A Treat for Citybus in the New year

The first batch of buses heading their way to Plymouth in the New year have been confirmed by Oxford Bus Company via the excellent Oxford – Chiltern Bus Page

Oxford 251-254 HW63FHC-F ADL 400s

© Andi North [cc] July 2018

From their registrations you can see they were new to Southern Vectis

© EastleighBusman [cc] January 2015

Hopefully these will be for the Plymouth fleet!

Although not specifically mentioned as heading to GSW they do mention that other buses leaving the Oxford fleet in the new year include Enviros 40H 300-317 and 351-369 Volvo B5LH / Wright.  It remains to be seen if any of the Enviros do end up in Plymouth.

I wont be bringing the usual round up of service notifications this week so will save any that do come through until the New year.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

Thanks to all who have contributed so much over the last year!

Dartline Rugby Specials

With the limited changes planned for January already in, it continues to be very quiet with just a small batch of changes for Exeter Chief services from Dartline:

Dealtop Ltd Dartline

We already had the cancellation of the 78 (PH0005305.32) so now we have the replacements

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0005305.010	77E	Exminster, Royal Oak	Exeter, Sandy Park Stadium	23-Dec-2023	Route and timetable variation Service renumbered from 77 to 77E. Exeter Chief match days only
PH0005305.087	77C	Exeter, Crabb Lane	Sandy Park Stadium	23-Dec-2023	Rugby match days at Sandy Park Stadium
PH0005305.088	77A	Alphington, Raglands Bus Stop	Sandy Park Stadium	23-Dec-2023	Rugby match days at Sandy Park Stadium
PH0005305.089	78S	Exeter, Streatham Rise	Sandy Park Stadium	23-Dec-2023	Rugby match days at Sandy Park Stadium

There is one other new registration from National Express Ltd which I tend not to cover in full. They did previously have a lot of registrations which were all cancelled during the pandemic shut downs. It now seems they are registering them again. As these tend to be for sections of the larger route I am recording them on my PTBS pages but full timetables etc can be found on National Express own site

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PD0000738.359	404 (501)	Totnes, Opp Royal  Seven Stars Hotel, Stop E	Exeter, Bampfylde Street, Stop 34	19-Jan-2024	Daily except Christmas Day.

Electric Future?

A Council-led bid could see 50 electric, zero-emission buses on the roads of the city and the Rame peninsula.

The Department for Transport is making £129m available to support the introduction of the buses in England and the Council is leading a bid to the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, in partnership with Plymouth Citybus Ltd (part of The Go-Ahead Group Ltd) and Cornwall Council.

If successful the bid will see the introduction of 50 zero-emission, electric, double- decker buses on routes operating in Plymouth and the Rame peninsula as well as the necessary associated charging infrastructure at the Plymouth Citybus depot in Milehouse.

This will mean better transport to places of work, education, leisure and healthcare and improvements in air quality. It will also strongly support the climate change ambitions in our Net Zero Action Plan.

Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “If successful, this bid will not only mean we can introduce modern, zero-emission buses on some of our key routes but also cascade existing Euro 6 diesel buses displaced from electrified routes onto other services in Plymouth and South-East Cornwall, modernising the Plymouth Citybus fleet in the Plymouth travel-to-work area.”

Councillor Tom Briars-Delve, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, added: “Cutting emissions from the transport sector is a top priority for the Council and its partners. The introduction of electric buses within Plymouth and its wider travel-to-work area would be an important step on our path towards net zero whilst supporting cleaner air. Our ZEBRA bid shows how seriously the Council is taking climate change locally.”

The value of the bid is around £34 million, with the Council making a financial contribution (funded from the Community Infrastructure Fund levy) of £750,000.

The deadline for bids is 4pm on Friday 15 December and the outcome is due to be announced by April.

https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/council-bids-zero-emission-buses

Fingers crossed that this time Plymouth actually gets the money – its certainly needed!

Tiny Changes for the New Year

There have been a few more notices for new timetables at the start of the new year:

Plymouth Citybus Ltd

A new temporary timetable for the 70’s

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0000135.150	70 70A 70B 70S	Cremyll	Plymouth	03-Jan-2024	Temporary route and timetable for the duration of a road closure with no access for buses permitted

Stagecoach Devon Ltd

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1020951.236	2 2A	Saltash	Mount Batten	07-Jan-2024	To divert the 2 route along Callington Road and Church Road in Saltash, following changes to current road layout by Highways. No changes to timetables apart from Timing point changed to Church Road / Cornwall College
PH1020951.397	5B	Great Torrington	Barnstaple	01-Jan-2024	Reroute of 07:57 journey from Great Torrington, to run via the A39 between Bideford and Barnstaple, additional timing point added at Gratton Way to reduce time between timing points.
PH1020951.362	44 44A	Exeter	Axminster	07-Jan-2024	Timetable variation
PH1020951.316	89	Tavistock	The Tors / Embden Grange	07-Jan-2024	Change to route in Staple Tor Road estate in Tavistock.

I am surprised that Stagecoach have not published anything about these changes yet as they have been the best of the local operators over the last year, but these are really fairly minor changes and I am sure they will mention them soon.

As always the main operators have published details of their Christmas services. No surprises this year as they are all offering pretty much the same level of services with a reduces School Holiday service for most days over Christmas with no local services at all on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Years Day (apart from Falcon). Links the the relevant operator pages:

• Plymouth Citybus
• Go Cornwall Bus
• First Bus Cornwall
• Stagecoach Devon

Plymouth Citybus 2024 Timetables

The last few notices for Plymouth Citybus’ new timetables for January have come through this week: New timetables are all available – just follow the links

Plymouth Citybus Ltd

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0000135.094	5 5A	Elburton	City Centre	02-Jan-2024	Additional early morning journey to operate, as part replacement for 85, running via Pomphlett Road. At weekends, this journey starts from Sherford; running through from Plympton. Revised times in the evenings to improve timekeeping.
PH0000135.095	20 20A 20B	Ivybridge	City Centre	02-Jan-2024	Revised running times on service 20A to improve timekeeping throughout the route. 17:30 departure from Royal Parade becomes 17:35; with the last two journeys from Ivybridge also five minutes later.  07:05 journey from Chaddlewood to Royal Parade for 07:50 on weekdays will now  Additional early morning journeys as 20B, as part replacement for 85.
PH0000135.316	27	Royal Parade	Derriford Hosp	02-Jan-2024	Revised timetable to provide Saturday serviceService extended to Derriford Hospital
PH0000135.183	48	Wembury	Plymouth	02-Jan-2024	Revised afternoon timetable to improve reliability.  16.45 from Wembury becomes 16.55 on school days; not serving Cattedown, Coxside or Mayflower Street.  17.40 from Wembury becomes 17.45 Monday to Saturday.

There was just one more notice published this week:

Dealtop Ltd Dartine

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0005305.067	20	Seaton, Marine Place	Richard Huish College, Taunton	03-Jan-2024	Route stopping places and timetable.

There are no changes due this coming week

My apologies for this very late notice which I forgot to post this week but if you are in town this afternoon you might get a treat: