New Volvos for Safeguard

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Safeguard Coaches managing director, Andrew Halliday contacted me last week suggesting I might like to sample the company's two recently delivered new Volvo B8R/MCV Evoras (spelt eVoRas - just to be different I guess). It sounded a good idea and one not to miss out on so yesterday morning found me... Continue Reading →

TfL’s ‘Future Bus’ project takes shape

Thursday 6th January 2022 It’s nice to see London’s regulated buses at long last catching up with standards of comfort, decor and facilities that have been commonplace on new buses in the deregulated rest of the country for many years. Yet, this being London, it’s not just a straightforward upgrade to bus specifications. Bish bosh... Continue Reading →

A world second from TfL

Thursday 13th May 2021 No sooner had I posted yesterday morning's blog about Aberdeen's hydrogen buses came news TfL and its contractor Metroline had chalked up a ‘world second’ by introducing one of their similar fleet of Wrightbus built hydrogen double deck buses into service in London for the first time yesterday. TfL have long... Continue Reading →

H is for Aberdeen

Wednesday 12th May 2021 After visiting Kintore Station on Monday I stopped off in Aberdeen to catch up on the latest development in the city’s high profile commitment to hydrogen powered vehicles. In 2015 First Bus and Stagecoach introduced ten Van Hool A330H hydrogen powered single deck buses between them as phase one of an... Continue Reading →

Reach for the sky class

Saturday 19th December 2020 How appropriate that aside from my usual "Annual Review, Quiz and Awards of the year" which will post tomorrow, for the penultimate blog of 2020 I was able to try out Transdev Blazefield's smart new "Sky Class" buses today. What a positive end to a rather dismal year. Photos and promotional... Continue Reading →

£13 million down the tube

Monday 7th December 2020 The order was announced in a fanfare of publicity on 4th March: "Europe's most frequent coach service set to get even better with 34 new coaches this summer.... the largest single order of coaches in the history of Stagecoach .... the latest technology designed to enhance the customer experience". Their deferment... Continue Reading →

Switch to switched on Voltra

Sunday 6th December 2020 I always know something serious is happening when a new initiative is upgraded from being described as "ground breaking" in the media release to "game changer" . Mind you, the much derided NHS Covid app was once so described, but that must be the exception to the rule. Go North East... Continue Reading →

Leeds leads in West Yorkshire

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 First Bus in Leeds have just introduced a fleet of nine electric buses manufactured by the Chinese company, Yutong. They’re becoming a popular purchase choice with a fleet of 14 recently introduced in Newport, South Wales and a batch arriving for Go North East imminently. With Lockdown 2.0 fast approaching and... Continue Reading →

Beachcomber and EastRider riden

Thursday 20 August 2020 The last time I took a ride on East Yorkshire's open top bus service along Scarborough's seafront was in May last year, just before the lovely bright new Beachcomber brand was rolled out, so it was nice to make a return visit on Tuesday and see the Best Impressions designed makeover... Continue Reading →

Manchester miscellany

Monday 2nd March 2020 Stagecoach rolled out its high profile £16.5 million investment in 32 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double deckers yesterday so I popped up to Manchester today to take a look. They're zero emission electric buses and in a nice piece of purchase symmetry the Government's Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme contributed a handy £6.9... Continue Reading →

Big Bus Busway and electri-citi 6

Wednesday 19th February 2020 I took a ride on the Cambridge Busway earlier today to look at Stagecoach's latest vehicles purchased specifically to increase capacity to meet growing demand on the popular link from St Ives to the city as well as other destinations as far away as Peterborough and Royston. Eighteen vehicles costing £5... Continue Reading →

excel excels

Monday 17th February 2020 It's 'take a ride on another high profile brand new fleet of buses' time again. Another £5.3 million spend. Another whole route conversion. This time nineteen buses for First Eastern Counties' excel branded Norwich to Peterborough 84 mile route. And all this before Johnson's promise last week of "4,000 beautiful, bouncing,... Continue Reading →

Basingstoke greens and Salisbury reds

Sunday 9th Febraury 2020 It seems not a week goes by at the moment without new 'state-of-the-art' vehicles being introduced to bus fleets around the Country; usually promoted with understandable emphasis on their green credentials at a time of increasing climate change concerns. None more so than in Basingstoke where Stagecoach South introduced a fleet... Continue Reading →

Show of the Star

Friday 24th January 2020 I don't often attend new bus PR razzmatazz type launches these days, much preferring to take a ride when they're actually in service earning their keep with passengers travelling on board. But I made an exception this morning having seen First Portsmouth's social media promoting their sparkly new buses for the... Continue Reading →

Three contrasting upgrades

Tuesday 21st January 2020 It's interesting to compare three recent launches of buses and brands in the last couple of weeks. Highest profile was Blackburn Bus Company's launch last weekend of 13 new ADL Enviro200 buses for route 1 running between Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton. This route runs at an impressive 7/8 minute frequency between... Continue Reading →

Road testing AIR

Thursday 7th November 2019 Seeing the photos online I was already hugely impressed by the sheer presence of the magnificent looking Alexander Dennis built Plaxton Panorama tri-axle coaches launched by Scottish Citylink on their AIR branded service between Glasgow and Edinburgh Airport towards the end of last month. Costing a cool £400,000, each of the... Continue Reading →

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