For the last few months, certainly at the very least since I arrived back in the SW from Huddersfield, I haven't clapped eyes on a single step entrance offering from First within Plymouth. With the K-LAEs now gone, along with P568 EFL on her move to Truro, and K801 ORL's subsequent withdrawal from service, K803 ORL has been the only Plymouth based vehicle which is still aged enough to have some steps to climb before you get the chance to lounge in comfort upon her duel purpose seating. As I've mentioned previously though, good old 34003 spends nearly all of her time stowed away in Dartmouth, where she lives out her final days operating the Dartmouth Academy school bus, across the Dartmouth Higher Ferry, and therefore never sees any use within her home city. But of course, the schools are now on holiday, and hence K803 now appears to have been allowed back! It's actually quite strange seeing a standard in service step entrance vehicle in Plymouth these days, it's certainly a rarity, and K803 ORL stood out like a sore thumb as she trundled up Royal Parade; making all the right noises! Lets hope she hangs on a little bit longer, I'd definitely like one last blast before she's silenced, possibly forever...but time must now surely be short for the 20 year old Northern Counties bodied beauty.
This week's SoS comes slightly delayed, with these photos actually being taken during the previous week. This period saw Military Road, aka the cliff road along Whitsand Bay shut, due to some serious subsidence of the road, leaving holes of some 10ft in depth across the breadth of the road. This meant a diversion via the old 80B route, taking the buses along the B3247 and down the infamous Hounster Hill, through Millbrook Narrows. No First services have used this road for some time, since Olympian C412 HJN disgraced herself on a school run, unable to make it up the hill with her capacity load; but it has been some 6 years now since First ran regular public services via this route. Therefore it seemed a worthy use of time to go down and get some photos of various buses squeezing their way through, made even more nightmareish by the sheer volume of traffic using the road, because of course, there was no alternative! This can in particular be seen within the photo below of the CJ Down Volvo trying to negotiate its way through! Traffic has now returned to Military Road after a very hasty repair, with services now operating the normal route.
Today (Friday 19th July) saw the very first Megabus Gold service depart Plymouth, with one of the brand new, extremely impressive looking, Van Hool TXD29 Astromega. The honour was bestowed to SF13 FMP to work the 1635 Bretonside to London Victoria, who decided to disgrace herself temporarily with a faulty rear passenger door, delaying her debut departure! She would then work up to Scotland in 'Sleeper Mode' on arrival at London Victoria.
With thanks to the very cheerful Scottish crew aboard, they allowed me to jump on board and admire her from inside, and it must be said, these really are top spec! 2+1 seating is seen throughout the coach, with a table available at every seat, along with plug sockets. Wifi is also provided free of charge, but what is really nice to see is a return to having a host/hostess aboard for the journey serving complimentary refreshments, a real step forward! The layout though, although very impressive, does appear very 'messy', but undoubtedly this is required to ensure the maximum amount of beds can be accommodated. Interesting also to note that the seats at the front on the top deck are faced away from the glass with no top deck forward view. But of course, having a bed against the window could be very hazardous!
As can just be made out, the bedding equipment appears to be stowed in the luggage compartment at all times rather than being taken off and put on the coaches at their respective departure points. All this luxury actually comes at a very reasonable price though. After checking yesterday to see how much a I'd be paying for a seat on that particular journey, it was a mere £16 all the way to London, an absolute bargain! We shall soon see if this is a bit of an introductory offer, or whether indeed that price will be maintained!
With the recent filming going on in the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand for the new Mike Leigh film, documenting the life and work of the artist JWM Turner, a shuttle bus service has been put in place to link the villages with the storage site at Maker. For this job, they have not opted to draft in local operators, but instead have hired in two Ford Transits (with drivers) from MK Travel of Tonbridge; just South of London! Although the company do appear to specialise in Film and Television related work, I fail to see how this is of any real asset considering the journey is a matter of minutes in length, with only a handful of journeys required per day, but evidently, it must be worth their while considering the distance involved. They must therefore of course be paying quite a premium considering the sheer distance from their operating base, as well as other costs involved, such as booking hotels for the drivers, and possibly even maintenance away from home. All things considered I'm quite surprised that it's worth all the extra cash they must be paying for the benefits they bring, but then again, the hire of a couple of minibuses is most likely a small drop in the ocean for such a big budget industry.
