Enviro Mental

Its always nice to see brand new buses at the rally and this year saw several 08 registered buses on display, most of them being Alexander Dennis Enviros:

First Devon and Cornwall

33422 WA08MVG is one of three brand new buses that are due to enter service shortly on the Bude to Exeter service. Fitted out to the same high standard as the Park and Ride Enviros they certainly look very smart in full Barbie livery. I assume they they will receive some route branding at some stage? It does seem strange that FDC seem to be able to stick to their own fleet purchasing policy when just about everyone else in the group has to have standard First Group spec Volvo / Wright products.

A couple of the Park and Ride Enviros were also present at the event - but were in use as Rally Control and rest rooms rather than full rally entries.

Stagecoach Devon

Not to be outdone Stagecoach had one of their brand new Enviros too. 19322 WA08NOF is one of the new buses for use on the 'Go2' service from Exeter to Newton Abbot. They also have a few secondhand Enviros which will be used on the X38 Plymouth to Exeter service. Not sure if they have started yet though?

Plymouth Citybus

I have already posted the Citybus Enviro that was on display so here is one I prepared earlier! 144 in service a week ago, just to make the full set of Enviros from the rally.

First Devon and Cornwall on show

More photos from the weekend - this time current FDC stock:

The oldest of the current fleet still in normal use was represented by A752VAF looking very smart despite her age.

Slightly newer but only recently added to the fleet D700GHY represents the current open top fleet

A little bit newer, but again only very recently added to the fleet G910TWS isn't looking quite so well cared for with a little bit of roof damage visible. Its only with the much improved appearance of the fleet these days that you notice little things like this. Just shows how much things have changed.

A couple of Mercedes Varios were also present - 52653 as a dedicated training vehicle while 52557 is still used in service. Sir Francis Drake clearly hasn't grasped the concept of single decker buses though!

There was one other much newer FDC bus on display - but that one has to wait till tomorrow...

Citybus on Show

It might have been a Western National event but most of the main local operators were on show. Tonight a selection of Plymouth Citybus photos from the rally:

Best In Class for buses still in service!

A couple of comments received has made me realise that I didn't give advance warning that this event was taking place. I am sorry about this - I must admit it did creep up on me and I thought I had mentioned it during the week - clearly I didn't.

I will try and highlight forthcoming events in good time and remind people in future - Promise! (September is looking good - details to follow in the week)

It was a very hot day on Plymouth Hoe

The Plymouth Bus Rally does seem to be blessed with good weather most years but today's was exceptional. If anything it was too bright and sunny for photography - but that was a minor issue really. Below is just a few photos taken during the day - of the buses that Zak and myself actually had rides in.

The one photo I took of the outside of this bus didnt come out as the autofocus on my camera gets confused when its too bright! a BMC School bus with 3x2 seating which Zak thought was a bit strange! He did enjoy the ride on this one as it had music in!

My all time favourite bus 824KDV gave a good performance as ever and we were lucky enough to get front seats upstairs which Zak enjoyed. Brought back lots of memories of catching these buses to school on the 6 and 7 and doing my homework on the front seats - the front ledge being a useful work base!

The opent op tours were the most popular all day - with good reason! D700GHY is a very nice and tidy open top conversion with very comfortable seats on the top deck. Its stall a real shame we cant have open top buses back around Plymouth sea front again though.

It was good to get back on a Citybus Atlantean. 171 looks in great condition on the outside and gave a good ride. It was interesting the number of people along the free ride who thought it was in service.

Perhaps the most comfortable bus we rode on today - at least if it wasn't so hot, was this little Bristol SU. Always a pleasure to ride this great little bus.

As I said, lots more photos to follow during the week ahead. All in all it as was excellent event and big thanks due to the organisers. It was good to put faces to a few more names too.

Already looking forward to next years event - which promises to be even more special - but more on that later!

Trying to get out of Derriford

It was a miserable damp morning and I had just got off the bus (the second red Dart in the background) and walked across to the main bus stop ready to catch the next one out to my place of work. It soon became apparent that the FDC Dart in the front the the queue wasnt going anywhere.

If you are going to breakdown this is the place to do it!

