IPSWICH IN THE NINTIES

One of the original route 66 buses DP75 latterly 46375 M375 YEX outside of what was originally the infamous Blue Coat Boy pub now used as a Fish and Chip Bar, the stop has long disappeared and used to host in the main Bickers country services.

The nineties was probably a good time to follow what began as a Independent Eastern Counties to latter on become a massive group owned First Group company, for some reason by this time i wasn't as interested in Buses as i should have been, as my career took precedence, during the first part of the nineties in came all All Leyland Olympians, National Greenways, Dennis Javelins, plenty of Mercedes Benz mini buses and Dennis Darts while the end was nigh for the Leyland Nationals and the Bristol VR's . From the time First  Group took over Low Floor Buses began to appear the first a batch of ten Scania 541-550 P541-50 RNG for another Super route the 88 while all manner of curio's came in and out Iveco Minibuses from Leicester, Olympians from Glasgow and London, Darts from Leeds and even 2 Leyland Lynx's which didn't last five mins, if anyone out has any memories from this time and would like to add there own please contact me.

One of the ex West Yorkshire by then Yorkshire Rider VR's WWY 122S which saw little action in Ipswich, to be fair they were over 20 years old by this point!

EASTERN COUNTIES BUS COMPENDIUM

The new livery carried by AY56 BJU a  coach which i couldn't identify the make of  in the new Suffolk Norse livery

Not a lot to report this week so i will do a bit of self publicising with a item i have on sale on e bay which is a data cd containing all the buses First have bought in the eastern counties since August 1996, as well as a current fleet list and all current preserved Eastern Counties buses with their current owners, cd with case is available for only £1.50 plus postage all you need is to look under Eastern Counties bus compendium in the search facility and you will find it. In other news seemingly First have problems with their Volvo B7TLS as all manner of buses have been used from Volvo B7RLES to scraping the bottom of the barrel a Scania L113CRL 65544 P544 RNG  on 66s yesterday, hardly surprising considering the mileage they have covered in nearly 10 years now, perhaps time for some new ones.

IB Scania Omnidekka 60 PJ54 YZV on the 17 to Broke Hall  and Bixley last week.

TRAVEL IPSWICH RE ROUTING

TRAVEL IPSWICH WORKS TAKE EFFECT

First repaint for one of Ipswich Buses Scania Omnicities 70 YN56 NVB  into the new livery the third livery it's carried in only six years.

From the 4th February Travel Ipswich's works will now start within the town centre when Falcon Street closes for around Eight Weeks, this means of cause many diversions of routes for Ipswich Buses, First and most other country routes  as follows First's country routes will divert at Princess Street to Franciscan Way to Star Lane and Turret Lane this mostly only effects inbound Routes only, town routes 55/56/60/61/70  IB service 1 and 38 will also use use this method on outbound journeys only, while all other country routes while follow this diversion. IB routes 3,X3,4,6,6A will not serve the town loop and from Tower Ramparts will go direct via St Margaret's Green then Woodbridge Road, Argyle Street, Grimwade Street then back onto normal route at Star Lane, service 2,17  will also not serve town loop and use the previous routing mentioned. While service 7/8/8B,12,14,16  will divert at Princess Street to Civic Drive and Crown Street to Tower Ramparts. IBs Shotley routes 98 and 202 will terminate at Queen's Street.

IB SERVICE 17 EXTENDS TO BROKE HALL

IB service 17 started today the 28/01 with unusually 2 single deckers, route started out originally with 2 Deckers but it recent weeks has been downgraded to two single deckers today's offering note the French and instead of the English and on 85 PJ53 OLE  IB's East Lancs Myllenium Dart. 

Today saw the arrival of yet another service for the Broke Hall and Bixley area in the form of of an extension to service 17 from the original terminus at Ipswich Hospital to now terminating at Bixley Farm shops, this now gives the residents 6 buses an hour during the day, but nothing at night time apart from an bi hourly service 56 from First via Foxhall Road which during the day virtually carries very few passengers, being 40p more expensive than IB's service 4, we are now in the seventh month of the supposed bus war yet nobody seems to be caving in. Admirable during the recent bad weather was the service levels which fortunately created very few problems for the bus operators with most services continuing to run, although most country area routes ran via main road routes only. In other news last Tuesday saw two Volvo B7RLES being used on Firsts 66 route, see picture below as 4 Volvo B7TLS were off the road.

Volvo B7RLE 69430 on route 66 during the recent bad weather deputising for a Volvo B7tl.

WINTER ARRIVES

WINTER ARRIVES IN SUFFOLK

Scania L113CRL 61538 R129 GSF at Broke Shops terminus on Thursday

With winter finally arriving with an flourish during the last week, many expected services to be disrupted to some extent however most services were run with an minimum of disruption, so credit to the operators for largely keeping to some sort of a timetable, however it was disappointing to see one operator Anglian not running the 164 and 165 into Ipswich on Friday, while First who operate a parallel service managed to operate their 64 and 65. Meanwhile a further Scania for First in 61533 R124 GSF entered service on Wednesday, the last of the 3 to come here.

65675 SN51 UYJ  parked up at Tower Ramparts on Thursday, wasn't on the town cycle of routes, so presumably with a fitter in attendance had broken down.

ONE DART OUT ANOTHER SCANIA IN

ONE DART WITHDRAWN AND ANOTHER SCANIA IN

61528 R116 GSF  a Scania L113CRL/ Wright Axcess Ultralow  Another golden oldie for the First fleet in Ipswich , originally from First Glasgow, this graduated to First Chester to replace vehicles taken over from Chester City Transport

News has confirmed that Dart 43477 has now been withdrawn from service and been replaced by another Scania 61533 R121 GSF at the end of last week, leaving just 42431 P431 ORL and 43488 R688 DPW both of these are expected to be replaced in the following weeks, Beestons have purchased former on loan to First Group Volvo B9TL/ Wright Eclipse Gemini  from FJ08 FYN this has already appeared in service on the 90 to Hadleigh and  Sudbury and retains First Bus livery and interior

An unusual surprise today on the X14 to Bury St Edmunds service was EG02 NZD a Dennis DartSLF/Plaxton Pointer 2

2 MORE SCANIAS FOR FIRST IN IPSWICH

MORE OLD SCANIAS FOR FIRST IPSWICH

43488 R688 DPW one of the 3 darts which are scheduled for withdrawl with the arrival of 2 ex Chester Scania L113s

2 Scania L113 CRL/Wright Axcess-Ultra Lows have turned up at Ipswich depot in the last week in the form of ex Chester 61528 R116 GSF and 61538 R129 GSF which originated with First Glasgow back in 1997,  both are non DDA compliant with no ramps at the front, there maybe a possibility of more arriving as Stagecoach didn't purchase any of Chester's Scania L113s, a strange move considering Ipswich have shed 4 older Scanias in the last year in 65557/58,65569/70, would of been nice to have seen newer buses coming in to replace the Darts as other companies seem to be moving ahead of First at present.