Gas Buses Bow Out At Weekend

Anglianbus is to run its last gas bus operated services on Saturday before they move to the south west of England. The twelve Caetano bodied MAN vehicles will then begin their long journey to Plymouth on Sunday

WX62HHE arrives at Lowestoft Bus Station for the official launch on 3rd December 2013

Andrew Pursey cuts the ribbon at the official launch at
Lowestoft Bus Station on 3rd December 2012

During March 2012 the operator secured a £624,000 grant from the Government's Green Bus Fund for the acquisition of 13 new gas powered single deck buses for use throughout Norfolk and Suffolk. Six of the MAN EcoCity buses arrived in early December of that year and were immediately put to work on the then new 146 route between Lowestoft and Norwich

Eastnorfolkbus was at the official launch on the 3rd of December to see the then AnglianBus Managing Director Andrew Pursey cut the ribbon to unveil the new vehicles in the presence of MAN representatives

Six were delivered for the first day when I sampled a journey on WX62HHE, the 10:05 departure as far as Beccles; which provided a very quiet and smooth ride with almost a full load. One thing I did notice, however, was that the rear interior of the bus looked uninviting to passengers as the exterior contravision wrap made it look a little gloomy. That, thankfully, has long since been removed

WX62HGG in happier times at Norwich Bus Station

The thirteen were subsequently reduced to twelve following a rear end shunt on Acle New Road in March last year. As a result of the incident the chassis of WX62HGG was twisted and beyond repair with the vehicle being subsequently written off

The first in the fleet 100 WX62HHP at Market Gates in January 2014 - a favourite of blogger SteveW!

After some initial teething problems, they have reliably settled down in service and, at one time, the gas buses provided all of Anglian's Sunday services without the need to for any other vehicles. The transfer of 40% of the active fleet to Plymouth, however, will see a large gap in the number of vehicles available to Anglianbus to operate their services. Presumably we shall see some of the current inactive fleet returned to service from withdrawn status. There might also be the possibility of the transfer of buses from other Go Ahead subsidiaries. All speculation - with next week providing the answers to these questions

Further details are also available on the excellent Plymouth Transit blog which can be viewed HERE

Roy