Pure Speculation...

Every enthusiast likes a bit of speculation, deep down. What might happen? What could happen? What could happen if that happens? Speculation is the annoying grey area between what you know is going to happen, and how you are going to get there. 

For example, 14 single deck buses are entering service at some point for the Fareham - Gosport Bus Rapid Transit link, but the date for BRT has been delayed time and time again... when will these buses arrive? Will they operate on the old routes because BRT won't be open in time? What will happen to the Darts presently on the Fareham - Gosport routes? What will these buses replace and where? Pictured above is one of the Dennis Dart SLFs likely to be replaced at the end of the year / start of next year... will it be replaced? Will it stay at Hoeford? What will 42126 (S626KTP) replace in turn?

Now, bus companies usually find a lot of speculation unhelpful. As I have never worked for a bus company, I can't comment on this specifically or from personal experience, although I can imagine that if speculation gets out to the wider travelling public, unwanted rumours may start, which could jeopardise operations. It is refreshing to see that both of the main local companies around my way, First and Go South Coast, are excellent at quashing rubbish immediately. Of course, where events will make be clear in the near future, company managers also probably enjoy a chuckle at some of the speculative scenarios suggested!

I can write from a website creator's point of view. When trying to update the fleetlists on the First Hants & Dorset website, our forum has an excellent team of reliable contributors which makes my job easy. However, when new buses are due - especially when the fleet numbers and registrations are given - it makes the consequential questions incredibly hard to avoid. I've had three colour system news pages before on "what is confirmed", "what is probably following" and "what could happen". Plans change even within the company at the last minute.

For example, take this view from Portswood depot on 1st May 2009. Following the arrival of Hilsea's Volvo B7RLEs, a number subsequent FHD-internal transfers meant that 9 Volvo B10BLEs were to be cascaded to Sheffield. 66151 (S351NPO) is pictured here along with 66196 awaiting transfer up north. This fell through at the last minute, and now have seen two happy more years' service at Hoeford, and are still there today. The transfers weren't speculation - they were the plan - but it shows how pointless speculation can be, if even confirmed transfers can fall through at the last minute.

So what is speculation for? Well, personally, I believe it is a side effect of our enthusiasm and excitement over something new happening. It isn't helpful to ourselves, let alone the companies, travelling public or other enthusiasts. Take the Go Ahead Tempos that have appeared on the Isle of Wight. Are they for MOT before repaint, or are they for route/type testing, or ready for school contracts from September? I don't know the answer, but it could be one of those three. On the other hand, I could equally be quite off the mark.


Speculation is a natural response to fill a void of information, and although one can keep a check on it, I don't think you can quite ever completely never speculate...

Sunday Lost Scenes #1

Quite a lot of blogs have special Sunday photo - Plymothian Transit has Sunday Best, PTOPA has Snap on Sunday - so I thought, what the hell, why not. Regulars to this blog will know that posts tend to come in batches, so I can't promise one will come every Sunday, but I'm sure I can manage a simple image each week. Eagle eyed viewers will also note today is Monday, not Sunday :-)

My post on Sunday will be a lost scene - either a bus, location or something similar that can no longer be replicated. I'll also post the image at full file size for maximum viewing pleasure.

Entry one: "Citaros at Ryde" - Southern Vectis 456 (left), 453 (far) and 479 (near) in Ryde bus station on route 9. 2nd October 2009.

When I took this photo, I simply thought "oh look, that's a lot of Citaros!" I didn't realise in less than a year, all of the Citaros would have moved on to new fleets and this view would be consigned to the past. I miss the Citaros from the island although reverting the 9 to double deck has to be one of the best decisions made in terms of capacity. However, there are a lot of elderly passengers on the service - hence why the Citaros were bought in the first place. It is a shame they haven't tried former Go Ahead London Citaro-artics to compensate for this... (tongue in cheek of course!)

Another view from the past will come next Sunday, thanks for viewing today.

New Look for Oxford's Park and Ride

The Oxford Bus Company have recently invested in 18 Enviro400 Hybrid double deckers to replace the fleet of Dennis Trident double deckers on Oxford's Park and Ride network.

Here is 301 - interestingly registered HY11BRD (Oxford do love their personalised registrations...!). I personally prefer this new livery - the greens are smarter shades and the buses just ooze quality. We all know that the waves at the bottom of the bus work well - for example Southern Vectis and Brighton and Hove use them and both liveries look excellent. This is livery in the same mould and certainly works in my opinion.

