Welcome to the latest news update! Hopefully this is of use to you and I hope that you are enjoying the slight modifications that have been made to this website!!! St Helens: 1223 is now at St Helens having recently transferred from Bootle. This was seen on the 35 (Gillars Green- St Helens Junction) on Saturday 15th March. This dart was fitted with St Helens destination blinds so it could be here to stay although it has not been noted since that Saturday. The first B6BLE in the Arriva North West fleet has now gained LED destination blinds- this being 2805 that currently plies its trade at St Helens. This has been noted on a variety of routes since its make over and certainly looks very smart due to its new addition. B10BLE 2707 has also been recently equipped with LED hannover destination displays. Over the last few weeks’ service 329 now seems to have a vehicle allocation of Scania Ultralows (even a pathfinder was on here during the last couple of weeks) as the vehicle allocation for this route used to be Volvo B6’s. Local St Helens routes 37/38’s have also recently been converted to all low floor vehicle allocations. These two routes could have been converted to mainly low floor allocations due to them having competition in the form of a new company called Fairway Travel.
Skelmersdale: Over the last few weeks, Skelmersdale have lost dart 1276 to Wythenshawe. This dart was de licensed only just a few weeks ago but now it has gained the relevant paper work and has moved to Wythenshawe. It is sad to see most of the darts that this depot acquired from South Lancs Transport go as these darts seem to be the signature bus for this depot. Over the last few weeks services 375/385’s workings that work the full route, Wigan to Southport, have seen less double decks workings. This is a shame as this route is a fantastic route to travel on if you are able to sample the scenic views from the top deck of an Olympian. Mind you it is probably quite a ask for a H-reg Olympian to survive such a long journey time that this route takes up! Green Lane: A few of the commanders at Green Lane have had Le Bus branding for route 14 applied to the sides of the buses. This is not an entirely surprising move as these buses mainly work the route 14 anyway. Also, it is not the first time that buses at Green Lane have had Le Bus branding applied for the route 14 as some Darts were branded for the 14A only a couple of years ago. Some of these darts in question seem to like the Le Bus branding as some are now branded for routes 6 and 7! On the subject of Le Bus branding, Neoplan 6402 has been repainted and has also lost its Le Bus branding for one of Green Lane’s flagship routes, 18A. Could this be a sign that all of the Neoplan’s will be unbranded for this route and maybe new buses coming in and being branded for the 18A? Here is a link to one of the commander’s wit the Le Bus branding for route 14: http://www.markhaldons-bus-pics.fotopic.net/p48835432.html
Speke: Various B10BLE’s at Speke have had Hannover LED destination displays fitted and they have also had Le Bus branding applied for route 79. Some people may not like this move as many people feel that some of Speke’s many decker’s should be branded for this very busy and popular route. On the subject of route branding for route 79, Commanders 2601-3 have also had Le Bus branding applied for this route. Due to children been off school, Speke’s H-GEV Olympians have been working a variety of different routes. 3115 was even noted on the 79’s last week and one of these Olympian’s was on Airport route 81 only a couple of days ago. On the subject of Double Decker’s, a B7TL, 4113, was noted on the Airport route 500 during the last couple of weeks. This route seems to be the only route that is operated by Speke’s garage that doesn’t get DD’s on a regular basis! | Bootle: Bootle has acquired Mini Darts 1150-2 from Bolton over the last couple of months. These buses have spent many a time at Bootle’s depot, over their long and illustrious 15-year life. These buses have been known to work most of Bootle’s routes and one has even been noted on Liverpool City centre route S2/3 since its return to Bootle’s depot. There have been no sightings of S1 branded Commanders appearing on other routes, but there have been sightings of various different buses appearing on the S1. I can see these different buses appearing on these routes causing a lot of confusion for visitors to Liverpool! Southport: One for the Atlantean fans due to the news that 3980 will be yet again pressed into service for Southport’s annual town sightseeing tour. Every year this bus is given a death sentence with Arriva saying they are going to withdraw it but it still lives on. Usually this bus has a last day out every year so this thing is ultimately the come back king! The police liveried B10BLE, 