Editorial
June 1st saw an increase in services and the use of more double deckers to ensure enough room considering the "social distancing" required, Details are shown under operator headings.
However I note that the Government is now intending to apply rules for wearing face masks when using public transport such as buses.
The weather changed on Wednesday and following some warm and sunny days we had cloud, an odd shower and by Thursday the day was wholly cloudy in this part of the world.
From Saturday 6th June, Blenheim Palace will reopen its park and gardens for all visitors. So slowly we seem to be returning to normal but I think there is quite sometime to go yet.
Of buses and bushes at Redbridge
- a very nice picture from Jack Cooper highlighting a
profusion of colours, seen on June 2nd.
Airline Tourismo 37 is seen heading for Heathrow
across Magdalen Bridge on June 3rd - Jack Cooper
Oxford has some beautiful views and buildings.
Richard Sharman
In response to my comment in the last issue, Richard has updated us on the Barton Park Shuttle.
https://wallingfordcoach.co.uk/contact-us/
Here are the details of the
operator of the Barton Park Shuttle, courtesy of
bustimes.org:
https://bustimes.org/services/barton-park-shuttle-barton-park-john-radcliffe-hos?date=2020-05-30
Wallingford Coach are a division of Walters Coaches.
You may also like to know that Hallmark Connections was the successful
tenderer for the 250 service from 5 July 2020. They plan to operate the
service from Grayline in Bicester but I don't know what they will be using
on the service.
We also currently have an unregistered Go North East StreetDeck at Oxford
for inspection. We may get some diverted to us from the GNE order of 31.
Pictures provided by Phil Southall.
The Government has introduced a web site regarding transport during Covid-19. My thanks to Graham Low for highlighting this for readers.
Official Statistics
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic?utm
_source=e9eca495-35c9-4572-a8e3-271c7a14615f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate
Snap is offering ‘pop up’ commuter coach services to businesses and individuals that it hopes will bring additional work to the sector.
Routes will be put in place anywhere in the UK according to demand. Those that are provided on a consumer-led basis will be reliant on them registering their journey to work. That will allow Snap to establish a suitable routing for all passengers concerned.
Snap’s app-based technology platform allows the ‘pop up’ services to be established rapidly. It plots a bespoke route with customised pick-up points that will give users and employers peace of mind that travel to and from work is undertaken in the safest manner possible while ensuring social distancing, says Snap Founder and CEO Thomas Ableman (pictured).
Coach operators can pre-register their availability to run services via the Snap website. As part of that process, they will need to provide a copy of their O-Licence and insurance documents, and their OCRS score. All can be submitted digitally.
Regardless of whether the service is procured by an employer or individual passengers, every user must register online. People who have not registered will be prevented from boarding.
The driver will check in passengers as they join. That will assure compliance with a utilisation threshold of 12 passengers per coach.
Should it be discovered that a passenger on a service arranged by an employer has contracted coronavirus COVID-19, then with employees’ knowledge and following GDPR guidelines, Snap will immediately identify which vehicle(s) they have travelled on and who else was aboard. Affected users will be contacted immediately.
Every vehicle must be sanitised before every trip and hand gel will be provided for passengers’ use.
It will be most interesting to see if there is any take up on this and if Oxford Bus get involved again?
London's Victoria in Lockdown
Andrew Webb has provided some more pictures showing the effects of lock down in this area of London.
Please find attached some photos taken on 29 May around Victoria. The coach station was firmly closed, even the works inside were not visible. The Oxford Tube stops, usually packed with coaches, were completely deserted bar a couple of pedestrians. Surprisingly the nearby Bullied Way coach station was not totally devoid of coaches, with a Marchants Tourismo taking a break.
Could one have ever imagined that Buckingham Palace Road and the express
coach stops could be so deserted - May 29th.
Equally Green Line Coach Station, is also deserted except for one coach from
Marchants of Cheltenham.
One has to acknowledge that the Air Quality levels are much better without
so much traffic.
VCS was also very closed on May 29th as the pictures above show.