This is the livery being replaced - Trident 114 (T114DBW) illustrates lighter shades of green used. The new shades of green are more stylish in my opinion and definately reflect the upgrade and investment in the Park and Ride services. The existing Tridents seem to be being retained by OBC - used on a variety of service work and Brookes Bus contracts.

Of the 17 Enviro400Hs now in service, I managed to capture all but three on camera.  Here is 302 (HB11OXF) outside Christ Church in Oxford city centre. 302-17 have the "regular" personalised registrations - all ending with OXF.

The rest of this blog is really just illustrating further examples of the fleet in and around Oxford city centre on Park and Ride routes. Here is 309 (HJ11OXF) at the top of New Road, approaching the bus only stretch of road in Oxford city centre.

A nearside view of E400H 316 (HS11OXF) as it heads onto New Road from the direction of the coach station. All of these photos were taken last Friday on 19th August.

A particular favourite location of mine in Oxford is the Magdelin St area, where from 1.30ish, the sun is perfect for buses arriving in the city centre. As well as the P&R routes, you have Gold Stagecoach E400s, the Stagecoach United Counties coach on the X5 from Cambridge, the joint Stagecoach/OBC 2/2A/2B and more. Here is 303 (HC11OXF) at about 1430.

Finally, here is E400H 315 (HR11OXF) at the stop near Oxford rail station. The rail station is a great place to take photos (apart from taxis and delivery vans) - there is a bus station at the rail station itself, and then a precinct area just across the road which has even more services, plus those which terminate at the rail station. Oxford certainly keeps you interested for a good 5 hours +, and if anyone hasn't been in a while, I would advise you to go back - you won't be disappointed (although the variety in both Stagecoach Oxford and OBC fleets is down on any previous year...). You must like Enviro400s though, with 3 operators operating the type, in 7 different liveries, they are the most common double deck in Oxford.

More on Oxford coming later this week.

Go Ahead's Latest Addition

Go Ahead have purchased new and expanded a number of their existing companies in the recent years. Their most recent acquisition is Thames Travel, an operator which operates the key Oxford - Reading and Oxford - Didcot services, the Wokingham town services, and last year took over nearly all of the Bracknell tendered town services.

The company use a largely young fleet of low floor single deckers with five double deckers. The double decks are 3 Scania Omncities along with unique Scania Omnidekka 154, as illustrated below, and a hybrid Enviro400. A variety of single decks are used, such as Scania Omnitowns, Enviro 200s, Optare Solos or MAN/MCV Evolutions, such as these illustrated in Oxford. Pictured are 857 (AE57LYP) and 1057 (AE57LYD), operating the two Oxford "super express" services. They are pictured standing along St Aldate's in Oxford city centre. Both buses, and indeed all that I saw on Friday, carried the Go Ahead logo in the window.

I've only mananged to capture on double deck so far - this one is 154 (OU54PGZ) pictured at Reading rail station prior to Go Ahead takeover. As can be seen, the livery has been retained so far by Go Ahead - maybe in the next year or so a Ray Stenning inspired livery could be introduced - certainly the colours and Stenning's style could be easily adapted.

Another one of Thames Travel's numerous Evolutions - this one is 1157 (AE57LYR). I haven't quite got my head around the fleetnumbers yet - Thames Travel tend to have a digit or two, and then the number in the registration. Hence, this bus is the 11th numbered bus with a 57 registration - 1157. Pictured at Reading rail station with a service for Wokingham.

This now means that Thames Travel are working alongside the Oxford Bus Company (OBC) in Oxford, both under Go Ahead ownership. It will be interesting to see if long distance OBC routes (such as the X2 to Didcot) become branded as Thames Travel, or of course nothing could happen. Go Ahead have pledged to maintain Thames Travel as a separate company from OBC, which makes sense due to the wide geographical spread of Thames Travel's network. Pictured above-right is Evolution 205 (AE05EUZ) on an X39 for Reading.

I will certainly have to get to Wokingham and Bracknell soon to photograph Thames Travel's operations there - I've always enjoyed photographing this operator and hopefully I will be able to bring you more photos of their operation in the future.

Island Changes

Southern Vectis will take over routes from the former Wightbus network from 5th September, which will see SV take on a lot of routes they previously have operated in some form.