Yes it's that time of year again when we say a fond farewell to Plymouth Citybus' Volvo B10Ms! In all seriousness, it really does seem that this year will finally be the final year of the yellow beasts dominating the school gates. Indeed it appears that there is now only one left still playing its trade, this being G615 OTV, along with H177/8 GTT also still plodding along in the old standard fleet livery. All are expected to be withdrawn shortly, but there is the possibility the H regs will hang on for slightly longer, we shall soon see! With the brand new Enviro 400s about to be delivered, and with the recent influx of even more B7TLs, there really will now be the capacity to plug the gap that the B10Ms will leave. A shame that after a span of just under 30 years the B10M decker will no longer be a common sight on the streets of Plymouth. Although they've never had such a passionate following as the stalwart Plymouth decker, the Atlantean, the B10Ms have nonetheless proved themselves time and time again; and although they never quite had the character to match the Atlantean, they have no doubt created and played a part in many great memories over their lives. The final day as ever will be the last Friday of the school year (i.e. this Friday!) so get them while you can!
The Cremyll Ferry company has recently sourced a replacement for the Tamar Belle which has now been sold on, and is now at work on the St Mawes to Falmouth service, very close to her previous operating area in the Helford Passage, whilst named 'Queen of Helford'. The new vessel, Island Princess has been bought from Paignton Pleasure Cruises, who operated her on the Torquay to Paignton service, but prior to that, worked as the 'Solent Princess' whilst based on the South Coast. Island Princess can carry up to 70 people, so should be able to cope with loadings out of the peak months, although her large open deck space doesn't necessarily lend itself to operating during the winter months, and hence, it has been proposed that Northern Belle will undertake her annual refit during September, rather than the usual November-January period, in the hope it will be slightly warmer! She will of course also be used when problems occur with the Northern Belle, although thankfully they are generally few and far between. The vessel has now been painted into the Cremyll Ferry livery after previously being plain white. Photos come, with thanks, from Paul Burch.
Western Greyhound are once again holding their Heritage Running Weekend, with more visitors expected this year, purely down to the added respect from many enthusiasts after the very impressive 'Rise from the ashes' seen after the awful fire. In a change to the usual format, the Saturday running day will see a Heritage Route put in place, running every 20 minutes from Newquay Bus Station, utilising vehicles not only from their own collection, but also visiting vehicles, on a trip of around 1 hour. Friday will see RM1062 used in public service on routes 556 and 591, with Sunday seeing them take part in the annual Cornish Commercial Vehicle Run. Full details can be found by following the link below. http://www.westerngreyhound.com/index.php
The Go-Ahead group have recently been trailing an Optare Versa at their various subsidiaries with the latest stop along its route being at Plymouth Citybus.She is being used for evaluation at various locations to see whether the vehicle type is something that they would consider operating full time in the future. The vehicle has so far only been used at Go North East, within which she has operated for the past 5 months, with her now expected to be used in Plymouth for the coming 2 months before her next move. This would be an interesting turn away from the group's usual buying policy of heavyweight vehicles, which in recent times have mainly consisted of Volvo B7RLEs, Mercedes Citaros and Scania OmniCitys. Operating such buses does of course come at a cost, and undoubtedly the group are looking to save money on fuel, especially considering such vehicles as the Citaro can rarely achieve above 3-4mpg. My apologies for the poor photography, the sun was awful for taking photos of it in that position!
Whilst on a recent visit to Ilfracombe, back out enjoying
the delights the South West has to offer, it came as quite a shock to find that
the old Bus Station in the town is no longer used for its original purpose, and
is instead now infested with cars! Yet there appears to be no appropriate
signage to say that this is now allowed, with ‘Buses Only’ signs and road
markings still in place. No services now use the bus station, and instead wait
time just up the road, and load up just before the sharp right hand bend
approaching the bus station. It’s fair to say that Ilfracombe’s bus station
wasn’t the nicest place to be whilst waiting for your bus, it had certainly
been neglected for many years, with the closure of the bus depot not helping
its cause. The old office buildings are also a shadow of what they once were,
but it is a shame that it has now used for another purpose with no effort made
to bring it up to scratch. The space as it is, isn’t ideal for cars as it
stands anyway, and is really quite an inefficient use of the void.