Let us hope that it is no too long now before we start to see our world returning to life!
Further roadworks in George Street by Jim Wright
George Street is closed from June 1st-6th for re surfacing, closing Gloucester Green again for six days. Below are some pictures taken of the work on June 4th.
These photos are by Jim Wright taken on June 4th.
There has been a significant number of resurfacing work during the Covid lock down but I imagine Gloucester Green needs to be open now?
One thing for sure is that the roads in and around Wycombe are full of potholes still, some remaining for years. I wonder how this works to at least get the holes filled. When they do fill them it's a make do and mend scenario!! Then when they do some resurfacing one maybe sure that another utility will soon come along and dig it up, never making a proper repair!!!!!
An interesting collection of pictures from the past for this week's issue which I hope readers will enjoy.
More local pictures from Keith Newton via Michael Wadman
Here are few more
historical photos from Keith Newton.
JUR 889G is a Bedford VAS5 / Duple of Taylor’s Coaches (Messrs Smith & Webb)
of Marlow,
in Turville on their service to High Wycombe, circa 1981.
The Bull & Butcher in the background
offered a fine table for dinner in those days.
TRK 9F is an AEC Reliance/Plaxton of Spiers on the Henley-on-Thames town
service which they ran for several years, using coaches.
It was new to Silverline of Hounslow and appears to have a flashing light on
the roof,
which would make sense as Silverline did a lot of work at Heathrow Airport.
Town services in Henley are now run by
Reading Buses.
Finally we have a PostBus. Keith thinks that this might be on the Henley-on-Thames service.
Unfortunately NUF 959M was the south-east region
unallocated spare, so it could be anywhere. If anyone recognises the
location, please let us know?
Many thanks to both Keith and Michael for these further most interesting pictures.
I came across this photograph of former City of Oxford Metroliner
906 (C906GUD), which may interest you for the Oxford Chiltern Bus
Page.
I caught up with her in Galway in June 2009 when operating for O'Neachtain
of Spidal on the Galway City Tour, re-registered 86-G-2400. Her roof
was removed when a member of the London Pride fleet. I'm guessing that
she's now been scrapped.
Naughton's 86-G-24002 in Galway on June 23rd 2009
by Barrie Gilbert.
Paul Bateson in Canada
A new month and at least two new buses have
entered service with Brampton Transit. These were captured this
afternoon, June 1st 2020.
2075, New Flyer XDE60, was captured on Queen Street West on Zum route 501 as
it waited to turn left on to Central Park Drive.
The full batch will be 2075 – 2084.
Older buses continue in service as shown by 0427, New Flyer D40LF, on route
18.
This bus has been re-plated but the bike rack is partially hiding the full
number.
A new bus already on a non-Zum route! 2076 was captured on route 15
Bramalea.
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A special request for information
I'm sorry to trouble
you with a very minor enquiry but I wonder whether you could point me to any
information on the history of Langston & Tasker? I imagine that something
may have appeared in your very informative bulletins at some point. The
reason I ask is that one of my former Midland Red colleagues now lives in a
village served by the company and we've been trying to find out how old the
company is and how long they've been involved in local bus service
operation.
Absolutely no rush for a response but if you
can give any pointers it would be much appreciated. The operator's own
website gives no useful clues.
Bob
Telfer
North of the Border with Gordon Scott - our man in Drum Brae!
Two attached shots of First Bus in my local Corstorphine
First Midland Bluebird 63260- SN65OJJ
taken on St Johns Road Corstorphine on
First East Scotland Livingston depot based
seen on X24 Edinburgh to Deans North
Taken on
They have one production line working with safe working
distance
Stagecoach Manchester Alexander Dennis E40D MMC SK20AVR
First West England, Scania N280UD Alexander Dennis Enviro
First West England Scania three
May 30th
Lothian
Volvo B8L
Taken
at Lothian route 26 Clerwood Edinburgh terminus
Volvo
B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 XLB taken
June 3rd
First East Scotland Livingston depot based.
taken at St Johns
Edinburgh Coach Lines YT19 EBC Scania Irizar i6 seen
As ever, many thanks to Gordon for this update from his area.
