FIRST BUS LIVE CHAT AND CATCH THE BUS WEEK

First Ipswich Volvo B7RLE 69429 AU58 FFR standing at Tower Ramparts this PM in the pouring rain.

FIRST BUS LIVE CHAT

First Eastern Counties Managers Chris Speed and Steve Fountain answered questions on First Ipswich live on the Ipswich Star on Tuesday afternoon, full chat is available on this link http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/home/first-bus-live-chat, in general it was a good chat with questions on fares, next bus announcements, route changes, First Bus apps, vehicle refurbishments and cleanliness of buses.

CATCH THE BUS WEEK 

It's also catch the bus week around Britain this week with different offers all to lure the customer onto the buses, Ipswich Buses are offering free travel with there 'Happy Hour' between 10 and 11 am and First offering 20% off all there weekly network tickets.

OTHER NEWS

IB Optare solo is currently out of service being repainted i would imagine into fleet livery, Carters have recieved a new Dennis Trident/Plaxton President see picture below.

Carters latest Trident 405 LR52 KWH seen in Greenfinch Avenue on a school run, picture copyright James Long.

FIRST IPSWICH/LOWESTOFT CHANGES

66987 KX05 MHV an ex First Midlands Volvo B7RLE seen here at Tower Ramparts



The following changes are scheduled to take place on the 25th May this has been gathered from the Eastern Area Notice and Proceedings of 16th April

IPSWICH AREA

4/A Ipswich Rail Station to Futura Park

Route changes possibly cutting out Dereham Avenue, Medway Road and Wye Road which no longer have bus stops since Ipswich Buses re routed the 6 to Ipswich Hospital.

53 Tower Ramparts to Pinewood

Changes to to timetable

65 Ipswich to Aldeburgh

Changes to timetable

66 Ipswich to Martlesham

Changes to Route, stops and timetable

75-78 Ipswich to Felixstowe

Start of Summer timetable which sees an additional bus to the timetable on Sunday's the 77 to Languard Fort and some reduction of buses in the evening.

88/A/89 Ipswich to Stowmarket

Changes to timetable

LOWESTOFT AREA

In the Lowestoft area the following are all subject to route, stop and timetable changes, 101 Gunton to Carlton Colville, 102 Lowestoft to Oulton, 103 Lowestoft to Carlton Colville and the X22  Lowestoft to Beccles, there is also the start up of service 3 between Newport Caravan Park and Great Yarmouth Seashore Holiday Park for the Summer Season.

32492 AU53 HKK a Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 taking off on the 66 to Martlesham.

BUS SUBSIDIES AND FIRST IPSWICH NEWS

First  Ipswich Volvo B7RLE  69422 AU58 FFJ seen last Tuesday on the 61 to Greenwich

BUS SUBSIDIES CUTS

A piece tucked away in the Ipswich Star caught my eye on Friday, according to the Labour Party in the last four years the amount spent on uneconomic routes have dropped by 50% in Suffolk with only Northamptonshire ahead with 55%. On average services across Britain are down by 23%, Labours Suffolk Transport spokesman Sandra Gage said that the Conservatives have continued to cut funding rather than subsidise rural routes leading to more communities  being cut off.

FIRST IPSWICH UPDATE

Further to my chat with Chris Speed last month, he has updated me further that the four heritage liveries will be based on the current fleet with Ipswich possibly having a bus in classic Tilling red and cream, further newer single deckers are being considered for both Norwich and Ipswich a quantity of around 30 are available within First Group approx 4 years old however this is subject to change. A more recent interview that he did with Sam Larke of Norwich Buses blog is available here http://www.norwichbusesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/norwichbuses-blog-exclusive-chat-with.html

Ipswich Buses East Lancs Transbus Dart 86 PJ53 OLG on the 13 to Pinewood and Tesco.

