Sunday 27 January 2013

Sunday Lost Scenes - Sunday 27th January

Today's Sunday Lost Scenes comes from Fareham in 2003...

First Hants & Dorset 191 - M191XTR - Fareham bus station - Summer 2003

In May 2003, the Portsmouth Overground network was introduced. It covered five routes (including the Zip 41 corridor). With second-hand ex-London Darts still 9 months away, the  first operations on route 6 saw 9 Iveco TurboDailys receive Barbie 2, and 7 branded for route 6. These rarely strayed off route, but above I have an example of First Hampshire's 191 in Fareham well away from Tipner and Southsea.

191 is pictured on route 57 - a route operated by Hilsea's Ivecos until route changes in 2004, by which time Hilsea and Hoeford shared the route. The 57 was then cut to every hour, exclusively operated by Hoeford. This saw Hilsea's presence in Fareham restricted to simply a few early and late peaks. 

Today, the Ivecos are long gone, and the 57 has been split between the X4, 4A and 16. The weekday service to Hayling Ferry is also exclusively operated by route 15.

8 comments:

  1. part of me wishes the 57 was still running and/or we had more small mini buses.

    Never thought I would say that

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  2. Part of me also wishes for more minibuses in the fleet but only for nostalgia and variety reasons, however, for practicality reasons and for passanger experience, the current look of the fleet is so much better! Couldn't picture a 25 seater on the 40 (now 7) these days and minibuses regualarly saw use on the 40 pre OverGround branding and the influx of the B10BLEs. (LeeG)

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    1. Yeah but at that point the route was more frequent and supplemented by the motorway expresses all day that First subsequently cancelled so you win single decks and lose over half the frequency...not exactly great. Look at Devon and Oxford for how Stagecoach phased out minis and yet maintained services and frequencies unlike First

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  3. Don't know if anyone has heard but a double decker was involved in a crash today at Portchester.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. Come on chaps, accidents happen, no one got out of their beds this morning with the intention of causing damage, I'm sure the driver is very shaken by the whole incident and that First management will comment officially as when an investigation is completed. Lets not forget over the past 3 weeks First have recieved a large amount of praise for their handling of the bad weather and the modifications made to the Portsmouth network. By no means do I think First are perfect becuase they are not but others can certainly do alot worse.

    I'd also like to add that these so-called "Crap Drivers" may once have been People's Provincial and Red/Blue Admiral drivers whom in the eyes of some can do no wrong. (LeeG)

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  5. I have nothing against the driver except he must have made a mistake and forgotten he was a double decker.

    not sure how he made that mistake myself though, worrying for me as if i was on it in service, i would have been on top deck

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  6. Can we please not direct derogatory comments towards First - both incidents were accidents. Yes they were probably avoidable, but it doesn't mean Go Ahead or Stagecoach would deroof any fewer double decks.

    I've deleted the two comments I didn't like.

    James

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