2726 ,that currently resides in Southport has been given a repaint back into Arriva’s corporate livery. This is due to the contract with the advertisement with Merseyside Police running out. This also means that St Helens police liveried Ultralow, 2013 has been in Bootle’s paint shop of late for a repaint into Arriva’s corporate livery. Dart 2214 is expected to be painted back into corporate livery too. Birkenhead: It has been stated that Laird Street are to receive numerous amounts of Volvo B9’s, which are due to replace the aging Volvo Olympian’s that currently run the “Cross River” services. These are due this winter and these are expected to gain 58 registration plates. It is not known at this moment in time where the Volvo Olympians will end up due to them being surplus to requirements when these buses arrive. These buses will certainly spice up Laird Street’s fleet, as it is the first time that Laird Street has had a new bus for around seven years! Numerous amounts of step entranced darts are now in the disposal pool at Laird Street due to them being surplus to requirements. This is because of the withdrawal of routes 441,470 in January. These routes were withdrawn due to lack of passenger numbers even though these routes only came into effect a couple of months before there withdrawal. On the subject of fleet movements, Laird Street currently have DAF’s 1792-7 and Olympian 3122 due to Rail Replacement work that is currently taking place on the Wirral. 3122 has also worked public services, although it has been suggested that the ride that it gives has slightly deteriorated over the last few months. Chester: The bus war in Chester between First and Arriva is still raging on. It may be quite surprising that Arriva have still kept the commanders there and it will be interesting to see when and where one of the companies will pull out on some routes. It has to happen, as there doesn’t seem to be enough passengers for both companies to make a profit on routes that they have duplicated. Other News:
That’s it for this news update. There are many service changes due to Arriva services in the next few weeks and details of all these changes can be found on the various websites (Merseytravel, County websites). A summary of the service changes will appear in the bus blog next week! |
Apologises for the lack of updates but I've been a bit busy lately! St Helens: Yet again the b6's that where supposed to be withdrawn are still flying around. It looks like these will never get withdrawn at this rate! Dart 2127 is now at St Helens for themerseytravel contract that they have temporarily acquired, the 152. See below for a pic of 2127 on the 33 (pic courtesy of James Frisby) The was also supposed to be a mass withdrawal of b10b's from St Helens over the last month although this has now officially not happened. The following buses where supposed to be withdrawn: 6502-6, 6508-13 and where due to be replaced by various darts that are not needed at ls plus DAF's 1795-7 from Bolton. Ikarus DAF 1794 has left SH for the Wirral rail replacement and has still not returned. Green Lane: Nothing special has happened at Green Lane except for the odd Ikarus DAF very unusually appearig on there route 6. Bet it gave the punters in Warrington a shock! Also Green Lane have aquired a b10b 6534 from Southport over the last few months. Bootle: The baby neoplan's have been noted out again on the S2/3. One even managed to appear on the 53! Bootle have also aquired elc darts 1150-2 and a few of the 12.. series of the past month. These are not expected to stay and 1150-2 are listed in this months disposal pool. Bootle have also lost a mpd dart to Wythenshawe. | Skelemersdale: Skelmersdale have been steadily losing there slt darts with 1276/8/9 in the disposal pool and 1280/2 already been sold to Helms who are a small company on the Wirral. Dart 1338 is definitely here. This is the first time it has been reported as a conrete sighting at Skelmersdale. Southport: A couple of the 48A's have broke down lately meaning that Speke have stepped in to help them out. Buses noted out inlcide olympian 3618. There is a picre of 3618 on John Wignalls Southport Today website for anyone who is interested. Speke: Speke have seen olympians again with 3112-5 been noted as being here. These have mainly stayed on the university route but some have also appeared on the 78 and 86's. Birkenhead: Birkenhead have lost darts 7537-9 to Chester but have gained darts 2109 and 2123. Olympian 3122 has also been noted at Laird Street for the rail replacements that are taking place there at the moment. Other Depot News:
Thats all for now. Keep on looking back for updates!!! |