Fleet news and developments
Arriva Beds & Bucks
SERVICE UPDATE: From 6th June 2020 we will be changing Saturday journeys on the Aylesbury 150. You can view and download timetables here: https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/coronavirus/important-service-information---beds-and-bucks/, or plan your journey and follow buses in real time via the Arriva Journey Planner app.
Paul Swann
On the fleet list those that have an RFL date ending 1000 are SORN due to Covid.Quite some changes have taken place to get buses with screens in the right places for service and they are shown in the latest Arriva fleet list below. Also three of the 757 coaches are being returned off lease. Further details when available.
ARRIVA Enthusiast Fleet-June 1st 2020
Ciaran Bird
4082 seen with a 280 working in Oxford's High Street on June 1st by Ciaran
Bird.
Jim Wright
4082 and 4086 both seen at Oxford's Train Station on June 5th by Jim Wright.
In my younger days the Traffic Commissioners would have been after someone for the legal owner and insisted that "On Hire to Arriva the Shires" were applied!!
Gavin Francis
On a visit to Wycombe Gavin caught up with a number of buses, some showing thanks to various workers and a new arrival to Aylesbury seen on the 300.
3859 in three previous lives, the dark blue looking very smart all taken on
June 2nd 2020,
July 21st 2015 and June 1st 2011. Quite some change in nine years!!!
StreetLite 2325 correctly working the 33 on June 2nd.
2732 seen in Oxford Street with a 32 to Micklefield on June 2nd.
Citaro 3010 in the latest livery leaves Eden for Reading on June 2nd.
Citaro 3043 seen in Frogmore with a 30 working on June 2nd.
Another wandering minstrel, 3532 branded for Southend but working a 32 and
then another 3532
in Stokenchurch with a service 40 on November 18th 2011 !!! Strange
times?
Citaro 3916 branded for the X60 working The One on June 2nd in High Wycombe.
Citaro 3918, recently repainted and branded for The One working a 41 service
in Oxford Street on June 2nd.
Unbranded Citaro 3921 is working The One in Oxford Street on June 2nd.
Citaro 3922 looking somewhat battle scarred with a 32 service in Oxford
Street on June 2nd.
Citaro 3924 out of service, maybe as a Job Advert, is seen in Oxford Street
on June 2nd.
Wrights 4023 is turning into Frogmoor with a 300 working on June 2nd.
Decker 6000 is back in service, seen here thanking Key Workers, in Oxford
Street followed by 6002 on June 2nd.
Wrights 4026 with a departing 300 service to Aylesbury on June 4th.
Taken shortly before the picture below from Peter Cabin, the wrecker has
arrived to recover 3016 to depot on June 4th.
June 3rd in Harlow and Stevenage.
We haven't seen pictures from this area for a long time now as they mainly came from Gavin and myself and our days on the National Express 737 some 10 years ago now. Here we can see some sister vehicles to those now on loan at Aylesbury.
Arriva 1020 BF67WGW with a number 6 in Stevenage.
Wrights 3784 with a 301 working to Albans ready for departure ion Stevenage.
Wrights 3875 thanking NHS laying over in Stevenage.
4079 is still in Harlow working the 508 as seen above.
Some interesting pictures from Gavin with a few memories of areas no longer visited by your Editor.
Nigel Peach
It's been interesting to see changes on Wycombe's
routes this week.
Arriva have gained two more Citaros from Aylesbury
3923 and 3924. (I saw 3923 in Bourne End this morning.) Their three
remaining double deckers 4819, 6000 and 6002 are back after two months
furlough.
See pictures above by Gavin Francis.
Pete Cabin
3016 BD12DHY had to be towed out of Wycombe bus
station on June 4th.
Gavin Francis
These pictures were taken in Stevenage on June 3rd.
Centrebus Solo SR 325 working the 80 at Stevenage.
Centrebus Solo 396 with a 390 in Stevenage.
