Brighton Beat

Whilst wife and daughter wanted to spend most of the day shopping in Worthing last Wednesday, it was suggested I should go to Brighton on the 'Old Gits' bus pass. So armed with my lunch, camera and phone I boarded one of the new Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMCs heading for Brighton on the 700 Coastliner just after midday.

We passed Enviro400MMC SN18KNM on the outward journey returning west for Littlehampton 

The first of the Brighton & Hove buses observed at Shoreham

This gave me the ideal opportunity to assess how good they were in service.The ride seemed to be quite smooth with the lovely blue seats feeling very comfortable. WiFi was very good although, on the return journey, I rued the fact that I hadn't taken my charging lead me to take advantage of the USB connection!

I was pleased that there were no 'the next stop is ..' announcements to be heard which are quite common on the Brighton & Hove buses. However, it must be very irritating for the driver as the engine stops every time the door opens. I can understand the safety issue and the fuel saving element but it must put a lot of strain on the starter motor. The driver I spoke to said it was very annoying!

It didn't take too long before we arrived at Churchill Square where the first non Brighton & Hove bus, among the sea of red and cream, was The Big Lemon's Dennis Dart KN52NFV. This well travelled bus was new to Tellings-Golden Miller and has seen use with Travel London, Travel Surrey, Abellio Surrey and Acme Transport Services of Essex.

I then adjourned to Stein Gardens and within half an hour I saw both former Konectbus Mercedes Benz Citaro articulated buses terminate there following their use on the Universities 25 route. BL57OXM was in the Brighton standard colours scheme, but branded for the 25, whilst BL57OXM had received a 'Love Music Love Brighton' livery.

One of the reasons I was determined to get to the City was that I saw on a Facebook group that Brighton & Hove were trialling a hybrid electric Wright Streetdeck. My first attempt in getting a picture of SK18TKX was photo bombed by a motor cyclist!! However, my second attempt was much more successful.

Pleased with my haul, I looked in at the nearby Pool Valley Coach Station to see what was on offer there prior my return journey. On site were two Caetano Levante bodied Volvo B9Rs in the form of West Midland Travel's FJ11GLZ and FJ12FYH. The third coach present was Luckett's new Volvo B11R BU18OSX. It was only month old having been delivered in mid May.

Roy

Week in Worthing

Firstly, my thanks to Grahame for looking after the shop whilst I spent a week down in Worthing, West Sussex. This post contains just the highlights of my observations there and the remainder of the photos taken will soon be available to view on the Eastnorfolkbus Flickr site.

The main change since our last visit is the introduction of thirty 2018 registered Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMCs operating the 700 Coastliner service. These have replaced the Scania 400s previously operating the route, some of which have moved to the north west of England.

A couple of unusual workings saw double deckers undertake work on Worthing local services normally operated by saloons. Coastliner branded Scania N230UD/Alexander Dennis Enviro400 15993 YN64XSX was employed on the Durrington Tesco service on 9th June although their appearance on the 10 appears more often now. What was a complete surprise, however, was the use of  10970 SN18KPE on the Pulse route, normally exclusively provided by the specially route branded ADL Enviro 200s.

Another area of interest was schools workings and recent Compass Bus acquisition Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 BX11PTO was seen on Marine Parade.It was formerly a demonstrator as a Euro 6 development vehicle and is fitted with a larger Cummins euro 6 engine.

The Lancing depot of Crawley Luxury Coaches at around 4pm on school days is a good place to see a procession of school workings returning home and it is unbelievable that so many coaches can be accommodated on this site surrounding the workshop.

Finally on the Friday BBC Local Radio were utilising their PO56JFV, an East Lancs Myllenium bodied MAN 14.220, in Montague Place in Worthing Town Centre for publicity purposes.

Roy

Tridents Leave Caister Road

The two Dennis Trident/Plaxton Presidents, which had been languishing in the rear yard of  First Great Yarmouth's Caister Road depot for a couple of months, finally left the town on Friday. Both 32801/49 (T801/49LLC) were seen heading out of Great Yarmouth on the A47 towards Norwich later that day.

They were part of a trio arriving at Norwich from First South West during October last year and they subsequently moved on to Great Yarmouth. The other one, 32809 (T809LLC), returned to Norwich for use as a driver trainer in April whilst 32801/49 remained out of service.

They have now been sold by First to unknown buyers, although I understand both were observed parked up in Lincoln yesterday.

Roy

Great Yarmouth Airshow Photo Special

Photos from the two days of Park and Ride operations from the Airshow.

Operators for the weekend were as follows,

FIRST, SANDERS, REYNOLDS, BORDERBUS, KONECTBUS, COACH SERVICES, IPSWICH BUSES, BEESTONS, MULLEYS, BELLE COACHES, AMBASSADOR TRAVEL

Many thanks to Will Drake & Suffolk Explorer for the extra photos

Grahame.

Airshow Park & Ride Operators

Great Yarmouth will be hosting its first Airshow this weekend with thousands people expected to visit the seaside town over the two days. As a result two Park and Ride services will operate to help move the crowds.

PARK & RIDE SOUTH.

This site is based at Beacon Park in Gorleston near to the James Paget Hospital. It will be operated by the following companies.

FIRST
SANDERS
REYNOLDS
BEESTONS
MULLEYS
IPSWICH BUSES
KONECTBUS
AMBASSADOR

PARK & RIDE NORTH.

This site will be based at Great Yarmouth Racecourse and will be run by the following companies.

FIRST
SANDERS
REYNOLDS

First will continue to operate normal services with additional X1/X11 services between Lowestoft/Great Yarmouth & Norwich. The Seafront 3 Service will be running with an every 20 minute service between Haven Seashore Camp and Britannia Pier.

Delays are expected on all services during the weekend but please be aware as many services as possible will be available to move people around the area.

Many Thanks to Chris Speed at First for the information.

Grahame.

Service Alterations Registered ~ 13th June 2018

Apart from Park and Ride services and amendments to the First Great Yarmouth 3 and X1/X11 timetables for the Airshow, (reported earlier) there is only one other change to highlight regarding this  morning's Notices & Proceedings Report. The East of England Traffic Commissioner has also published a change to the authorisation for Sanders Coaches for the use 12 vehicles at the Hempstead Road Business Centre in Holt

The full report will be available soon on the Traffic Commissioner's website

Roy

Back To Red In Lowestoft

Today saw another Heritage livery for Eastern Counties hit the road in Lowestoft. Joining Lowestoft Corporation liveried 30888 is Dart 42926 SN05EAE which is now shopped out in Post Office Red of Eastern Counties with Cream and Orange Trim. Three vehicles now proudly wear these colours with 32479 at Ipswich and 60916 at Norwich the other two.

This brings the total number of heritage liveried vehicles in the fleet to Six with possibly more expected if management have their way!

42926 was back at work on the 99 service between Lowestoft and Southwold today.

Many Thanks to Lee Page for the photo.

Grahame.