Stagecoach Swap Plymouth E200s for Exeter Darts

It wasn't that long ago that Stagecoach swapped Enviro 400s from the Plymouth - Dartmouth service 3 for Enviros 200s from Stagecoach in Chester. Well now the smart E200s have been transferred away from Plymouth and are Exeter based.

37443 and 37444 went up on the 5th May

37444 was then caught on camera on the S service in Exeter on the 8th

All photos © Adrian Roberts - with thanks.

I believe that a few older Darts have arrived from Exeter to replace them. Can anyone confirm if these Darts are now in use on the 3?

 

 

 

WN-90=SC

Stagecoach have not wasted much time in getting their ‘new’ Enviro 200 MMCs into service on the Kingsbridge Dartmouth route. I caught 37444 on Friday then Richard Smith captured the same bus on Saturday where he also observed sister 37441 on the same route.

Of course, for many of the the route will always be the 93. A reminder of days gone past on this route is also provided by Richard from the annual Kingsbridge Running Day back in September which I have just belatedly realised I never did publish here.

© Richard Smith: Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristol FLF6G, new to Western National in December 1960

© Richard Smith: ECW Bristol K6A new 1955 as Western National 353

Incoming Stagecoach E200s

Further to yesterdays post about the swapping of buses within Stagecoach I have received a couple of photos from Adrian, one of the drivers who collected the 4  5 Enviro 200s from Chester
As a reminder the buses that have now arrived in Plymouth are


37440
SN16ORX
Stagecoach Devon Ltd
Alexander Dennis E20D SFDCLAER8GGYA5681
ADL Enviro 200MMC G212/01
B37F
New Jul 2016
Acq: Oct 2017 ex Glenvale Transport Ltd
37441
SN16ORZ
Stagecoach Devon Ltd
Alexander Dennis E20D SFDCLAER8GGYA5682
ADL Enviro 200MMC G212/02
B37F
New Jul 2016
Acq: Oct 2017 ex Glenvale Transport Ltd
37442
SN16OSP
Stagecoach Devon Ltd
Alexander Dennis E20D SFDCLAER8GGYA5683
ADL Enviro 200MMC G212/03
B37F
New Jul 2016
Acq: Oct 2017 ex Glenvale Transport Ltd
37443
SN16OSR
Stagecoach Devon Ltd
Alexander Dennis E20D SFDCLAER8GGYA5684
ADL Enviro 200MMC G212/04
B37F
New Jul 2016
Acq: Oct 2017 ex Glenvale Transport Ltd
37444
SN16OSU
Stagecoach Devon Ltd
Alexander Dennis E20D SFDCLAER8GGYA5692
ADL Enviro 200MMC G212/05
B37F
New Jul 2016
Acq: Oct 2017 ex Glenvale Transport Ltd


Both pics © “Ade 50032” (Thanks!)
It will be interesting to see if they gain any branding for the 93 or if they will just enter service in standard Stagecoach livery.

Dartmouth drops a deck

This weekend sees a few changes to several Stagecoach routes across their network but one local change of interest is the Plymouth - Kingsbridge - Dartmouth 3:

There will be some minor changes to the timetable to ensure the ongoing sustainability of this route, which runs through some of the most rural and beautiful parts of Devon and the South Hams.

Some early morning and early evening journeys will no longer run, and the occasional journeys which diverted off into Slapton Village will no longer do so. These changes are being made due a combination of very low usage and a reduction in funding from Devon County Council towards the parts of the route that carry the fewest people. The majority of the service runs without any financial support from the Council, and relies purely on the income from the people using it to cover its running costs.

 

The service will now also be operated using single deck vehicles to help keep running costs to a minimum, but following discussions with Kingsbridge College and Devon County Council a double decker will provide a single journey from Dartmouth to Kingsbridge College each day to ensure sufficient space for children travelling to school.

The heavily discounted young persons Kingsbridge Termrider ticket will no longer be available, but a new Dart King Termrider ticket will be introduced in connection with the school journey above for young people to travel between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge at any time. The rest of our ticket prices remain unchanged, with our Explorer ticket, Megarider Gold and Termrider Gold remaining excellent value for a service of this nature.

Clearly this means there is a need for more single deckers for Plymouth, so there are some more E200s on the way:

E200MMC's 37440-37444 leaving Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancs (Chester depot) for Plymouth, presume fairly imminently.....E400's 19569-19572 going from Torquay to Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancs (unknown depot) this coming week.

Its a shame that the route is no longer double decked as the Kingsbridge - Dartmouth section is a lovely ride from the top deck.

Of course it wasn't that long ago that First ran this route as the 93 using double deckers. For a while at least it was properly marketed with a decent livery

Although mostly it was just standard livery buses

Of course for many years this was the best local route to ride on VR, this one from 2002 when the route was extended to Derriford Hospital at peak times. Sadly like most First efforts there was zero publicity for this extra service and it was soon dropped.

Devon Cutbacks Part 6

Devon County Council Bus Cutbacks

Devon County Council have looked at their supported bus network to try and come up with some substantial savings. Over a series of posts we look at some of the individual routes which will be affected, focusing on those which come into the greater Plymothian Transit area.