The queue of traffic by now reaching back to the main road. Actually just after I took this photo the driver did manage to start the bus and bring it into the bus stop. The driver was telling 'control' that this was the second time it had stopped like this. Control then obviously told him to try to continue up to The George. It all seemed to be going well as the driver pulled out into traffic and started to pass the Citybus Dart at the top bus stop - he only got this far...

and stopped again. He was back on the phone to 'Control' when I pointed out to him the fluid that was pouring out the back of the bus.

There was just about room for buses to get passed if they mounted the pavement but it was tight. My own Taxibus was caught up in the queue behind this bus so I managed to get my ride to work just after I took this photo.

Luckily for Diana and Daniel 'they go' visiting Derriford and FDC did get them to Derriford Hospital. Lets hope they were not in a hurry to get home!

New Solo

A different bus turned up tonight on the X56: X657WYG is a secondhand Optare Solo for Target Travel. Painted in the same all over pink/purple livery that the others are in, its also quite a bit longer than the others in the fleet. It also is fitted with seat belts and what looks like an air conditioning unit which you can just see hanging from the roof behind the driver.

I have the bus down as X657WYG, Optare Solo M850 VIN:SAB19000000000596, Optare 190596, B25F, new 2/2001 to East Sussex County Council. Hopefully I will get external photos soon!

Emergency Services at Crownhill

It seems that my computer problem might have been solved as I now have access to my blogs again through my preferred online editor, rather than just through the Flickr account.

Yesterday I spent an hour at Crownhill just watching the traffic go by, with my camera in hand of course. A couple MAN appliances from Devon and Somerset Fire Brigade and two ambulances from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust - or whatever they are called this week.

Incoming

Still having a few technical issues at the moment with the computer on one or two sites - but at least I can still post photos from my Flickr account!
Starting to catch a few of the new Enviros in service now as I spent an hour at Crownhill this lunchtime.
137 WA08LDJ on the 42 service.

Tamar Bridge Truck

WK57BTV is a new Iveco crew cab which is the stand by emergency truck for the Tamar Bridge. It seems to be for emergency maintenance and probably recover too and I am sure its a very handy truck to have around.

Its actually part Cornwall County Council fleet as it carries one of their fleet numbers.

Crossing the river

I don't like missing a day, let alone two days on this blog but sometimes family commitments do restrict the computer time available, which has been the case over the last couple of days. Decent weather is hard to come by these days so when you get it you try to make the best of it. Saturday saw me taking a long walk over Tamar bridge with Zak, which did at least give me the chance of a few new photos a few of which I post below - you can never have too many posts on this fantastic bridge.

Setting off across the bridge - Zak always enjoys this walk - as long as he sees at least one train he will be happy...

First of all chance to get a couple of decent shots of the new toll piazza.

I love the new pathway that has been tacked on top the side of the bridge. The way it curves around the bridge towers is lovely. The white line really makes the most of this.

A nice dramatic photo of the towers. This really is bridge design at its best

Meanwhile Zak sees something...

A high speed train. Midland Mainline 43178 on loan(?) to Arriva Cross Country

86 / 118 confusion

It seems that there has been a great deal of confusion surrounding the loss of the 86 service from FDC.

What has been confirmed is that FDC will cease running the route on 26th September.

The route was then reverting to Tavistock - Barnstable and reverting to route number 118. It had been announced that Hookways had won the tender to operate the route. Certainly FDC drivers had been informed that it was Hookways. Hookways themselves received enquiries from passengers about the service - but they had not even submitted tenders to run the route!

It now seems that the route is being taken over by Beacon Bus, not Hookways. Beacon operate Optare Solos on a few other routes in North Devon so its highly likely they will appear on the 118 - at least they will be low floor buses.

Other news Ian Kirby provided as a comment to the last post - but repeated here as its more visible:

Stagecoach Devon X38 is diverted via Bittaford and Ivybridge from Monday and will be operated by low floor vehicles - three Tridents (made surplus from the X45)will move from Torquay to Exeter. The X38 also goes back to hourly which will be welcome.

Explorer Tickets rise confusion

Red-faced officials at Stagecoach Devon say details of a huge hike in fares — almost 40 per cent on some tickets — were “accidentally” made public before any final decision was made.

