A YEAR IN VIEW!

A YEAR OF BUS WARS AND COMPETITION

65540 R140 GSF spent some of it's year in limbo with a blown engine, surprisingly considering it's 15 year old age it received a  new engine and spends it's time mainly on town routes.

Could we say that 2012 was a good year for bus travel, it heralded certainly a contrasting year for many of the operators with both Anglian, Ipswich Buses and Stephensons taking on First Group in Ipswich when they announced that they would compete over  Ipswich Buses town routes so who was the winners and losers, well at first the people of Broke Hall and Bixley Farm were the losers when First Group announced they were to axe the 62 route and operate 2 services instead via Foxhall Road, one to Bixley the other to Broke Hall, this was carried out without anyone's knowledge until i contacted my local councillor and then all hell was let loose, eventually it all lead to IB reinstating service 4 along Felixstowe Road, the consequences of this has lead to people using the new service 4 instead of the 55/56 while Nacton Road now has some of all or part of the following routes 1/2/3/X3/6/75-77/60/61/70, since July IB has further upped the ante by routing the X3 into the new John Lewis and charging a flat fare of only a £1. As far as new buses were concerned nothing much changed  until  the bus war  when IB brought in more ex Stagecoach London Tridents and Darts and First a mix of Volvo B7RLES  from Norwich and some untidy Scania Wright Eclipses from Essex, both companies introduced new liveries on to the public, however we have yet to see First paint more than the 3 Volvo B7RLES in the new fleet livery with the remaining fleet seeing just the Ipswich name being added to their sides, more than likely due to early Scanias and Dart SLFs probably due to be replaced in the coming year i doubt we will see any repaints for the time being.

ANOTHER SHOT ACROSS FIRST'S BOW

ANOTHER WARNING SHOT FOR FIRST IN IPSWICH

 

 

 

One of the two latest arrivals of Dennis Tridents 20 Y436 NHK seen awaiting passengers for the soon to be extended service 17 to Ipswich Hospital.

IB Dart 84 on service 11 last Thursday a now common occurance on the 5/7/11/15 routes usually the preserve of the fleets double deckers.

Ipswich Buses are to extend their new service 17 to Broke Hall Shops which currently terminates at Ipswich Hospital, the service will continue to work off peak from 0942 to 1509 from Tower Ramparts at intervals of every hour, this will restoke the current bus war between the two companies, it will now be interesting to see if First respond to this currently they seem to be ignoring these new developments and have yet to do anything on the Stowmarket  and Saxmundham corridors with both Stephensons and Anglian running over two of their main routes.

COMPETITION ON THE BUSES!

COMPETITION ON THE BUSES

65674 SN51 UYH one of the 4 hard seated Scania Wright Solars which can pop up on town and country routes such as the 64 which First are now competing with Anglian on.

Not a great amount to talk about this week as the dreaded Winter cold struck me down anyway the 164 Anglian service from Saxmundham to Ipswich started off this week usual fare seems to be any of the Scania Omnicities from the ex Metrobus 03 plates to the newer 07 plates which are somewhat of an improvement from what First group use on the route anything usually from the worn down P reg Scania batch 65541-44/46-50, even on the odd occasion a Dart SLF although the remaining 3 can now be mainly seen on town routes.

IB'S Enviro 300 dart SK07 DYA deputising for the usual ex Stagecoach London Darts on the 13th December

SATURDAY IN IPSWICH

A SATURDAY IN IPSWICH BRINGS VARIETY

Not taken today but on Tuesday was IB Trident 21 on the 4 which usually uses a dedicated dart, bringing back memories of travelling on the top in those younger days.

