As part of a side project going back through the Plymothian Transit archives I was looking back at February 2007 and came across these photos:
Both Photographs ©Terry Stapley (used with permission back in 2007 so I am sure he wont mind them being repeated!)
Both photos were taken by Terry Stapley on the 19th July 1988 when Plymouth Citybus and Western National were having a bit of a ding dong. I am guessing that the X84 version was an express version of the standard 84. This time round it seems Citybus are operating the express against First. Back then I only used the Western National service as a VR beat an Atlantean any day. It seems this time round Citybus will clearly have the edge in terms of vehicles used.
Photos originally posted on Blast from the past 21 February 2007
PT RECOMMENDS
- Pretty strong stuff. It’s also classic, of course, in that the newspaper blames the operator and patently hasn’t done its homework Omnibuses 7 August
- Regular blog readers will understand the explanation for the utterly loopy evening oddity, but perhaps the 12th Doctor may need to sort out the Horse and Tiger rift in time and space? Public Transport Experience 7 August
- Lymington depot of Wilts & Dorset is a hive of activity at present - more so than any in previous summer Southern England 7 August
PCB also used Setright ticket machines and gave change, this was in a time when all PCB services used the coin vault, no change given system. Incidentally, spot the rear of the PCB Olympian in the WN picture - 3 buses bought as a trial (fleet numbers 172 - 174) and in the new fleet colours of the time. I worked at Citybus during this time in the offices at Milehouse and remember the excitement when a memo was posted asking for volunteers to drive these 3 buses overland to Australia, where they had allegedly been sold! Great to see the pictures again and for the memories.
ReplyDeleteI certainly miss the old VR's and Lynx's that used to run on the Tavi routes. Even the darts that later followed were not too bad. The current vehicles First has allocated on the Tavi routes are make for a thoroughly depressing ride. PCB are clearly going to be ahead if they can manage to put some shiny new buses on the route and shave several minutes off the journey time each way.
ReplyDelete"I certainly miss the old VR's and Lynx's"
DeleteNever had to drive them then.........
I notice from the pictures Westen National has customers on the tavi route and citybus are carrying fresh air... pretty much the same as in October this year i reckon...lol
ReplyDeleteBack in 1988, Western National uses to run the 83,84 and X84 each running hourly. The X84 was the quick one and ran a limited stop service along parts of the route. Plymouth Citybus ran an 83 and 84 with a combined frequency of every 30 minutes. With Western Nationals higher frequency at every 20 minutes they won out in the end. I don't remember Plymouth Citybus doing that well on the route
ReplyDeleteThey wont this time either I suspect. or in Torpoint. On these 2 I expect 2 - 0 result to First!!!
DeleteTTT 172X still survives nr lydney train station. the other 2 were scrapped.
ReplyDeleteCitybus have LOST contract for Asda and Tesco from end of the week. Any idea who to ???
ReplyDelete**** NEWSFLASH**** NEW TAVISTOCK ROUTE WILL BE CALLED 12 NOT F1.
ReplyDeleteIf they've registered it as the F1 then thats what it'll be. In order forit to be the 12 they would have to re-register it & that can take a while
ReplyDelete