The land was sold by First Devon and Cornwall in 2007 along with the depot
buildings, with proposals to turn the space into 50 flats, but this was
rejected in 2012. It was the withdrawal of First from the bus station though
that appears to have prompted its closure by its new owners Omnium and was due
to be closed off to the public, but evidently, that hasn’t been the case. There
now appears to be no set use for the space, with nothing proposed, unless the
company is continuing to modify it’s idea for dwellings to be built in its
place. In reaction to the closure of the bus station there are going to be
changes to the roads in the town centre, with a new mini roundabout added, as
well as extra space for buses to wait time and load/unload from, as what is
there at the moment is somewhat inadequate; although it must be said, no where
near as busy as it has been in the past.
I'm sorry, I know that my SoS has all too frequently included one of the fine Ex-Bristol Leyland Olympians, but I did miss the final withdrawal of them from the city, so please do cut me some slack! Also pictured is another bus that I am now led to believe has been withdrawn from the Plymouth fleet, now awaiting her onward fate, this being K801 ORL. As has been discussed for years, 1801 in old money certainly has good reason to be saved, with her being the very first Volvo Olympian registered for the road, so lets hope a plan is afoot for her to enter preservation soon. This is if indeed my leads are correct, and she is no longer working; of course, I haven't been down here to see and confirm this first hand!
Whilst all this has been going on, two of the K-LAEs continue to dodge the scrapman at every opportunity, with K615 and K629 LAE continuing to operate in service against all odds in Cornwall, somewhat ironic considering that the final K-LAE had been withdrawn from Cornwall for a considerable period, before their return. Also now at work in Cornwall is P568 EFL which had been converted for use on the Torpoint Ferry. It appears that no Olympians are currently needed at Torpoint, with them being able to survive on 5 Tridents and 3 Darts, with the X80 Tridents covering any gaps due to breakdowns. Surprising though that P568 EFL was put into Cornwall, as a vehicle with a ferry lift is required for the Dartmouth Academy school bus which uses the Dartmouth Higher Ferry. K803 ORL is hence the only step entrance vehicle available for this duty now. It seems undesirable to keep a Trident with a ferry lift tied up all day just to operate the morning and evening journey on this service, so you would have thought a spare would be retained, but evidently that isn't the case!
With First now vacated from the North Devon bus scene, Stagecoach largely have it all to themselves, save a few select routes operated by independents, Filers and Beacon Bus, although even their presence seems to have dwindled somewhere since previous visits. All this hasn't been met with a reduction in good working practice though, in fact you will now find quite the opposite on a visit to Barnstaple bus station. Stagecoach has just been taking delivery of 22 brand new Enviro 400 bodied Scania ND230s for use on not only their 'North Devon Wave' branded network, but also on other routes around the area, with some of the batch painted into standard 'Beachball' livery. It was also surprising to find that the day ticket was of such reasonable cost; just £3.50 to cover their whole network, or a whole week's worth for £11. A reduction in competition certainly doesn't seem to yet have been met with any price hikes! Of course as is often mentioned, the bus industry's real enemy is the car, and not each other. In many a town operators actually co-exist quite peacefully, and certainly at least show a mutual respect for each other, which I've found to very much be the case in Huddersfield. Although the combined forces of Centrebus owned K-Line and Huddersfield Bus Company have the power to do something, there isn't really any meaningful level of competition seen on any routes in Kirklees, operators have stuck pretty solidly to their 'traditional' territory.
Anyway, back to the reason for this post, it seems to me, unless anyone can correct me, that this order of 22 brand new vehicles is the largest influx of new buses the South West has seen since NBC days. Stagecoach have invested to the tune of £4 million, with what appears to be no outside help; certainly there is nothing to suggest that the local council contributed to the buying of these at all. This amisdt cuts in BSOG, local authority funding and with the network in North Devon being so rural, make such an investment even more impressive; Stagecoach evidently seem to see promise in North Devon.
