept very clean and in good condition, with facilities plentiful, but what did strike me was the sheer lack of information across the board. Even in the bus station timetables were few and far between. There is no real time information to be seen whatsoever and I never saw one at stop poster timetable anywhere! There is also very little fare information, but we'll get onto that later. 


The routes I travelled on were also somewhat different in their structure when compared to UK routes. Of course here we are used to express type travel using main roads only, and then supported routes using the back roads to put it very simply. Of course there are lots of variations but for the purposes of this we will stick to those 2 main types. Of all the routes I used there, all of them took forever to get anywhere. From my hotel to the centre of Orlando took some 1hr 30 - 2hrs if memory serves, even though the distance is only around 6-7 miles. It goes via everywhere possible on the route. Its simple things like this that make you see why people generally just jump in the car, especially as fuel is so cheap. 


As I'm off to the Isle of Wight for the next few days I have pre-written several posts for you to enjoy over the next couple of days. Hopefully all will go to plan! Hopefully I'll be able to sneak away for an hour or 2 on the IOW to grab a few photos of what Southern Vectis has to offer, but we shall see what happens! 

X891 is not alone!

Meridian Line Travel . ( Dawes ) Kneesworth, Royston , Cambridgeshire . X892YGU . Emanuel Street , Cambridge . Saturday 12th-March-2011 . a photo by AndrewHA . on Flickr.

Does this look familiar to you? No its not because A-Line's Gemma has had a repaint, or moved somewhere else. This is sister bus X892 YGU!

Looking just as fine is her sister is down here in Cornwall, she is pictured in Cambridge working for Meridian Travel. Both were new as a batch to Lambeth Services in London as disability vehicles, but have now been sold on (at a very reasonable price!) to other operators. Interesting to note that X892 like her sister has also now had the fancy wheel rims removed. They look stunning, but they're proven very easy to catch in strange places while negotiating obstacles on route, and have therefore been removed. Other than that I can see very little difference between the two buses! Good to see another one at work though. Now if only we could swap R651 YCR for this one...


With thanks to AndrewHA on Flickr, from whom I have 'Shared this' from using the Flickr share feature! Please don't hesitate to click on the photo to see more of his great photos. 

Snap on Sunday

Yesterday, surprisingly for the first time, I took a trip on FDC's 6 from Penzance to Mousehole. Of course this route has always been renowned for its incredibly difficult manoeuvres around the village of Mousehole. I've seen plenty of photos of it, but actually being there for yourself you get a real sense of how tight the roads really are. If I get time I shall post a video at some point. I did the trip there on Vario, 52526, which though struggled, did get through comparatively comfortably. The Solo on the other hand found it much harder to get through and it got very close to the walls either side, but the driver negotiated it with much professionalism! 52526, one of only 2 Varios still in service with FDC, is pictured here resting by Mousehole harbour. 

Another Demo for PCB

Plymouth Citybus have had a wide variety of buses on test over the years, and it was feared that under Go-Ahead ownership we may have seen no more on loan from the manufacturers. But no, here we have one of the Mk2 Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7s, on loan from Wright for some route testing. Of course we have had the original Eclipse with a Volvo chassis in the city before, but none were ever bought. Will the same be said for the Mk2? The styling is certainly more up to date, though personally I prefer the more 'friendly' look of the Mk1, rather than the more mean and sharp appearance of the Mk2. The bus has previously been on loan to Wilts and Dorset for trailing on a variety of their routes over previous months. Photos thanks to Tom Pearce.

Quick update!

Just a quick update for you. Its a busy time yet again with 3 physics practical exams this week along with a changed date to all of my english literature coursework after a bit of a 'cock up' by the teacher! To top it off there's a nice 1500 geography essay to sink my teeth into as well, joy of joys! The pressure is full on with only 2 months to go until the final AS exams already! I apologise for this short gap in blogging, and I'm afraid I doubt that this trend will be broken any time in the near future. But bare with me, there will be postings wherever possible! Now who feels like writing an analytical essay on Iain Banks' "The Wasp Factory"!? 

Snap on Sunday

While trying to find my actual picture I wanted to use today I stumbled across this photo of 150232, with one of the S reg Dennis Darts passing by. The 150 has just left Keyham, so the Dart is therefore seen on Saltash Road crossing the line over th bridge. I have no idea why I never posted this at the time, but this view was seen on the 6th of March last year, which I've just realised is exactly a year ago today! How fantastic. Really good timing for the photo, and for the day of posting! 