Gavin Francis
On a visit to Wycombe Gavin caught up with a StreetLite working the X74,
StreetLite 63314 with an X74 working in Oxford Street, High Wycombe on June
2nd by Gavin Francis.
Taking June 1st it was interesting to note that many Scanias had returned to Wycombe, seemingly to ensure enough low height deckers for The ONE! Also 214 and 219 had returned but were not showing on http://bustimes.org maybe because they were using ticket machines which were not updated.
Gavin Francis
On a visit to Wycombe Gavin caught up with changes to the Carousel fleet, some of which are temporary but made due to a requirement for low height deckers on The ONE!
Thames travel's 209, 212 and 213 on Chiltern Hundreds.
214, 216 and 219 in service at Wycombe. On bustimes.org 214 and 219 are
shown as not in service.
403 and 404 back in service from Furlough.
408 and 409 in full time service on the Park & Ride after spending odd days
on the Link40.
M A N 420 is seen with a 35 service to Flackwell Heath, though this shows up
on bustimes.org in the Oxford fleet!!!
423 has returned to service on Link40, 424 having been cannibilised to
proved a serviceable bus.
710 is presently the only Solo in service and is seen with a 27 service.
Last Sunday it was seen working the short Link40 service to Stokenchurch on
May 31st.
The Citaros are as ever, in service on various Wycombe routes.
The recently acquired Citaros from East Anglia/Wilts & Dorset Bluestar have
reappeared in service except 885 which is still depot bound!
Except where stated these pictures were taken by Gavin on June 2nd & 4th.
Nigel Peach
According to bustimes.org Carousel have brought in
a number of double deckers from Thames Travel, 209 210 and 212.
I saw a TT liveried DD in the bus station as I drove past this morning (June
2nd). On my way back through TT's 214 was on the 101 (picture attached,
hastily taken while I was waiting at traffic lights). 214 is not listed
on bustimes. I also saw TT's 219 in the bus station - also not listed.
Mercedes 873-5 have moved to route 103 and it seems that three of the solos
have maybe been furloughed. Also orange 423 looks to be back on the 40.
Nigel caught up with a Thames Travel bus working
in High Wycombe, which according to bustimes has not been on the road for
many months and is still not so !!
Following the main increase in services various buses have started to reappear in the City. Some temporary allocation changes have taken place but Phil Southall has advised these will be rectified shortly.
Details of the increased services may be found a this link:
https://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/covid-19/
Jack Cooper
Jack, as ever, has provided some most interesting pictures of the changes taken on June 3rd. He says 316 is at Oxford, we've seen it on the U1 today, June 3rd. It seems that indications that it was at Wycombe were incorrect.
Tourismo 38 is seen negotiating Carfax corner inbound from Heathrow.
35 branded Hybrid 308 is seen with a U5 working by Magdalen College.
5 branded 659 is seen with a 4 road service by Carfax corner.
662 is back from repaint bearing a shiny black livery but as yet unbranded,
seen in Magdalen Street East.
3 branded StreetDeck 685 is seen with a 3A service to Oxford Science Park.
Queen Street is deserted!
840 and 841 are seen working staff shuttles in Oxford's High Street.
364 is now in service with its winning brand a bus livery at Redbridge.
367 is seen out of service at Redbridge.
The 300 was restored wef June 1st and 664 is seen at Redbridge.
3 branded 682 is seen at Carfax Corner with a U5 service.
Carousel's 940 has changed places with a Scania and is seen working an X3
Abingdon service.
The above pictures from Jack were taken on June 2nd and 3rd.
Ciaran Bird
Ciaran has also provided pictures from the other side of the City.
308 is working the Staff Shuttle on June 1st by Ciaran Bird.
367 is working the U1 when seen in High Street on June 1st by Ciaran Bird.
Citaro 869 is seen coming down Banbury Road with a 250 service on June 1st
by Ciaran Bird.
This service is to be withdrawn on July 5th 2020 and taken over by Hallmark
[sic].
Jim Wright
StreetDeck 660 is seen with an X13 working in St Aldates on May 30th.
Black 662 with a 2 road working in St Giles on June 5th.
