Jump to content

Bus Shite


Felly Magic

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

Today was the day Southampton became a blue city. First Bus with the sorry remains of what was Southampton City Transport pulled out last night. Today Bluestar started running six new routes to cover most of what First left behind. 

IMG_20230219_095902.thumb.jpg.5cc4cd413e91c02e0754911b89a43aea.jpg

IMG_20230219_102224.thumb.jpg.3af18f20924e194762521d7e0b6e8e72.jpg

IMG_20230219_110552.thumb.jpg.fab6c29a81e873f24b8f186cec0e2bf0.jpg

IMG_20230219_111448.thumb.jpg.767fb7524605189d264e7b17d52aea41.jpg

 

 

But there were some red buses about. 

IMG_20230219_104032.thumb.jpg.21d9fd2293d29ea3b73eea69371b19db.jpg

IMG_20230219_104114.thumb.jpg.117ba71a49741fff9065747bd2e59dcd.jpg

 

This is a genuine ex Southampton RM. Far too shiny for my liking but it's good that some people make the effort. 

IMG_20230219_104102_1.thumb.jpg.8c80fe2b731e31641b021189b8de592e.jpg

We can probably excuse the wrong font blinds and wheelie bin fleet numbers as they were for today only. 

IMG_20230219_104135.thumb.jpg.0602c87edb1215424ef2f8067f74823a.jpg

 

And this is where CityBus's problems started in 1987.

IMG_20230219_103849.thumb.jpg.f524633f965368a806d065dd595688f5.jpg

 

But this where the rot really set in. Why would you bring this? 

IMG_20230219_105829.thumb.jpg.ece6f78f006f63b436cfeab85ab00a22.jpg

 

They were running free buses but not proper routes just short trips to Shirley, Portswood and Weston. They had enough buses to run far more services and there were far too many people for the buses they were running. But I guess they weren't to know how popular it was going to be. 

IMG_20230219_105919.thumb.jpg.d6debf2e98a1c5b7e644c5f5ea1150fe.jpg

 

I couldn't get on the RM or the following PD2, 335, so I went for a ride on one of the new Bluestar routes with one of their Scanias. It's hard to believe these are nearly fifteen years old. I remember Routemasters being fifteen years old. 

IMG_20230219_115645.thumb.jpg.74182e0359d87a6b05d293800c2cab71.jpg

 

By the time I got back the queues were even longer. Preserved buses are no fun when they are wedged so I thought stuff it, went and had some lunch and came home on one of Bluestars fancy Winchester buses. It's no surprise really that First gave up. They had a motley fleet of Streetlites whilst Bluestar are putting out things like this. 

IMG_20230219_124347.thumb.jpg.db5f76aafa4ce820e8474cf30041adb1.jpg

IMG_20230219_124418.thumb.jpg.6c6c08b3cdcd4d82d1772c4f5cb5f224.jpg

There is proper legroom between the facing seats too. 

 

Calender shot. 

IMG_20230219_110321.thumb.jpg.3020e8bcfa86ed16394d2f0ce88b303e.jpg

 

IMG_20230219_105657.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, busmansholiday said:

Pollution free ULEZ compatible buses in the top picture. 

Shame time travel isn't possible otherwise we could have stopped the daft twats scrapping them.

I've said it before but trolleybuses should be the future. They won't but they should be. 

I'm off to Brno in the Czech Republic (still can't bring myself to say Czechia) in a couple of weeks. They still have Tatra trams and Škoda trolleybuses. I'm there mostly for the trains, also mostly Škodas, but I'll have to try and get at least one trolley. I shall report back here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

speaking of London Trolley buses! remember this thing?

Screenshot 2021-10-22 at 03.37.12.png

  

On 22/10/2021 at 04:07, LightBulbFun said:

and then theres this thing which I have been able to find 0 info on which may just have run on 600V being a discharge lamp, I swear I recall finding it in an Osram GEC catalog somewhere but I just checked a few from the 1930s, 50's and 60's and was not able to find it there, what is it to be indicating for exactly I wonder...