Welcome to yet another news update on the entire latest goings with Arriva in the NW. Hope this will be informative and entertaining for you! St Helens: The b6’s that where supposed to be withdrawn have still be driving around. All of the buses that have supposed to be withdrawn have all been sighted. Some people may this quite sad due to the awful vibrations that these buses give off and an engine sounding akin to a pneumatic drill. Also quite a few of St Helens high floor scania’s have been fitted with CCTV. Most of these have been done with the exception of 1062,3. Its quite surprising that these haven’t been done yet because of the long distances that they travel and that most of them are regulars in areas with a quite high rate of vandalism. Some of these buses seem to making a return to the 10/A’s. On the talk of scania’s and the route 10 there seems to be less of the ultralow’s on these routes of late. Sadly some might say but 2800 has left St Helens for Bolton. This bus was noted on Bolton’s 575 on Monday. Funny to some people but this bus is already of the road apparently due to the doors not working properly. Its quite sad to see this bus leave St Helens because it seemed to add a touch of glamour and variety to St Helens otherwise quite repetitive fleet. This bus has spent most of its time at St Helens while in the North West and it used to also appear on most routes. Skelmersdale: Nothing much has been happening within Skelmersdale of late. No vehicle movements have been noted. The only news I can give you is that the odd B10B is appearing onto the 375/385’s again. B10B’s did almost exclusively run these routes during the summer. Supposedly this route is contracted to be exclusively low floor. If this is true Skelmersdale has missed the mark completely by using Olympians and B10B’s on this route. Only a couple of years ago SK decided to use b6’s as well as the usual SLF darts on this route due to them deciding to interwork the 311/351/375 and 385’s together. | Bootle: The last Dennis dominator ever (3837) seems to have finally entered public service at Bootle even though it has been as this depot for a few weeks now. While at Bootle it seems to have mainly worked the 693 school service and rail replacement journeys. Also 2123 has now transferred to Bootle from Speke. This was on the 53 on Sunday.
Green Lane:
Nothing much has really being happening at Green Lane of late. 6524 has transferred here from Southport as a replacement for a commander 2624 going the other way. 2109 has also now at Green Lane having been at Speke and Runcorn for the past few months. Speke:
Speke has lost 2123 to Bootle while amazingly for this depot of late there has been no other transfers.
On other Speke depot news, Speke has recently been on a LED fitting spree with 4 or 5 of the B10BLE’s been done. These b10bles’s along with 2410 (see a pic in the photos section of 2410 before its makeover) have also been given new le bus branding for the route 79. This gives us the answer as to why more double-deckers have been appearing on the 79 of late. Southport:
Commander 2624 has joined the other commanders that have made the journey to Southport scheme. These buses are now working the PR1 and PR3 that have replaced the E21/22 respectively. The PR2 is the new Kew Park and Ride route. Although these commanders are less than a year old they are supposedly going to be replaced with Dennis bodied buses by April! Other News: 1.) All Botlon routes to have times revised in January… 2.) B10B’s fitted with LED’s at Bolton… 3.) 10 new solos for Manchester local routes (All B28F with one in service today)- check out this article for more info: |
Theres has been quite a lot of news yet again this month. Hopefully you'll find it all useful!
St Helens:
St Helens have aquired ikaris 1794 from Laird Street. This bus was originally thought to have gone to Green Lane ut actually only 1792,3 made the trip to there. This is actually the first ikarus to be used in service at St Helens. This has been seen this week on the driver change over service for the 39. St Helens have also withdrawn many b6's from there fleet of late. Although these are withdrawn these buses have still been used in public service everyday. Its a shame to see these go but rumour has it the replacement for these are to come from Southport. The withdrawn b6's from St Helens are as follows: 7202-4, 7206, 7212-3, 7222, 7228, 7233, 7237.
It is also a shame to see no double deckers running around st helens now. 3103 has left the fleet for pastures new. 3106 and 3108 have been noted now at Skelmersdale.
Skelmersdale:
Like St Helens there have quite few withdrwals from its fleet. Olympians 3122-5 have been replaced already by olymians 3106 and 8 from St Helens and 3101 from Southport. Quite surprisingly the olympians haven't been noted out on there usual route (375,385) for to weeks now. Mind you these buses were originally brought to Skelmersdale for use on school services so they probably have been on these lately.