To help meet the £50 million budget reduction required by Government spending cuts next year, we now face making savings of £1.7m from our annual public transport budget. It will be the first time that we have proposed making service reductions for four years. Most bus services in Devon are run commercially by bus companies at no cost to the Council. However, we spend £5.376m a year to support nearly 200 public bus services, carrying around 4.5m passengers every year. These services would not run without this support. We also manage the National Bus Pass Scheme for 175,000 pass holders in Devon. This costs us more than £9m every year. Efficiencies have already been achieved across the wider Transport Coordination Service to meet previous savings.

We need your help

We would like to find out what you think about our proposals to reduce services. Please let us know what their impact might be on you. The proposals would start to come into effect during the second half of 2015.

This consultation closes on Monday 20 April 2015. We want to hear what you think about our proposals. To give us your comments use the online feedback form below. Important: Before completing the questions read the proposal/s for the public transport service/s relevant to you. If you begin to complete the questions and leave the page before submitting your feedback, your answers will not be saved.

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL FEEDBACK FORM

Service 90B

Dartmouth - Archway Drive

Proposal

Complete withdrawal

Estimated no.of passengers journeys per year (ie one way trips) no longer catered for on this or alternative services: 8210

Annual Saving: £13,239

Current Map

Links

• Current Timetable 90
• Plymothian Bus Services 90

Service 91

Totnes - Avonwick - Ugborough - Ermington - Brixton - Plymstock - Plymouth

Proposal

Reduce to operate on Tuesday only. Most passengers originate from Plymouth

Estimated no.of passengers journeys per year (ie one way trips) no longer catered for on this or alternative services: 250

Annual Saving: £18,000

© Richard Smith

Current Map

Links

• Current Timetable 91
• Plymothian Bus Services 91

Service 93

Dartmouth - Stoke Fleming - Strete - Slapton Turn - Torcross - Stokenham - Chillington - Frogmore - West Charleton - Kingsbridge - Churchstow - Aveton Gifford - Modbury - Yealmpton - Brixton - Plymouth

Proposal

 

Withdrawal of Summer Sunday and Public Holidays.

Estimated no.of passengers journeys per year (ie one way trips) no longer catered for on this or alternative services: 1482

Annual Saving: £3594

Current Map

Links

• Current Timetable 93
• Plymothian Bus Services 93

Recommended Reading

• Steves Bus and Train Page: Arriva Special
• Norwich Buses: First Great Yarmouth Dart arrives on loan to Norwich
• Public Transport Experience: A Traipse to Tiverton [4]
• East Norfolk Bus Blog: Norwich Interlude :
• Norwich Buses: Ipswich Buses trial Mercedes Benz Citaro K
• Ipswich Bus Blog: IPSWICH BUSES MERCEDES BENZ CITARIO DEMOSTRATOR/ODD SIGHTS ON TOWN ROUTES
• Great Yarmouth Shipping: Been a while
• Ian Visits: Weekly round-up of London’s railway transport news

Dartmouth loses its shine for Stagecoach

Stagecoach X64

Back in November we had a couple of VOSA notices for Stagecoach:

• PH1020951/46 - STAGECOACH DEVON LTD T/A Stagecoach South West, BELGRAVE ROAD, EXETER, EX1 2LB
• Variation Accepted: Operating between Exeter Bus Station and Totnes Coronation Road
• given service number X64
• effective from 19-Jan-2015.
• To amend Timetable.

• PH1020951/199 - STAGECOACH DEVON LTD T/A Stagecoach South West, BELGRAVE ROAD, EXETER, EX1 2LB
• Variation Accepted: Operating between Totnes Royal Seven Stars and Dartmouth
• given service number X64
• effective from 19-Jan-2015.
• To amend Timetable

This last one gave at least a hint of the changes involved as from its registration back in July 2013 licence PH1020951/199 was route number "GOLD".

Well the changes from this week (19th January) are explained by Stagecoach:

The X64 will be extended from Totnes to Dartmouth to replace the Totnes - Dartmouth section of Stagecoach Gold and give Dartmouth residents direct, through connections to Totnes, Newton Abbot and Exeter up to every hour Monday to Saturday. For commuters travelling from Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton to Exeter, there will also be a later evening journey back from Exeter bus station which will depart at 1915. Some morning journeys will leave earlier to allow more time to get through the roadworks at Splatford Split. The new X64 timetable keeps all of the key morning and evening connections between Dartmouth and Totnes that are currently part of the Gold timetable

The Stagecoach spin does seem to underplay the scale of the reduction in buses serving Dartmouth. Previously Dartmouth saw weekday departures to Totnes at 0655, 0930 1030 1130 1230 1330 1430 1530 1635 1735 1850 2010. So what do they have now?

Weekday departure from Dartmouth to Totnes (and beyond) are now 0618 0800 0925 1055 1255 1455 1655 1805 1905 1955. I guess its the last three departures which mean that Stagecoach can indeed claim a bus "up to every hour"!

