This week's News
The initial item in the news this week is another small bus/taxi connection to a big operator.
An unhappy situation with a new Carousel service unable to enter Wexham Park Hospital
From Peter Cartwright
Plastow's Travel take another Volvo B11R Jonckheere
Oxford operator Plastow's Travel has returned to Volvo
Bus for a B11R with Jonckheere JHV2
bodywork, which takes its tally of Volvos to nine.
The 2016 delivery to this well presented fleet is
BU16OZP outside The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on May 16th by Gavin Francis.
Amans Travel BU18YMS in St Giles on May 15th by Gavin Francis.
Science Transit Shuttle KX66USE by The Randolph
Hotel on May 16th by Gavin Francis.
RTP's VHR45206 LJ66EZR at HARROW BUS STATION working the 183 on May 7th by
Gavin Francis.
On "my thing" about branding, London has followed the provinces and has limited branding on some routes. When the picture below was taken no other branded 140 buses were seen!!
Metroline VWH2188 branded for the 140 at HARROW BUS STATION on May 7th by
Gavin Francis.
North of the Border now!
Looking incredibly perfect, new Wrights for Lothian 1059 SJ18NFL is working
the H3 at North Bridge, Edinburgh on May 18th by Gordon Scott.
Prior to an open day at Dunfermline depot, Fife's 19666 is seen working the
81 to Glenrothes on May 15th by Gordon Scott.
Celebrating 100 years of buses in Dunfermline.
The same bus on an Open Day Shuttle on May 19th by Paul Hawkins. It appears
a well attended event!
Also looking very smart indeed, Fife's E300 27532 SV57BYM seen in
Alexander's Fife Livery on May 19th again by Paul Hawkins.
One must admit that cream wheels should ensure a bus is properly cleaned !!
Fife's new 54501 working the X55 in Edinburgh on May 15th by Gordon Scott.
For those interested in how the inside looks Gordon sent the picture above.
Back to London
It seems sometime ago now that Megabus surrended its' European routes and
Flixbus had the field.
Above Flixbus Astromega 1-SAY-091 waits time on Elizabeth Bridge seen on May
16th by Gavin Francis.
Gavin Francis was pleasantly surprised when on his way to visit Alperton,
that golden tours have a very well equipped depot as seen in the picture
above.
Plenty of under cover storage, especially useful for an open top fleet. May
18th.
Finally another nice picture from Nick Ross showing Arriva North West's 4591
in Liverpool passing the Empire Theatre with a busy 10B Liverpool - Huyton
on May 14th.
Carousel Service Changes from 3rd June 2018
From Sunday 3rd June 2018, significant changes will be made to our services,
with some new routes being introduced, and sadly some sections of route
being withdrawn.
39
Service 39 will be reintroduced to operate from
High Wycombe town centre to Totteridge, replacing the service currently
provided by the PR1. Totteridge, Hollis Road will have a bus up to
every 30 minutes on Mondays to Fridays. Saturday will have an approximately
hourly service.
336/X336
Services 336/X336 will be renumbered 103/X103. The route will be slightly
re-timed to ensure the service coordinates with new services 101/102 and 104
between High Wycombe and Beaconsfield.
730
Service 730 will be renumbered 105 and will have a revised timetable. Route
Hemel Hempstead • Chesham • Amersham • Uxbridge
A40/740
Services A40/740 will be renumbered to 101/102. High Wycombe • Beaconsfield
• Uxbridge
The
section of route between Uxbridge and Heathrow Airport will unfortunately be
withdrawn due to insufficient passenger usage.
Alternative "Transport for London" services will
still be available from Uxbridge to Heathrow.
High Wycombe Park & Ride PR1/PR2
Responding to requests from passengers, the Park & Ride services PR1/PR2 will revert to a dedicated service
between the Hand Cross Coachway and High Wycombe town centre.
The service will operate up to every fifteen
minutes at peak times on Mondays to Fridays. At off-peak times and on
Saturdays, the service will operate up to every twenty minutes.
X80
Service X80 will be withdrawn due to insufficient demand.
The section of route between Handy Cross Coachway and High Wycombe Town
Centre will be replaced by the dedicated Park & Ride service PR1/PR2 (as
above).
The section of route between Henley-on-Thames and Reading will be replaced
by an extension of Thames Travel service X38.
The new X38 timetable will operate hourly and is
designed to fit in as part of the River Rapids service. The current X80
journey from Reading timed to arrive at Henley in time for the start of the
Henley College day and the corresponding return journey from Henley to
Reading at the end of the college day will be replicated in the new X38
timetable.
We will unfortunately be unable to provide a replacement service between
Henley-on-Thames and High Wycombe via Marlow. This section of route is
currently operated by an Arriva bus service.
Click here for details
regarding the Thames Travel X38 service.
NEW 104
New service 104 will be introduced to provide local links between High
Wycombe, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and Slough.
Click on the link below for timetable details.
Scania 214 with Orange branded 424 in the depot entrance on May 17th by
Malcolm Crowe.
Scanias 217, 914 and 216 laying over between duties with Steve Burns' Citaro
CB53BUS joining them on May 17th by Malcolm Crowe.
Steve has been providing buses for school services.
First launches a multimodal taxi ride-share service
Node-based local pickup arrangement in Bristol delivers passengers to bus
stops for onward travel
MyFirstMile transports people to stops served by
Bristol trunk routes
First West of England (FWE) has joined forces with taxi start-up Esoterix
Systems to trial a service that transports people who do not live within
easy walking distance of a bus stop to and from a place where they can take
advantage of one of the operator’s Bristol trunk services.