X81 Extension

First Devon and Cornwall have announced today that they will now be extending the X81 to now serve Dartmouth. The route currently operates between Totnes and Torquay which of course used to be fine when Totnes depot was in operation. I believe that some buses now do dead journeys to/from Totnes (correct me if I'm wrong though!) , or otherwise are interconnected with X80s from Plymouth. With the route starting from Dartmouth this could mean buses are stabled in Dartmouth's depot before working up to Torquay. The timetables have certainly been very well thought out and all X81s that I've looked through on the new timetables to link with X80s to Plymouth, with typically between 10 and 15 minutes gap, which should mean connections are pretty secure. First are certainly driving this fact and have even gone to the trouble of devising some days out that you can do from different starting points. This is really good to see and I shall certainly make use of this. 


What was interesting to note was that the journey from Plymouth to Totnes and then onto Dartmouth is indeed quicker than catching the traditional 93 between the 2 locations by about 15-20 minutes. In every situation my looked at it was more effective to wait a few extra minutes in Bretonside and catch the X80 rather than going for the 93. Using an example the 0950, 93 arrives in Dartmouth at 1204. If you catch the X80 and X81 at 1010 (the closest to 0950), you arrive at 1200 on the dot. So yes technically it is quicker, but in the long run, 4 minutes isn't much to anyone. Passengers I would imagine are more likely to want to relax on 1 bus, than have to change buses in Totnes. But we shall see how that works! It will of course by a nice thing to fall back on if you did end up missing your 93. 


The corridor between Dartmouth and Totnes, and indeed onto Torquay is already covered by Stagecoach's 111. Cleverly FDC's service departs at --50 past each hour, and therefore runs 10 minutes ahead of every 111. Take the 0950 which arrives in Torquay at 1130. Stagecoach's 111 leaves at 1000 and arrives at 1145, showing that the physical journey time is 5 minutes faster than the 111. It will be interesting to see if Stagecoach responds to this. 


But this certainly seems like a very good bit of thinking at FDC, and personally I can't wait to try it out!  

Snap on Sunday

Here we see Western Greyhound's Volvo Olympian S455 ATV on the lengthy 510, from Newquay to Exeter. The journey takes the bus 3hrs 30minutes, leaving Newquay at 13:05 and arriving into Exeter at 16:35. The last time I used this service I had a Mercedes Citaro, replacing the Volvo due to operational reasons requiring the Citaro to be moved up to the Bude depot for the next day's work. The Olympian performed faultlessly over the 2 and a half hours I spent aboard her up to *Launceston before switching to the 576. These Ex Nottingham beasts really do have some power and they really do perform surprisingly well. Of course the gearboxes have a fairly low ratio so speed is not a key element, but they certainly can go along some of the twisty narrow roads of West Cornwall. They certainly feel much more agile than the Citaro I did the journey aboard in 2009. S455 is pictured here in Okehampton resting before continuing the journey to Exeter. 

The New Plymouth Citybus livery!

Right ok, my go! 


Now there has been a lot of interest in this new livery Go Ahead have applied to Dennis Dart 67. I better start with my view though. I certainly think the livery is very smart and modern, is really does look professional, although the curves of the livery simply do not suit the 'boxiness' of the Dart, or any other bus body for that matter! The front red is also somewhat too dark, the red used to the rear contrasts with it a bit too much. Possibly in reverse order this would have been better as Omnibuses pointed out. 


Though unfortunately we really cannot hide the fact that the livery is just that bit too similar to the Oxford Bus Company's livery. It has also been likened to Southampton's Uni-link service, which uses the same sort of pattern, but with a different color scheme. The colors are just far to close to Oxford's, and it just has that air of 'what was left in the shed' about it. I by no means am disputing that its smart, but we were 'promised' something individual and in keeping with the city. It has been mentioned that at least red has been retained. But actually, if you think back through PCB's previous liveries a 2 tone red has never been applied, unless someone can correct me. It has always been block colors of white, red, grey and black. Of course if you were being technical the old Countrybus livery applied to the LHs in the 80s(?) included a cream base. It is also true that the company is now of course part of Go-Ahead and that we should 'expect' something more corporate from the company. But looking through all of the other subsidiaries, no 2 are really the same, so its a shame the individual trend hasn't been fully carried forward. The new PCB logo also doesn't show individuality as has already been discussed. The logo is again much like Oxford's, as is the new website. Of course as was presumed, this livery is the work of Ray Stenning and his team, and this is why the livery can also be linked to Trent Barton's Red Arrow livery seen on its coach service from Chesterfield to Nottingham. 