Unusually for a Saturday i ventured into Ipswich Town Centre due to the previous day being a wet and windy Friday and i quite glad that i did, as quite a bit was happening, unusually First were using mainly the OLD scanias on towns with only 65690 bring any relief, usually there is at least 4 of the Volvo B7rles on the town services but today there was none are First running down  the Town services? noted today was 65528,65550,65588,65590,43477,43488 and 65690 as mentioned. IB had two tridents out on the 3 to Ravenswood one being the East Lancs Lolyne 10 and one on the X5 to the Hospital, again both routes are usually Dart operated. On Tuesday a unusual visitor to the new 17 service to the Hospital was Trident 19 now equipped with a LED display from ex Olympian 39 it can presumably now operate on towns services, although it is worth mentioned that after the 17 service finishes at around 1500 it then picks up at St Albans school for a 11A school duty. Recent changes on the town network for IB have seen a 10p rise in the basic fare to £1.30 still cheaper than First on certain routes, the 6A now sees a regular duty for an Optare Solo instead of the Enviro 300 which is now to be seen on the 3 to Ravenswood. In fleet news Carters have yet another dart in the form of ex Metrobus Dennis Dart/Marshall LT02 ZDO which Metrobus took over from First in the Orpington area with fleet no 41460  and surprisingly retains Firsts red livery and group interior.

DECEMBER CHANGES

CHANGES TO COME IN DECEMBER

IB Scania 70 found its way on to the 11's on the 16th November a change from its Chantry workings

Not too much too report further to last weeks blog, however at long last you can now obtain copies of the changes that First Ipswich are making to local services, just go to the First Norfolk and Suffolk site and go to the timetables page, then forthcoming timetables, in brief the 75 to Felixstowe will now revert to its previous routing via Spring Road which will bring it into contact with Ipswich Buses new service 17 to the Hospital, service 88/A to Stowmarket will now only serve Ipswich Hospital off peak, will Stowmarket Town service will be routed to serve the Violet Hill medical clinic. The two new tridents for IB are numbered 20/21 Y436/58 NHK, 20 has already entered service on Tuesday on the 8 to Whitehouse thanks to IB's Twitter.

ANGLIAN TO COMPETE WITH FIRST ON X22

 MORE COMPETITON FOR FIRST IN SUFFOLK/NORFOLK

Though strictly not within our boundary of area it's worth remarking on further competition for First on their X22 from Norwich to Beccles beginning on December 3rd, when Anglian will now directly run their previous 525 service now renumbered to 146 over exactly the same route as First, maybe Go Ahead are now upping the game and are trying to further their ambitions with new services around the Norwich area, timetables will be availiable directly from the Anglian website at the end of the month.

69432 AU58 FFV the last Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse with an overall advert for the Cooperative supermarkets at Tower Ramparts on the 12 th November

IPSWICH BUSES REROUTE SERVICE X3 TO JOHN LEWIS/WAITROSE

IB route X3 which previously served Ravenswood has now been rerouted to serve the new John Lewis and Waitrose superstores as of last Friday, while service 1 and 3 will still Ravenswood as will First's service 70, still unavailiable to me so far are new timetables and routeings for the changes First are making in December on the Stowmarket and Felixstowe routes

IB trident LG02 FEM one of the two buses involved on new service 17 yesterday

ANGLIAN TO GO UP AGAINST FIRST

FEC Dart SLF 43488 at Tower Ramparts 5/11/12 whilst on a 56 to Broke Hall

Anglian have registered a 164 Saxmundham to Ipswich service which will go head to head with First's 64 and will operate Monday to Saturday, service will begin on the 10th December and i'm presuming here, will operate to a route very similar to First's, no timetables are availiable yet so i am not sure to what frequency they will operate. Stephensons X14 to Bury St Edmunds is being run with a little help from Ipswich Buses, if you buy a return ticket for £7 you can travel back home for free if you present your ticket to the driver.