Now with my enthusiasts hat on, I must be frank and say I disapprove of these vehicles. My first little niggle with them is the livery. It's unquestionable that the new Wave branding is tidier than the previous incarnation seen on the Tridents which does play to their advantage, but with it, the livery loses a bit of individuality, again though, not necessarily a bad thing. The seating was also a bit of a disappointment. Considering people could potentially be on these vehicles for anything up to 1hr 45minutes, it's a shame that they didn't opt to fit something a bit nicer than the standard seating. The rearmost seating on both decks is fitted with a plastic type seat cover as well, which although practical, does make them a lot less comfortable. Despite only being weeks old, the Alexander Enviro 400 bodywork already squeaks and rattles around a surprising amount, which is a shame, as you'd hope the build quality would be slightly better from one of the leading manufacturers. The biggest disappointment comes from the mechanics though. Although the vehicle offers a smooth gearchange, that's about the only nice part. The suspension is noticeably hard which you certainly feel on some of the rural roads, along with the engine being woefully underpowered. This is most likely in the pursuit of fuel saving, and the gearbox changing up early encourages a further fuel reduction, but the vehicles really do seem to struggle on the hills in the region, of which some are particularly testing. Surprisingly, the vehicle's cooling fans stayed on constantly, the whole time I was on 2 different vehicles, evidently showing that they were being worked hard to heave their way along, with the noise being produced by this being of such a horrible pitch, it caused headaches for all involved (video included below)! Of course it is easy for someone to counter this in saying is there any real need for the bus to be doing a great deal of speed, but on roads such as these, I would actually argue that the competing motorist will inevitably end up stuck behind one of these buses quite frequently, trundling along, and hence would be put off knowing that they'd be getting home slower - it's all in the visual! I'm not saying it would be better to put on a 20 year old Leyland Lynx which would wholly likely be able to overtake cars on those roads, but there does surely need to be some sort of balance; surely there is a more appropriate vehicle out there for the route.
Today sees the return of the weekly Snap on Sunday feature, this week continuing the Western Greyhound theme. As I mentioned yesterday, the photograph used by WGL on the timetable for this year wouldn't have been my first choice from my collection, although this is wholly likely down to my poor naming of photos on Flickr! In my defense, the naming is horrendously time consuming, and hence, relatively few have been done, as more and more of my free time is eaten away. We shall have to see if we can rectify this soon! Anyway, the photo this week depicts one of Western Greyhounds very impressive looking Optare Solo SRs in Truro, taken at the tail end of last summer. The flower beds are placed perfectly to incorporate them into the photos taken at the layover point for Western Greyhound services in the city, and hence I often capitalise on this, especially when they're in such wonderful bloom as they were during this period.
Once again, I have had the privilege of one of my photos being selected by Western Greyhound for use on their mini timetable guides! This year, my photo adorns the cover of the booklet for service 593 between Plymouth and Newquay with publications manager Dicky Souray once again doing a masterful job of presenting the timetable. The photo is however tinged with sadness, as the bus depicted is one of many which unfortunately were caught up in the awful fire at Summercourt depot last month, this being Optare Solo MX06 BRZ (951). A tragic event which I'm sure many of you will now be fully aware of, but what has struck me most is the way in which the industry, as it always does, has rallied around Mark and the team to get things back up and running with haste. It's fantastic to see how supportive one another is in these situations, with buses coming from as far afield as Blackpool and Norfolk, which I will go into in more depth at a later date. The way Mark and his loyal team have coped with the pressure to get the services back up and running so swiftly is admirable, for want of a stronger word. It's nice therefore that 951 will live on in timetable form for a short while longer, although I must concede, I wouldn't have said this photo was some of my 'finest work', but evidently, it has still met WGL's exacting standards.