Another point many people have raised is that there is now no room for advertising by other companies, unless they opt for an all over wrap of the livery. A potential loss in revenue here which we hope won't be passed on to the customers. Another thing I picked up on was the complexity of the livery. If a panel was to be damaged and was in need of replacement, it would be much harder to match up with the rest of the bus, and if left unpainted, would completely spoil the lines of the livery. The livery though smart now, could begin to look tired and 'battered' very easily. The 'old' livery, though simple, suits the lines of every bus in the fleet, and leaves it very easy for panel replacement and retains plenty of room for advertising. It is also quite a traditional and basic livery, and I must admit, I do favor this! 

The particular example I am referring to in this case will be Go Ahead's Wilts and Dorset livery. The old livery was very smart, with clean cut lines, and retained some traditional values. The new livery seems a bit drab, and messy and personally I've never liked it. Again we see the use of a similar shade of red though thankfully it is less intrusive on the natural lines of the bodywork, particularly on the Solo. The two liveries can easily be compared with this photo I took during the transition period in 2008. 


Its certainly a heated topic, but we shall see how the livery matures over time, and how it will look on other members of the fleet! Its a shame that none of the Step Darts or 709s will make it into the livery (At least I highly doubt it!), but at least like Birmingham did with the MCW Metrobus, we will easily be able to distinguish between a low floor and a high floor bus, ensuring passengers could easily identify if they would be able to use a service before flagging it down or attempting to board. Yay, I've found a positive note to end on! 


*Addition* - An anonymous contributor has brought to my attention that Ray Stenning designed this livery for Carousel a few years back. I really don't think you could get much closer between the two if you tried! I couldn't have put this any better though. "Make the transitional line between the two reds more "swoopy", change the naff slogan and slap on 
the currently in fashion "lifestyle" vinyl. Must have been about an hours work for him."
FOR PHOTO CLICK HERE

The joke's on me this time!

A-Line's Steve making a mockery of me! Very clever! 

Ivor hits the road!

A-Line's newest addition to the fleet, R260 GNJ, has been used in service for the first time today. This Iveco 59.12 from Heron of Crawley, affectionately known as 'Ivor' in the A-Line fleet, has been with A-Line since November, but has so far been relegated to the school runs only. Though due to the non-availability of both of the Mercedes Varios, she was pressed into service on the 80/A/B throughout the day. 


Some of you may remember that A-Line used to operate two other Ex-Southern Vectis Ivecos, J234 and J238 KDL, which were subsequently replaced with M152 LPL and later the two Varios. So its been quite a trip down memory lane for passengers on the service today. She is somewhat 'tired' in her appearance, though this has to be expected for a vehicle which is fast approaching its 400'000th mile since new in 1997. The engine certainly pulls well, though is understandably more sluggish when compared to the previous Ivecos, thanks to its heavier Marshall bodywork. The interior is certainly very smart with high back coach seats in very nice condition.I've also very much enjoyed the manual gearbox, its just so much smoother than the Alison automatics, along with it being much more interesting when observing the driving. Steve - who drove the bus to Trago today with his girlfriend on board was somewhat agitated by the fact that his usual very professional driving, was lacking today after not being used to the manual, especially it being his first time driving the Iveco. In his attempt to 'impress' her with his driving skills, he made a bit of a hash of the gears on multiple occasions! He couldn't complain enough about the Iveco, and in fact ended up kissing the X reg Vario, when he got passed it before working the evening 80s, along with shouting "I love you!" to Jim! 


So all in all a successful day with many compliments from the passengers on board, if not from the driver himself! But with the Iveco being able to do 20mpg (8 more than the Varios!), Ivor looks set to be at A-Line for a fair time into the future, and I certainly look forward to the next time both Varios break down! 

