Abellio Greater Anglia

As we all know national express east anglia are giveing up their franchise. it has been   awarded to Abellio
and the franchise will be called Abellio Greater Anglia .The duration of the contract is 29 months but abellio have some big plans to come such as 
•A new cycle hire scheme at Norwich station and cycle storage points at 15 stations, including space for 500 bicycles at Chelmsford.

•Up to 300 new car parking spaces, plus a further 300 at Shenfield and Wickford stations, subject to planning approval.

•Cleaning and painting of 141 stations across the franchise.

•Other improvements to be made by the new operator will include updates to existing ticket machines to make them more user-friendly, the installation of 28 new ticket machines at stations across the network and the introduction of online season ticketing.

•Oyster pay-as-you-go will be extended to cover the following
stations: Theobalds Grove, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Brentwood, Shenfield, Broxbourne, Rye House, St Margarets, Ware and Hertford East.

•Car drivers will see improvements with the provision of a total of 300 new car parking spaces at specific stations (subject to planning approvals). Meanwhile 300 new parking spaces will be provided at Shenfield and Wickford stations (subject to planning approvals) while 100 pay and display machines in station car parks will be replaced.
The new operator will also be required to install electrical car points at 20 stations.

•The new operator will also run a six month trial of a scheduled bus service between Saffron Walden and Audley End station, the introduction of a PlusCab service that will allow customers to book a taxi from 45 stations with pre-agreed fares based on a zonal pricing structureand a complimentary refreshments service for first class passengers on the London to Norwich and Stansted Express services.

•Information desks will be built at Cambridge, Norwich and Stansted Airport, and six new kiosks will be built at Bishops Stortford, Chelmsford, Colchester (two), Ipswich and Stratford. A new information desk will also be installed at Liverpool Street Station.

•Two new customer panels will be established and the new operator will also recruit a team of multi-lingual volunteers to provide information to customers in or around affected stations during the Olympics and Paralympics. Meanwhile a Smartphone App specifically for the Olympics will be developed which will provide real-time service information and directions to stations.


•A total of 141 stations will be refreshed and the whole the train fleet will be deep cleaned (except the class 379s), including all surfaces and floor coverings, toilets and lighting. In addition the interior of the class 321 units will be refreshed and CCTV will be fitted to 68 class 321 vehicles.    
  

The franchise starts in feb 2012  

 this will be their thired   UK rail franchise as they already have the successful  Merseyrail and Northern Rail businesses. i wish them all the best with the franchise 

Megabus update

A lot been going on with megabus over the last couple of months includeing a new overnight sleeper service between Glasgow and London it the first one of it kind in the UK . the service will use three bendi 
one Volvo b10 Jonckheere Mistral's 51062-SJI1631  (click reg for photo) and two Volvo b10 Jonckheere Modulo 51092 & 51096  still un sure what ''new'' reg plate there going to be given  yet . 
The coaches are fitted with 24 seats and 24 beds  Passengers will also have access to a toilet, free Wi-Fi, on-board refreshments and a complimentary overnight pack containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, a bottle of water, an eye mask and a luggage label. Each berth has a reading light and curtain for extra privacy, as well as a duvet, pillow and blanket. Prices for the service will start from just £1 up to £40 plus 50p booking fee the service is to start on the 21st of October photos of in side the coach are here beds  seats welcome pack . 
THE Depart Glasgow at 23:10 and arrive in London at 07:00
and Depart London at 23.55 and arrive in Glasgow at 07:45


Other news is that stagecoach have ten new Volvo B9R Plaxton Panther II for there new Birmingham to Edinburgh service M18 the coaches are 
53636-KX61GDU 53637-KX61GDV 53638-KX61GDY  53639-KX61GDZ
53640-KX61GEJ  53641-KX61GEK   53642-KX61GEU   53643-KX61GEY
                             53644-KX61GFA  53645-KX61GFE
The above coaches will be based at rugby 


From January 2012 there will be no more of the Volvo b10 Jonckheere Mistral's going in to london to the new low emissions(excepted the sleeper service ) so   52645/52647/52648/52649/52657/52658/52659 cant go into london from 2012  they will instead be used on other cross country services that avoid London  

Trent Barton's new optare Tempo SR's

 Trent Barton  and UK bus manufacturer Optare and design consultancy Best Impressions  and with help from ranbow 4 (soon to be i4) customers on the  shape and  the eye-catching design of the new bus. 