IB SERVICE 17 STARTS

Service 17 to Heath Road Hospital began today, with very few if any passengers using the service, one of the new ex Stagecoach London Tridents for the route did appear whilst at Tower Ramparts on test and was 17458 Y458 NHK previously allocated to their Barking Depot



As the two ex Stagecoach London Tridents are not available yet IB used DAF lowlander 56 PN52 XBF was one of the 2 in service today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIRST BROUGHT TO ACCOUNT

FEC 69010 AUO5 DMY a Volvo B7RLE at Broke Hall Shops on a 56 to Tower Ramparts

First in Ipswich are to be brought in front of the Traffic Commissioners over poor service levels on Felixstowe routes, by Felixstowe Town Council who say buses have failed to show up with buses going through Trimley St Martin halved in frequency, First have admitted that the roadworks currently taking place in and around Ipswich Town Centre have caused severe delays at times, you can read more about this from the Ipswich Evening Star http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/felixstowe_anger_on_the_buses_as_complaints_are_taken_to_commissioners_1_1674351

CAUGHT AT LAST

69431 caught at Tower Ramparts today in between duties on town routes

At last i have caught the elusive 69431 today at Tower Ramparts whilst on the 60 to Gainsborough, all its sisters were also on towns including 69433 on the 70's to Ravenswood, also on towns today which was unusual were 60807/08 Volvo B10BLES S658/59 RNA while none of the 69005/7-10 of B7RLES were to be found with only 69009 on Felixstowe's, other news is 43486 as expected has come to the end of the line and is to be scrapped after workable parts have been removed.

MORE CHANGES?

MORE CHANGES FOR FIRST IN IPSWICH

Volvo B7RLE 66850 MX05 CHD on town service 61 to Greenwich 12/10

A all too rare visitor to Tower Ramparts last Friday was IB Trident 18 V126 MEV 

Registered by First on Notice and Proceedings yesterday were changes for the 87 in Stowmarket, presumably something to do with the withdrawal back in July of a link between Stowmarket and Stowupland, while the 88 will undergo changes to its route and timetable, again maybe something to do with the new service by Stephensons from Bury St Edmunds to Ipswich via Stowmarket, while routes 75-77 Ipswich to Felixstowe will have an amendment to their routes and timetable. A recent repaint into the new livery is Volvo B7RLE 69431 AU58 FFT seen last Friday on country route 63.Meanwhile Ipswich Buses have purchased a further 2 Dennis Tridents/Alx 400 from Ensign for schools work or perhaps the new route 17 to the Hospital via Spring Road.

SATURDAY DECKER

IB LOWLANDER 57 ON THE 4 LAST SATURDAY 6/10

Apologies for lack of news recently but nothing really noteworthy is happening apart from the unusual sight of a DAF lowlander 57 appearing on the 4 last Saturday although in truth this was probably due to Football traffic, meanwhile FEC Scania 65531 R131 GSF has returned to traffic after a term out of action reappearing again last week on town duties and a regular again during this week.

MORE COMPETITION FOR FIRST?

IB Dart/East Lancs Myllenium 87 on service 4 instead of a usual route branded Dart

Further to the previous posting, Stephensons are to start a new service linking Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich via Stowmarket starting in just under 7 weeks time, which will partly compete against First's 88 from Stowmarket and will run on a two hourly basis with a postioning journey from Stephensons base in Haverhill. In fleet news Carters have purchased a further Dennis Trident from Ensign's 421 LX51 FJN ex Stagecoach East London 17421

Volvo B7RLE 66850 MXO5 CHD ex First Manchester on a Sunday 56 at Broke Hall Shops

IB ROUTE 4 GETS UNDER WAY

ONE NEW ROUTE STARTS,ANOTHER ON IT'S WAY

IB Lowlander 58 PJ53 OLA on peak time service 4 on the 26th September

News reaches us this week that IB are to start another new town route in just under 2 months with a new route 17 Ipswich Hospital via Spring Road which mirrors First's 88 to the Hospital, strange this one considering that IB were the ones who withdrew the old number 3 route in the late 1990's, so another warning shot in the battle of the bus wars. Route 4 began on Monday and seemingly are slowly winning passengers over from the 56, one advantage for IB is if a bus is delayed like it was yesterday at peak time then a spare bus as seen above in the picture will be utilised so not to let down passengers, First tend to miss buses out altogether so on routes like the 55/56 you could be waiting up to a hour for the next one.