Green Lane:
Green Lane have aquired ikarus buses 1792-3 from Laird Street. These buses have added a new dimention to the fleet and have mainly been used on the services that enter Huyton. 7540 has now returned to Rhyl and 2517-9 have gone to Bootle for the new S1 service. Green Lane have also lost commanders 2627-8 to Southport where these are going to see service on the new kew park and ride service. With the loss of the commanders Green Lane have also aquired 2574-6 which were in fact part of the original batch of commanders at Green Lane.
Bootle:
Bootle have recently aquired cadets 2517-9 and 2638. These buses have been repainted into a special Liverpool 08 livery and have been branded for the new S1 route. Originally this new route was supposed to be free of charge but there is now a flat fare of £1.40 on this service. This service also accepts euros like service S2,3 and the 500 in the city centre. Buses 1900 and 7242 have also been withdrawn at Bootle recently.
Speke:
Speke have lost 2109 to Runcorn as this is covering for the demonstator 2000 at Runcorn. Although Speke have aquired olympians 3113-5 from Laird Street. These have been aquired as more double deckers are needed at Speke for reasons unbeknown to us! These buses have mainly being used on the university route 699 but they have been used on other routes.
Southport:
Southport have recently aquired cadets 2625-8 for the new Kew park and ride service. These have been painted into a livery that looks like the old MTL livery. Personally I dont think they look as good as the buses that are branded for the S1 route! The link below gives you a sneak preview of the new livery: http://www.southportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50379036
Olympians 3101 have definitely left and I can now say that 3102 has gone onto pastures new and 3101 has gone to Skelmersdale. There was rumours that 3101 was going to be converted for the open top route that Southport do every year but sadly this is not true. Bus as the saying goes... Never say never!
Laird Street:
Laird Street have latley lost all of there ikarus daf's to other depots except for 1791. They have also lost olympians 3113-5 to Speke. Thet have not had anything in return due to them aquiring many B10B's and darts of the last few months. Here is a list of the B10B's they have recently aquired:
Other Depots News:
The citaros have returned to Manchester after there stay with Runcorn. 2621-3 are now at Chester and Llandudno have aquired darts 7558, 7562-3, 7565-6. Bolton have also recently required 1344.
Thats it for the news for now .More news will be live in a couple of weeks. Don't forget to visit the new depot and quiz sections!!!
Merseyside Area
St Helens- Darts 7531-5 and 7539 have sadly returned to there home depot of Rhyl. This is a shame because these certainly added a bit of variety to the buses of st helens. Ironically darts 7531 and 7532 original home when they first went to MTL was St Helens- they seem to have gone full circle in terms of touring the depots! All of the olympian deckers have now left st helens. This must be the first time ever that Jackson Street hasn't got a depot to its name. Olympians 3103 and 3108 have gone to Bootle for rail replacement work whereas 3106 has gone to Skelmersdale to work the 375/385. St Helens have also lost 6 B10B's to Bolton due to Bolton taking over the workings of the 360/365 now that the metrolink replacement has finished. St Helens have also recently aquired 2 B10B's. These being 6561 from Bootle and 6554 from Southport. Also B10BLES 2710-5 have now returned to SH after metrolink work. These did also have a short stay in LS. On other news in St Helens some of the pathfinders looks a bit respectable due to them being given new style destination blinds. Personally I don't know why they don't refurbish them all like they did at Runcorn.
Green Lane- Green Lane have recently lost darts 2123 and 2127 to Speke. To replace these Green Lane have got dart 7619 and 7622. Other new arrivals to GL are cadets 2627 and 2517. The cadets have manly being worked routes 14 and 10B. Also more scanias have being appearing on the 6 due to GL losing darts 7536-8 to LS. These buses were regulars on this route.
Speke- All of the Welsh darts at Speke have now returned to there respective depots. Speke have now also lost all of there B10B's to LS. In return for these Speke have aquired DAF deckers 3612-8 and darts 2123,2127 and 2601. Since all of the buses that were on the tram replacement have come back workings on routes have returned back to normal. Speke have actually also lost 2517-9 to other depots. These commanders are due for Bootle to operate the new S1 service which starts soon. Watch this space.....
Skelmersdale- SK have aquired deckers 3106 from SH and 3101 from Southport. These have come to Southport due to there vehicle operations manager wanting more deckers for there 375/385. SK have also recently aquired dart 1338 from Southport. This dart will probably mainly work the 311 route.
