First things first, Happy New Year to all readers! Apologies
for the lack of updates recently, it’s been a busy time for me lately, and
sadly the blog has had to take a back seat. Hopefully, with lots of upcoming
developments in both York and the East Midlands, reasonably regular postings
should now resume!
The early stages of 2014 will see investment by four major
companies across this blog’s catchment area. Up in York, the city’s two major
operators, First and Transdev are both set to receive vehicles partially funded
by the green bus fund. As I’ve mentioned before on here, York City Council are
very ‘bus friendly’ and the city’s comprehensive Park and Ride scheme is
testament to that. York currently has no less than five P&R sites dotted
around the city’s outskirts, and I’ve often seen the Mercedes Benz articulated
buses leaving with a full standing load, despite a ten minute frequency. On quieter
days, and on the Monks Cross service, where bendi-bus operation is not
possible, smaller Wrightbus Eclipses shuttle people to and from the city. With
rumours that these are currently off for a mid-life refresh, the new, all
electric buses for the city’s sixth site are nearly ready for delivery. The new
site will be situated at Poppleton Bar, where the main road from Harrogate
meets York’s outer Ring Road. The new Optare Versas, in a new variation of the
First Group livery, will hopefully take thousands of cars off York’s congested
roads and will reduce the city’s carbon footprint, with no CO2 emissions from
the buses themselves.
A new Versa for York stands outside the Optare factory. (c) Chris Nelson
Meanwhile, Transdev are awaiting the arrival of a new Optare
Solo EV, to be used on the Unibus UB1 service, which links various parts of the
campus, free of charge. An MPD, branded for the service, has been promoting the
Solo’s arrival since September, leading to much discussion and excitement amongst
students.
The stand-in MPD (c) Chris Nelson
Another recent, but by no means new arrival is a ‘Y’ plate
Wrightbus Renown. Acquired following complaints by the University that the 44
was seeing buses with far too many colour schemes, the bus is in the unibus
base colours, but with no vinyl’s, just a Transdev logo, allowing it to easily
slot onto other routes. It is said to be the first of several Renowns arriving
at York, with several due for the Coastliner 844 service. With Wrightbus
Eclipses and Geminis about to go off lease, the Renowns will replace them, which
is a significant downgrade for what is supposed to be a high quality long
distance brand. The Renowns currently used on the service are not nice to
travel on, even for the much shorter journeys on the 44 and 20 that I’ve
sampled them on. Hopefully this will be purely a short term measure.
Really bland and really old. Whilst this joins the fleet, buses from 2007 are on their way out (c) Chris Nelson
Finally for York, Arriva’s rather bland fleet of leased,
white Optare Solos is set to make way for brand new Optare Solo SRs. Arriva took
control of the funded 24, 26 and 27 quite some time ago and the stand-in solos
have provided the service ever since, with the odd bit of help from branded
MPDs and Enviro 200s. Arriva have too been promoting the imminent arrival of
their new vehicles, with branding on the front of the current fleet saying “Go
on, get on, coming soon…your brand new buses.”
This stand in solo proudly announces the imminent arrival of its successor (c) Chris Nelson
Back in the East Midlands, both Trent Barton and NCT have
had new buses delivered over the Christmas period. NCT received five ADL Enviro
400s, which appear to be joining their spare fleet over the coming weeks. They
are the first of 40 that are due, featuring Scania engines, which can also be
found inside NCT’s large Omnidekka fleet. They follow on from the Enviro 200s,
delivered last year that can now be found on blue, brown and purple line
services.
The new Enviro 400s follow on from more ADL products delivered in 2013 (c) Matt Burley
2014 should see Trent Barton restarting the Sixes
refurbishment programme. With only two Solars left to be done, we should see
the full livery applied to all ten buses within the next month or two.
Meanwhile, the Sawley network is set to drastically change yet again in
January, with the short-lived Sawley Xprss set to finish. Instead, Zoom will
reduce to half-hourly, with alternate buses extending to either Old or New
Sawley, seemingly requiring one less bus. Meanwhile, Skylink Nottingham is to benefit
from a frequency increase, to three buses an hour as far as East Midlands
Airport.
Not long left until the comprehensive refurbishment of the Sixes fleet is complete (c) Matt Burley
The two extra buses required are set to come from the H1, a
route that will see a fleet of five Optare Versas introduced on the 12th
January. On a route that faces direct competition, Trent Barton hope that the
brand new buses, fitted with double glazing and high speed Wi-Fi will give them
the edge. It comes as Yourbus is to increase the frequency of the Y1 to every
15 minutes to match that of the H1.
Here's a sneak preview of the new H1 fleet, taken from Alex Hornby's twitter
They are the first of £5 million worth of new buses due in
2014, though at this stage we do not know what buses have been ordered or what
routes will benefit. A rather large hint was dropped, however, that Skylink
Derby-Leicester is to get new buses at some point this year. TM Travel is due
new Optare Versas for its Line 30 route in Sheffield, so it looks like an
exciting year for all of Wellglade’s subsidiaries!
A slight hint that new buses could be Derby Skylink bound!
Not wanting to be left out, half Wellglade-owned High Peak
is due some brand new Optare Solo SRs too. With a Solo having escaped the
Optare factory in Centrebus colours, could these be coming sooner rather than
later?
A shiny Solo at the Optare factory; is this Dove Holes bound? (c) Chris Nelson
All in all it looks like an exciting 2014. There’ll no doubt
be controversy, competition and celebration, as the various companies strive to
make their services as popular as possible. 2013 certainly wasn't a quiet year,
with two bus companies in the Nottingham area going bankrupt, a partnership
between two rival companies and a stack of new buses and routes. However the
early signs do seem to suggest that 2014 will be just as, if not more eventful
than 2013.
More of Chris' photos can be found here
More of Matt's photos can be found here
Alex's twitter account can be found here
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