IB ROUTE 4 SET TO GO

IB ROUTE 4 CHAMPAGNE LAUNCH

One of the 2 new Darts purchased from Ensign ex Stagecoach London is 141 'BORIS' Y273 FJN

Monday sees the new IB route 4 set off with a champagne launch from Broke Hall shops when local councillors and IB staff at 0740, as can be seen from the photo above the route is labelled as the FAB 4 a loose Beatles connection ! Surprising they haven't named them Paul, John, Ringo or George, it will be interesting to see how long the route will last being up against Firsts 55 and 56 to Broke Hall and Bixley, IB have now stopped going up against First on ticket prices putting the weekly and ten trips back up to £15, so for the time being First will be cheaper, although standard fares remain the same. Route 4 will be timed about 2 mins earlier than Firsts 55/56  from Broke Hall and Bixley and leave 5 mins early from Tower Ramparts as far as quickness its difficult to judge which is best as at the present time Ipswich Town Centre is plagued with roadworks, the advantage of IB is they have spare buses and drivers available to plug the gaps in service something First don't tend to do, they tend to miss the route out altogether and go on to the next one.

69010 AU05 DWY  on the 56 in Ashdown Way.

6 DAYS TO NEW BATTLE FOR PASSENGERS

IB Dart 144 Y295 FJN on the X5 to the Hospital

A new battle to win over passengers to Ipswich Buses from First Ipswich begins next Monday when service 4 to Broke Hall re starts, for all the people who don't know the history of the route, it was operated by IB up until the end of 1999 before First took over the route and then subsequently re numbered to 62, before being axed in July this year. From the meeting i attended last week it was a bit dishearting to hear from Malcom Robson that First may have been right to axe the route and that they will give the route 6 months to work pending 300 fare paying passengers a day, in my thinking and many others is that thought that the two routes running within minutes of each other will mean both companies getting less passengers.

One of only three active Darts left with First Ipswich 43477 R477 CAH on the 56 to Broke Hall the route IB will compete against.

ONE IN AND ONE OUT

69007 AU05 DMO Volvo B7RLE/Wrightbus Eclipse at Broke Hall Shops on the 11th September

A further arrival is 69010 AU05 DMY sister bus to the above, which arrived at the beginning of the week, while Dart SLF 43460 R460 BNG departed to Essex, leaving only 3 active darts 42431,43477,43488 at Ipswich, with 43486 out of service at Ransomes Europark,  43477 and 43488 were both on the town cycle of routes along with one of the two Volvo B10BLEs 60807 yesterday, usually at least 4 of the 7 buses involved are Volvo B7RLES including 69430-33 which for some strange reason were missing yesterday of the town cycle with just 69009 and 65690 involved, Tuesday saw a surprise with a Volvo B7TL decker on towns 32491, and 66850 coming off to be replaced by 65590.

Volvo B7TL/ Transbus ALX 400 32491 AU53 HKJ on the 56 to Broke Hall 

ANOTHER PUBLIC MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF BIXLEY BUS SERVICES

Next Thursday evening will see another public meeting at St Augustine's Church Hall at 17.30, with staff from First Ipswich and Ipswich Buses, as well as Ipswich Borough Councillors for the area being asked to attend, with the last meeting full to the brim, it was a particularly lively evening. As a quick reminder it is worth noting that the New Ipswich Buses service 4 will start operating again in 15 days time on the 24th September on a half hourly basis.

