I am short of time for a full blog post but a few quick notes which may be of interest
BYDs
Plymouth Citybus have a few BYDs electric buses on loan from Go Ahead London and the late news is that some of these are due to go out in service tomorrow -
There will be 8 BYD's out in service tomorrow! 5 will be on 21/21a from 6am onwards, 3 on 50/51.
Not sure what fleet numbers. (there will eventually be 20 of these in Plymouth!)
Will be interesting to compare these with the Wright Electroliners!
© Matt Bateman (with permission)
Royal Parade
Incessant heavy rain over the last few weeks has meant that unfortunately, work on Royal Parade will not finish in time for Monday 23 February as planned.
The Council and its contractors have been trying to work overnight for the last six weeks to complete the resurfacing work, but persistent heavy weather has hampered efforts.
Resurfacing can be carried out in rain, but constant heavy down pours that have been experienced recently has meant the contractors have not been able to progress.
Instead, the crew is now working to a new timetable of Monday 2 March and all the new bus stop arrangements for Royal Parade and around the city centre will be in place from that date.
Councillor John Stephens, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “We are so nearly there – but the extraordinary levels of rain fall have got in the way.
“We had to set a specific start date as the bus operators needed to plan their routes and inform the traffic commissioner of changes to their services.
“We also had to give people plenty of notice about locations of their new stops as there have been changes. Thank you for your continued patience.”
Next week (beginning 23 February) passengers should continue to use the stops they have used for the last seven months.
The new stops and services are planned to start from Monday 2 March.
The original resurfacing programme had been scheduled to end on 6 February and two further weeks contingency had been pencilled in just in case timings slipped. Unfortunately, this ‘buffer’ has been eaten up by consistently rotten weather.
The weather is still an issue and Saturday overnight works is unlikely go ahead as a result. Another weather front is coming in Monday.
A rare clear day on Sunday means that the east bound Royal Parade will close during the day to allow the crews to crack on with the resurfacing.
The bus operators have been informed and signs are being put in the bus shelters and on the fencing to inform passengers about the new date. Plymotion will also be out and about to talk to passengers.
and finally
The excellent Bus & Train User blog (Roger French) has been to Cornwall. Its well worth a read from someone who knows his stuff!
I popped down to Cornwall on Tuesday to check out some of the county’s bus network following First Kernow’s withdrawal at the weekend.
https://busandtrainuser.com/2026/02/19/24-hours-in-penzance-and-truro/
