Outgoing

It seems that FDCs Routemasters are on the way out as they have appeared on E-Bay! You can have one for 20 grand.

FDC are still carrying adverts in many of their buses for private hire of these buses. I guess these adverts will soon dissappear too.

Park & Ride

Finally managed to get a photo of the Park & Ride operation using the Routemasters today. Spent half an hour taking photos on Western Approach. I would have been there even longer but it was freezing!
A few more of the days photos will appear here over the next week or so...

One other bit of news announced today is the purchase of the Traction Group by Stagecoach. This doesnt really have anything to do with transport in Plymouth but its big news so I mention it here. This brings a large fleet of old buses into the Stagecoach Group so a large investment will be needed to bring things up to the standards seen elsewhere within the Group. One vehicle I still have listed as a training bus is VOD602S, one time Western National group Leyland National which can be found pictured on Alan Knights fotopic
didbygraham

Park & Ride Shock!

The 'news' tonight is that FDC are going to be operating a Park & Ride service in Plymouth leading up to Christmas. They will be using their Routemasters complete with conductors dressed as Santa! It is also said that they will be using some borrowed Tridents - probably ex London diverted from Glasgow. Its not confirmed yet and its not quite certain that this is from the new George site as this isn't expected to be open this side of Christmas.

Sorry for the delay in getting posts to this blog - I haven't been able to upload any photos for a while - but it now seems to work again!

didbygraham

Late night shopping

Tonight it was the start of the late night shopping events in Plymouth with the main lights being turned on and a big wheel set up in the city centre. The two bus companies are running special fares into the city centre to encourage passengers to use the bus. Sadly most of the network being run by single deckers isn't up to the extra crowds that would use the service. I know some people in the past have been left behind, so like myself, will avoid it like the plague!
FDC though did make a stab at entering into the spirit of things and ran their green Routemaster on service 7 which I am sure would have been very popular.

Argos!

I didnt see it myself, but Plymouth was lucky(?) enough today to get a visit from one of the Argos promotional Routemasters JJD502D in a bright purple livery. It was here to celebrate the reopening of the old Index shop as a branch of Argos (even though its just around the corner fro the main Argos store).
The buses were convereted for Argos by South East Coachworks.

First Routemasters

The main event today was the bus rally on Plymouth Hoe. The weather was certainly a lot better than Saturday! With a great collection of buses new and old it was a good day spent on the Hoe. The full collection of photos can be seen here.
Above we see all three of First Devon & Cornwall's Routemaster fleet. These buses are used for general hire, promotional work and even hired out for weddings. Opinion is divided on the green one. Although its more in keeping with the local area than the red ones it just looks fake! That said I am sure they are going to be popular with general 'non-anorak' passengers!
didbygraham