A newish  arrival in the form of 60807 a Volvo B10BLE/Wright at Broke Hall shops yesterday on the 56 to Town  Centre

NEW FIRST ARRIVALS

69433 a Volvo B7RLE seen in Clapgate Lane freshly repainted

60807 a Volvo B10BLE a new arrival from Norwich on Bixley Farm

As seen above 60808 has returned to Ipswich along with it's sister 60807 and came via a short spell from Norwich, Volvo B10BLES are only seen in small quantities these days with 66126 a solo example with Lowestoft and 60813/14, 66168 at Great Yarmouth. 69433 seen above has now been repainted into the new First Livery with 69432 i believe the next one in line. Yesterday saw 42431,65540,65672,69007/09,65690,69432 on 55/56/60/61s  and 65673/74 and a poor old scania 65541 on the 70's, although 69007 broke down later on during the day at the bottom of Bishop's Hill and at least the 55 at 11.00 and the 56 at 11.45 were missing as was the 10.58 60, this is caused by considerable roadworks in and around the University, Fore Street, Star Lane and Upper Orwell Street. Today a surprise on the town cycle was 32492 seen on the 60. One other piece of news is that Dart SLF 43486 is laid up at Ransomes Euro Park unknown whether this is withdrawn.

Back into the past again part 2

VR 189 RPW 189R at the OCM in the Mid 1990'S freshly painted in the new livery

As there is not an awful lot happening on the bus war lately and due to illness i haven't been out and about i thought i would dip into the past again with a selection of photos, from the 1990's my era, i got into buses in 1981 when i recieved my first model bus an Silver Matchbox Londoner, and from 1983 when i went to secondary school i started using what was then Ipswich Borough Transport and then my interest developed further with my travels in the late 80's on the fantastic sunday services sponsored by Suffolk County Council to Yarmouth and Clacton, shame we didn't have digital cameras in those days as the pictures i did take were wholly useless

OC3 F103 AVG an Northern Counties Olympian, which in general had shorter lifes due to chassis and bodywork problems around 1994 i would think what with the Blobby adverts helping matters

 

Bank Holiday blues

Not much going on at the moment, one recent observation is the return of 65540 to service on town routes after receiving a new engine, if anyone has any observations or news please get in touch.

EARLY FIRST AND PRESENT DAY FIRST ANY DIFFERENCE

VP85 Volvo B6 M585 ANG later 48085 when new in around 1995 on Bramford Road, photographer anon .

This was a time when First regional liveries still existed and was based i believe based on the old Grampian Regional Transport livery, later on we had the much better Anglia Yellow base with Red at the bottom which was quite a striking livery although typically First never repainted many, the only complete batches to be done i believe were the B6 plaxton pointers and the Ex Beeline Olympians F172-5 LBL and i believe a National Greenway which is now preserved ex Carters of course.

69430 at Tower Ramparts on the 21/8/12

Coming bang up to date with this livery and how times have changed not a particular favourite with many people, too me it doesn't catch the eye in the same way as IB'S purple and green livery. Travelling on First today you can see how they have lost their way, presentation of the fleet lacks in terms of cleanliness and vehicle age, although Firsts driving staff do their best considering what they given and in general they are very friendly to my eyes! The mix of buses continues on the town routes and i do have make one correction in that seems to be 8 Buses on the 55/56/60/61 routes yesterday Darts 42431/43460, Scanias 65532/90/65675 and Volvo B7RLES 66850/69008/66850, today Dart 43460, Scanias 65531/32/88/89 and 65690 with Volvo B7RLES 69005 and 69433.

BUS CONDUCTORS BACK FOR ONE WEEK ONLY IN  BATTLE OF THE BUS WARS

IB trident 12 LG02 FDC at Tower Ramparts on the 16.8.12

Ipswich Buses have bought back conductors on their services for the last week only, in the latest round in the battle of the bus wars, see Fridays Star  http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_conductors_are_latest_weapon_in_bus_wars_battle_1_1484947 

It will be interesting to see how First react in the long run as far as publicity is concerned there has been little in the way of advertising, with IB doing all the running with daily adverts in the Star, maybe newer buses coming in after the Olympics or with the withdrawal of services in Norwich buses being cascaded from there, we will have to wait and see. 

