"First Transforming Travel" is often a stick used to beat First with - but here is one example that over the last seven years they have transformed route 6 in Portsmouth. Route 6 serves The Hard, Old Portsmouth, Southsea, South Parade Pier, Eastney, Milton, North End and Tipner.
Travel back to when I first took photos of buses. They were operated using a mixture of former People's Provincial and Blue Admiral Iveco minibuses at a frequency of 10 minutes. Here is 270 (L323BOD) pictured arriving in The Hard on a route 6 back in April 2003. 270 was one of many new to Blue Admiral.
In summer 2003, 8 former People's Provincial Iveco TurboDaily minibuses were repainted into Barbie 2 with 6 receiving blue line branding for the recently introduced Portsmouth Overground network. Iveco 52097 (M197XTR) is pictured at Southsea (South Parade Pier) heading for Tipner on route 6, wearing Barbie 2 livery. I remember the first time it was reported that one of these had received Barbie 2 - we all thought it was a joke! There were additionally a further two former Blue Admiral Ivecos painted in Barbie 2 following the end of advert contracts.
In February 2004, First introduced 10 former London Dennis Dart SLFs onto route 6, still operating at every 10 minutes. These were a great improvement over the Ivecos on route 6, and finally made the Portsmouth Overground network reliably low floor. 41641 (R641VLX) is pictured in The Hard late one summer's evening back in 2004.
Over the winter of 2006/7, the frequency of route 6 was cut to four buses an hour from the previous frequency of 6. The Marshall bodied Dart SLFs also received LED displays in 2008, and in 2009 a new variation of the route was introduced. The 6 was cut into the 6/6A - with half-hourly buses going to Tipner as the 6, and half-hourly buses as the 6A going to Hilsea. Two further Dart SLF/Marshalls were transferred over from Portswood as well - here is 41165 (R165TLM) pictured at Southsea's South Parade Pier.
Finally, my photo taken on Saturday shows two-year-old Volvo B7RLE 69388 (HY09AOT) pictured in Southsea. The 6 doesn't see the Volvo B7RLEs very often, but I thought it was a good way to show how First have changed the 6 from Ivecos seven years ago, into these today. [Likewise, a Dart the same age as Iveco 52097 was also on the route on Saturday!] Dart SLFs of 12-13 year's vintage at the main allocation, but even these are a step in the right direction from the Ivecos. In summary, the 6 is a stereotypical model of how First change city services in the main - larger, low floor buses but with reduced frequencies. Judging from recent observations, the 6 can cope well with a 4-an-hour frequency - and it is only the turn-up-and-go or rush hour passengers, or us bus photographers who have suffered. In another city, further up First's interest scale, the 6/6A may reliably be Volvo B7RLE operated but not in Portsmouth. Who knows what will happen next?