55485150_Screenshot2021-10-22at03_37_12.png.c0c2ff0d189afae2a6cbba5c76b84779.png

 

On 22/10/2021 at 06:29, Mr Pastry said:

There is a reference in this video at about 3.44, to an indicator light fitted high up on the trolley poles (at the roadside, not on the bus) to show which way the points in the wires were set.  In which case a compact but bright 600 volt lamp would make sense.  How it works is another matter. 

 

 

On 22/10/2021 at 11:40, LightBulbFun said:

interesting I always assumed, the lamp was for something on the trolley bus itself but you are right it could be something to do with their infrastructure as well (I know of a few odd ball London Transport specials there as well like the Dual filament 100V lamp used in London underground signalling) 

On 22/10/2021 at 08:34, Inspector Morose said:

 

I actually managed to physically find one!

IMG_2247.thumb.JPG.ff9577f670defe79f6d30afde40b744c.JPG

its missing one of its caps sadly but still! really oddly its marked with AP7922 which I think is an Admiralty number go figure!

still not been able to find anything out about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I've said it before but trolleybuses should be the future. They won't but they should be. 

I'm off to Brno in the Czech Republic (still can't bring myself to say Czechia) in a couple of weeks. They still have Tatra trams and Škoda trolleybuses. I'm there mostly for the trains, also mostly Škodas, but I'll have to try and get at least one trolley. I shall report back here. 

In fact I've just managed to find this picture from the last, and only, time I was there. Can't believe it was eight years ago. A lot can change in eight years so I don't entirely know to expect when I get there. We shall soon see. 

DSC04283.thumb.JPG.2e0c814d33a2b1881a2ac37bda3572fd.JPG

3029 still has its Škoda badge. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, 808 Estate said:

Good to see those old Corpo busses on the road again. What bought them out, was it celebrating the end of First, or just an occaison to do something?

Yes it was marking the end of a company that can be traced back to 1879.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And for that reason I certainly won't be sad to see First Bus go although it is a shame they took our bus company with them. Bluestar have been providing a better service with better buses for a long time now. 

Though I'll be interested to see what comes out tomorrow. Being a Sunday service they were able to operate with the current fleet so everything was still blue. Tomorrow will be different. They apparently  have a fleet of temporary buses coming in to cover the new services. The Scania I went on today had a second crew member telling the driver where to go as it was a new route (and in fact it went to parts of the city that even I'd never been to - wrong side of the river and all that) and they were talking about the new* fleet. 

I still think the current Unlink fleet will pass over to Bluestar in time, that happened five years ago. The Unilink (University buses but anybody can use them) contracts last five years and it's up for renewal this year. Rumour has it that the university want electric buses this time round but that's easy for them to demand they aren't the ones who will have to run it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No sooner have First pulled out of Southampton than they've announced a deal to buy Ensignbus. One of the most respected and recognised operators in the country, no doubt soon to be destroyed by First's reverse midas touch. What were the Newman family thinking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

No sooner have First pulled out of Southampton than they've announced a deal to buy Ensignbus. One of the most respected and recognised operators in the country, no doubt soon to be destroyed by First's reverse midas touch. What were the Newman family thinking?

First group and Stagecoach seem far more interested in acquiring  a bigger and bigger empire than actually running proper bus services.

Probably the same across most industries tbh. Playing real monopoly all day must be far more interesting than an involvement in the nitty gritty of what your company actual does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll never forgive First for what they did in Northampton. The town had a proud and profitable municipal bus company, that the council decided to sell to fund the new Sixfields football stadium. After a few years, First put Northampton under the management of Leicester, where it was always the poor relation mostly running other fleets' cast-offs, and on the rare occasions Northampton did get something decent Leicester would quickly take it for themselves. It was run down to a shadow of its former self, then First made a half-hearted attempt to sell what little was left for far too much money, especially as they'd replaced the whole fleet with crappy old buses overdue for scrap that no buyer wanted. Nobody bought it, so First just unceremoniously shut down an operation with over a century of heritage that had been making a healthy profit when they bought it less than 20 years earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...