Thought I'd say hello from South Wales. I'm now working for Edwards Coaches as Commercial Manager. It's a very poignant year as we celebrate 100 years since the formation of the original company, then named Edwards Bros. in 1925. I've authored a book which is coming on 15th Feb from Amberley Publishing looking back over the 100 years with a primary focus on the vast array of vehicles operated - link: 

Todays Edwards Coaches is a diverse business with a vast portfolio of work. We Operate school transport, local bus services, private hires, executive work, corporate contracts as well as our own UK and European Tours. We are one of the biggest partner operators on the National Express network, too. We've recently been announced as UK Large Coach Operator of the Year which is an amazing accolade to begin our Centenary year.  

Excitingly, we are hosting at Open Day at Parc Busnes Edwards on 3rd August - more detail to be released in due course. We have a bus model being produced that will be available for sale then, as well as other merchandise to celebrate 100 years.  There will be more info published about our celebrations on our social media channels.  

I've attached pictures from the fleet of today. There are new Tourismos and an i8 due to supplement the fleet.  

 
T1EAM - an impressive cherished registration on a designated team coach, eh?! Was captured at Cardiff City Academy ground
when promoting the partnership a few weeks ago and outside the impressive Millennium Center in Cardiff Bay.  

BF73 CDN - captured by driver Charlie Osborn in Austria over Christmas, the snow covered Dragon! 

BF63 HFD - Volvo B7RLE/MCV Evolution, one of three of the type that are advertised for sale at present.
They are adertised via RouteOne Trader and Coach and Bus Market along with a few more vehicles from the fleet.
Anyone interested in the vehicles should contact myself, Simon Ingham, 07902107063.  

BV22 HCC - MCV Evora prior to heading out on one of Edwards Local services. Edwards have 4 of these. 

BU55 WRU captured at the Festival of Transport in Barry Island in the summer alongside Setra 315 P200 EDW, new in 03/2005 as BX05 UVR.
In great condition internally, externally and mechanically at 20 years old which is testament to Edwards rigorous maintainable schedule etc.
They are alongside preserved Bristol VR convertible open top RTH 931S based at yhd Swansea Bus Museum with South Wales lettering.   

Robert Sanderson

Although I live in Sussex I regularly read your excellent Oxford and Chiltern Bus page, mainly to keep tabs on former Brighton and Hove Scania Omnidekkas working for Carousel and Thames Travel. I’m now retired but was a driver for many years with B&H and was particularly fond of these vehicles. I fear the Carousel ones have all gone for scrap now (you published a photo of 244 (former B&H 652) being towed away. It seems 246 (657) is still soldiering on for Thames Travel, but I’m anxious to know the fate of the other two and am hoping you might be able to enlighten me!  

In particular 248, former 666, was a bus I drove many times and have happy memories of - an old friend. I know the likelihood is that 248 and 247 (663) have reached the ultimate destination but there’s always the possibility that they’ve found a home somewhere. I’d greatly appreciate any information you are able to give me.  

 
For interest, a couple of photos attached of 666 (248) in its Brighton and Hove days. 

New Year blues by Andrew Webb

2 January 2025, for many the first day back at work, dawned cold and sunny bringing blue skies over the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.  Its status as the UKs fourth largest shopping mall means it attracts a wide range of bus services, including those from Arriva who have always used blue as the basis for their livery. 

Just 6 months short of its 21st birthday, Plaxton Pointer 2 Dart SLF 1608 has always worked in the area,
being part of a large delivery in June 2004 to upgrade routes in the nearby Medway Towns. 
It has also escaped the attention of the paintshop and still wears the original Arriva livery. 

Another Dart delivered new to the Medway Towns is 1634 which arrived in August 2006. 
It wears the second version of the Arriva livery featuring more blue. 

Bluewater is linked to the Medway Towns by the busy route 700 which operates up to three times per hours.  Passenger numbers justify double deckers,

including some brand new Enviro 400 MMCs which wear the latest bright blue Arriva livery, such as 6570. 

Also resplendent in the latest livery is Streetlite WF 2326 which will be familiar to readers as it served in High Wycombe as 2526.

Streetlite DF 4307 is another to gain the latest Arriva livery,
having been repainted from Fastrack livery when the company lost the contract
to operate the network from 10 November 2024. 

The Fastrack services are now provided by Go Ahead's London General with the promise of new Irizar ie Tram buses by April.  In the interim Go Ahead have gathered together a fleet of vehicles from a range of sources, mostly of London origin so red is the livery. 

