Ocean City Tree Lopper

Dennis Trident 361 V905EFC has now been converted into a permanent tree Lopper for Plymouth Citybus.  Nice to see it having an extended life in Plymouth!

Tamar Bridge Shuttle

One interesting service operating in Plymouth at the moment is Roselyn Coaches TB1 shuttle service over the Tamar Bridge while major works are carried out. Mark bailey has kindly supplied some photos of the operation:

HXZ 252 working the Tamar Bridge shuttle service that Plymouth Citybus have sub-contracted to Roselyn.  It is an East Lancs Lolyne -bodied Dennis Trident, new to First Bristol as W714 RHT but subsequently transferred to First Devon & Cornwall and allocated to Plymouth depot for many years.

The other bus Roselyn are using (on weekdays anyway) is UFH 277, a TransBus Enviro300 acquired a few months ago that was formerly SN04 EFP, and new to Pete's Travel of West Bromwich.  

All photos above © Mark Bailey – used with permission (and thanks!)

HXZ is certainly looking a lot better now than towards the end of her previous spell in Plymouth

February 2015 Bretonside

Another one moves on…

Of all the second-hand double deckers in the Citybus fleet. by far my current favourites are the Brighton Tridents. Sadly however they cant go on for ever and the first one to leave the fleet is 487 which has gone to Devon & Cornwall Police in Exeter for training purposes.

My first photo of this one still being prepared for service…

Diversion information : #PCB79 #PCB79A due to road works in West Street, Tavistock these services will NOT be able to service Bedford Square, West Street and Ford Street. Instead buses will leave via Plymouth Road and A390 all week. Sorry for any inconvenience.

— Plymouth Citybus (@plymouthbus) August 20, 2019

Service Update: We are sorry but the following services are not running (times from Royal Parade) #PCB8 1555/1735 #PCB9 1645/1935 #PCB24 1910. #PCB5 1630 towards Saltash #PCB5A 1750 towards Elburton. #PCB5A 1821 Elburton-Royal Parade. Due to operational difficulties.

— Plymouth Citybus (@plymouthbus) August 20, 2019

The council has announced a £2million maintenance programme ahead of Mayflower400 https://t.co/UAmMNJabp5

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) August 20, 2019

Stagecoach Life after Plymouth

A group of Tridents were dispatched up to Scotland…

18061

© didbygraham March 2016

©Jamie Martin March 2018 Stagecoach 18061 OXI459 at Inverness bus station

18067

©didbygraham January 2016

© Jamie Martin March 2018 Stagecoach 18067 ESK985 at Union Street, Inverness

18068

© didbygraham April 2017 The Ride

©Cameron Robertson May 2018

The buses themselves have not altered their appearance although they do all now carry dateless registrations. It does seem odd that they can go the the expense of changing the registration number to disguise the buses age - but not even remove the rear advert for new homes in Plymstock on the back of 18068!

Thanks to Cameron and Jamie for allowing me to use their photos. Click through the photos to explore their Flickr collections.

5 Tridents put to sleep

As First Kernow transforms itself it has been having a clear-out of older stock including quite a few transfers from the Plymouth fleet.

Buses known to have gone to the bit tin opener in the sky include these five former Plymouth Tridents

32715 Shears, Northam July 2016

32751 Shears, Northam July 2016

32752 Shears, Northam July 2016

32802 Shears, Northam July 2016

32803 Shears, Northam July 2016

Source PSVCircle New sheet 919

Fleet News: First South West

Previous Fleet News 7th January 2016

Incoming

More Dennis Tridents are on their way from South Yorkshire:

33079 LN51GNK

33082 LN51GNV

33083 LN51GNX

33084 LN51GME

33099 LN51GLX Has made it as far as Taunton and is currently waiting there having broken down enroute

More Dennis Dart Caetanos from Eastern Counties are also on their way

43859 EG52FHD

43860 EG52FGF

43867 EG52FHC

43868 EG52FGX

All are currently at Taunton where they are currently working on loan

Several vehciles have been acquired from Webbers, Bodmin One 57 seat Plaxton Javelin, one short 57 seat UVG Javelin and one 70 seat UVG Javelin. plus a Dennis Dart MPD

 

Disposals

Thanks to Robert Hawken who Can confirm that Volvo Citybus 38002 went from Truro in September. It went on the 23rd September behind an Alpha Recovery Truck.

Sadly off for scrap, 38002 seen way back in 2009!

Swooped: 486

PK02RFJ was recently painted red…

© Richard Smith 21st November 2015

Then 9 days later it was out and about fully swooped up...

© Richard Smith 30 November 2015
Previously at Brighton...

© Matt Davis (creative commons) 18 December 2010 with Brighton & Hove
and before that...

©Steven Hughes Creative commons 16 April 2005

Fleet News Stagecoach

A few odds and ends to catch up on.

Stagecoach Devon

Delivery of the new Stagecoach Gold buses for the 57 has seen a few Tridents released to Plymouth, bringing a few newer DDs for the locals to play with:

17058 T658KPU

18067 WA04CRV

18068 WA04CRX

18069 WA04CRZ

18070 WA04CSF

©EastleighBusMan (cc)January 2010

Just for the record the new Gold buses are Scania N230UD Alexander Dennis Enviro 400

15250 YN65XDO Connecting Devon from City to Sea

15251 YN65XDP 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15252 YN65XDR 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15253 YN65XDS 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15254 YN65XDT 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15255 YN65XDU 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15256 YN65XDV 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15257 YN65XDW 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15258 YN65XDX 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15259 YN65XDY 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

15260 YN65XDZ 57 Exmouth Topsham Exeter

Swooped PK02RFF

One of the latest buses in full swoops is 480 PK02RFF

Richard Smith managed to get a couple of photos in red before the swoops:

And then a couple out in service, looking very smart

and then I managed one as well

First Repaints continue

Its becoming increasingly clear that First are now on a roll with a repaint program. Two bus to receive ‘Olympia’ base livery are Dennis Dart 42946 and Dennis Trident 33176. Along with other recent repaints, no fleet names are carried at the moment so we will have to wait for the finished article.

42946 7 July 2015

© Richard Smith

42946 22 September 2014

33176 7 July 2015

© Richard Smith

33176 28 March 2011

487 in full glory

She teased us last week...

So its great to see her out in the sun looking fantastic

© Richard Smith

Five Three Two Seven One Sixes

Managed to get out and about a bit last week and take some photos. Five Photo special of 32716 in all her green splendour…

Five Trident Photos

Managed to get into town yesterday (via Milehouse) with my camera and caught up with a few Tridents…

487 almost ready by the look of it...

483 being prepared

meanwhile 482 is out and about with no fleetnames

while 485 does have Citybus names

Citybus Brighton Things Up

 

Thanks as ever to Richard Smith for the photos. After a really busy week I am now due some annual leave so should be out and about myself this week

Derriford - Expect traffic jams this week

Sorry to bring even more bad news but I have just been notified that from Monday 15^th June – Friday 19^th June Plymouth City Council will tarmac Derriford Road as part of the Marjon Link Road scheme.  They will restrict the road to single file and use temporary traffic lights, but this will inevitably lead to delays.  The lights will be manned so they can be changed to reflect traffic demand and give priority to Blue Light Emergency Ambulances.