Tuesday, 12 May 2015

London's Loss

London's Loss, Plymouth's Pain gain.
Go Ahead Plymouth Citybus had three Mini Pointer Darts arrive today from London General. These are the first three of 10 scheduled to arrive over the next while. Still with their London smart blinds in, The trio of darts showing three routes they would have ran at some point in there London life. The buses are very tide inside

 Below is an interior shot of one MPD
 And the cab area is very tide too as seen below.

First Bus Volvo B5TL Demonstrator

My thoughts of 36300?
My first impression was that the bus was all about the looks and not so much the build quality and passenger comfort. Until recently I have never been a big fan of many Volvo buses. In this case it goes to show first impressions can be very wrong. The seats fitted were along the lines of Urban 90 seats, very little padding, basic and looked cheap. However when you actually sat on one they were surprisingly comfortable. I have not yet had the chance to travel on a Wright Streetdeck but I have heard some not so good things about them. 36300 does rattle however I personally cannot see anyone designing a completely rattle proof bus. and it does not rattle excessively.

I did however thoroughly enjoy the two journeys I made on 36300 and hope I get to travel on more in the future.

Sunday, 22 March 2015

The Old Dog Is Dead

As i am sure many people are aware, Western Greyhound ceased trading on Friday 13th March 2015. Here are a few photos from my recent visits to Cornwall when Western Greyhound were still operating.












Sunday, 1 March 2015

Okehampton Optare

Okehampton's Optare is back, this time it is working for Jackett's Coaches on service 318 (Okehampton Town Service) The bus was previously with Carmel coaches and 1 or 2 operators before. Jackett's Coaches do not own this vehicle. This Optare Solo is being hired off Hazell Bus Rentals.


Saturday, 28 February 2015

Plymouth CityBus April Service Changes

SERVICE CHANGE -12th April 2015

Date: 20 Feb 2015

From 12th April 2015 a number of our services will be revised. Full lists of the revisions are listed below.

The bigger changes will be to Saltash and Plymstock services, re-deploying resource to allow both to benefit from an up to every 7 minute service on the main corridor, increased from the current 10 minute.

The changes will also the see the introduction of a new cross city route, linking the current 43 and 50. This will be service number 50. We currently have a £2m order for new buses for this route, which will be delivered in the summer.

To allow the above to happen we have had to renumber some services, which are also listed below.

Finally the Go Cornwall Bus network will see changes, the biggest of which will be increasing the frequency of both the Plymouth to Callington and Plymouth to Liskeard routes to up to every 30 minutes.

PLYMSTOCK SERVICES

The below service 4/4A and 5/5A all both operate between Royal Parade and Plymstock Broadway providing an up to every 7 minute frequency.

Services 4 & 4A (NEW SERVICE)

City Centre – Plymstock – Hooe – Mount Batten 

Service 4 operates up to every 30 mins via Billacombe, serving the entrance to the development at Saltram Meadow, Plymstock School, Plymstock Broadway, Goosewell and Hooe.

Service 4A operates up to every 30 mins via Oreston, and serves Plymstock Broadway, Goosewell and Hooe.

Services 5 & 5A 

Plymstock – City Centre

Frequency to Elburton and Staddiscombe now up to every 30 mins each. The afternoon diversion to Plymstock School is removed.

SALTASH SERVICES

The below services 10/10A, 11 & 12 all operate commonly between Royal Parade and Fore Street, Saltash providing an up to every 7 minute frequency in both directions.

Both service 11 and 12 will serve Callington Road, providing a 15 minute service on Callington Road, as 10/10A will not serve Callington Road.

Services 10 & 10A 

This replaces the current 5/5A City Centre to Saltash section.

All journeys follow current 5 route outbound to Oaklands Green, and current 5A route inbound up to every 15 mins. 10 operates clockwise on Yellowtor loop, and 10A anticlockwise. Callington Road is now served by services 11/12 below.

Service 11 

This replaces the current 593.

Half hourly service Plymouth to Liskeard via Saltash. Alternate journeys continue to Looe & Polperro as service 72.

Service 12

This replaces the current 576

Half hourly Plymouth to Callington via Saltash, hourly Plymouth onto Launceston, and roughly 2 hourly onto Bude.

OTHER SERVICES

Service 16 

Departs from Royal Parade A1. Outbound serves Western Approach and inbound serves Cobourg Street and Viaduct. Monday to Saturday now up to every 20 minutes, Sunday up to every 30 minutes. 

Services 21 & 21A

Monday to Saturday early morning and early evening revisions to improve pacing.