Enviro 200s dominate the interim fleet including SE99 which spent time with Go Ahead's Blue Triangle fleet in east London. 

Newer Enviro 200 MMCs started life with Sullivan Buses and joined the fleet when this company withdrew from TfL routes in August 2024. 

Now numbered SEN58, this bus retains the cherished registration it carried from new as AE25 in the Sullivan Buses fleet. 

The Fastrack network operates over several sections of dedicated busway, albeit without any guidance infrastructure used in Cambridge, Luton and Crawley.  It is from this latter system, operated by Go Ahead Metrobus, that two Wright Eclipse 2 Volvo B7RLEs have joined the interim fleet. 

6013 is one example which has lost the blue and silver Fastway livery used in Crawley for the all-over red livery.  

Ensignbus has a well established blue livery which has been largely unchanged for many years. 

One exception to this is Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 Volvo B9TL 130
which carries this green and cream livery to mark 20 years of service X80
which crosses the Thames to reach shopping competitor Lakeside. 

Indigo, described as a combination of blue and violet, compliments the yellow used as the livery of local independent Go Coach. 

Optare products are very popular in the fleet, including Solo 3802. 

888 covering the morning with an 801 duty on December 24th by Charles Powell.

     Fleet News and developments   

Gavin Francis

69387 in Wycombe at the end of trip from Slough with the X74 on January 8th.

69394 in Wycombe heading back to Slough with the X74 on January 8th.

Gavin Francis

 
Two Flixbus coaches with service 940 at Heathrow on January 1st. 

Andrew Simmonds

     
A selection of pictures from December 3rd 2024.

Gavin Francis

611 with a 102 at Heathrow CBS on January 1st.

   
612 and 614 unusually working the 724 at Heathrow CBS on January 1st.

   
226 and 228 on January 4th.

   
402, 404 and 409 on January 4th.

         
Single deck variety in Wycombe on January 8th.

   
216, 80824 and 80955 in Wycombe on January 8th.

Hazel Richardson

451 YX68NVH working the 1 to Hemel Hempstead for the first ever time on December 28th.

Lewis Nagle

613 at Watford Junction earlier on December 26th 2024.

Andrew Simmonds

   
660, 753 and 80961 seen on December 3rd..

Gavin Francis,

34 seen at Lewknor heading for Oxford on December 30th 2024.

Charles Powell 

     
Pulhams also helped out at Bicester Village over Christmas as seen on December 29th.

 
372 with the 99 in Cheltenham pn December 28th.

   
Now in full livery 80810 BT74KGP seen at Bourton on January 9th. 

Andrew Simmonds

665 wirh an X32 on December 3rd.

923 with an X40 on December 3rd.

James Lambeth

680 with an X2 on December 26th.

682 also working the X2 again in Bowness Road on December 26th.

686 with a football special on the 26th.

Sanjay Baker

651 from Christmas Eve on the 1223 X32 to the JR Hospital

654 on the 1120 X40 to Reading on December 30th.

664 on the 0830 X2 to the JR Hospital this morning, January 1st.

907 in its new Milton Park livery on December 26th. 

Gavin Francis

Worthing Coaches BV72XGH with an 025 at Heathrow CB on January 1st.

 
including Courtney, Newbury & District & Thames Valley

Press Release

Robert Williams, CEO and others on New Year's day.

With the national single fare cap increasing from £2 to £3 from 1 January, Reading Buses have announced that they are splitting the difference on the single fare within Reading, and have confirmed that it will still be possible to travel for less than £2 per journey using other tickets.

The maximum adult single fare within Reading on the Reading Buses app, and when using tap on tap off, will be £2.50. For customers paying the driver, the single fare will be £2.60 when using cash or by contactless. The maximum single fare for young people will be £2.00 on the app, or £2.20 from the driver.

No other fares will change – the Reading All-Bus day ticket will continue to be priced at £4.00 for unlimited journeys using tap on tap off, or when purchased on the app, and £4.50 when purchased from the driver. Short hop fares are currently less than £2 and will continue unchanged.

Reading Buses say that customers can already beat the fare cap of £2 within Reading using their flexible ticketing options. The Reading Buses app sells easysaver10, daysaver5, and 7 day tickets for £17.50. That’s 10 single tickets, 5 day tickets, or a 7 day ticket, which work out at £1.75 or less per journey. Longer term season tickets provide even greater value, and there are discounts for young people.