Stagecoach planned to increase the price of its weekly saver ticket — the adult Megarider Gold — from £22 to £30, a rise of 37 per cent. The ticket is particularly popular with passengers who commute long distances into the city for work.

The company also intended to up the price of a one-day adult Explorer ticket from £6 to £7.50.

More on this story here

It is clear that Stagecoach Devon want to put the ticket prices up - but does seem confusion reigns as to how much they are going up by! £7.50 seems quite a lot for a day ticket especially as we will only have the X38 into Plymouth now. I guess we will also have to wait and see if the Western Greyhound day ticket will also increase by the same amount?

Plymothian Bridges 043: Havelock Terrace

Taken from Devonport Road bridge featured yesterday this is looking back towards Devonport Station. The Havelock Terrace bridge actually goes over the station platforms. Pedestrian access to the station is from a pathway just off the left hand side of the bridge as we look at it from here. To get to the other side you have to use the footbridge as there is no access from the road on the right side of the road bridge.

Another bridge with a painted bridge number

Plymothian Bridges 042: Devonport Road

Is been a while since the last one so thought I'd better get on with the posting on Plymothian Bridges before I forget them completely.

Devonport Road is the main road from Stoke Village down towards Devonport and is a very busy road. It also has this quite impressive brick built bridge over the main line. Devonport Station is just behind me as I take this photo from Havelock terrace.

 

The bridge number

The other side of the bridge is really difficult to get on camera!

 

Tidied Up

Looking slightly different to the other step floor Darts that have been repainted. I guess this is another one which has had a partial repaint to get rid of the gray skirt - and looks a lot better for it!

This one was featured back in June although the photo then didnt really capture the new colours. Several of the K reg step Darts have now been taken out off service as the new Enviros have replaced them. It will be good to see the others receive either the full new livery - or the partial repaints - anything that rids the fleet of the gray skirt is a good move!

Its often the little things that make all the difference

When the Taxibus service started these smart looking cabs carried no destination display at all, as can be seen in the photo above. They were soon given A4 laminated cards with the Taxifast route number 224 (cant remember what the other route number was!) so you could tell what route they were on. However, the fact that even I cant recall the route number used on the other service shows that this isn't that much use. Most passengers just know it as the Taxibus. This is not an issue for me where I catch them as its clear where they are going but if you catch one from Derriford Hospital, or The George its a different story. Derriford in particular is awkward as its such a busy stop people dont like to try and flag them down only to find out its going the other way! Well, after all this time the drivers have finally been given nice simple A4 laminate display which actually say where they are going. The service is slowly picking up and the drivers report they are getting busier now - I often have to share my cab to work in the mornings now. The display cards were probably very cheap, and easy to produce. They make it a lot easier to identify your taxibus. Shame it took so long to get them!

This is not the posting I had planned to make tonight but I have been having one or two 'issues' with my PC over the past few days which i have been trying to iron out this evening, and as is often the case, has taken longer than I expected! For some reason my Virus checker (AVG) was causing issues and the PC kept asking to be restarted! A different product now installed and it seems things are settling down so hopefully I can get back to proper blogging again!

I have made one requested change to the blog settings too - I had set the front page to only display one blog post to cut down loading times, especially as I often use a lot of photos. This meant that on days when I made more than one post people were missing them. I have now found out how to change it so that now you will always see one full day of posts on the front page. If I make more than one post you will see them all on the front page. I might make this a couple of days if people prefer though.

A very special Dart

Its a very nice coincidence that this is the 1000th posting to Plymothian Transit as today I was invited for a ride in Terry Partridge's Dennis Dart L401VCV which was Western National's first Dennis Dart. As you can see externally it has been finished to a very high standard to brand new condition. Internally it has a way to go but is still a decent bus and no worse than many buses still in everyday service. A real credit to Terry and his helpers.



Final preparations before setting off



Terry looks on as we stop at Kingsbridge. The blind was set this way to avoid confusing passengers for the real 93 which was following us.



There would have been a lot more photos taken but the weather was really bad today and this evening. Raining almost all the time, low visibility misty drizzle, high winds in places, not ideal for a run along the coast. I will post a few more photos tomorrow.



Zak prepares to drive us home!
Thanks to Terry and everyone else on the trip for a great evening. Thanks also to everyone who reads and encourages me with this blog. Post 1001 tomorrow!