Bus War day 4

BUS WARS DAY 4

A surprise on the town routes today was 65547, as the P reg Scanias  don't have blinds for the new town routes,  i would imagine this was a replacement for a broken down bus as travelling into town, it smelt of disinfectant so had presumably been recently cleaned.

Day 4 shows how things seem to be getting worse for First on the new town routes, as i left Broke Hall Shops at 1.42pm i was the only passenger heading into town until The Reavells Stop on Foxhall road From that point we only picked up 4 children, 3 OAPs and 1 Adult Fare, traffic along Woodbridge Road was very busy snaking back towards Grove Lane due to roadworks from Bond Street and into Woodbridge Road. Buses on the town cycle was 42431,43460,43486,65547,65588,65672,69008,69009 although 42431 left the cycle at some point as it failed to turn up for the 1545 56 to Broke Hall. On the 70 to Sainsbury's Warren Heath was 65528/29,69433, 69432 was deputising on Park and Rides. It seems to me that very few people are using First's new services, most 70's were leaving empty, although most people are sticking to the 60/61 rather than IB's 6A. As mentioned the 4 buses bought for the X3 and X5 mentioned on Monday were sticking to their designated routes.

IB dart 144 waiting to take up duties on the X5 today

Bus War Hots Up

                                  BUS WAR HOTS UP

Ipswich Buses ALX 300 Dart 143 in between journeys on the X3  today showing  the  full  effect of the new branding.

Today the bus war hotted up with the introduction of the 3 new IB services the X3 to Ravenswood, the X5 to Ipswich Hospital and the 6A to Gainsborough, for which 4 of the 5 new darts bought for these routes, were in operation 138/9 on the X5 and 142/3 on the X3, on both of these routes the IB promotions team were out and about handing out leaflets, on the other route the 6A was Enviro 300 83, as this was the first day patronage wasn't too high, indeed along Foxhall Road both IB and First were swapping places again at most swaps. Meanwhile First had out there usual mixture of buses including 42431 and 69007 on the 70 and on the 56/55/60/61 cycle were 43486/65673/65532/65590/65690/69005/69431. A surprise on the Felixstowe's today was what is believed to be an loan from Great Yarmouth of Northern counties Palatine 2 Olympian 34157, the first time an Olympian of this bodywork has been used in Ipswich. More comments were mentioned in the Star on Friday Night see this link for more details  http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_three_new_routes_served_up_by_ipswich_buses_1_1477243

Into The Future, and Back into the Past

IB Dart 143 ready for action at Constantine Road Depot, with route branding for the X3  to Ravenswood

As mentioned in previous posts this is one of the 5 Darts to be bought for competition with First in Ipswich, however there is now 2 more Darts to come which have been bought for route 4 to Broke Hall and will be similarly adorned to the buses being used on the X3/5 and are numbered 138-44 no reg no's yet for 140/141, 138/39/42-44 are Y262/71/92/94/95 FJN and are ex Stagecoach East London via Ensign Dealer.

VR 276 in the short period of time when the new privately owned Eastern Counties took over both IB  local routes 4 and  6 on the 26.10.86, funny how history repeats itself. This was taken at Broke Hall shops.

Funny enough i can remember that day, as i caught an Leyland National home on the 4 one of the R reg ones also i remember one of the fine ex Ribble VRs being used that day, during that short time Eastern Counties run anything and everything including the ex Bickers coaches, Bristol LHs and VRs .

4 days to bus war

With 4 days and counting to IB's entry into the bus war on Monday, further news was that First denied that they hadn't taught there drivers the new routes by the article in the star yesterday, it concerned a gentleman who said the driver Didnt know the route round near Ransomes europark. Today again the was a variety of types on the 55,56,60,61 including dart 43486, Scanias 65673,65590,65528 and Volvo B7rles 66850,69005,69008 and on the 70 65589 and 69007.