Birkenhead- Birkenhead have recently aquired a lot of B10B's from Speke. This B10B's are especially unique due to LS being the only arriva depot in Merseyside never to have B10B's. Even Skelmersdale have had B10B's and they tend to get the worst buses going! Also a few cadets have lost there route 403 branding and have aquired branding branding for the 401. The branding looks very smart. Rumour has it they are trying to smarten the route up due to First running far better buses on there route 1 which runs more or less hand in hand with route 401. Sadly the image is ruined due to LS also working grotty 10 year old B10B's on this route aswell. When will Arriva ever learn...
Chester- Chester has aquired yet more 07 reg commanders for services that duplicate some of the first services in Chester. It has been supprisingly quite in Chester over the last few weeks. I think that everybodies got used to the Arriva-First buswar thats going on!
Southport- Olympian deckers 3101 and 3102 have now left Southport with the whereabouts of 3102 unknown. What is known for sure is that 3101 is at SK. Dart 1338 has also left to go on the short trip to SK. Rumour has it a lot of B10B's are to leave SP for SH. 6554 has already made the trip. Watch this space....
Runcorn- Runcorn have recnetly aquired a scania demonstrator of the registration YN07 EZB. This demonstrator will be at Runcorn in a couple of weeks and will only work on the 21 and X30 due to them being the less vandalised routes.
Bolton- All the buses on loan for the metrolink replacement have now left. Bolton has also lost 2601 to SP but has also gained 6 B10B's from SH for the route 360/5.
That is all the news for this week. Keep checking back for more news updates!
Merseyside Area
St Helens- Of late St Helens have been ,essing aorund with the routes. Gone is the 31 to Eccleston. This still operates but only between St Helens and Parr only. Services 37 and 35A now only serve Eccleston. Route 39 now only operates between Prescot and Broadgreen Hospital only. St Helens have also lost a few buses of late with B1OBLE's 2713-5 now operating from Laird Street. Bus allocations on routes has also changed in st helens of late with route 36 now seeing more scania with northern counties and elc bodies. Route 35 has also seen more b6's of late. Route 37 and route 38 (St Helens- Rainford) have mainly seen volvos and dennis darts. Darts 7570 and 7571 haven't been noted out for a while. Probably still at st helens though!
Green Lane- Green Lane have lost darts 7536-8 to Laird Street. The commanders that have been on rail replacement have now supposedly returned. Of unusual note dart 2127 was seen in Warrington on the 6 on Monday.
Speke- Speke will finally have there double deckers and commanders returned from rail replacement over the coming week. This means that the loaned B10B's and darts will be leaving for other destinations. Probable destinations for these buses could well be at laird street considering that they are embroiled in a bus war with first over there at the moment.
Skelmersdale- Double deckers on the 375 and 385 are a regular occurance now. They are now even appearing on a Sunday. Supposedly the manager of sk's depot wanted the tridents that are on loan at Manchester for the 375 and 385. Rumour has it though sk are getting from Southport 3101, 3102 and 1330 due to a increased frequency of the 375 from October.
Southport- Yet again the open top Altlean has had its final outing. Rumour has it 3101 will be converted to a open top but other rumours suggest that its going to skem.
Birkenhead- Birkenhead have aquired many buses over the last week for its new routes. Buses include darts 7536-8, 7556-8 and B10BLE's 2713-5. These have all mainly worked routes 401,402,403 and 409. New routes introduced in Wirral this week (441 and 470) have mainly seen step entranced darts with no destination displays. This has left many a passenger confused this week!
Chester- Arriva are still battling with First in Chester. They have registered yet more routes in competition with first. The new commanders at Chester are now branded for routes 1A and 15.
Runcorn- Runcorn are losing route 700 back to Manchester from next week. This means that they will lose the citarios that are branded from this route.
Bolton- Nothing much has happened at Bolton for the last few months except that they are regaining routes 360/365 from next week. It is expected that they will get B10B's again from st helens for this route.
Manchester- All of the buses on rail replacement duties at Manchester have now gone. This means that the streets of Manchester are going to look very boring without tridents and ALX400's going down them!