VINTAGE EASTERN COUNTIES PROFILE

LFS 23 1123 PW a Bristol FS/ECW of 1961 seen here in 1973 in Ipswich OCM

As there is not a lot of news happening this week, i thought i would step back in time to feature some classic photos from my collection of times past, if there is any others you would like to see please let me know.

A classic Bristol VR/ECW in RAH 270W in a rather fetching cream/red/orange livery which suited it down to the ground.

Seen here in Colchester Bus Station was a regular Ipswich allocated Leyland National LN 587 WAH 587S in the Post Office red livery.

Back to the 1960's with this one with Bristol K5G LK 391 KNG 391 in the Ipswich OCM

A Bristol RE/ECW RL 707 VAH 707H seen here in Norwich Bus Station in the late 1970's in the pouring rain, spent out it's last years at Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.

BOSSES ON THE RADIO

Freshly repainted IB East Lancs Scania 60 PJ54 YZT on the 7 outside of the OCM, with the rain lashing down.

Didn't mention this last week, however if you are quick enough you will still be able to catch it on the BBC I player, as both IB MD Malcolm Robson and First Business Manager Chris Speed faced the listeners on Mark Murphy's Morning show last Thursday on BBC Suffolk, i won't spoil it suffice to say it was very interesting. Pictured above IB 60 PJ54 YZT has been repainted into current fleet livery and re-entered service on the 7 on Saturday. Before i go just a quick plug for the Ipswich Transport Museum which has been transformed over the winter months has now reopened and during the week will been open, Mondays to Friday 1pm to 4pm come and say hello if you are there on Wednesday.

FEC Volvo B7RLE/Wrightbus Eclipse 69009 AU05 DMX on the 60 to Gainsborough.

PRETTY IN PINK

Resplendent in Pink and Black is IB Optare Solo 245 YJ05 XNY photo copyright James Long

From time to time, due to my musical knowledge i like to put in a connection to my blog titles this time it's the title of an number eighteen hit from 1981 from the Psychedelic Furs, well if one can call it pretty anyway IB Solo 245 has been repainted into this scheme which will connect the Waterfront on Saturdays to the Town Centre personally i can't see the logic of this, but there you go, it will also continue to operate the current 38 Town centre shuttle,in other IB news Scania/East Lancs 60 has been repainted into normal fleet livery and will no doubt will be out and about by the end of the week. Both IB and First are also to be congratulated on an 93% customer satisfaction rating which was achieved during the bus station closures last year, this was a recent survey from the official passenger watchdog and rank them both just 1% behind Reading Buses.

IB Spectra 51 X51 LBJ has received a electronic display seen here on the 7 to Thorington Park last Thursday.  

A CHAT WITH FIRST'S CHRIS SPEED

Volvo B7TL 32494 AU53 HKM at Tower Ramparts today.

This blog today is primarily about an chat today i had with Chris Speed who is First's Business manager for Eastern Counties, firstly he explained to me how he started out as a bus driver at Great Yarmouth, before taking an Business Management degree returning to First he become operations manager at Norwich where he successfully turned round the business before in recent months becoming Business manager splitting his week into three days at Ipswich and two at Great Yarmouth. Chris understands that Ipswich has been undervalued in the past and told me that future investment will include refurbishment for the current Volvo B7RLES and Volvo B7TLS and the disappearance of the remaining Scanias, resulting in an all Volvo depot. The depot will also be refurbished with the possibility of the depot being lowered to allow for higher deckers in the future, as many routes such as Felixstowe's and Stowmarket suffer from capacity issues. Three Training buses will also be repainted into heritage liveries including the Tilling red and cream with gold fleet names, Great Yarmouth blue and cream and Lowestoft brown and cream. He is obviously keen to see First succeed here and with this new investment programme this will in no doubt improve matters, what is very refreshing from talking to him is that he is very much focused on his drivers and passengers. I would like to thank Chris for his time and hospitality it was much appreciated.

IB Enviro 200 78 YX14 RWL  has now been repainted into the new livery and branding for the 111.