65675 at Broke Hall Shops on the 2/8/12

69009 Under Attack and 32489 on 70's

65589 during a heavy downpour whilst on the 60 at Tower Ramparts

Today witnessed an unusual event whilst waiting for the 56 to Broke Hall, 69009 appeared ready to go on aforementioned route but its driver couldn't stop this vehicle is under attack alarm, so off he went so no bus for another 30 mins, while waiting for the next bus up popped an late 32489 on the 70, what a waste of a double decker with no one getting on. Also on the 70 to Sainsbury's was 65528 and 69007, the 7 on the 55/56/60/61 diagram were 65589/90,69005/9,42431,43460,66850, whilst 69432/3 were on 88's and 43477 on Felixstowes. When next 56 came the poor driver didn't even know what the correct route was as he had been on holiday and was unaware of the routes being changed, so we ended up going through the Old Cattle Market, Star Lane, Bond St and Major's Corner before going on to Woodbridge Road, when he should of gone up Upper Brook Street, Northgate Street and Great Colman Street before Woodbridge Road, during that de tour 43486 was parked up at the Old Cattle Market and 69431 was in the depot with one other unidentified Scania.

Corrections to earlier posts

Dart 43488 laying over at Broke Hall Shops

Further to a previous post, the actual route diagrams for the routes that interwork are the 55/56/60/61 are a bit different than what i thought, the pvr for all four routes is 7 in general its 2 or 3 workings on the 60/61 depending on timings followed by the 56 then a 55 then back to 60/61s. Current buses being used is a mix bag, usually 2 to 3 Darts, with 4 Volvo B7RLES and the odd Scania from time to time.

First in Trouble in Needham Market

After causing a stink on the eastern side of Ipswich with the recent changes more on that later, First have seemingly caused themselves more problems with people having to walk into Stowmarket to catch a bus to their local doctors surgery here's the link in full http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/needham_market_withdrawal_of_route_87_bus_service_is_disgraceful_1_1464863

First 69433 on the 56 Broke Hall this afternoon

The recent changes in Ipswich have caused a lot of confusion, buses seemingly have run early at times or considerably late, on the 56 due to the knock on from the Greenwich 60 which has to navigate the traffic on Bishops Hill, one departure for the 56 this morning left Tower Ramparts still with 60 Town centre showing, no wonder people are confused, even the drivers are confused to what route they are taking. Apparently on Monday there were at least 5 breakdowns in the morning, not a good start, lets hope First can sort these problems out.

UPDATED INFORMATION FOR NEW ROUTES

Just some amendments to make to my previous Ipswich Buses post, Service 1 to Ravenswood still operates to Ipswich Rail Station the 3 will not, the X3 from Ipswich Tower Ramparts is also a new service and will operate every 20 mins throughout the day to Ravenswood, all First's new services will depart from the current stop outside Ipswich Buses Canteen, that will be fun watching that happen! In terms of the new buses 65690 from Basildon is the only bus to come this week that is not a Volvo B7RLE and is a Scania/Wrightbus Solar.

The Last Arrivals

Recent Arrival From Norwich Scania/Wright Solar 65674(SN51 UYH) on the last day of the 62 to Bixley




Contrary to exception the bus that has arrived from Newcastle Upon Lyme is 66850 MX05 CHD  a  Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban and has been joined by 69005/9 from Norwich, AU05 DME/X which have rejoined their sisters 69007/8 AU05 DMO/V at Ipswich. The last day of the 62 was in the capable hands of recent arrival 65674 and 65589 Scania saloons, while 65543/6 were on the 61, interestingly 69007 was found working the 88 along with 32488. Yesterday on the 62 an unusual appearance saw 43477 on the 62 whether this was a replacement for a Scania i wouldn't know.

First's New buses arriving

Further to yesterdays post 3 buses have arrived in Ipswich for the launch of the new routes from Sunday first in are 69007/8 2 05 plate Volvo B7RLES from Norwich and 65690 a 03 Plate Scania L94/Wright from Basildon, 2 more Volvo B7RLES are coming tomorrow from Norwich and a further Scania L94/Wright from the Midlands.