Merseyside Area
St Helens- St Helens have aquired 5 slf darts from Rhyl depot. These being N531 DWM, N532 DWM, P533 MBU, P535 MBU, P539 MBU. All of these darts do have st helens destination boards but it does look likely that these darts are only temporarily at St Helens. The reason I say this is because B10BLE's 2710-5 are in Manchester on Metro replacement work. The darts have been working many routes but they have mainly been on the 10, 89 and the 31/A/B. There has also being an increase of B6BLE's and Scanias on the 32 and 33 because some of the B10BLE's that usually work this route are doing the Metro replacement work.
On other news in St Helens 2014 now has a hannover destination display. This brings the number of scanias with hannover destination displays at St Helens to 9. The scanias with hannover destination displays are as follows: 1039, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2023
Green Lane- Green lane has also aquired a few darts of late. These are P540 MBU, 2123 S623 KHN AND 2127 S627 KHN. S623 and S627 are originally from the north east. From there they ended up in Wales and now they are in Liverpool. Ex- liverbus B10B 6910 is now a trainer and allocated at Speke.
Speke- Having lost many buses over the past few weeks to the Metro replacement work Speke have aquired a couple of slf darts (7562-7565), 1 northern counties daf 1799 M849 RCP. Speke have also aquired B10B's on loan from green lane. Some may say that it is nice to see older buses back at Speke but personally I feel that these buses make the fleet look sahbby.
On other news B10B's 6301-6303 have now become driver trainers an are renumbered (8301-8303). These buses will not be allocated to one depot but they will be allocated to a certain area where they will 'float' around the depots in there area. Its a shame that these buses are not going to be used for passenger service anymore because they are still fine buses.
Skelmersdale- Skelmerdale have recently been using there olympian double deckers on the 375 and the 385. The deckers that they ahve been using are 3104,3110. Earlier this year 5 deckers were transfered to Skelmersdale for school contracts. Its great to see deckers back on the 385 because only a few years ago a few volvo citybus deckers were branded for this route. I'm surprised that these deckers haven't been on the liverpool routes that Skem run but there is always time!
Southport- Double decker 3365 wasinvolved in a RTA a few weeks ago but is now back on the road. Dart 1338 P838 RMU is at Southport in place of B10B M574 YEM which enginge burst into flames. B10B'S 6616 and 6617 are now branded for the 48. They are also equipped with hannover LED destination displays.
Birkenhead- The three norther counties DAF deckers that were in loan at Speke have now returned to Birkenhead having not been used in service at Speke. Birkenhead also look to be heading into a bus war with first because first are registering services directly in competition with Arriva's 432 and 433. I can see plenty of empty buses driving around New Brighton in August when first service starts! Birkenhead also now have Ikarus' 1790-4 back. Ugly buses but many people seem to have a soft touch for them!
Chester- Whereas Arriva Birkenhead look set to have a bus war with first, Arriva Chester is already having one with First. Since first have aquired Chesterbus which Arriva have wanted Arriva have gone into competition with them by registering identical routes 1 and 15 to Chesterbus routes 1 and 15. I feel that Arriva may win this battle becasue they are using brand new commanders on there route compared with Chesterbus' shabby looking darts. Arriva have allocated a lot of brand new commanders to Chester just r these two routes. It shows how badly Arriva want to win this war!
Runcorn- Not much has been happening at Runcorn of late except that they have aquired route 700 for a short period. The reason that they have got the 700 is because Manchester who usually run this route are doing Metro replacement work at the moment.
Bolton- Bolton have aquired dart 7621 from Wythenshawe. This is the second dart bolton have aquired in the space of a few weeks having had 7622 for a period of time. 7622 is now at Wythenshawe for Metro replacement work.
Manchester- In recent times Manchester has aquired many buses for the Metro replacement work. Buses that have been temporarily transfered to Manchester include the ex blue bus tridents and some brand new commanders. They also have a few B10BLE's from St Helens.
Wales Area
Over the past few weeks Wales has aquired a far amount of brand new buses. These are branded for he route 12 (Llandudno-Rhyl) and are replacing the V-reg darts that were previously branded for this route. The buses are VDL SB200CS/Wright Pulsar and have a B44F layout.
I hope that you have found this news update useful and this page will be updated next week!