For regular travellers and commuters, the simplyReading 7 day ticket gives seven consecutive days unlimited travel in Reading. There are longer term options that offer even greater discounts too. 

For less frequent travellers, easysaver10 gives 10 single journeys that can be used whenever they are needed.

There’s also daysaver5 for people who don’t travel every day but might make more than 2 journeys in a day. Daysaver5 offers five day tickets as a bundle, that can be used whenever they are needed.

Said Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; “Within Reading, we will be splitting the difference between the old £2 and new £3 fare cap, by keeping the adult single fare at £2.50 on our app and when using tap on, tap off.”

“We realise that the government £2 cap has allowed many customers in Reading to avoid the impact of inflation and given longer distance travellers a very attractive fare. Some of our other ticket options will continue to provide amazing value for money.”

Robert continued; “For journeys outside of Reading, many fares will be less than £3 but any that would normally be more will be capped at £3 each way, or £6 return. This is a great deal for our customers – especially on routes such as jet black between Reading and Newbury, the lion between Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell, and The London Line between Windsor, Slough, and London, all of which now feature new high specification double deck buses.”

Robert also wanted to remind customers about remembering to tap off if using tap on, tap off payments. “If you are using tap on, tap off, please remember to tap off when you leave the bus. If you don't, you may be charged to the end of the route. This is especially important on our longer distance routes like jet black 1, lime 2/2a, leopard 3, lion 4/4a, pink 25 and aqua 28.”

£1.75 or less per journey is calculated based on:

easysaver10 offering 10 single trips for £17.50, and 7 day ticket providing unlimited journeys over 7 days for £17.50 and a daysaver5 costing £3.50 per day. Making 2 journeys over five days (typically a weekly commute) comes to £1.75 per trip – or less if travelling evenings/weekends as well.

The £3 fare cap will also apply to Newbury & District, Windsor Express routes and Thames Valley Buses.  

Martin Dowling

Details of the changes are here:

https://www.reading-buses.co.uk/exciting-changes-lion

Here is some further information on the new buses that Robert Williams sent out, whic would go well with yesterday's information about the Lion routes to Bracknell. 

Our final new ADL Enviro400 City H48/29F buses have been delivered as follows, each arriving in full livery: 

They are to the same high specification as the previous Lion and Jet Black branded buses 241-257. 

Dates entering service have been: 

Whilst on the topic of new buses, I don’t think I recorded that lion 241-246 each had unique rear adverts “king pins”, “bargain hunt”, “mane event”, “swim like a lion”, and “make tracks” to promote different uses and aspects of the route. 247-8 were originally plain to promote the brand, but over the summer we added “rail trails” and “feline flawless” onto these. 249-251 are plain. The seven jet black buses 252-258 also feature unique rear adverts “in a heartbeat”, “trolley dash”, “park life”, “jet speed”, “business class”, “fast fashion” and “flavour trail”, although 258 is partly missing and will be rectified in due course.

Gavin Francis

YX09AFJ with the 331 in Oxford Road on January 8th.

Gavin Francis in Wycombe

 
Serving the 130.in January.

Sanjay Baker

BF67GJY works the X20 on December 28th.

Andrew Simmonds

LK08NKL in Aylesbury on December 3rd.

Gavin Francis

Pictured outside Tescos, Amersham Red Rose E 8 RRT. This was bought new in 2007 and registered OU07FKH and is shown in Queens Lane, Oxford in June 2007.

E15RRT taken today. It has inherited the registration from one of the ex-Metrobus Scanias.

It was previously with Britannia of Northampton and have attached Gary Seamarks picture and before that was with South Wales Transport.

E14RRT working the 40 in Wycombe on January 8th.

Y26RRT with the 40 at Lewknor on December 30th.

On a foggy day in Stokenchurch Y30RRT on December 28th 2024.

Richard Sharman

Red Rose Travel's newest bus, YX72 ONA which was new to Central Connect, is seen operating service 25 through the redeveloped USAF base at Heyford Park from Bicester. The pink destination number matching the 455 Bar and Bowling sign perfectly!.

This vehicle is normally allocated to Watford area services,
but has recently worked the 25 service for a number of days.