The new Tempo SR'S that are to join Trent Barton fleet  by the end of the year are  12-metre long with 41 seats trimmed in a specially designed fabric and space for 44 standing passengers and feature double-glazed windows and an on-board, six-camera CCTV system. The  first of 13 Tempo SR buses will be delivered later this year and will operate on the Rainbow 4 route soon to be re branded I4, which operates every 10 minutes between Derby and Nottingham via Sandiacre and Stapleford. The new buses will also be the first to feature Trent Barton's new logo.

new Tempo SR (C) trent barton 

NEW TEMPO SR
(C) trent barton 

thanks to the ram at tb for photos and info

out & about bus bash around Cambridge

On Friday i had a days bashing the stagecoach and whippet buses around Cambridge on my trip i meet up some of my driver mates as well as a trip up to cowly rd  (stagecoach cambridge's bus depot) to see what was there even spotted a 66 on chesterton siding what made a nice surprise
buses i bashed was as follows
21222-AE09GYS histon busway  stop to oakington busway stop  service A
21225-AE09GYV Oakington busway stop to science park busway stop service A
223320-AE51RYW science park to Cambridge city center  service citi 2
GO whippet G824UMU Cambridge-Croydon- Cambridge service 75
15658-AE10HFB Cambridge-oakington busway stop service B
21227-AE09GYW Oakington busway stop- histon busway stop service A
21230-AE09GZA Histon busway stop to cambridge city center service A
21229-AE09GYZ  Cambridge parkside to Cambridge new square service A
GO whippet G824UMU Cambridge-Croydon  service 75
GO whippet G824UMU Croydon-Swavesey depot --
15462-AE09GYK  Swavesey busway stop to cambridge Bridge st service B
19583-AE10BWU Cambridge Bridge st to Cambridge city center
15463-AE09GYN Cambridge city center to Histon busway stop service B

Bedfords  52437-R37AKV

after a pop down to the depot im now told stagecoach in Newcastle are finishing the rest of the trident open top conversions except 17079 what is still at Lincoln 17099 is still up cowly rd withdrawn pile along with three ex bedford leyland olys three volvo ps and Three P81-GMU olys  and two R66-DRP OLYS   also seen up cowly rd on training was stagecoach bedfords  52437-R37AKV also seen up cowly rd was 21223-AE09GYT what had substantiated accident (nothing major ) 34441 KV53EZU was across from stagecoach fens for  mot  seen on Chesterton sideing (opposite side of cowly rd ) was  DBS 66192

66192 ON CHESTERTON SIDING

Also seen in town was two of Selwyns 11 plate volvo b12 plaxton elites as well as one of simonds vanhool coaches  

some of the other shots of the day below

volvo B5L hybrid decker go's on loan to go whippet

whippet coaches have a volvo B5L hybrid decker on loan till monday BK10MGV was seen today at histon on  mabby it only day on the busway  as it could be used on other service such as the 1A (Hunts to Camb's ) . 

I managed to get  someone opinion of the bus from a mr Christopher bowles how travelled on it he said ''its very comfortable. I have to say. It was a bit off putting when the diesel bit cut out & the generator power cut in - it almost felt like it was stalling, even though it wasn't. However I think you'd get used to that within 4 or 5 journeys on it. It was so lovely & quiet when slowing down to pull into bus stops, and not that noisy when pulling away either. Not a bad ride at all actually, the B5 engine sounds quite. quite different to a B7 or B10''.

It did make for some good photos on the busway near  histon photos and video below enjoy 

 

big thanks to the flying chipmunk for the heads up and  Christopher bowles for his views on the ride

30 mins at the busway in histon

I was in the area of the busway yesterday at Histon with my camera so done a 30 min stint just north of histon's busway stop  buses seen was whippet's volvo b7 plaxton centro stagecoach's scania E400's and there volvo b7 Eclipse Urban And also the bus of most interest was whippets ''ghost of the busway'' there ex Demo    volvo b7 Eclipse Urban which has had to be put in to service after one of there centro's is off the road at the moment awaiting a replacement window.  photos below of what was seen enjoy

AE09GYS showing the drivers opinion of the busway :)

BG59FYD on service c

AE59EHR

AE09GYD on service B

AE09GYN ON SERVICE B 

Goldline spec buses for X4

Stagecoach midland's are taking delivery of 12 scania N230UD ADL E400 in November for the X4 service from Peterborough to Northampton.
 The buses will be based at at kettering with the current scanias e400s ''bus spec'' on the x4 are likely to be used   on the kettering to bedford (49/50) service  the new E400 will be numbered 15739-15751
GOLD LINE SPEC
leather seats
WIFI
Air con


Thanks to the Dumfries decoy for the info