Hello, and a hearty welcome back from a re-invigorated blogger, who has returned to the region for a lengthy summer break! For those of you interested, the first year of my degree, reading Transport and Logistics Management has been a success from all angles. Despite this being a realisation of a dream concocted over many years, with expectations very high, the University of Huddersfield has still managed to surpass them. Finally discovering what makes it all tick, learning about the processes involved, and ascertaining the required skills to enable me to take on these new challenges has been wholeheartedly thrilling. There's hardly been a day where I haven't wanted to get in to the University's converted Mill buildings, and listen intently to what the lecturers deliver. The things covered have ranged from the essential building blocks, the practical skills if you will, of accounting, financial management, and business statistics analysis, right through to looking back at history, with the breakup privatisation of the NBC, and formulating our own ideas to take on the 'Transport Challenges' currently being faced. A very exciting first year, with much more to come over the the next three, it's certainly a decision I am very pleased I made. So hence I am now on the lookout for extra experience over my summer break to boost my knowledge even further, and apply some of these new found skills I'm itching to use! If anyone has any ideas, or indeed offers for a summer job/placement, please do get in touch.
Now, to business, and my two penneth on the new livery now adorning poor old Heron. The Tamar Link livery was, at first, quite a startling livery to say the least. My first thoughts looking out the gates of Fourlanesend primary, were that it was far too bold, with it clashing awfully with the peaceful countryside and sleepy villages they wound their way through. Undoubtedly though, that's exactly what First (or indeed, the council) were going for, something that stood out to such an extent, people would take interest, and realise that a fair old sum of money had just been splashed out on some lovely new buses. This is indeed of course the thinking behind Mark Howarth's 1st generation Western Greyhound livery, that of the pink base, with blue fleetname, purely to attract the attention of potential customers, to get them to realise there was a new kid on the block, and doubtless this went part way to establishing the company so well, from the off. The livery being used as advertising works even better when you consider that the competing motorist has to spend at the very least, about 9 minutes of their journey looking at them, whilst travelling beside the pink monsters on the Torpoint Ferry. Tamar Link did indeed cause quite a stir, not just locally, but nationally as well, as branded routes became even more prominent in the mid 2000s (I'm still refusing to refer them to as the 'noughies'!). It's therefore quite a shame to see them finally passing into the history, books, although as has been mentioned, a repaint is certainly overdue on these. I've covered before how faded they are when compared to the coat being fresh, pink appears to be particularly susceptible to fading, and hence, maybe it was time to let go. It may surprise you to discover than the Mercedes Varios that were painted into the TL livery were actually repainted twice during their relatively short 4 year stint at Torpoint before withdrawal, whereas the Tridents have gone double that period, with just the single coat. The original Dart, 'Kingfisher', has also had 2 repaints into TL, but the question now looms as to whether she will make it into the new livery, considering one of her sisters from the S-RNE batch has now been withdrawn.
It has been remarked that the DEVON fleetname now applied to 32756 (she's lost her name, I can't call her Heron anymore :-( ) is somewhat inappropriate on a bus that does spend a majority of it's time at Torpoint, in Cornwall, and I have to admit, I do agree. A reapplication of just the Tamar Link fleetname, or even, Ferrybus would have been more suited, but considering not even the P&R Enviros have had PARK AND RIDE plastered onto them, it was always going to be a long shot. In all her wisdom, Mother Mayhew suggested, "Why not have Devon on one side, and Cornwall on the other?". Indeed, I've got to concede, this may well have been the ideal solution. The Cornish undoubtedly will be hostile towards this thing from DEVON taking over their bus route, it's not right! So a compromise at both, also of course showing the link between the two, would highly likely have been the happy medium, not causing confusion when operating in Plymouth, but still giving a nod, to it's true routes (pardon the pun!) in Cornwall.
It was quite a surprise to see a familiar looking blue and white liveried vehicle residing in the corner of Waterloo Depot - the home of the Centrebus owned Huddersfield Bus Company, as I whisked by on my daily commute into University on Thursday. It was certainly one of those situations where you had to double take to make sure you were correct in registering that the vehicle was indeed not in the usual orange livery! But indeed I was correct; emblazoned down the side was the Country Bus fleetname, along with its Newton Abbot telephone code. YX54 HBB, Country Bus' only DAF SB120, and indeed, about the only SB120 in the whole of the South West, was unfortunate enough to be involved in an RTA, and suffered considerable frontal damage. Despite only being around 8 years old, and having only been in the Country Bus fleet for less than 2 years, it seems that it wasn't economical for Country Bus to repair, and hence has been sold on to Centrebus. Fellow Centrebus owned company, K-Line, operate quite a number of SB120s within Huddersfield so it seems logical that YX54 HBB has been acquired either for spares for the sizeable fleet, or possibly even to repair and add her to the collection; only time will tell as to her eventual fate. Nice to see something local though since the withdrawal of R460 CCV by First!
