First day of the BlueStar 5

BlueStar 5 took off today, replacing the existing Wilts & Dorset service connecting Romsey and Eastleigh. We predicted that the service would be operated by Dennis Tridents from Eastleigh depot, and we were half right...

On the first ever BlueStar 5 was Volvo B7TL 787 (HX51ZRK) standing here looking very smart in Romsey bus station. These vehicles certainly are impressive in appearance, and it felt the service had received a definite upgrade over the existing Volvo Olympians used on the 65, although the coach seats of those Olympians are very nice. There was no timetable up in the stand, and the bus stop still advertised route 65 but I've been informed the taxi office were giving out timetable booklets.

Dennis Trident 779 (T749JPO) was also out on route 5 today on the second working. These Tridents have all recently been repainted into the darker blue livery, and all except 772 have recieved dot matrix or hanover displays. Tridents are notoriously hard to find to photograph - used on the odd route 2, 3 or 18, but mainly on Barton Peveril routes - so it is good we can now add the 5 to this list.


All round an good service - the BlueStar 5 was the only route running to time today, and when the bus stop information is updated we'll see a fantastically presented route.