Routes picked up from Wightbus are the 22 (Lake - Shanklin), 24 (Yaverland - Lake & Sandown), 32 (Cowes - Gurnard circular), 33 (Ryde - Newport via Havenstreet), 34 (Wootton - Havenstreet circular), 35 (Newbridge - Newport) and 39 (Newport - Pan Estate circular). Most routes will only operate Monday to Friday, although some such as route 35 will only operate on specific days.


Southern Vectis have operated some of these routes in the past although a couple are new to me such as this form of the 24 and 34. The routes are being taken over as a cost-cutting measure for Isle of Wight council, although I don't know the specific details of the deal. Pictured to above is MPD 304 (HW54BTY) pictured leaving Ryde for Newport on the old route 33, photographed on 22nd July 2006.

Southern Vectis have also bought Wightbus' fleet of low floor Darts following service changes, such as HW54DBZ. The initial plan from SV is to use two of these on route 6, and the rest on SEN school services. Further Solos have also been acquired from Wilts & Dorset, bringing the latest total to 7 as far as I know (8 if you count R601NFX which is being used for spares).

Which brings me nicely onto my next image - Solo 2631 (S631JRU). Following changes to improve route 8's reliability, route 37 (Ryde - Haylands & Binstead circular) is to be operated as a stand alone route using a Solo, which will bring the type's regular use on service routes to Ryde for the first time. 


New photography opportunities to come very soon on the island, then.

Guildford

 Yesterday, I visited Guildford for the first time. By train it is about 45minutes south west of London, and the principal operator is Arriva Southern Counties. There is also a significant Stagecoach presence operating key Guildford - Alton, Aldershot and Haslemere routes, and the local independent, Safeguard, also has a key role in the city.

The most common bus in Guildford is the Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer that are operated by Arriva. They operate the majority of the town routes, alongside a smaller fleet of DAF SB120/Wright Cadets. The majority wear fleet livery - either the old version, as illustrated here by 3028 (N228TPK), although repaints into the new livery are common too. Also, some have branding, as illustrated to the left by 3097 (R297CMV) to show the frequency of the University - city centre services.

Two MPDs are operated at Guildford - one is 1606 (GN04UCW). Having never taken photos of Arriva in such a large concentration before, it was interesting to see that the MPDs are numbered with the minibuses in the '1' series, rather series for midibuses, as First and Stagecoach do.

Cadets form an important part of Guildford's city bus network - here is 3938 (GK52VYC) heading the buses out of service, standing on the wall in the bus station. Incidentally, buses are only supposed to remain there for 45 minutes - 3938 was there for my entire visit...

Arriva use a number of Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urbans on the two Park and Ride contacts they operate - here is 3735 (GN54MYU) unloading passengers in Guildford city centre.

Arriva Southern Counties have just received 4 former MK Metro Solos for city work in an attempt to remove the last Varios from service. The only one I saw out and about was 1509 (T407ENV), pictured here reversing off the stand on route 17.

Finally from Arriva, here is Volvo Olympian 5925 (M925PKN), which I am reliably informed tends to stay on school services, so I am even more chuffed I managed to photograph it yesterday. Pictured departing Guildford on route 53.

Abellio Surrey operate once an hour into Guildford on route 515 from Kingston using these Mini-Pointer Darts - this one is 8094 (KV03ZFX), which was new to Tellings Golden Millar.

Stagecoach operate into Guildford every 15minutes on route 20 from Aldershot. Route 20 is operated as "the Kite" and uses a fleet of 5 MAN 14.240/Enviro200 - this one is 39653 (GX08HBP).

Countryliner also operate a number of services into Guildford, mainly using a mixture of Darts, Olympians and Evolutions. Here is MAN/MCV Evolution MRM4 (AE56MDJ) about to load passengers for Epsom on route 479.

The main independent in Guildford is Safeguard, which operate mainly a fleet of low floor saloons on city services and Park & Ride route 300. My first image illustrates Optare Tempo YJ06FXM departing the bus station on circular service route 4. I think the Safeguard livery suits the Tempo very well. My second image illustrates Optare Versa YJ60LRO taking the place of a P&R branded Dart on route 300. These are very smart buses and, again, I feel that Safeguard's livery suits the lines of this bus very well. From the outside, the whole fleet looked very well presented and certainly gave the impression of a quality operator.


Many thanks for viewing.