Reading buses to take delivery of six Wright streetlights

 All six will wear two tone green  and numberd from 151 to 156 and are a replacement for there optare solo's  The fleet is to be officially launched at Reading Town Hall on 27th of February

RX61HJT 151 at Chestnut Grove. (C)James Cusworth

other news with reading buses is they have had a compressed natural gas powered MAN EcoCity demonstrator WX61 FXO for 5 weeks Reading Transport has said its CNG-powered MAN EcoCity demonstrator is a “perfectly feasible” proposition for its local services. “Does it work? So far, yes it does,” says chief executive officer James Freeman. “The gas bus goes out every morning, and we don’t see or hear of it until it returns 12 hours later – and that’s exactly how it should be.

“Emissions are very low indeed, and that’s in tune with the philosophy of our local authority owners. We are due to replace our single-deck fleet in 2013, and the MAN EcoCity proposition appears to be perfectly feasible.”
Reading Transport has a 25-year history of trialling new engine technology, not all of it successfully. “We’ve tried everything,” says Freeman, “ethanol, LPG, electric-hybrid, even cooking oil. The difference with MAN EcoCity, is that gas bus technology has come of age. It’s a proven power system.”

for more info on reading area bus news here

meridian line travel take over

Cozy travel of letchworth have bought meridian line travel Bassingbourn . the deal includes 14 vehicles and staff and depot at Bassingbourn meridian line keep it name  

Meridian line run school buses and a handfull of public service as shown below 
29 Lt Paxton - St Neots - Papworth - Cambourne - Comberton (M-F school time )

31 Cambridge - Stapleford - Fowlmere- Barley  (Mon-sat)

199 Cambridge City Center - Newnham (Tuesday and Friday only ) 

ONE of the last buses brought by Meridian line . here is ex N.C.T  East lancs trident  pulling out on a 31 covering the  E200

for more info on  on buy out here 

megabus new coach order and the new plaxton b11 overdecker

• coach's due for megabus this year 
  7 more vanhool astromega's 
  10 more plaxton panther b13's
  and 11 brand new coach plaxton B11 overdeckers  as shown a mock up below 






• 
  
   the plaxton B11 overdeckers
   

  ALEXANDER-DENNIS MAKES MAJOR COMMITMENT TO PLAXTON
  WITH INVESTMENT IN INTERDECK ELITE

  “Two features stand out” Kevin stressed, “First, there is no need to fit a wheelchair lift, which benefits users in that they have much better access, and benefits operators by reducing maintenance and training requirements. The second feature is the ability to offer up to 72 seats, but with the flexibility to offer a wide range of seating layouts, as we do on all our models.”
  Investment in the new model by ADL in its Plaxton division is in the region of £1million. The new coach will be based on the well proven stainless steel technology of Panther and Elite, but will usher in an entirely new structure to accommodate the 3.9m high vehicle and offers the potential for additional models in the future. The Plaxton range is widely recognised as a leader in terms of combining durability with low weight and the aim is to retain a high degree of parts commonality. A key distinguishing feature will be a restyled profile, necessary to accommodate the through-floor design.
  “This is an exciting addition to our market-leading range,” Kevin Wood concludes, “and as well as building coaches for megabus.com we will be in a position to take orders for delivery to other customers in time for the 2013 season.”
  Image supplied : Visual impression of the new Plaxton Elite Interdeck Coach

  
  

Stagecoach To enhance bus-way services from July

Stagecoach have announced improvements to there Busway services. With eight  new buses of which they are made up off  three Enviro400 bodied Scania N230UD's and five Wrightbus Eclipse Urban 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE's. there will also  be improvements with a timetable change in july from every 10 mins to every 7-8mins and also faster services from Huntingdon to Cambridge when a new stop is constructed, which will also mean customers travelling from Huntingdon will have a quicker journey because they will not have to go round the St Ives one-way system. also all stagecoach's A &B services will serve St Ives town center   with these timetables changes what will mean it theory the  A will run every 15 mins from St Ives to Trumpington P&R  and the B Huntingdon to Cambridge will run every 15 mins too . instead of every 20 mins what they both run at the moment . I only wish they would think wish stagecoach would run every half hour in the evening instead of every hour as it is at the moment even if they ran every half hour in the evening till say 10 ish  but will see in the timetable change . 

one of stagecoachs wrightbus eclipse urban 2 bodied volovo B7RLE'S

Andy campbell stagecoach Cambridgeshire’s managing director  said to the Cambridge news that: “I think 1 million customers in four-and-a-half months showed there was a desire to use the busway.

“This is a positive step which will hopefully increase patronage even further.”Mr Campbell then said passengers would also benefit from the extension of all services to St Ives town centre when a new stop is constructed, which will also mean customers travelling from Huntingdon will have a quicker journey because they will not have to go round the St Ives one-way system.  but in a email to me today about the busway changes he said ''The busway frequency changes are not finalised. Next years vehicle deliveries have not been confirmed yet.'' so it sounds like it still up in the air yet but what will whippet do to compensate for stagecoach  service changes ............  

     

Norfolk greens New arrival's

Norfolk green have have now bought another Solo which is  MX56ABO from Veolia de Cymru via Ensign (dealer) and will be numbered  625. It is also seatbelt-fitted so can cover for  Solo 610-YG52DHL on a school contract 115 (Tydd Gote to Gedney primary school via Long Sutton)  as seat-belted bus is need for the school contract 


The other new arriver is Scottish Agoraline GX07BAU from Stepend coaches of Motherwell via Blythswood Motors(dealer ). which will be fleet numbered  131 which means takes Norfolk green up to 11 Agoraline's the most with any one operator as only 23 have been made for uk spec. Plus  Norfolk Green have the first one and now with 131 entering the fleet the last one built for UK spec too . 

MX56ABO taken just after just arriving at Norfolk greens depot (c)Jmee85

MX56ABO taken just after just arriving at Norfolk greens depot (c)Jmee85 

other norfolk green news is Solo 617 is earmarked to become the regular 'absolutely!' bus for the new Ely city service that starts on 13 Feb.  this bus is named Ben Gimbert who was awarded the George cross  after risking his life to save others in the Soham rail disaster where he died . if you ask me that seems like the best bus to be put in Ely with the local  legends name on .






thanks go to Rob Bennett & jmee85 for gen and photo