IB ROUTE 4 CONFIRMED

Confirmed today was the registration of route 4 to Broke Hall/Bixley Farm via Felixstowe Road with the traffic commissionaire service will start from the 23rd September and will run Mondays to Saturdays from approx 7am to 7pm, meanwhile the timetable for the 192F has now appeared and will run off peak from 9.28 to around 15.00 in the afternoon. There is still no news on what is arriving at Ipswich for the new First routes, some sites have suggested a number of different types of bus but it's a case of wait and see.

Ipswich Buses Changes

Ipswich Buses make their changes a week later than First on the 30th July, with some new routes in competition with First and others with route alterations and changes to times, service 3 to Warren Heath via Ravenswood and Gainsborough continues on a 30 minute frequency, combining with service 1 to give an every 15 minute frequency to the Gainsborough area this will be up against Firsts 70/X on exactly the same route, both services will only work on a Monday to Saturday basis with some new extra evenings journeys, both IB 1/3 will no longer work through to the railway station, although First's X70 in early mornings will . The X5 is a non stop version of the current service 5 to Ipswich Hospital via Foxhall Road on a twenty minute frequency, giving a combined every 10 minute frequency to Foxhall Road, this will be up against First's 55/56 to Bixley/Broke Hall on a 15minute frequency. Service 6 will also now only operate to Tower Ramparts and not the Rail Station, however a new service competing partly with First's 60/61 is the 6A which will work via Duke Street to Greenwich every 30 minutes Mondays to Saturdays daytime. There is also minor timetable changes to route 8 and 13. One piece of good news this week is the return of  Ipswich Buses to Broke Hall to Felixstowe Rd which will recommence with the old service number 4 in late September. http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_bus_campaigners_joy_at_saved_route_1_1455272

BUS WARS IN BUSES MAGAZINE

An article on the Bus War is included in Buses Magazine this month for those who are interested. On the 62 in Ipswich today was 65674 a recent transfer from Norwich, didn't see any others from the batch of 4,if anyone spots anything unusual, please let me know and i will put it up on my page, photos too.

BUS WARS PART 2

More on the bus war in Ipswich is included in tonights Star newspaper http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_not_so_long_long_ago_bus_wars_flared_up_in_the_empire_1_1451069

New In, more to come

on the top of the page is 65673 newly transferred from Norwich along with sisters 65672/74/75 with 65557/58/69/70 going to Norwich then on Northampton, lets hope that there will be additional buses in to cope with the new routes in just under two weeks.

Anger over Axing of route 62

Further to what i have previously mentioned in todays Star in Ipswich was an article about the axing of route 62 partly organised with my help you can read the full article http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_anger_at_meeting_over_changes_to_route_62_bus_1_1444819#
It is believed that at least there will be some newer buses coming in, although at the time of writing i can't reveal what.

CHANGES PART ONE

Welcome to my new blog which will unravel hopefully all the facts and news in the Ipswich and Suffolk area, currently the main talking point is the imminent bus war between IB and First, a whole raft of new routes and changes are due on 29th July. The big news is the withdrawal of route 62 to Bixley replaced by the 55/56 which will go via Foxhall Road and compete with IB service 5 which sees an additional non stop X5, IB have also added a new 6a to Gainsborough. IB's  service 1/3 will now compete with Firsts X/70 over the same route to Ravenswood, First have also upped the frequency of the 61 to every 10 mins. Meanwhile the 75/77 to Felixstowe will now operate via Felixstowe Road to Kingsway then Nacton Road to Sainsburys Warren Heath then via current route to Felixstowe and the 88 from Stowmarket will now operate to Ipswich Hospital in its place via Woodbridge Road, and the 87 will now operate as a town service from Stowamarket Town Centre out to Stowupland. More to come soon.