Yesterday evening i had a nice chat of just under an hour with the new Ipswich Buses MD Jeremy Cooper who has moved from Stagecoach East Kent at the end of May to take over from Malcolm Robson, Jeremy sees this as interesting challenge coming to Ipswich, so it was interesting to learn his perspectives on the industry and of course what his future plans are for Ipswich Buses.
One of the first things i learnt contrary to all the speculation going around at present that the three Mercedes-Benz Citario's are still on track for delivery in September, they will not be going on the X5 as previously stated and will be going on an increased 9/10 Whitton/Castle Hill service, there are other key changes to services and since i have spoken to him he has kindly sent me a copy of the changes which i will put at the end of the post, one important change is that the 7 Thorrington Park and the 11 to Heath Road Hospital will now be renumbered 15A and 6A respectively so the whole route uses one number throughout instead of the current situation of for example the 6 showing 11 Central Ipswich when it's obviously on the 6 route. Several routes particularly the Nacton Road corridor will see an increase in frequency on the X1/3 routes, please note that the X1 HAS not been cancelled, the 13 to Pinebrook Tesco will increase back to every 10 mins and the 4 will revert back to it's original terminus at Bixley Broadland Way terminus with certain peak journeys extending to Martlesham Anson Way, Ipswich Railway Station at peak times, with 2 lunchtime 4's also going to Martlesham.
I can also confirm that three Dennis Trident/Plaxton President Double Deckers are due from Lothian and are registered SN51 AXF/O/P, and at the current time no more are due in the future the likelihood will be that next year any new buses will be Midi Buses. Buses to be withdrawn will be the unique Optare Spectra 50 and the solo East Lancs Trident 10. Consideration is also being sought on refurbishing the Double Decker fleet and the Scania Omnicities. The 3 Dart's that have been refurbished 94/96/98 WILL be the only one's done and not the 4 originally stated, what he is hopeful of is that the 2 remaining ex Lothian Dart's will return in the coming week with two of the older X Reg Darts being withdrawn. I would like to thank Jeremy for being so kind in giving up an hour of his time yesterday evening it was much appreciated.
Ipswich Buses
We are pleased to announce our autumn timetable leaflets.
We changed several routes in May 2015 and added extra time to some journeys so
that they operated punctually despite Ipswich’s growing traffic problems. We’ve
had a lot of comments about the new routes and timetables and we’ve tried to
provide additional facilities for as many people as possible.
X1 and X3 – Buses every 15 minutes during peak times
between the Rail Station and Ransome’s Europark to make it easier to get to
work by bus. Buses along Nacton Road into Ipswich Central will run up to every
8 minutes with a better choice of arrivals for work in town. Buses from Ipswich
Central to Gainsborough will run via Landseer Road before 0900 and will be
numbered X2. We are using an extra bus in the afternoon peak period to help us
try and stay on time despite the roadworks.
4 – Additional early morning journey to the rail station
from Bixley. We started the extension to Martlesham Heath a year ago and
unfortunately very few people are using it. We’ve done some surveys and a
number of journeys were completely empty. So we will still run some peak hour
and lunch time journeys through to Martlesham, but most journeys will terminate
at Bixley, where we will return to Broadland Way Shops as the terminus. Those
journeys still serving Martlesham will serve Anson Road and not the stop by
Next in Beardmore Park.
X5 – Minor changes to the timetable in the rush hour and
on Sundays to improve punctuality. Evening and Sunday buses are re-timed to serve
the Hospital at quarter to and quarter past the hour for workers and visitors
with appointments on the hour and half hour.
6/6A – We are changing the number of route 11 to 6A – but
we aren’t changing the route. The new times on route 6 have not been very
successful with regular delays to the buses, and we are sorry this has
inconvenienced you. We are therefore going to use an extra bus on these routes
so that the buses are able to keep to time. We have also increased the time
allowed through the major roadworks at Ransome’s.
If you live in Rushmere it is now possible to catch the
X5 and change to the 6 at the Hospital on evenings and Sundays. Please note the
Sunday times on the 6A will be 10 minutes earlier on Sunday daytimes.
7 – see route 15A below
8 – Improved to run every
10 minutes during shopping hours on Mondays to Saturdays and every 20 minutes on Sunday daytimes!
New earlier journey introduced for commuters with a connection to the station.
9/10 – Improved to run up to every 8 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays and every 20 minutes Sunday daytimes! Evening buses will run 10 minutes
later than at present. New earlier journey introduced for commuters with a
connection to the station. New buses coming soon too…
11 – see route 6A above.
12 – no changes
13 – Improved to run every
10 minutes during shopping hours on Mondays to Saturdays and every 20 minutes on Sunday daytimes!
14 – no changes
15/15A – We are changing the number of route 7 to 15A –
but we aren’t changing the route! We changed the times of these buses in May to
ensure that they ran more punctually, but some of you didn’t like the longer
gaps between buses. We’ve come up with a new timetable that includes more
journeys and fewer gaps.
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