MONDAY NOTES

Since the upgrade of the First Ipswich fleet nothing much seems to happen these days in Ipswich, although the 4 Enviro 200's due for Ipswich Buses should enliven things somewhat. Today was a case of using what small time i have these days in finding buses out of place somewhat from where they would normally be operating on, so here goes 4 branded East Lancs Darts 85/86 were both on the 8/13, while sister 87 was found on the 15A, of the ALX 200 Darts 144 found itself on the 19 in place of a Solo, 139 was on the 16 while 140/43 were employed on the X1, while DAF Lowlander 55 was on the X3, picture below. One thing that i did work was the decker that comes off the 4 at 11.29, today Trident 16 does the 17 to Stratford Court  then works back light to Tower Ramparts i would presume, before working out light to Bixley Farm at around 12.30. Above we see First Ipswich Volvo B7TL 32492 AU53 HKK one of three today on Felixstowe's, along with sisters 32490/91, Deckers are now much more common on these routes in recent times due to loadings being on the increase.

EASTERN COUNTIES ALLOCATIONS MARCH 1970

Bristol Lodekka LFS 101 DNG 401C was an Kings Lynn allocation in March 1971.

Bristol Lodekka FLF 460 KAH 460D was initially an Peterborough allocation in 1970 before moving to March and by the time of this photo had moved on to Norwich. 

THURSDAY RECALL

Today's flashback is again from an large amount of slides recently bought, including this rather evocative picture of the old Bury St Edmunds Bus Station, with Eastern Counties VR 174 TEX 404R and Bristol RESL RS 648 KVF 648E, on the 31st October 1978.

Here we see an interesting scene in Eastern Counties Bristol Lodekka LKD 192 still in Tilling Red/Cream but with the addition of the cream NBC fleet name shortly before it's withdraw in early 1973 from Cambridge.

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.