It has been very quiet for the last few days with just the one new notice, although its a significant one
First South West Ltd
| Licence | Route | Start Point | End Point | Effective | Notes |
| PH0004983.622 | Dartmoor Explorer | Exeter Bus Station | Postbridge, opposite National Park Visitor Centre | 27-Aug-2023 | Cancel |
Note that so far only the Exeter half of the registration has appeared as being cancelled. The Plymouth to Postbridge section is still showing as ending on the 2nd September as originally planned. It remains to be seen if this is just a case of waiting for the admin to catch up, or if it really is continuing to run till September.
A comment on last weeks post sum things up quite nicely so is worth repeating here
Dartmoor Explorer route was cancelled by First before it even started. Ends as soon as possible given registration periods on 26 August. Saturday all journeys failed to run except 1000 from Exeter & 1525 from Plymouth. Does this suggest a half hearted attitude from First. That and only single-deckers
It seems from other comments that the lack of double deckers is down to tree clearance issues on parts of the route although you would have hoped these would have been dealt with prior to the route starting. Having at least some of the runs provided by a bus lettered for Taunton services cant exactly help with the visibility of the service either.
What also doesn't help is a lot of drivers in the outstations that run it are schoolbus drivers who are contracted to 30hrs per week with all school holidays off so staffing issues will be a problem and any full time contracted drivers normally take annual leave during this period so not to effect the school operations. Then there minnimal amount of veichles in these places which will need maintenance and not every veichle will be done at summercamp/taunton
ReplyDeleteFirst are a terrible bus company
ReplyDeleteAny PCB fleet news? Been very quiet recently
ReplyDelete4010 in stripes & 4011 in CCP livery now out on the road.
Delete22xx e200s leaving the fleet shortly, withdrawn from end of the month.
Rumour on the ground that the Gas buses have their days numbered as costing too much to run and Scania deckers due to leave the fleet soon too as costing too much to maintain. Nothing more has been said about the Oxford transfers due.
oxford transfers? didn't think PCB were getting anything else after the ex London E400s
DeleteIs this from the same rumour mill that says that the 21/21A is due to be upgraded to a fleet of electric DDs early 2025?!
DeleteBelieve any of it when I see it!
there were rumours of Oxford Enviros coming down later this year, but dont know if is still the case. Oxford will have quite a few modern double deckers available for distribution across Go Ahead when their fleet is replaced by new electric DDs. Hopefully Plymouth will get something!
DeleteAs for new Electric DDs for the 21s - well if the govt cough up the money for Plymouth like they have to Oxford, and Warrington for example then it might happen.
do we know which batch it would be from? i believe they have 15 E400s and 17 MMCs - the rest are Wrights & Mercedes
DeleteKnowing Citybus, which ever knew Oxford is planning on scrapping…!
DeleteInteresting that the 22** are going - that leaves quite a big gap really then in the fleet? And what exactly is gonna replace them...
DeleteThe gas buses are looking tired to be honest - a lot of them have bits of the livery falling off and as much as I hate the 469-488 enviro's they look a lot less tired than the Ecocity's considering the age gap as well.
And the scania's - i'm suprised we've kept them for so long they're an embarrassment to the city to be honest. Is there a direct replacement / swap planned for them? Problem is with PCB is that they leave it until it's too late and they end up having to cance services due to "mechanical issues" or no "available bus" which is just pathetic to be honest.
All of the old non-tramlines swoop livery vehicles look tired to be honest - I won't be suprised if we see more and more GCB vehicles being used / rebranded to PCB as we struggle for vehicles in arguably a dire time for PCB?
530 has not been withdrawn it is currently awaiting repair after an incident in Cornwall in March.
DeleteSome E400s from Oxford or London is still better than the Brighton Scanias. Surely though ditching the Gas buses and the Scanias and having a more streamlined fleet of E200s and E400s would be more cost effective as your only then buying parts for those vehicles. Allthough having said that from a cost point of view 509s just been repainted out of Tramlines into a Promo livery which seems a bit silly given 513 and 514 are still in the older Swoop livery. It surely would have been more cost effective to repaint one of those from Swoop that repaint a bus out of the current livery! Milehouse clearly have cash to burn…
Delete530 VOR i believe, not tracked since March. ukbuses fleet list isn't all that accurate.
Deletemajor bodywork issues after a accident - https://www.flickr.com/photos/swbuspics/52810544810
Deletegood luck to them repairing 530, the roof has been absolutely wrecked.
Delete530s been pretty unlucky last year or so- got hit near Newquay airport last year and was off the road then it had its most recent incident back in March
DeleteJeez - 530 really is screwed then... Have we got rid of 372? Can't see what the sign says...
DeleteI hate the E400's especially some of the older ones but makes sense to have an entire fleet of them. The tramlines does look a lot better than the Swoop and on the older vehicles that still have it - it just makes them look even older.
Delete530 would be a ADL centre repair, or a trip to Hants & Dorset
DeleteAre PCB gonna use the Optare Solo's on any routes or are they being shipped out to Dartline? Would be ideal for the 55,59,98 etc...
