First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[Private Baxter]

I drove 66724 on the evening RR shift on Saturday - amazing bus to drive!

Great photo. Pleased to hear it is still a decent bus. Just needs a bit of paint and internal refurb to be as good as new!

 

[Whiteway215]

If 32673 is officially a Wells bus it must get the wanders as it was on Bath U2 today.

 

[B7rleThrasher]

If 32673 is officially a Wells bus it must get the wanders as it was on Bath U2 today.

Its Bath allocated permanently.

 

[Whiteway215]

Anyone know what's happened to 10169? I haven't seen it this year and it's not on the Tracker.

 

[Westonian]

Earlier today, had ride on 37329 on Sevice 1 to Sand Bay. Very comfortable, clean and tidy, well driven. Contrast with other service 1 bus - 33156 - nice Coaster paint job, not a penny spent on interior, hard, worn, faded seats, poor suspension! Noted that two of the open top 'insurance' buses have already returned to Bristol, 37334 and 37607 on the 73. Presumably no rain for the next few weeks!
Also noted Badgerline 66726 on tow truck earlier.
On the subject of Badgerline, it appears the proposed 8 Deckers and 8 Darts to be 'Badgered' has come to an end as nothing done since the end of last year. Curiously, of the 8 B7's for service 7, only 32357 remains in First livery and only 4 Darts have been painted. Anyone know what's happening?

 

[Robertj21a]

Instead of enjoying the beautiful rolling hills of Somerset, MendipXplorer 69441 was showing off the delights of flat Severnside by working Bristol city route 3 this morning!

I believe that both 69440 and 69441 are being used on Bristol local routes, prior to leaving for Leicester.

 

[AB93]

Pic I found on Facebook 33801 YX66WLFView attachment 62797

It’s on the 349 today.

 

[freetoview33]

It’s on the 349 today.

Are Abus actually operating any services on the 349 anymore?

 

[DaveLondon]

Last Saturday Abus running the whole thing

 

[spw24]

32006 now in Weston in Coaster livery out on the 1 today along with 32012.

 

[83G/84D]

Spent an hour at Yeovil this afternoon and saw the following:-

Solos 50467, 53151, 53055, 53056 53205, 50466, 53209.

Dart’s 42953, 42942, 42949, 42924, 42951.

At the depot were Solos 53402, 53054 and 53057.

Solo 53209 was branded Essex, not sure if a transfer from there or the ‘W’ missing from the ‘Wessex’ branding!

 

[henairs]

Spent an hour at Yeovil this afternoon and saw the following:-

Solos 50467, 53151, 53055, 53056 53205, 50466, 53209.

Dart’s 42953, 42942, 42949, 42924, 42951.

At the depot were Solos 53402, 53054 and 53057.

Solo 53209 was branded Essex, not sure if a transfer from there or the ‘W’ missing from the ‘Wessex’ branding!

Hi 83G/84D,
We have a good variation of brands here in Yeovil. 53209 is Essex (ex Chelmsford) whilst 53055/56 are branded for BOS whilst 53205 is just two-tone green.
42953 is allover white whilst 42954 carries Solent branding.
42942 and 53402 are Barbie livery with odd Kernow branding around parts of the bodywork.
50467 still carries Wessex branding.
Think that's the lot for now but may have missed something.
Cheers, Mike R

 

[83G/84D]

Hi 83G/84D,
We have a good variation of brands here in Yeovil. 53209 is Essex (ex Chelmsford) whilst 53055/56 are branded for BOS whilst 53205 is just two-tone green.
42953 is allover white whilst 42954 carries Solent branding.
42942 and 53402 are Barbie livery with odd Kernow branding around parts of the bodywork.
50467 still carries Wessex branding.
Think that's the lot for now but may have missed something.
Cheers, Mike R

Hi Mike,

Nice to see some buses originally in my part of the country ( Cornwall), although I get the feeling that Yeovil in particular has become the dumping ground for old First buses.

It always used to be Kernow!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

32006 now in Weston in Coaster livery out on the 1 today along with 32012.

Christ - that means it’s staying longer!! Bet it’s still minging inside though.

 

[henairs]

Hi Mike,

Nice to see some buses originally in my part of the country ( Cornwall), although I get the feeling that Yeovil in particular has become the dumping ground for old First buses.

