Catch up on January and a new livery for Citybus

As my shoulder injury seems to be settling down a bit now I can hopefully get back to more regular posting again.
Taking my cue from the excellent Public Transport Experience blog I thought it would be good to look back over the last month or so of posts where additional information has come to light, often as a result of comments left by visitors. All to often such comments can get lost and not get noticed...

By pure coincidence the first posting of the new year featured a prediction that according to the very latest comment left on the blog has just been realised:
New look for Plymouth Citybus. I am pretty sure this will happen in 2011!

Well it seems that Dart 67 has just been repainted into the new livery so should be out and about pretty soon, if not already. Not seen it yet but I hears its well worth waiting for! Thanks to Rob for the tip!

None of the other predictions for 2011 have come about yet, but the "strong rumours of more low floor double deckers coming to see off the remaining Volvo Citybus fleet" is more than just a rumour - Volvos from London will be coming down from Go Ahead London fairly soon. These are older than the current 51 02 reg East Lancs buses but they will be low floor and see off the older Citybus double deckers. I will miss them but lets be honest some of them really do smell upstairs of damp so I am sure passengers will welcome their replacements however old they are!

The 6th Jan post on the outdoor photographic exhibition bright a wry comment from 'Nick:
"Does anyone else see the irony of having a photographic exhibition outside of Drake Circus, a place where even thinking about taking a camera out of your bag will result in the hired muscle swooping upon you in seconds.."
Are they still anti camera at the Circus? I heard a lot of people having issues when it first opened but I am sure I have seen plenty of photos in Flickr recently so some people must be getting away with it!

The 17th January posting on the changes due on the Ugobus 15 attracted a few comments. It was pointed out that the changes were just down to fixing the reliability of the service. At the time I mentioned just how unreliable the service had become with my own 8am bus often turning up at 8:15 or occasionally even later. The ironic thing is that the service has improved dramatically since then (in the morning at least) with buses running to time again, just as they always used to. On Friday we had a real treat with K803ORL - a massive improvement on the standard Volvo B6BLEs we usually get with their nasty seats and inability to climb hills. I am actually off on the first week of the new timetable so will be able to see how things are running before making my mind up on either the 7:50 or the 8:15 in place of my 8:00 bus. Its just a shame that the whole Ugobus concept has been weakened with the impossible to remember timetable.

February started off with a surprise photo in my inbox of First's revival of the Mayflower Link. It is now out and about in service.

Jeff Day has got a few photos of the bus on the X81. Not sure if anyone has actually seen it on the 93 yet though!

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Elsewhere on the net

• Transport for London's journey planner [www.tfl.gov.uk] is often upheld as the acme of jp technology - almost certainly by those who don't have to use it for anything other than very simple journeys. Public Transport Experience
• At the end of my last report I mentioned that I'd had a delightful surprise at the end of the trip and this was it, the Hayling Seaside Railway, operating in darkest, deepest January! Transport Illustrated
• in the aftermath of the sale of the Huffington Post Blog to AOL for £196mil, there is no truth whatever in the rumour that the Omnibuses Blog has sold to New Transit magazine for a “considerable five figure sum”. Omnibuses
• Does it need to be so complicated? fbb is researching public transport for a holiday in North Wales planned for early May. Public Transport Experience
• Another good week of progress on 651. Busworks Blog