Residents of Henleaze and Westbury Park walk to one of 25 pick-up points.
From there, a hackney-style ride-sharing service transports them to Nevil
Road or Ashley Down Road bus stops on the A38, from where high-frequency
buses run to various traffic generators in Bristol.
Christened MyFirstMile, the service operates in the morning and afternoon
peak periods. Journey planning and payment is handled by app and
all-inclusive daily travel costs £6.
Says FWE MD James Freeman: “Technology and new data sources represent a
tremendous opportunity for improving transport.
“The time is right for bus operators to work with innovators to improve
existing services and design new ones, attracting new customers. MyFirstMile
is just one of the ways that we’re exploring innovative ways to allow people
to go about their lives using smarter ways to travel by bus.”
The trial will explore passengers’ willingness to take multi-leg journeys
and examine how far they regard as too far to walk to a bus stop. It will
also be used to evaluate the price point and business model.
First says that if MyFirstMile is successful, it may be rolled out elsewhere
in Bristol and the country. The project is a collaboration that also
involves Bristol City Council, Transport Systems Catapult and the University
of the West of England.
Park & Ride 678 works 500 road to Blenheim Palace seen near the Randolph
Hotel on May 16th by Gavin Francis.
Filling in for a normal X90 branded coach, nr 1 is seen at Thornhill Park &
Ride on May 21st by Malcolm Crowe.
A rear wrap on a generic branded 45 seen at Thornhill Park & Ride on May
21st by Malcolm Crowe.
To use an expression, the word on the block is that the Brookes current fleet is to be enhanced by a delivery of six new buses to replace Scanias 201-206. These buses, due sometime in August, will be in a revised livery which should prove interesting. Details are eagerly awaited. The current fleet, 610-614, are standard E40D diesel buses with a 6700cc engine but is retrofitted with the hybrid Gyrodrive technology that dramatically reduces fuel consumption and emissions and it achieves the benefits of electric hybrids at a fraction of the cost.
604 works the U1 in The High, Oxford on September 26th 2014 by Mark E.
Lyons.
These buses caused quite a stir when put into service and were the first ADL
MMC double decks in Oxford.
Scania 203 works the X13 at the JR on April 4th by Malcolm Crowe. This shows
the present livery on these buses.
Phil Southall adds "Some of 601 to 614 will be repainted to form our red 'secondary' fleet but exactly how many is still to be decided."
Originally 57 in the CSS fleet this bus has now been renumbered 2903 by
Oxford Bus, seen at Gloucester Green on May 17th by Gavin Francis.
Graham Low
Phil Southall has provided updated information on the renumbering of the fleet.
Phil writes "The City Sightseeing fleet will now have 2000 added to their old City Sightseeing fleet numbers. Not sure why but there was a problem with engineering systems adding 1000. Also, PJ53NKC has always been 903 rather than 57 so is now 2903. It has been repainted recently."
Interesting if anyone can provide pictures of X90's on this diversion.
Please be aware that with immediate effect until the end of May 2018, Phase
2 of the Baker Street two-way project will be in place with temporary
traffic signals and lane closures at the junction of Marylebone Road and
Baker Street. We will endeavour to serve Baker Street at all times but in
peak times, our London bound X90 services may need to use a dedicated
diversion route which does not serve Baker Street to avoid any serious
congestion. However, they will observe the bus stop at Sale Place on Praed
Street, very close to Edgware Road Station. Oxford bound coaches will not be
affected.
Click here for more information on the Baker Street Two Way works.
In the best interests of variety, 1209 works the
702 Bulleid Way showing off a very colourful wrap on May 17th by Gavin
Francis.
Gold 10786 works a 7A Yarnton service past the Randolph Hotel on May 16th by
Gavin Francis.
A day later Gavin caught 10439 on the same working to Yarnton outside The
Randolph Hotel.
E200 36761 with an S2 departure for Carterton leaves Gloucester Green on May
16th by Gavin Francis.
SCO 36928 branded for the 800 and 900 Headington Connect services seen at
Carfax on a 10 working - the date May 15th by Gavin Francis.
For more fleet details on this operator you can check the link below. It's a shame they only say what types they can offer.
http://www.walterscoaches.co.uk/our-fleet/
Of significant interest is the note from LOTS that a number of withdrawn E400s formally with Abellio are stored at Walters Yard.
They are ex Abellio 9547-49/51/53/55-58. One wonders if they are to join the Walters fleet?
It is far from easy to get a shot of the yard at Wheatley but here we
can see the aforementioned ex Abellio 12 plate buses.
David Gray writes "I
did get some of the fleet numbers on the roofs of the buses passing the
depot on the various tours but didn't get much of a view.
I think the
buses involved are as follows (I was hoping for some reports elsewhere
on the internet to confirm) so apologies for any errors. I think the
belief is that they were stored rather than acquired.
9547 SN 12 AOU
9548 (SN 12 AOV)
(9549) SN 12 AOW
9551 SN 12 AOY
9555 SN 12 APO
9556? (SN 12 APU)
9557 (SN 12 APV)
9558 (SN 12 APX)
Brackets indicate that I had not seen the
registration/fleet number which I have added in from my records.
Use the menu on your left to view other content.