Simon Caygill reports that 941 has been seen on the X32 and 98 services.
Several buses are on loan from Carousel working in place of Scanias now returned to Wycombe.
Jack Cooper
942 is seen at Carfax and Redbridge with an X2 working on June 3rd. It has
never had fleet numbers!!!
Scania 912 is seen passing The Randolph with an X39 on June 3rd.
Scania 914 is seen with an X39 service turning Carfax Corner on June 3rd.
933 is seen at Queens Lane with an X40 working on June 3rd.
City 2 branded Scania 228 is seen with an X38 working by Redbridge on June
3rd.
Scania 251 is seen passing Redbridge with an inbound X39 on June 3rd.
Ciaran Bird
E200MMC 453 is seen with an ST1 working on June 1st.
E200MMC 512, a subject of interest to a bus spotting dog, seen in Beaumont
Street with an ST2 to Wytham Woods on June 1st.
602 advertising Chiltern Railways, is seen with an 11 working on June 1st.
So it is interesting to refer to Carousel and their current working fleet alongside Thames Travel.
Jim Wright
A couple of pictures from Jim.
City branded 224 is seen with an X40 working in St Aldates on June 3rd.
Connector branded 231 is seen with an X2 in St Aldates on May 30th.
I hear that Hallmark have won the contract to operate the 250 Oxford-Bicester service. An interesting development if true, as it brings another operator into the Oxford scene.
The company trading as Hallmark Connections already runs a number of bus services in the Heathrow area from their Stanwell depot.
The latest information is an increase on the outstation allotment at Grayline to five. This was in N&Ps for May 2020.
HALLMARK CONNECTIONS LIMITED
Increase at existing operating centre: GRAYLINE COACHES, BLACKTHORN HILL
FARM, BLACKTHORN HILL, BLACKTHORN, OX25 1TL
New authorisation at this operating centre will be: 5 vehicle(s)
Richard Sharman writes as
follows: Rotala Group's Hallmark Connections current operations in
Oxfordshire consist of:
Bicester Village P&R service, provided at busy
Weekends and Bank Holidays. Often hiring vehicles from other operations to
increase PVR during the Summer and at Christmas.
Bicester Village Shuttle from Bicester North Station DUE TO PASS TO COMS May 15th 2020
The P&R and Bicester Village Shuttle service were
previously operated by Rotala Group's Wessex Bus unit, which changed to
Hallmark Connections operators discs from May 19th.
The previous Oxfordshire outstation was based at Kel-Berg, Weston-on-the-Green from May 2019 with authorisation for two vehicles, it was then moved to Grayline in February 2020. The authorisation there has just been increased from two to five vehicles and a job advert posted:
www.indeed.co.uk/rc/clk?jk=eed4e30ccdcbbdb6&from=vj&ia=1&
sjdu=QwrRXKrqZ3CNX5W-O9jEvWV-loW2Tr-1cY1oojR1IIQ3rxAQ_8U_O26RdTVY83BP9yVVjxn0PlUy7hBdj8dcUQ&
spon=1&adid=346652615&pos=twoPaneCopyLink
A selection of photo's of current vehicles used:
London to Bicester Village express daily coach service using Irizar i6
YS16LNM
Two deckers used in the past two years.
One of the current buses used on the shuttle to Bicester Village from the
Station.
Many thanks to Richard for some interesting information and pictures.
June 15th and July 4th - Leaving Lockdown
On May 28th the Prime Minster announced some of
the next steps to ease the burdens of lockdown in a way that is expected to
keep the virus transmission rate down. We were already prepared for the
first stage from June 1 with non-essential retail starting to reopen in a
COVID-19 Secure way, whilst the public are still encouraged to avoid public
transport unless they have no alternative.
Throughout lockdown our customer numbers have been consistently 88% lower
than normal, with this marginally improving to 87% from May 17th following
the announcement of the government’s plan to ease some restrictions on
Sunday May 10th. So far this week this has improved to 83% lower of normal -
a step in the right direction, but by no means a mass flood. Combined with
our social distancing measures we seem to have about the right level of
capacity available - four extra buses and drivers were made available on
Monday to relieve any capacity issues, but by Tuesday the need for these had
already reduced as people make use of the enhanced frequencies on the
busiest routes.