Just a quick update, seems East have 11723-30 arrived from Manchester in last day or so, these seem to be to cascade the 10 Plate E400's out of the fleet, at present unaware of location heard both Bedford and Cambridge mentioned, think at present they are parked at Bedford, which has more space, unsure if any more due, rumours were some Scania's out of Cambridge to either Bedford  onward transfer but nothing official. Seems E200 36321 was battered by something in Bedford Bus Station on Saturday 14th and suffered front end damage, perhaps now withdrawn due to age ? 

Nothing planned in next few weeks, weather needs to play ball now and have 4 Amberley publications to do, submission dates are 1/10/25,  1/3/26. 1/6/26 and 1/9/26. they are Arriva the shires 2000-25, Steps to Electric Go-Ahead Oxford, Steps to Electric Cambridge and Steps to Electric Stagecoach serving Oxford. If this cannot be published at present please as still working on outline details. 

Also many thanks to you and your followers for all the info posted in 2024 which has done a great deal to keep me up to date on things. 2025 should see trains between Oxford and Bletchley again then onto Milton Keynes, think the Cambridge section is at least a decade away.  

Stagecoach West Fleet Card for Period 9 dated 03/01/2025. 

These are the changes we have found, the changes affecting Oxford (Thames Transit) depots being shown in yellow. 

Tony Gaze

   
15990 (x2) and 15992 both appeared on the 51 Cheltenham - Cirencester - Swindon route today.

Now the redevelopment works at Gloucester Station almost finished, Stagecoach West announced changes to bus services 8 and 13, aimed at enhancing travel connections. 

From Monday 6th January 2025, journeys on services 8 and 13 towards Brockworth and Coney Hill will now run via Bruton Way, Gloucester Rail Station forecourt, and Metz Way. 

Buses traveling towards Gloucester City Centre and Hunts Grove will continue to follow the current route via ASDA.  All photos taken 8 January 2025.  

Adam Harber

I was in Witney and Oxford on New Year’s Eve so I’ve included a few photos of 80054 and 80055 waiting to receive vinyls before entering service, along with 12008 and 12010, both partly dismantled and waiting for the scrapman to call. 

Andrew Simmonds

80034 working the 1 on December erd 2024.

George Candelin.

Pictures from Banbury on  January 8th. It's an interesting place with locally garaged buses and a couple of visitors from Leamington.

 Kidlington Assisted Transport CIC

A very interesting selection. Ed 

Richard Sharman 

New to Stagecoach Oxford, ALX400-bodied Trident 18398 has spent many of its formative years with Stagecoach Midlands, often re-entering Oxfordshire on service 50 to Chipping Norton.

However, Midlands have recently entered a number of E400EVs into service, meaning the Trident's days could soon be up, with only a handful left with Midlands. 

18398 is seen with some new metal/ cobalt on Monday 30th of January 2024. 

Andrew Simmonds

50453 in The High heading for London on December 3rd 2024.

Gavin Francis

50426 seen at Lewknor on December 30th 2024.

     London operations    

Andrew Webb

Lower passenger numbers and a near total shutdown of the network from close of traffic on Christmas Eve until early on 27 December means that Network Rail engineers take advantage of the festive season to undertake large scale engineering works.  One such location in December 2024 was the Midland Main Line closed between St Pancras and Harpenden from  Saturday, December 21 to Sunday, December 29. 

Passengers were directed to use alternative services into Kings Cross and Euston wherever possible, with buses serving stations along the closed section.  A wide variety of operators assisted, as this selection taken in and around St Pancras on 23 December illustrates. 

Kelly's of Essex sent several vehicles including this Tourismo which served with Pulhams. 

This MCV Volvo from the Redwing fleet stands out in its vivid red livery. 

Engineering work around Brookwood from Friday 27 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025 saw bus replacement services linking Woking with Aldershot, Basingstoke and Farnborough Main.  A wide range of operators sent a varied mix of vehicles to operate the services as this collection of photos taken at Woking on 30 December illustrates. 

 
 50524 - SF74 YNK and 50527 - SF74 YNN for Stagecoach West Scotland Kilmarnock depot on Citylink 900 workings. 

The New Volvo 9700 DD coaches in the last of Scotland Citylink / Megabus coaches 50524 to 50530 all for Stagecoach West Scotland at Edinburgh Bus Station.

Next Scottish ones will be 50531 to 50543 in distance livery for Stagecoach East Scotland Fife Aberhill and Glenrothes depots.

Stagecoach Bluebird 54137 - YX63 NGU Volvo B13R Plaxton Panther repainted white in the reserve fleet.