It always used to be Kernow!

Well at least they've got plenty of old bangers so plenty of fun for our mechanics here,
Cheers, Mike R

 

[Luk3y]

Oops!

 

[Private Baxter]

Earlier today, had ride on 37329 on Sevice 1 to Sand Bay. Very comfortable, clean and tidy, well driven. Contrast with other service 1 bus - 33156 - nice Coaster paint job, not a penny spent on interior, hard, worn, faded seats, poor suspension! Noted that two of the open top 'insurance' buses have already returned to Bristol, 37334 and 37607 on the 73. Presumably no rain for the next few weeks!
Also noted Badgerline 66726 on tow truck earlier.
On the subject of Badgerline, it appears the proposed 8 Deckers and 8 Darts to be 'Badgered' has come to an end as nothing done since the end of last year. Curiously, of the 8 B7's for service 7, only 32357 remains in First livery and only 4 Darts have been painted. Anyone know what's happening?

I think that sums uo just about every repaint program since 2012! If you think Urban was not completed, and we still have buses trundling about in barbie, desperate for a repaint. The Bath city was started with the B7RLEs a couple of years ago, but so far nothing else (apart from the new solos obviously), no Bristol routes have received branding since, I think the 8? The South Glos lynx has only had two buses painted, with one of those set to leave, whilst as ypu say Badgerline seems to have stalled. However both Mendip Explorer and Excel were successfully completed. I guess FWoE have other priorities right now

 

[freetoview33]

I think that sums uo just about every repaint program since 2012! If you think Urban was not completed, and we still have buses trundling about in barbie, desperate for a repaint. The Bath city was started with the B7RLEs a couple of years ago, but so far nothing else (apart from the new solos obviously), no Bristol routes have received branding since, I think the 8? The South Glos lynx has only had two buses painted, with one of those set to leave, whilst as ypu say Badgerline seems to have stalled. However both Mendip Explorer and Excel were successfully completed. I guess FWoE have other priorities right now

And Discover

 

[Wessexbuses]

Today in Yeovil
51 42924 53055 53205 53402
53 50466/7 53151
54 42954 67709
58 42951
58A 42924
77 42942 42949
43906 came into the bus station with NIS on the blind changed drivers then went to the depot. could of come off a 77 as 42942 went on 77 as 43906 came in

Depot at 4pm
42946
42952/3
43905
an other dart. ethier 42950 or 43906
53054/6
53209

EDITED AT 2115 18/5/19 Added 42954 and 67709 to 54

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think that sums uo just about every repaint program since 2012! If you think Urban was not completed, and we still have buses trundling about in barbie, desperate for a repaint. The Bath city was started with the B7RLEs a couple of years ago, but so far nothing else (apart from the new solos obviously), no Bristol routes have received branding since, I think the 8? The South Glos lynx has only had two buses painted, with one of those set to leave, whilst as ypu say Badgerline seems to have stalled. However both Mendip Explorer and Excel were successfully completed. I guess FWoE have other priorities right now

I wouldn’t be surprised if 32357 was deliberately left in urban if only so it could be employed on 1/20/7 as there are a pair of e400s also left in
Urban that are similarly used.

Bath always seems to be left behind with the repaints but my thoughts (FWIW) was that the Bath blue livery hasn’t extended further because there were changes afoot with the allocation such as Barbie Eclipses heading to other OpCos and removing the 2005 Solos. Whilst that can be explained by the increased PVR from the Wessex exit, don’t know why the e200s haven’t been done so perhaps a theory that doesn’t hold water?

I’m expecting that the repaints will commence again now the Uni requirements are lower though there’s a lot to do. There’s a good few B9s for Wells to sort, finishing Badgerline and then SGLynx aside from anything else.

 

[Whiteway215]

Apologies if we have discussed this before but Buses magazine states 27 Streetlites (not sure what length) and 4 B9TLs are due to transfer F W of E to Leicester. Any comments on its accuracy please? That's a heck of a lot of Streetlites!