Service 22

New 7 day service, 1 journey each way a day from Milehouse to Langage via St Budeaux, Crownhill & Eggbuckland. Starts 1st April, funded by EE for its staff, but is open to all fare paying passengers.

Service 27 / 28/A/B

These services will now depart Royal Parade from stop A17, previously A11. No other changes.

Service 33

Departs from Royal Parade A1 . Outbound serves Western Approach and inbound serves Cobourg Street and Viaduct. Monday to Saturday now up to every 20 minutes, Sunday up to every 30 minutes.

Services 34 & 34A

Increased frequency to Royal William Yard

Additional journeys 7 days a week between Royal William Yard and Royal Parade. Additional journeys between Royal William Yard and Derriford via Milehouse on Sundays only. Partly funded by Urban Splash and Plymouth City Council.

RENUMBERED SERVICES

Services 51/51A

Current service 29/29A

Revised running times between Holly Park and West Park. Services in Victoria Road will now be either 50 or 51/51A.

Service 46

Current service 11

Revised running times between Peter Tavy & Okehampton.

Service 50

New cross city route, current 43 and 50 combined

Revised running times. Current 43 / 50 route to be run by new double deck buses, currently on order.

GO CORNWALL BUS

Service 11

Current service 593

Half hourly service Plymouth to Liskeard. Alternate journeys continue to Looe & Polperro as service 72.

In Saltash both service 11 and 12 will serve Fore Street and Callington Road, providing a 15 minute service on Callington Road.

Service 12

Current service 576

Half hourly Plymouth to Callington, hourly Plymouth onto Launceston, and roughly 2 hourly onto Bude.

Most journeys ending in Callington work through onto services 79/79A. No longer serves St Dominick or Downgate, see service 78.

In Saltash both service 11 and 12 will serve Fore Street and Callington Road, providing a 15 minute service on Callington Road.

Service 72

Current service 572

Operates via Devonport to provide a Saltash to Devonport link. In Saltash, serves North Road and New Road, not Callington Road and Grenfell Avenue.

Inbound services through St Germans follow the B3249 to the A38 at Heskyn Mill, left onto A38,around Trerulefoot roundabout.

No longer serves Hannafore and Pelynt (see service 73), now serves Camping Caradon.

Some services operate via Trerulefoot instead of St Germans to enable double decks to be used if required.

Service 73

Current 573

Now serves Hannafore and Pelynt. Most journeys continue from Liskeard to Plymouth via Saltash as service 11.

Service 74

Current 574

Some frequencies reduced to every two hours to improve reliability and provide resource for service 78.

Service 78 (NEW SERVICE)

New service linking Stoke Climsland, Downgate and St Dominick to Callington, taking in part of the Callington town service form 79/79A.

Services 79 & 79A

Loses northern part of Callington town service (see above), and works through into Plymouth via Saltash as service 12.

 

All timetables can now be viewed by clicking on the timetables tab at the top of the page.

The new network route map will be uploaded soon.

Printed copies of the above timetables will be made available via the Travel Centre two weeks before service change. Go Cornwall Bus timetables will also be distributed to Tourist Information Centres in South East Cornwall.



Please Note: all information on this post was copied from the Plymouth CityBus website

Sunday, 8 February 2015

A Western Greyhound Update

So its been a very long time since my last post. hopefully now ill be back on track visiting more places.

All pictures taken 07/02/2015

Here are recent additions to the Western Greyhound fleet, as you know Western Greyhound were put up for sale a while ago with anything from Plymouth to Bude being sold to Plymouth Citybus/ Go Cornwall Bus. but the parts further down into Cornwall was taken over by Buses Excetra, So pink buses have started arriving from Velvet in Southampton.

 Above: S6 BVT, Ex London Volvo B7TL Plaxton President this vehicle was new as Y826 TGH, ( London Fleet number PVL226)
 Above: S6 BVT, Ex London Volvo B7TL Plaxton President

 Above: Ex Go-Ahead London VDL Cadet, still carrying London livery
 Above: SHZ 2046 Ex Brighton & Hove then went to Velvet to be transferred to Western Greyhound
Above: PJ02 RGZ, Due to the recent disappearance of Penine Buses, their fleet was put up for sale which 3 of their darts where purchased by Western Greyhound and as you can see they are still running around in their livery.

Above: Western Greyhound Optare Solo MX54 KXY Seen still carrying Velvet names

Monday, 22 September 2014

Kingsbridge rally 2014

20th September 2014

Kingsbridge rally was another success this year

It's nice to see more and more Enteries each year.