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.