MONDAY'S BUS OBSERVATIONS

Not a lot to talk about yesterday's observations Ipswich Buses wise, so here goes above we see X5 branded ALX 200 Dart 139 Y271 FJN continuing it's journey around all of it's town routes yesterday on the X1, while sister 142 also X5 branded was on the 12 to Chantry Cambridge Drive. Meanwhile 2 of the 4 branded East Lancs Darts branded for the 4 , 85 and 86 continued on it's now regular routes 8/13, with two deckers continuing on the 4 and one on the X3.

 One of the two deckers on the 4 yesterday was Trident 12 LG02 FDC.

A final addition to the news of First Ipswich's E200's transferring to Norwich is that two will transfer to Norwich 44517 and 44518,44517 seen above yesterday on the 60/61, leaving 44516 and 44519 here, however 44519 will be loan to Yarmouth and Lowestoft during the Summer returning after the school holidays.

EASTERN COUNTIES 1970'S RECALL

Two rather different Eastern Counties liveries for today's recall, particularly interesting is the first picture of LS 759 PVF 759 which was new in 1954 and converted to one man operation in March 1963 when they wee fitted with electronically operated jack knife doors and full destination blinds, renumbered and repainted in 1970 as LE 759 they lasted until 1972 when it was allocated to March.
FLF 458 JPW 458D had been repainted in this livery for London And Manchester Assurance in March 1973 until July 1975, this picture would have been taken in the spring of 1975, when allocated to Norwich.

IPSWICH BUSES RECALLING THE 1970'S

 I have recently purchased an healthy load of local bus slides from the ETCS, including Ipswich Borough Transport and Eastern Counties photos, so from my first dip into the collection a chance today to see two photos from the 1970's, firstly at Tower Ramparts note the car park to the right!, we see AEC Regent V 67 DPV 67D before it became an open topper, on the 2A to the Airport via St Johns Road, nowadays St Johns Road is packed with cars down both sides of the road, so it was no surprise when they stopped going down there. Below we see Leyland Atlantean/Roe 2 HDX 905N when new, heading along Woodbridge Road? on the 3 to Rushmere Heath, yet another route that's vanished, the predominately cream and green whilst nice to look out soon deteriorated with just the four batches of  Leyland Atlanteans receiving them 1-5 HDX 904-908N, 6-10 MRT 6-10P, 11-20 RDX 11-20R and 21-35 SDX 21-35R.

IB SERVICE CHANGES AND BUS WITHDRAWALS

IB Trident 19 V162 MEV with Leon Wells at the helm is due to be withdrawn next month.

Ipswich Buses announced their timetable changes for April 11th today in brief.

X1/2/3 Tower Ramparts-Greenwich/John Lewis One less journey will operate, with changes to the timetable Monday to Friday from 0800-0930 and 1630-1800.
4 First journey in morning to Martlesham Tesco will now start from Ipswich Station, with peak hour journeys re timed, Saturday afternoon journeys to Martlesham will no longer operate, with afternoon journeys going to Tesco at Martlesham.
X5 changes to timetables at Peak times, with one less journey to make buses more punctual.
6/A Minor timetable adjustments
8 Minor adjustments to timetable on Saturday before 0900
9/10 Evening buses will run will  three mins later after 2030
12 Daytime changes on Sundays, to run a few mins later
13 Timetable changes on Saturday mornings before 0900 service into town now via Dogs Head Street/Upper Brook Street. Service will revert to every 10 mins in September.
15 timetable changes only.

With thanks to Ipswich Buses MD, Jeremy Cooper i can reveal that the buses withdrawn in April will be Dennis Tridents 18/19, Olympians 40/41 and Optare Spectra 51. The remaining 2 Darts 89/96 will also be withdrawn in April.

A statement regarding the recent Ipswich Park and Ride rumour mill has been made see below.

Ipswich Park and Ride Service

Dear Park and Ride Customer,

You may have seen some recent press coverage about the future of the Ipswich Park and Ride service.

We have every intention to keep the Park and Ride operating. We recognise that the Park and Ride services are an important facility for you and fellow passengers who do not wish to drive into Ipswich. The Park and Ride currently costs the tax payer £712,000 per year to run on top of the cost of your ticket. That equates to a subsidy of £3.27 per passenger per journey.

Savings need to be made across the Council to balance the books. As part of that work we are looking at ways for the Park and Ride service to continue to operate, but at a lower cost to the tax payer.

I am pleased to say that our partners, local bus operators, Ipswich Borough Council, and business representatives are all working with us and are rising to the challenge of helping us design a new service that uses overall resources more efficiently. There is a collective confidence that between us we can keep it operating, so please keep using the service and tell your friends!

From
Cllr James Finch
Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport
Suffolk County Council

IB Olympian 41 seen here last year at Claydon recreating the days of the 18/A Service

Optare Spectra 52 in the pouring rain yesterday on the 4 will remain in service for the time being and a bus in very fine fettle yesterday a credit to IB.

EASTERN COUNTIES ALLOCATIONS FEBRUARY 1976

Eastern Counties Bristol MW LM 605 AAH 912B was an Cambridge allocation at this time in 1976 seen here on the 155 to ST Ives and is seen in Cambridge, Drummer Street.

February 1976, well i'm too young to remember it for a start, well i was only 4 and what was happening was the beginning of the gradual reduction of the Lodekka fleet, with LFS 12/13/15/16 going into storage in March, and the 900 series Bristol MW class slowly going down in numbers and of course the large amounts of Bristol VR's coming in, with it the change to one man operation. 

Bristol Lodekka LFS 86 was allocated to Great Yarmouth in 1976 but is seen here when allocated to Norwich circa 1980, as a Leyland National 2 is seen lurking behind.

CARTERS RECALL

Copyright John Law

Today's flashback shows three different Carters Buses, the first one we see is ex Eastern Counties Leyland Leopard/ ECW LL 877 XPW 877X heading into Colchester Bus Station in 1991, followed by another of Viv's passion for the Bristol/ECW combination is another ex Eastern Counties Bristol RE 896 SVF 896G, still in it's Eastern Counties pre NBC Coach livery, followed lastly by Ex National Welsh Bristol LH MD 8023 GTX 758W on the 777 at Hadleigh with thanks for the last two photos from Peter Horrex.

SOAMES CALL IT A DAY/THURSDAY OBSERVATIONS

Firstly further sad news has reached me today, with the news that Soames(Forget Me Not Travel) will cease trading at the end of July, seen here back in 2014 is Volvo B12M/Plaxton Paragon.

Today's observations compared with Monday's are not as wide ranging, however they are certainly worth mentioning firstly Scania/Optare Olympus 68 was on the 6, Dart 144 was on the 16 with i would think the last Non DDA East Lancs Dart 96, 139 was on the 15A, 61 was on the X3, whilst Trident 12 was on the X1 with Dart 142, whilst the 4 went back to Double Deckers with Trident 20 and 23, whilst 4 branded Dart 84 was on the 8/13. First Ipswich also had another Double Decker on the 60/61 today this time Volvo B7TL 32486.The first new ADL Enviro 200 for Ipswich Buses out of the 4 due has been seen up at ADL in Falkirk it's registered SN16 OGH.

And she lives the final Non DDA East Lancs Dart is defying it's withdrawal seen today is 96 X96 LBJ.

First Ipswich Volvo B7TL 32486 AU53 HKD today on the 60/61.