Keeping Casper Happy at least

"I don't know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses”

A news story involving First Devon and Cornwall goes national with even The Sun getting into the act: The BBC puts it: A cat has become such a well-known user of a Devon bus service that its drivers know where to let him off. Casper has been queuing with other passengers to get the number three service from his home in Plymouth for months, bus company First said. It added that he often sat in the queue and then quietly padded on board and curled up on a seat for the ride. Casper's owner Susan Finden, 55, who picked him from a rescue home in 2002, said he had always been a free spirit. Mrs Finden said she named her pet after Casper the Friendly Ghost, as he has a habit of wandering off. A spokesman for First said that drivers had been bussing Casper around for months, but Mrs Finden said she had only just found out about his use of public transport. The care worker said: "He'd always go off and have a wander. "Once I had to walk a mile-and-a-half with a cat basket to bring him back from a car park. "He does love people, and I don't know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses." A notice has been put up by First in the bus drivers' rest room in Plymouth bus station asking them to look after the rogue passenger if they spot him sneaking on board. On more usual news First has started to announce some changes to its services in August:   The Timetable for Ugobus service 7 has been revised in the afternoon between Derriford Hospital and Woolwell in order to allow additional time as a result of congestion problems around the hospital. Most journeys will now operate up to 5 minutes later from approximately 1600. Due to low customer usage the departures from the City Centre to Woolwell at 1805 and 1825 will be withdrawn. 2nd August LINK Service 17 is being withdrawn from 30th August  Following a review of passenger numbers and the cost of operation exceeding the return in revenue it is with regret that this service is no longer commercially viable LINK Slight changes to service 48 occur at the same time The 30th August also sees changes to the Ugobus network: Service 2 The Monday to Saturday daytime frequency will be changed to operate every 10 minutes during the peak periods and every 12 minutes off peak. Certain evening journeys operating Monday to Saturday and certain late afternoon Sunday journeys have also been withdrawn. LINK Service 6 the 6 is being re-routed onto The Viaduct to avoid Drakes Circus: This change has been implemented in order to improve the reliability and punctuality of the service by avoiding the congestion at the entrance to the Drakes Circus car park. LINK Service 5   The Monday to Saturday daytime frequency will be changed to operate every 30 minutes during the peak periods. Off peak journeys will remain at a 15 minute frequency. LINK Service 11 Following the successful launch of Ugobus service 11 between Plymouth and Honicknowle, some amendments to the evening journeys will come into effect from Sunday 30 August. LINK I guess the 2 being reduced from 10 mins to 12 mins intervals off peak isn't that big a deal but the evening service down to hourly from half hourly is a big change that will further annoy Plymstock residents who have seen big reductions in their evening and weekend services this year. Service 6 seems an odd change as it comes a good few months after Citybus have re-rerouted most of its buses back through the Drakes Circus stops after road improvements seem to have reduced the delays. First having made a point at the time that their services were not being moved off Mayflower Street unlike Citybus! Service 5 is the odd one. I assumed that the news release had got it the wrong way round but the timetables do confirm the odd news that the service is running twice as much off peak as it is during the peak. Surely its normally the other way round? Service 11 is another big cutback. “Some amendments to evening journeys” translates to the evening service is withdrawn after the last bus departing 18:35. There were rumours that the 11 was being cut back in the evenings so the company could improve its evening services in Plymstock, its traditional operating territory. There may be more changes yet to be published but I don't see any signs of increased evening service for Plymstock so far. With cut backs in Cornwall also due to happen in September with a lot of work believed to be passing to Western Greyhound, and strong rumours of depot closures for First these are not happy times for the company or its customers. A few years back Western Greyhound was just a small independent operator running a smart fleet of Mercedes minis. Its now rapidly turning into the main operator in Cornwall with a growing fleet of smart low floor Solos and even a few low floor double deckers. As I have often pointed out, the appearance of the First Fleet these days is extremely smart. Its just getting a lot harder to actually see one. I guess at least Casper can still keep catching his number 3 - that seems to escape the cut backs this time around! Omnibuses has a nice post which looks at the current economic conditions and how they impact on bus operators. LINK HERE

Saturday Photos

"Now I just have all the Sunday photos to get sorted” Omnibuses2.0 Bendys Out

I have now finally managed to upload all my photos from Saturdays Running Day... Now I just have all the Sunday photos to get sorted!

What a difference a day makes

"the worst of the rain did hold off till later in the afternoon”

Well today was the main rally, and the weather was awful! To be fair the worst of the rain did hold off till later in the afternoon so it wasn't a total wash out. The open top buses were still a popular draw even when today. I still have to go through all the photos I managed to take, risking my camera in the process, but most seem to have come out ok, but definitely a lot less photos taken this year compared to last year. All in all though it was a great weekend, a credit to all involved. I will try and detail out who won the individual classes tomorrow. As for tonight, with most of my photos still to be processed 1202 336EDV Bristol SUL4A basking in the sunshine yesterday To admire the same vehicle today you had to dress slightly differently! This was well before it started to rain properly.

Greenery

"You can never take too many pictures of 824KDV”

Dennis Trident 32716 in Western National 80 livery on display on The Hoe today along with a good selection of buses, many of them giving free rides along several different routes across the city. The weather was brilliant so there were plenty of people out and enjoying the sunshine and the buses. More photos will be posted over the course of the next week or so. Bristol KSW 994 (LTA813) Always enjoy a ride on this bus although I am glad I don't have to travel every day on a bus with such low headroom upstairs! Bristol FLF6G 824KDV. You can never take too many pictures of 824KDV. If I could take my pick and own any single bus that was on the Hoe today it would be this one. Bristol LD VDV760. Another one I managed to ride on today. Actually had to sit downstairs as it was full up. In reply to Nick’s comment on yesterdays post - I don't do loud colours! For the record I will be wearing black. Black jeans, Black T-shirt and black jacket and carrying a black shoulder bag. If you do see me, feel free to say hello!