As promised, and with many thanks to Aaron Fellowes and Tom Pearce, I'm able to bring you news of the latest addition to A-Line's fleet, replacing the ill fated R651 YCR after Wednesday's incident.
Mercedes 811D M242 VYA has certainly done the rounds, and quite locally too, after being new to Southern National, passing later to Carmel Coaches and Hill's of Stibbs Cross, from which she was collected from on Sunday. It must be said, for M242's 1995 vintage, she looks very tidy indeed, particularly when you have a look at her very fresh looking appearance within the passenger saloon. The somewhat less common 33 seat Wright bodywork looks very straight as well, so she certainly appears to have been a sound buy, though of course, only time will tell whether she can prove herself in service. Although a small step down from R651 YCR's dual purpose seating, the extra capacity will undoubtedly be welcome on the busier peak journeys, particularly on the school service that M242 is intended to be used on, during her rotas on the 80B (80A is now discontinued). I certainly look forward to a trip aboard her come Easter time - let's just hope no other objects decide to land on any other vehicles!
It is quite frankly my pleasure to report that after this potentially horrific accident, all involved have come out the other side completely unscathed - all except one little fighter. The wreckage you see before you is of poor old 'Bertie' the Vario, of A-Line Coaches, the stalwart of Route 80 for the last 4 1/2 years. I'm sure for many of the you the name Paul Burch of the PCTPG will ring a bell, and it was this man that had the misfortune to be driving R651 YCR just as a substantial tree gave way on Maker Lane yesterday evening, crushing the UVG body into a cripple. Quite frankly how Paul managed to escape with but a small cut to his hand from the shattering windscreen completely evades me, when you consider the area of the bus the tree actually hit. It surely must have been inches away from causing frightening consequences - thank god, somehow he managed to come out the other side laughing. And indeed also quite amazingly, joking about how thankful he was that Ex Plymouth Citybus Mercedes 709D N276 PDV had been taken off the service just hours before, and that she had been saved from the accident. To add, there were also thankfully no passengers travelling aboard R651 YCR at the time of the incident, largely thanks most likely to the fact that the last Cremyll Ferry had already departed, reducing demand for travelers to Cremyll just at the point that it mattered. As is quite plain to see, R651 YCR will not be returning to the road, having sustained a lot of damage not only cosmetically, but also undoubtedly structurally as well. From the photo there appears to be a lot of damage to the nearside, and the platform, as well as the whole bonnet section, and the predominant split right down the middle of the roof/blind box area. I wish I could say it was a sad end for the bus, but despite the hundreds, if not thousands of miles I've done aboard her, I've never warmed to her. As has often been remarked, the somewhat boxy and ugly UVG bodywork did her no favors, along with being a constant source of problems for all involved at A-Line. She's seen a lot of change over her 4 short years in service though, but I can't say she's really truly earned her keep over the years. Still on wards and upwards, I have reports of a Mercedes 811D arriving at A-Line this weekend to take up R651 YCR's space in the depot. My thoughts are with Paul after what must have been an incident that would shaken even the most hardy of drivers; very thankful indeed that he is still here to tell the story, where other incidents of a very similar nature have indeed resulted in dire consequences My thanks go to Derrick Cuff for the photo.