 

[henairs]

Today in Yeovil
51 42924 53055 53205 53402
53 50466/7 53151
54 42949 and a unidentified Enviro 300
58 42951
58A 42924
77 42942 42949
43906 came into the bus station with NIS on the blind changed drivers then went to the depot. could of come off a 77 as 42942 went on 77 as 43906 came in

Depot at 4pm
42946
42952/3
43905
an other dart. ethier 42950 or 43906
53054/6
53209

Hi,
To complete your sightings today's 54s were 42954 and 67709. Hope that helps,
Cheers, Mike R

 

[Wessexbuses]

Hi,
To complete your sightings today's 54s were 42954 and 67709. Hope that helps,
Cheers, Mike R

thank you

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Looks like some sickly Eclipses - 66939 was on the 178 and seems to have failed en route to Radstock. 66941 was taken off the Y4 and sent out to take up the return from Radstock but promptly broke down at Clutton at the top of the crawler lane!

 

[AllanMacF]

I see (from Steve White's website) that sense has at long last prevailed and 32688 has been sent to Explore the Mendips - it's been running around on City services in its original Severn Express livery since being displaced by 33488-490 at the end of 2016, so the colours are almost ready to receive MendipXplorer wording.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Earlier today, had ride on 37329 on Sevice 1 to Sand Bay. Very comfortable, clean and tidy, well driven. Contrast with other service 1 bus - 33156 - nice Coaster paint job, not a penny spent on interior, hard, worn, faded seats, poor suspension! Noted that two of the open top 'insurance' buses have already returned to Bristol, 37334 and 37607 on the 73. Presumably no rain for the next few weeks!
Also noted Badgerline 66726 on tow truck earlier.
On the subject of Badgerline, it appears the proposed 8 Deckers and 8 Darts to be 'Badgered' has come to an end as nothing done since the end of last year. Curiously, of the 8 B7's for service 7, only 32357 remains in First livery and only 4 Darts have been painted. Anyone know what's happening?

They’re back painting - 42903 done

 

[Private Baxter]

They’re back painting - 42903 done

Good - another one out of barbie.
It's quite ironic, during the early 00s buses were being painted out of Bargerline into barbie (or variants of it), now they're being painted out of barbie into Badgerline!

 

[Martin2012]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been noticing single deckers rather than doubles on the weekday Y4 journeys. However at least three doubles were seen on the route yesterday plus I also saw at least one on there last sunday.

Is there any particular reason as to why this is? Admittedly the loadings haven't seemed as as high at peak times recently as I previously remember but do find it odd that deckers would be appearing on Sunday when there are presumably fewer passengers.

 

[D2007wsm]

Good - another one out of barbie.
It's quite ironic, during the early 00s buses were being painted out of Bargerline into barbie (or variants of it), now they're being painted out of barbie into Badgerline!

Although, these would not have worn Badgerline livery before.

If I remember correctly, the last buses to be delivered in Badgerline livery were the 4 short R*** BAE (1714-1717/42714-42717) Dart SLFs for Weston, which were promptly repainted into Barbie as they had a Barbie interior.

The R** BOU (1901-1920/66101-66120) Volvo B10s of the same year for Bath and Wells were delivered in Barbie as was the S*** AAE (9688-9691/34188-34191) Volvo Olympians for Weston.

I have been told from a very reliable source, there has been a hiatus on Lynx repaints due to impending fleet changes for Marlborough Street. Once this happens, the Lynx rebranding exercise will be restarted in

I have also heard but from a driver this time that when the A2 receives deckers, 47557 and 47558 will be heading back to Weston to act as spares for the A3. Spending the rest of the time on the Badgerline and Excel services as required.

It would be interesting to know if anymore singles will be repainted into Excel orange as There are 5 Streetlites used on the X8/X9 combos with only 3 in Excel orange and 2 B7RLEs used on the X5, one of which is still in Barbie.

 

[Private Baxter]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been noticing single deckers rather than doubles on the weekday Y4 journeys. However at least three doubles were seen on the route yesterday plus I also saw at least one on there last sunday.

Is there any particular reason as to why this is? Admittedly the loadings haven't seemed as as high at peak times recently as I previously remember but do find it odd that deckers would be appearing on Sunday when there are presumably fewer passengers.

Can't explain the sunday workings (possibly more to do with interworking) but as the 46, it was always single deck operated and I don't think was ever the plan to permanently convert the Y4 to deckers but think was more to with what was available. Could be wrong though