Western National 2009

"Its that time of year again”

Its that time of year again! Just a simple reminder that this weekend sees the Western National 2009 Rally which is also the 80th Anniversary of Western National. More details on the WNPG site here which also has pictures of the Dennis Trident in Western National livery Running day on Saturday Full rally on Sunday. The weather forecast  for Saturday looks very good whilst Sunday looks like it might be ‘light rain’ but hopefully not too much! Full photos will follow during the course of next week!

First Chinook

"This one was going nice and slowly so I managed a better shot” Alex Drennan Flickr Omnibuses2.0 Long Suffering Apollo 11 New consultation Highton-Ridley Urban Ugly

I have not had a lot of success taking train photos recently as my camera is getting on a bit and does not like taking shots of trains at speed as the auto focus does not keep up! This one was going nice and slowly so I managed a better shot. 66723 GBRf class 66 seen about to enter the Laira complex. The loco carries the nameplate Chinook. Close up of the nameplate ©Alex Drennan The train received the nameplate on the 2nd September 2008 and there is a photo of a RAF Chinook taking off from the GBRf yard after the photoshoot here

Every Little Helps

"The current Tesco Petrol fleet in Plymouth”

The current Tesco Petrol fleet in Plymouth captured on camera over the past month or so... These are ERF ECT tankers but before these arrived there were a few 02 registered ERF ECS tankers: and at least a couple of Y registered ones before that:

Transport Links need improving

" Our response aims to give a picture of the current level of transport provision and future needs across the region as a whole ”

ROAD and rail links with the rest of the country need to be improved if Plymouth is to grow economically This is the assertion by Plymouth City Council to the South West Regional Select Committee. At the end of the inquiry, the committee is aiming to draw up a checklist of priorities for improving the transport system which will be presented to ministers. Plymouth City Council was among the bodies making submissions before Thursday's deadline. "Our response aims to give a picture of the current level of transport provision and future needs across the region as a whole," a council spokeswoman said. Existing transport systems need to be improved to help Plymouth grow in an environmentally sustainable way. Priorities for improvement need to reflect aspirations identified in the draft Regional Spatial Strategy for growth and regeneration up to 2026. Any new regional transport strategy needs to promote better access to the South West and explain to Government that to deliver economic development in Plymouth it is important to improve road and rail networks that join the city to the rest of the country. More funding is needed to deliver improvements to strategic and local transport networks. The region must deliver projects encouraging people to travel in a greener way, and focus on providing travel options that offer viable alternatives to the private car. Regional agencies must ensure resources are allocated where they can bring the most benefit for the whole South West. Full article on This is Plymouth There are as usual plenty of comments made by readers, including a couple of detailed, well thought out comments (makes a change!): If Labour are serious which I doubt, the first thing needed is for the rail line to be moved inland from Dawlish and electrified,(It will never happen) Secondly the M5 needs to be brought all the way to Plymouth again that will never happen, and Thirdly the Plymouth runway needs an urgent extension again that will never happen and certainly not in the worst recession for 100 yrs. Of course there is one comment that links the sale of Citybus to this whole topic: I have a brilliant idea for helping improve transport for Plymouth. How about our so called leader of the council Vivien Pengelly NOT SELL OUR LOCAL BUS COMPANY!! Finally, my favourite comment: One good way of sorting out the transport problems would be to move the whole of Plymouth up near Bournemouth, where they have excellent rail and road links to London, and have their own international airport. But I don't think my suggestion will ever happen! He might well be right there!

Campaigning in Plymouth

"I do admire the effort they are putting into it all” Citybus Sale Timeline

The campaigners against the sale of Plymouth Citybus were out in force on Saturday in the City Centre. By all accounts it sounded like a good day for them. The video comes from Luke Pollard who is a Labour member and also features Labour MP Linda Gilroy. I am sure that if it was a Labour local council that was trying to sell Citybus she would be protesting against that too! Still, in spite of my cynicism I do admire the effort they are putting into it all. Otherwise things are fairly quiet at the moment although I have just updated the timeline. The updates really only add a few letters to The Herald. Citybus Sale Timeline

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Sunday Best on Flickr MCO253H

"The hardest part of this is trying to decide which shot to use each week” AecRegent (Flickr) Omnibuses2.0 The last word What Bus? Local History Blog: Mt Edgcumbe Training Highton-Ridley Extreme Contrast

Plymouth Citybus Leyland Atlantean MCO253H Plymouth early 1980's ©aecregent (Flickr) It never ceases to amaze me just how many great photos from years gone by get posted up to Flickr each week. I have generally restricted myself to one Flickr posting each week, but there are so many shots being added each week I could easily do one a day and not have to find anything else! The hardest part of this is trying to decide which shot to use each week. When I do post shots like these don't forget to click on the photo, or the links to explore their photostreams as there is so much out there. Thanks to all the fellow Flickerites for allowing me to use their shots, and keep them coming! On a personal note, I am back to work this coming week, after no less than 10 weeks off! Looking forward to getting back into some sort of general routine. Thanks to all the messages I received while I was off, especially when I was admitted to hospital earlier on. Graham

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