With many thanks to Tom Pearce I can bring you this photo of Jackett's Coaches Dart, BX54 DLF, out operating on the very first day of the new service 85. For any of those who don't know, Jackett's have taken to the A386 to provide a link between Plymouth and Tavistock, following vaguely the same route as First Devon and Cornwall's 86, excluding the 'branches' to Derriford Hospital and into Woolwell, giving Jackett's 85 a competitive 53 minute journey time, versus 1hr 4minutes on the 86; but remains 4 minutes slower than the 83, not that this amount of time will really be noticed by anyone! Being under the full hour enables the 85 to run a bi-hourly service from 7 in the morning until 6 in the evening, very well timed both for commuters into Plymouth with a 0730 journey from Tavistock, as well as a 0930, ideal to pick up the concessionary fare users. Indeed it has been reported that loadings were promising for the route's first day, and no doubt as word spreads, we can hope loadings will be boosted. As has been thoroughly discussed, this is a brave, commercial venture by a relatively new company, but certainly a worthy one. For years First has well and truly held the monopoly on Tavistock services, with fares abnormally high for the distance involved, so Jackett's £5 return will likely be attractive, but only I'd presume to the occasional user. First of course offer their 'Tavi Linx Week' ticket, at £26.50, so presuming workers are travelling 5 days a week, an extra £1.50 seems worth it for the added convenience of 8 times the amount of buses during the day, as well as use of the town service 89 on arrival in Tavistock. I'd expect therefore, shoppers and occasional users will be the main users of the 85, attracted in by a noticeable decrease in what they're used to paying. This does of course rely on their day being fairly well planned though, else you may face quite a long wait!
The Volvo Olympian it is safe to say is quite a dying breed within Stagecoach South West today, with this week's SoS being of the final example to still be running in Torbay; the honor going to R137 EVX. This is after quite a comeback during the summer of the type within the Bay, during the London 2012 Games, which saw the then brand new Scania powered Enviro 400s move to Exeter, to cover for the various batches of ADL Enviros that headed East to transport the masses. Since then the Olympians have been slowly dwindling away not only from Torbay, but also Exeter, with only very small numbers still left in operation. Quite a different picture when you consider the numbers of K reg Leyland Olympians with First have increased by 50% within FDC!
No sooner do Plymouth City Council splash what I considered (even if no one else agreed with me!) a welcome bit of colour around Bretonside Bus Station, they decide to take it away again, and adorn the pillars with paint somewhat resembling GWR Chocolate Brown! Really not quite sure what possessed them to do this! It's not unattractive, but it's just so dull! At least the multicolours were a bit uplifting...
It certainly all feels a bit more alive down there though, with the re-introduction of Western Greyhound's services to Bretonside, as well as the increase in First buses fighting on the Ivybridge corridor, with the 88 leaving from Bretonside every half hour, on top of the X80 and 180. The lack of buses had made Bretonside feel even more baron, but the vibrancy of operators has at least revitalised it a bit!
Hello. I am a young transport enthusiast from the Plymouth area here to give you all the goings on of public transport in and around Plymouth - with occasional blogs on other sectors.
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Now, to business, and my two penneth on the new livery now adorning poor old Heron. The Tamar Link livery was, at first, quite a startling livery to say the least. My first thoughts looking out the gates of Fourlanesend primary, were that it was far too bold, with it clashing awfully with the peaceful countryside and sleepy villages they wound their way through. Undoubtedly though, that's exactly what First (or indeed, the council) were going for, something that stood out to such an extent, people would take interest, and realise that a fair old sum of money had just been splashed out on some lovely new buses. This is indeed of course the thinking behind Mark Howarth's 1st generation Western Greyhound livery, that of the pink base, with blue fleetname, purely to attract the attention of potential customers, to get them to realise there was a new kid on the block, and doubtless this went part way to establishing the company so well, from the off. The livery being used as advertising works even better when you consider that the competing motorist has to spend at the very least, about 9 minutes of their journey looking at them, whilst travelling beside the pink monsters on the Torpoint Ferry. Tamar Link did indeed cause quite a stir, not just locally, but nationally as well, as branded routes became even more prominent in the mid 2000s (I'm still refusing to refer them to as the 'noughies'!). It's therefore quite a shame to see them finally passing into the history, books, although as has been mentioned, a repaint is certainly overdue on these. I've covered before how faded they are when compared to the coat being fresh, pink appears to be particularly susceptible to fading, and hence, maybe it was time to let go. It may surprise you to discover than the Mercedes Varios that were painted into the TL livery were actually repainted twice during their relatively short 4 year stint at Torpoint before withdrawal, whereas the Tridents have gone double that period, with just the single coat. The original Dart, 'Kingfisher', has also had 2 repaints into TL, but the question now looms as to whether she will make it into the new livery, considering one of her sisters from the S-RNE batch has now been withdrawn.
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