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.