Plymothian Transit Predicts…

so, what does 2013 hold transport wise for Plymouth? Despite my well documented lack of success in guessing what the future holds its now time to have another stab…

Plymouth Citybus

• The swoops livery will reign supreme and will become the dominant livery in the fleet by the end of the year. Dare I suggest there may be one or two variations by the end of the year too?
• New buses: We will be seeing new buses for Citybus this year. Even better than that we will be seeing new double deckers for Citybus for the first time for years! This is not really a prediction as it has been confirmed that new DDs are on their way, we just dont know for sure what they will be yet. Being Go Ahead it will be either Volvo / Wright or ADL Enviro 400s. Its not yet known if this is in place of the 10 Volvo / Wright single deckers which were on order for this year. My prediction is that it is!
• More double deckers to join the fleet – as well as the new ones there are to be another 8 “nearly new” double deckers joining the fleet. No idea as to what these will be or indeed where they will be coming from.
• Route branding. I dont think that there will be any major route branding scheme as such but I can see more buses receiving promotional lettering for their routes during the coming year. I am not aware of anything planned at the moment but the new boss is ex Stagecoach Devon who were pretty keen on self promotion on their buses.

will we see more like this in 2013?

• Buses out: I know this has been a feature of my predictions for a few years now but surely the Student Link Volvos have to go at some stage soon. Their high capacity is saving them at the moment but these buses are well past their best and not in keeping with the image that Citybus are trying to project. Its clearly not worth spending money repainting them so I am sure they will go this year. As much as I like the the older Volvos as an enthusiast, its getting embarrassing to see them in normal service. (A bit like the good old VRTs with Western National – loved them but many of them were in shocking condition at the end!).
• Routes: We will probably continue to see the network evolve over the coming year as the company looks to build rather than cutback. More cross city routes, which I guess will be marketed as such in a much clearer way rather than just joined in the city centre. If the company can get the buses I can see more out of town routes springing up. The Ivybridge service will continue, possibly expanding  as First cut back their Ivybridge routes?
• Citycoach – there will be continued investment with one or two new (or nearly new) coaches joining the fleet to replace older coaches.

First

• This is more difficult. 6 months ago I would have confidently predicted that First would sell up and move out of Plymouth. I am still convinced that they would indeed sell if the opportunity arose but I am less than convinced that there is a buyer out there that would want to take on Go Ahead. I dont think that Stagecoach will move in. It is clear that First would have liked to have made more disposals across the group by now than they had managed so far. The knock on effect of the North Devon decision still rumbles on? I am duty bound to make a prediction here so … I think that First will remain in Plymouth.
• Having said that it wont be a big priority within the Southern region so any incoming buses will be transfers from within the group. I predict that the older K reg Olympians will go during the year, but a mixture of more Tridents and possibly newer Olympians will arrive.
• Repaints: We will see the new First livery being rolled out slowly across the fleet. I still think we will see the Torpoint Tridents repainted this year – but will probably receive the new group livery rather than anything specific to Torpoint. I think we will finally see some form of local fleetname, probably First Devon rather than Plymouth. I would like to see more branding added to the Park & Ride fleet but I predict that they will just retain SHUTTLE names. I hope I am wrong!

• Routes. The 88 will be cut back, but they wont pull out of Ivybridge completely. We may see more action on the Tavistock services with maybe a greater push to promote the service in face of competition with Jacketts? I don't see any major changes to Plymouth services although there may be a few reductions in frequency on some routes.

Target etc

• I don't see much changing to be honest. The routes will see changes as the council dictates but overall the amount of work for Target will remain pretty much as it is now. Fleet wise I see more Darts arriving and maybe some Solos leaving? The purple livery will disappear in favour of white and green.
• Jacketts will start to see the new 85 service gain customers and will up the frequency to every hour fairly soon. That's when First will react!

Western Greyhound:

• I can see a stronger year for them this year after the difficulties with Cornwall County Council cutbacks. There may well be more cutbacks in Cornwall but some routes will be improved. Plymouth may not see many changes as routes continue pretty much the same.
• Vehicle wise I am pretty sure we will see more investment in the fleet this year as the Mercedes Vario replacement restarts after a gap. I dont think that it will be just Solos. There have been suggestions that a new livery is on the cards too!

Others

(I almost hesitate to say these as they are pretty much the same as last year!)

• Railway – more of the same. Fares up. lots of talk, not a lot of action. Talk about a new route bypassing Dawlish – it wont happen. More talk about reopening the Tavistock line – maybe – but not for years. 
• Great Western. The franchise system will get going again during the year and a new franchise will be awarded during the year but wont actually start this year? I still think that First Group will retain it though.
• Plymouth Airport: Lots of talk and arguments about the future but it wont reopen. The city council are key the the debate but I dont think they really have the vision or expectation that the airport could reopen. Sad.
• Real Time Displays. I does indeed seem that we will finally see a new real time bus tracking system introduced in Plymouth which should see a much more reliable real time timetable display available at most bus stops. All buses in Plymouth should get the system and therefore be tracked properly. How many bus stops will actually get the new displays remains to be seen, but it should result in much better live tracking on mobile phone apps. Improvements are on the way, I just hope that this time they do match expectations and promises!

Plymothian Transit

• It should be fairly easy to get to more events and take more photos this year as I did so little of this in 2012. I do now carry a camera with me most days so that should help once the days start to draw out. The simple aim for 2013 is to get 4 or 5 postings a week. I’d rather post better less often than go for daily posts when there is nothing to say! The blog / family balance is very different this year than it has been! I am seeing more comments than ever before and getting more info / photos/ suggestions than previously which is brilliant so I hope that this continues through 2013. I also hope to include more historical posts this year.

Well thats my predictions for 2013. Knowing you all as I do I just know that many of you will disagree with much of what I have written so feel free to add your comments! Is there anything I have missed? What do you predict for 2013? Will you do better than me? (quite likely!)

 

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Sorry - I cant add the usual links to other blogs ate as usual as for some reason at this moment in time I cant access my Google Reader account. There are plenty sat there waiting to be shared so hopefully I will regain access tomorrow and post them then!