Citybus advert

130 M130HOD is one of the latest Dart advert buses to hit the streets of Plymouth. Poor photo but the first and only chance I have had so far!
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Argos!

I didnt see it myself, but Plymouth was lucky(?) enough today to get a visit from one of the Argos promotional Routemasters JJD502D in a bright purple livery. It was here to celebrate the reopening of the old Index shop as a branch of Argos (even though its just around the corner fro the main Argos store).
The buses were convereted for Argos by South East Coachworks.

Sad News

It has been confirmed today that Plymouth VRT AFJ762T has now been withdrawn from service and is already having parts removed. This was a wonderful bus for the anoraks like me -although the travelling public would not have been so keen to ride on it. It was a real mess inside! Still shame to see the old girl finally go. LFJ844W is also withdrawn
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New buses for FDC

Just a quick post to confim that the new buses for FDC are as follows:
20351-3 WA05UNG/E/F Volvo B7R Plaxton for Barnstable.
32761-3 WJ55CRX/Z/SF Dennis Trident East Lancs 76 seaters for Cambourne
37664 -8 WJ55CSO/U/V/TE/TF Dennis Trident East Lancs 76 seaters for Barnstable.

several of these appear on Ken Bakers North devon fotopic site: click here.

Nothing for Plymouth. Oh well!

FDC Repaint

Just a quickie. P445TCV is another FDC Dart to loose the smart Rail Link / Greenline livery for the now standard Barbie 1 livery.

Another Citybus Repaint

43 X143CFJ is now the third bus to be repainted into the new livery. Seen for the first time on the road today. The picture above was taken in September.
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Citybus

122 L122YOD posted here for no other reason than I took a photo of it today outside Derriford Hospital
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New Coach in Plymouth

Word is out that a brand new coach has been seen in 'The Ride'. It is one of a batch of three new Volvo B7Rs with Plaxton Profile bodies which are the first coaches to be fully DDA compliant.
These will eventually be running from Bude to Exeter so we probably wont be seeing much of them in Plymouth - but one of them is here at the moment so I feel able to post it here.


A photo of one of these coaches can be seen on Ian Kirbys Fotopic site

Another 'New' Olympian

Yet another old Olympian has now turned up in Plymouth from North Devon. MTU123Y is also still in red and yellow PMT livery. As usual with FDC just because its really old doesn't stop it appearing on the prime long distance routes like the X80!
A photo of the bus taken in Torbay by Ian Kirby can be found here.
Other photos available out there include this one by Ken baker in Barnstable, and a Roy Naylor photo in NBC Green and finally looking very smart in Crosville dark green and cream.

More new buses

It is reported tonight that there are more new buses sitting at 'The Ride', First D&C bus depot with the first of a batch of new Dennis Trident low floor double deckers. Not sure how many are due at the moment - but don't get too excited - they are not for Plymouth! One batch is for Falmouth and another batch is going to North Devon. At least one extra bus now in service in Plymouth is confirmed as A167VFM which is running around in Plymouth in bright red and yellow livery of First PMT.
Excellent photo of this bus can be found on Simon Coates fotopic.
Same bus pictured by Ben Morroll whilst with PMT.
Ken Baker has a picture on his fotopic site at North Devon.
annd finally here is a photo of the bus in NBC Green!

FDC Poor destination display

Not spending much time out and about with my camera these days but did catch this one at Derriford Hospital today. Its N470JUG a Dennis Lance cascaded down from West Yorkshire back in June 2004. Most of these operate down in deepest Cornwall but this one makes the odd appearance in Plymouth. The picture also illustrates the poor standard of destination displays which seems to be such a regular feature of First buses in Plymouth at the moment.
A better photo of this bus can be found on Mark Amis fotopic collection - you will see the poor destination display back then too!
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Fire!

A news item in the Evening Herald tonight says that a bus caught fire in Devonport last night. Informed sources have since confirmed that the bus involved was M501CCV 46451 which is pictured above back in May this year. This bus featured in the blog a while back as it had been observed on tow twice within a week. This picture was actually taken in between the two breakdowns! A couple of it' sisters have also suffered from fire damage in recent years.

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Good News

It has been announced today that the First bus strikes have been called off:

08/08/2005 Joint statement from RMT and First Devon and Cornwall
The RMT and First Devon and Cornwall have today agreed a pay deal at ACAS. Both management and the Union are recommending this deal to RMT members, subject to ballot.

Tonights Evening Herald reports that bus use in Plymouth has 'plummeted' by 12% over the past few years. full story here.

The paper also has an Editorial Comment to make on the issue. It does seem to heap all the blame on Citybus which is interesting.

please note: These links no longer work!

Plymouth Citybus advert

Plymouth Citybus continue to produce new advert buses. Dart 118 has now been painted into this livery for Plymouth College for Further Education. The same bus is seen below as it was back in May 2005. Citybus really don't want passengers to look out of the windows!







For a picture of the same bus in standard Citybus livery taken by Mark Amis click here.
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Pre National Express!

Pre National Express and a classic Royal Blue coach from the 1970's. I still think these were more comfortable than many of the newer coaches since then - but maybe I am being sentimental!

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National Express 2

Thought it would be good to show a previous typical National Express coach from the 1980's. FDV803V now in preservation is an excellent example of the standard Leyland Leopard Plaxton coach operated in large numbers by Western National.
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