Deleteheard nothing on the solos - i dont even know if they're still at milehouse, haven't seen one for ages.
DeleteNo plans for them to enter service in Plymouth apparently. Drivers made a fuss about how different they are to the rest of the fleet allegedly.
DeleteTree lopping is the local highways department's responsibility and isn't being done very effectively anywhere in the country.
ReplyDeleteI used to be involved with a bus museum "somewhere north of Brizzle" which used to do its own lopping but received legal advice that by doing so they opened themselves up to liability if the tree they'd lopped then damaged anything, so they stopped. Whether it would have stood up in court is anyone's guess, but what bus museum has the money to take that risk?
No publicity around for the service at all. I saw the 1300 in Exeter today, at 1255 no passengers around. Why don't they flood the route with leaflets to shops and businesses.
ReplyDeleteObviously the tree issue isn't First's fault, but the Dartmoor Explorer has been run in a lacklustre and unprofessional manner ever since it started. I'm surprised it's lasted so long.
ReplyDeleteAt last they have put Dartmoor Explorer back on their website, only 5 weeks left until it ends on 26th August!!
DeleteIt was originally on the Website back before it started this year. The route headline across the top said... Gunnislake, Tavistock, Moretonhampstead Exeter but timetable was Plymouth, Yelverton, Moretonhampstead, Exeter underneath. I like First but have to agree this is unbelievably unprofessional to say the least. I want to use service but not sure i can trust it to turn up!
DeleteI live near the route, and it has been running, but on stops such as robrough, it has stated 'Private' and seen all of 2 passangers on?
DeleteYes Dartmoor Explorer back on First ABB website but with PDF leaflet saying something about enjoying the views from the top deck, if only!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteIn other news CJ Down coaches will be closing soon
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know who is going to be doing there school runs? They seemed to do a lot from Tavistock college big gap to fill
DeleteStagecoach are doing the callington school runs, for tavi I would look at stagecoach, Roslyns or maybe even Tamar
DeleteHad heard there callington runs gone to stagecoach
DeleteOakley's and Citybus have a presence in Tavi
Delete530 is away being re-built, shes in london having the roof fixed
ReplyDeleteApplication on n and p for Exeter to Postbtidge section from 27th August
ReplyDeleteInteresting that they've decided to pay to fix 530 - wonder how much that cost... A pretty penny for nearly a 10yr old bus. Scary that it's nearly 10 years though
ReplyDeletestill probably cheaper than buying a replacement. 10 years is not that old for a bus. still have plenty of years service in her. Was wondering if it would gone for open top conversion - presumably the damage wasnt bad enough to consider that option
DeleteHuge amount of changes from Stagecoach and Citybus coming at start of September. Just popped up on VOSA today. Can't find any info though
Deletetrue but surely we would have needed an another open topper - they’re not exactly highly used and would seem criminal leaving a relatively young bus (all things considered) as a seasonal open-top when the currently 06 plate enviro does the trick. If only the old Trident could come back…
Deletethe damage was all from from the front right hand side up the right hand side along the top going back about 3/4 of the length of the bus, so imagine they'd have had to of cut the whole roof off to repair, so could have been an option
Deletevery true - doubt PCB would keep as an open-top though
DeleteTo Anon 21 July 2023 at 18:05 Just looked online at GOV.UK VOL & only three changes listed for Coach Events Ltd so they appear to have disappeared? When did you look?
Deletei would still say though that 530 is more likely to return as a full service bus, but 468 does need another open top bus for backup, seeing that its already used alot more as a hired bus via the coach company than on the 25, and with 469 still being santa and untouched it would help for there to be a 2nd open topper out
Delete530 is actually 7 years old. Nowhere near 10
DeleteVery random but I see that the old First P&R buses are still very much in use with First Essex - all being used on Routes today.
ReplyDeleteWA56 FUB
WA56 FUD
WA56 FTK
WA56 FTN
WA56 FTO
WA56 FTT
WA56 FTU
Any update on First Dartmoor Explorer vehicles as don't track as right buses. Last I saw was the Lizard Solo still going with the Taunton Town red apple Streetlite swapped for an old Olympia livery one? Are they still current. Tracking Saturday seemed to suggest wildly late running unless an error, any local observations?
ReplyDeleteIve seen the Lizard Solo on Derriford roundabout a couple of times this week sure it was on the DE
DeleteHave heard stagecoach in consultation with rmt to close bude and dartmouth outstations
ReplyDeleteThey have now closed them down
ReplyDeleteAre you sure? The planned closures were for 3 September & understand Dartmouth has drivers on loan as some cleared off early. How will SC cover the 6 from Bude with its early starts if no local depot?
Deletefrom looking at bustimes this morning, i can only make out 3 buses that are based at Bude o/s, the 6 bus, the 319 bus (which from 3/9 has the extra run to/from barnstaple am/pm added) and a 71 bus, the 2 x 85 service buses appear to run out from tavistock and barnstaple dead to Holsworthy to start back. so from 3/9 i take it the 71 and 6 workings will either run from barnstaple or tavistock
ReplyDelete