18 October 2023

Sir Francis Departs

Updating my fleet lists from the latest PSV Circle new sheets which became available this week and there were a couple things of note that warrant a post here before I get round to a full fleet update shortly

358 seems to have been sold to an unknown preservationist

Plymouth Citybus 358

seen after her 2014 repaint © Brian George

and then a throw away line at the end of the news…

“It has been reported that a new livery is on the way soon…”

anyone with any knowledge of this?


35 comments:

  1. New livery for this bus or for Citybus?

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    1. Can't be any worse than that horrid lines one. Although yet more money being wasted on painting buses when services are being cut & fares going up.

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    2. They have not been rushing to repaint the fleet over and above usual levels they have not been wasting money there. I am not a big fan of the lines livery though so agree with you there. I suspect this new livery - if it does come about is more to do with the new owners of Go Ahead having different ideas from the previous team in charge. It sounds like a Group decision rather than just GSW changing their mind.

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    3. anyone seen what 148 looks like with it's Swoop & part of Go ahead? my lord what a mess.

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    4. @anon 24/10 19.26 - these additional ‘part of go ahead’ stickers are yet another example of the absolute lack of attention to detail! No consistency to where they are places, some in the centre of the front offside panel, some at the top, some at the bottom. It’s just shoddy. No care or passion for how the fleet looks. Likewise the haphazard way fleet numbers are applied, absolutely all over the place. Often different fonts and different sizes. Some white, some orange. Just shoddy.

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  2. It has gone to the plymouth city transport preservation group along with the other pd2

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  3. The news has finally kinda of come out - so the livery thing is true across every company within Go Ahead, Morebus, SV, Bluestar etc - with GSW expanding, apparently there's something bigger coming - you'll have also noticed Dartline now receiving Fleet Numbering to match with the PCB base numbers across the board - additionally, the new fleetnames system doesn't work very well for PCB with the part of GA logo.

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    1. i am assuming this person is referring to Citybus getting a new livery? i haven't seen proof anywhere though but does look like its happening in other GA areas (GSC for example)

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    2. i had my suspicions when GSW Coach hire came out, but i would heavily expect there to be some sort of merger livery here. PCB & GCB may well be about to be a thing of the past.

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    3. possibly although the GCB - TFC is a contract so I cant see that livery going. Will be more interesting to see how Dartline develops and if it keeps its own full livery

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    4. Are they all losing their local identity and just becoming Go Ahead?

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    5. GCB is just a sub-brand of PCB, so surely the contracts will be under "Plymouth Citybus" trading as GCB - and if PCB is about to become GSW - which is possible, then it shouldn't be an issue - as it'll just be Plymouth Citybus t/a GSW.

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    6. Based on GoNorthEast, More Bus, Salisbury Reds etc. It seems it one generic livery, localised by colours with "Part of Go Ahead" slapped on underneath. I do think GA should standardise their interior around what East Yorks, GNA XLines have.

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    7. James, i believe you mean logos? not liveries, in terms of localisation - there isn't any generic livery across GA, and probably never will be.

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    8. agreed SR & MB - but GNE looks nothing like it - too early to say if anything is going to change - and i know for a fact that SV new livery doesn't adhere to the new MB livery

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  4. what’s withdrawn / on the gravel down at Milehouse at the mo? anything unexpected that’s still kicking about?

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    1. @graham - you might want to update the front page - as we're not in april anymore lol:

      "The home of anything and everything to do with transport in and around Plymouth for EIGHTEEN YEARS!
      We hit April with a massive number of timetable changes across Cornwall and Devon although only a few services within Plymouth itself are affected this time.
      April should also see an uplift in the number of posts appearing here. As always feel free to comment or send anything you feel would be interesting to readers.

      ©did by graham"

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    2. probably reserve e400's - whats happened to 478, 488, 489?

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  5. It would be nice to see a livery to refresh the bus offering for Plymouth I feel. I don’t think any of the other GA divisions have such boring and bland presentation, indeed some are really rather fetching!
    I think it is time for GSW to tidy things up a bit, a generic Go South West livery I think is now long overdue as the presence here is well established, and likely only grow again in Devon (Exeter most certainly!). It would really be a shame to lose ‘Plymouth CityBus’, but, perhaps now is time?

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  6. And just to throw something else into the mix. I've heard unconfirmed reports from more than one source that First are introducing a single national livery style from next year, hence why nothing in Cornwall has been repainted or vinyled since early this year.

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    1. they're going back to how it was years ago then - boring!

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    2. Guessing similar to what York Electrics is then, moquette and everything.

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    3. It does seem that the York Electric livery is the new standard for electrics - Norwich at least is getting the same scheme.

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  7. Definitely a case of deja vu!

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  8. Trouble is it may be boring but when it comes to cascade it easier to just transfer to new depot service it and use it. Taunton had a e400 that was in Sheffield livery for a while and if you go to slough stuff still branded city red

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  9. The massive "part of go-ahead" that first appeared in 2017(?) seems to be becoming standard across the PCB and GCB fleets

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  10. so... i noticed something on a TFC branded bus in Plymouth today. why, oh why have PCB slapped a huge "part of Go Ahead" sign next to the TFC logo - when there is quite clearly no part of TFC owned in whole by PCB- surely that's a problem? considering all of the other players within the TFC branded network? I totally understand that GA have got their "brand on" but that seems very poor...

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    1. part of GoAhead is being added nationwide so why wouldn't they be on TFC fleet? The buses are provided by GA to run for TFC contract.

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    2. TFC isnt a GoAhead company though - surely, should be TFC - provided by GCB - part of Go Ahead

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  11. Transport for London isnt GA owned either - but the logos are appearing on their buses too. Travel Cornwall and OTS have their names on the TFC branded buses as well.

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    1. "Go Ahead London" is and always has been - "part of GoAhead" is not. Take Bee Network - they have the operator - "Go North West" with a small part of "part of GoAhead" under the GNW logo - not slapped on the side of the bus.

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    2. "part of Go Ahead Group" is appearing on London buses. Its in on the rear of the buses (which works a lot better than being stuck on the side) Presumably the rules set by Transport for London are a lot stricter.

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