Snap on Sunday (On Monday)

In the few moments of sunlight we had on Saturday I managed to grab this photo of 34197, one of the Ex-Airbus Volvo Olympians, still playing her trade down in St Austell, working into Truro with the church in the background. These were brought down here several years ago now for use on the X80, though these have since been replaced by Dennis Tridents. The Olympians are still fantastic vehicles to ride on, the engines have always been very good on them and the high speed gearboxes sound wonderful! Amazingly these are actually disabled accessible thanks to a lift being installed to the step on the entrance to allow it to be lowered down to the curb and then raised up to floor height. A very simple but effective system, and its a shame that other high floor buses couldn't have had this fitted. I could just imagine a simple system like this prolonging the lives of many VRs, Olympians and Atlanteans. But I can only dream! 

Shake up at Citybus

I shall air my views on the new livery at PCB in due course when I get a photo, but for now we have some much more interesting news to deal with! 


Plymouth Citybus has just announced the service changes for April, seeing several major changes along with a few minor parts, in general tidying up of some routes. 


The biggest change comes with the loss of both services 46 and 47. These are both of course long and well established circular routes operating a lengthy service serving many different back roads on their way through St Budeaux, Ernesettle, Southway, Derriford, Estover, Leigham, and Mutley Plain. This has been described as a lifeline countless times by regular users and it is a shame that PCB have regrettably had to withdraw the service due to lack of funding from Plymouth City Council, which did look inevitable anyway. I must admit the times I've used the services while chasing step entrance Darts around the City, both routes have carried a fair load for the journey. Obviously though the numbers don't add up, and a reduced service now seems off the cards. Its not all bad on this front though. As a partial replacement; the new 27 is being introduced to cover the route between Deer Park and the City Centre, going cross town by then going down to Devonport and Stoke, terminating at the Torpoint Ferry.  Cross City routes never seemed to have worked particularly well in the past, which is of course why FDC took the decision to simplify the complex structure and simply start and end all routes on Royal Parade, which as we have seen, has worked wonders for passenger growth on many of the routes. I'm sure PCB will have done their homework on this though, but they certainly go through 2 areas of potentially heavy congestion, so hopefully timetables will have been written accordingly. 


The rest of the changes are generally a bit of 'housekeeping', apart from the 45 which will see its remaining section from Royal Parade to Cattedown cut. Of course last year we saw the Devonport section cut, but now the route will be totally removed, leaving the Solos available likely to see off the olde faithful 709s completely. 20 will be removed from Merrafield and will instead terminate in Mudge Way. The 42 will be brought into line with the Sunday only service missing out Leatfield Drive, because of traffic issues, hopefully improving the reliability of the service overall. 40D and 41D will also be withdrawn and replaced with standard 40 and 41s. 


So overall the potential impacts have been minimised by some careful planning, and cuts have of course been inevitable since the take over of Go Ahead, but I must admit, through all this moaning from passengers I will say I have been very pleased with how few reductions we have seen so far. Really they have done what they set out to do which is streamline the services to make them more efficient, introduce more low floor buses (more low floor deckers due soon!!), and generally modernise the company. Under another company we could have seen much worse, and Go Ahead certainly seem to have proven themselves as the bus company of choice for Plymouth! 

A new lease of life for Ex Plymouth Dart

It was very pleasing to find that Ex-Plymouth Dennis Dart, P411 MLA has been secured for preservation. While browsing through I came across this website from the Bromley Bus Preservation Group who now own the Dart and are restoring it to the condition it was once in while working for its original operator, Centrewest. Of course the Dart made regular appearances on a variety of different routes in the city. Its usual haunt was the old 91, but it was by no means uncommon to see it out on a variety of Ugobus tasks. Really good to see and the best of luck to the BBPG in keeping this bus running for many more to enjoy! Please click the link below to browse the bus' progress in preservation. 

http://www.thebbpg.co.uk/d41.htm

A-Line Coaches' new website

Following PCB, A-Line Coaches has now had its website professionally done by James Anderson at Reddex Designs. James is a student alongside myself at Devonport High School For Boys, and I must say, looking at his work he, he is very capable! He even won the Herald Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2010. The new website shows of many of A-Lines attributes and now looks very modern and up to date. Derrick Cuff hopes that this will bring much more trade into the company, which it has already been succeeding in doing. The photo galleries have also been added to show fleets past and present including my own and Derrick's photos throughout. 


Please don't hesitate to have a look at www.alinecoaches.co.uk