02 December 2011

2 years on and new buses for Citybus

1 December marked the second anniversary of the Go Ahead Group’s acquisition of Plymouth Citybus.  Managing Director Andrew Wickham, who has overseen the transition from being publicly owned to privately owned from day one, says that he is proud of the many achievements, especially in the on-going growth in passenger numbers. The last 12 months showed a 4% increase which means over ½ million more passenger journeys were made on the network compared to the previous 12 months

He estimates that over £1 million has been invested over the 2 years since the acquisition.  The largest share of the investment has been allocated to the introduction of more modern, easy access buses to reduce the problems faced by wheelchair users and the infirm,  the staged rebranding of the buses with contemporary livery, and two new coaches for Plymouth Citycoach. 

A further £1.6 million order for brand new buses for spring 2012 has been made.

Full story Plymouth Post 1st December 2011

Its good to see Citybus getting some new buses again. No idea yet of what they will be but Go Ahead do seem quite keen on the Volvo Wright combination at the moment…


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9 comments:

  1. Wow, some new buses for Citybus - about time too. As for 'a further order'? I didn't think that Go-Ahead had ordered any new buses for Plymouth Citybus so far and the more 'modern' replacements for the fleet have hardly been that impressive - a batch of 'scrap' Solos from the north-east, similarly tired Wright bodied Darts from Oxford and 10 year old deckers from London. They can't even boast of having an all low-floor fleet yet as I've seen both Dart 132 and a Volvo 'Schoolbus' decker on scheduled public services in the last 2 days.

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  2. Dart 132 is retained for a specific contract not service work. Step deckers do appear as duplicate services in the PM peak to assist the network during the busiest times. These are buses which have operated a school service and rather than run back dead they are utilized to provide additional seating when most needed. They are not allocated to scheduled services. The current Plymouth service network with the exception of some school services is all low floor

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  3. Presumably the trial of a bendybus was not deemed successful?

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  4. Go-Ahead are still very keen on the Mercedes Citaro especially up here in the north east, so perhaps you may receive some new additions to the Citybus fleet?

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  5. Will these new buses replace the N-reg darts?

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  6. From a friend I know at citybus they are gettin Volvo B7 Wirght Eclipse 2's, they will have to replace the N, R & S Reg darts at least by 2015 as though they are low floor they are probably not DDA compliant, most buses pre 2002 aren't so this is gonna cause a major head ache for the big groups

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  7. I think it would be nice to get a whole new different type of bus in Plymouth!

    I would like to see some Optare Versa's or the new look Tempo.

    We already have Wrights in the First fleet and I dont think they are anything special!!!

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  8. I think these will replace the N Reg darts; they are getting very tired now.

    As for M132, it's contracted on various Tesco services and is the fixed bus for the 115 school service from DHSG/B to Steer Park via Lipson Vale and Plympton. It displays 'Steer Park 115' on the front.

    This will probably see a major re-allocation of buses assigned to routes. If they are to replace the N reg darts, they will probably be for the 28/A/35, although whichever route they're placed on the maps for every route will change!

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  9. UPDATE - It's now been confirmed these buses will replace the N-reg darts, and will be Wright bodied Volvos, like these:
    http://tinyurl.com/chxturt

    They will be allocated on to the busiest routes (probably the 21 and 43), so the Citaros allocated to these routes will obviously have to find a new set of routes, and so will every other bus in the fleet for that matter!

    It will be a very interesting time - these buses will be on the road for around April next year.

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