Stagecoach X64 Timetable 19 JAN 2015

X64 Map Exeter to Totnes

X64 Map Totnes Dartmouth

X64 Map Totnes Salcombe

Photo credit: Barry Lewis under Creative Commons Licence.

Photo credit: Nick Rice under Creative Commons Licence.

There may be no more Gold for Dartmouth but the move does allow for a slightly better service on the main Gold route as we shall see tomorrow

Recommended Reading

• East Anglian Rail Scene: Andy's Weekly Update
• Ipswich Bus Blog: GOODBYE TO 65670 AND 69433
• Railway Technology.com Fare's fair: does UK rail offer value for money?
• Steves Bus and Train Page: A Little Lowestoft Loitering
• Ipswich Bus Blog: 32492 SPENDS THE DAY ON 60/61
• Public Transport Experience: Completing The Cornwall Catalogue
• Public Transport Experience: Daring Doings in Doncaster's Dunscroft [1]
• East Norfolk Bus Blog: Postcard From America :
• East Norfolk Bus Blog: Norwich Classic Bus Running Day :
• Norwich Buses: Beestons New Livery Revealed

First In and Out of Dartmouth

The next batch of service changes announced by First from 4th January 

Dartmouth Locals

Applications to Vary Existing Service: N & P 29 April 2003

• Variation Accepted:
• Operating between Dartmouth Pontoon and Dartmouth Pontoon
• given service number 90/90A/90B/90C
• effective from 04-Jan-2015.
• To amend Timetable

Details

Service 90/90A/90B/90C:

The 0820 service 90C journey has been withdrawn and the 0810 from Sainsburys has will run a few minutes later.

90 90A 90B 90C Dartmouth Pontoon - Townstal - Dartmouth Pontoon Timetable

Dartmouth - Kingsbridge

Applications To Vary Existing Services: VOSA 04 NOV 2014

PH0004983/38 - FIRST DEVON & CORNWALL LTD, THE RIDE, CHELSON MEADOW, PLYMOUTH, PL9 7JT

• Variation Accepted:
• Operating between Kingsbridge Quay and Dartmouth Pontoon
• given service number 93
• effective from 04-Jan-2015.
• To amend Route and Timetable.

Details

Service 93: To avoid possible capacity issues on the 0730 departure from Dartmouth, an extra direct bus will depart Dartmouth at 0730 (term time week days) arriving at Kingsbridge Community College at 0815 (via Totnes Cross).

93 Plymouth - Dartmouth Timetable

Nothing much to say about these minor timetable changes. The issue with the 93 was causing quite an upset on Facebook with passengers being left behind or forced to stand for long journeys so this update will be welcome news for them

Pretty standard fare on the 93 these days 32954 seen on Royal Parade back in January 2014

Related Links

• Plymothian Bus Services First 90
• Plymothian Bus Services First 93

Recommended Reading

• East Norfolk Bus Blog: Well Travelled Enviro : Chilly Norwich
• Norwich Buses: Looking Back: A London Intruder : Repaint latest including an unexpected decision : A quick look at Ipswich
• Public Transport Experience: Travellers Troubles at Tilbury : fbb's Friday Foray
• Focus Transport: UPDATE ON A FLUENT OPERATION : Virtual Journey Along Oxford Road Manchester
• Dennis Basford's Rails, Roads and Runways ‘Scene’ in Bath
• Steves Bus and Train Page: Weekly News Round Up
• Andys Bus Blog: Norfolk Green Fleet Update : Ensignbus Vintage Running Day 2014 - part 2
• Ian Visits: London Underground news stories by Thames TV

Incoming - again

They are coming back!

From the First web site:

First in Devon and Cornwall is pleased to advise customers that the current service 93 will be completely re-launched in partnership with Devon County Council on 1st April 2007. The 93 will be replaced with super low floor double deckers and will have its own distinct branding. The main service between Plymouth, Kingsbridge and Dartmouth will now operate hourly Monday to Saturday daytime and continues with the current Sunday timetable. Devon County Council will also be improving roadside infrastructure. For further information about all First services in Devon and Cornwall please contact Customer Relations on 0845 600 1420.

As part of the changes service 92 will be withdrawn. Between Kingsbridge and Salcombe this will be replaced by extra journeys on service 606, operated by Tally Ho!, which will provide an hourly service with connections at Kingsbridge with the 93 for Plymouth and Dartmouth. The Loddiswell section of 92 will be covered by an extension of service 162 which will provide four journeys between Kingsbridge and Loddiswell.New timetables will be available in mid-March, or for details of the revised times phone Traveline on 0870 608 2 608

It has been confirmed that the buses for this service will be the T registered Dennis Tridents that were used on the Park and Ride before the new Enviros arrived. These are currently in Yorkshire being refurbished with new interiors and conversion to single doors. Cant wait to see what livery these appear in!

It has also been confirmed that the remaining Tridents which were due from Bath - but sent to York are now also due back in Plymouth and are expected to arrive this week. I expect these will settle down onto the X80. Talking of the X80 there is another service which is calling out for the special treatment given to the 93 - surely thats a service which should be given its own livery and dedicated fleet of low floor double deckers?