Having now passed the June 1 milestone, our thoughts must quickly turn to
the latest announcement. From June 15th all other non-essential retail is to
reopen. Given that the virus is still out there, and the advice remains to
avoid public transport, it is very difficult to know exactly what impact
these changes will have on our customer numbers, or whether there will be a
one-off surge in usage that quickly calms down. Whilst the government want
us to scale services up as quickly as possible to help maintain social
distancing, every step up is a bigger and bigger job to plan.
To help keep things simple, we have decided to
make approximately ten buses and drivers available in strategic locations
from June 15th for duplicate working to support the current June 1st
timetable, and continue to keep customer numbers under close review. This
will allow a little more time to plan our next increase, which will probably
combine with a summer school holiday operation to last us through until
September.
There are further easements proposed from July 4th if things continue as the
government have planned, when more businesses and premises are expected to
reopen including those offering personal care such as pubs, restaurants,
hairdressers, beauty salons, places of worship and cinemas. Monday July 6th
is currently our working assumption for the next round of increases.
Jim Wright sent this picture of GL20PUL working
the 801 in Stow-on-the-Wold taken on June 4th.
Gavin Francis
Dart ex GHA Coaches, AA53GHA, on layover working
the 158 in The Eden Bus Station on June 2nd.
Red Eagle MV59ACX with a 28M which we think may
go via Marlow on June 4th.
Now a regular on the 28, YX10FEP is seen in The
Eden Bus Station, then later with a 38, on June 2nd.
Working the 275 to Oxford E8RRT, is seen leaving
The Eden on June 4th.
Recent pictures of ADL at Falkirk can be found in Gordon Scott's report above.
We have quite a few photos this week as services increase and importantly contributors can now get out and about, duly social distancing!
Jack Cooper
Gold 10781 is seen working the number 1 to Blackbird Leys, a nice touch of
luxury, by Carfax on June 3rd.
Ciaran Bird
Ciaran also visited the depot during his travels and took a few interesting pictures.
Quite a bit of activity seems to be going on in these pictures from June
1st.
Due to the closure of Gloucester Green the S6 has to turn by St Giles as
seen above with 15967 heading into Beaumont Street.
10441, that bus I took to Gaydon when new, is seen on an S3 driven by Jim
Wright. The date was May 30th.
Gold 10783 also turning into Beaumont Street on June 1st.
15830 with an S3 to Charlbury on May 30th.
Gold 28744 passes Sturdy's Castle on its way to Banbury on May 24th.
12012 seen working the 10 on June 1st and looking quite spruce.
Theo Freeman
A decker working the B5 is unusual and above we see 10067 in Bridge Street
displaying FULL Social Distancing on June 2nd.
I am told that a trial is being made on a tube with a Driver Screen to enable social distancing to be available when the service is reintroduced.
Below is a fleet list of megabus coaches at this present time. All our out of service and the screen situation of course applies to all coaches in use previously.
megabus UK Fleetcard P01 2020-21
James Allum
I stopped off at MK in the hope of getting a rail replacement to Northampton which never sadly turned up, however I was rewarded with this lovely Uno Eclipse, 367 BG14OOX, normally based at Uno’s Hatfield base but has transferred to Cranfield and is seen here about to take a C11 to Bedford on Sunday May 31st 2020.
London developments
James Allum
I visited Abellio’s Walworth garage the other week in Camberwell and got these pics of the new Electric buses for the P5 and C10.
Abellio's new 1512 (BV20GOJ) and 1528 (BV20GUD) on May 25th by James Allum.
Whilst
on my night shift waiting for the last coach to go at 0200 this morning
(May 31st) I got some photos of the Current London Nightbus workings
Stagecoach London N205 to Leyton Downsell Road
Metroline N20 to Barnet Church
Metroline N91 to Cockfosters Station
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