First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[Whiteway215]

One has arrived at Weston this evening, its fleet number is 30025.

So FirstBus are re-using previous fleet numbers.

The previous 30025 according to my notes was A747GRE Leyland Olympian / ECW of Potteries withdrawn around 2011.

 

[DaveHarries]

One has arrived at Weston this evening, its fleet number is 30025.

A photo on the "First Bus Wales and West Enthusiast" group on Facebook shows the registration as YK25 OJR.

Dave

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A photo on the "First Bus Wales and West Enthusiast" group on Facebook shows the registration as YK25 OJR.

Dave

And it’s in green

Doesn’t do much for it IMO

 

[Marcus Fryer]

So FirstBus are re-using previous fleet numbers.

The previous 30025 according to my notes was A747GRE Leyland Olympian / ECW of Potteries withdrawn around 2011.

I was under the impression that First were numbering all their electric double deckers in the 7xxxx series?
e.g. 70101 for Glasgow, 70102 for Leicester and 70201 for Eastern Counties.

Fleet list – First – bustimes.org

bustimes.org

 

[Dfatcontroller]

I was under the impression that First were numbering all their electric double deckers in the 7xxxx series?
e.g. 70101 for Glasgow, 70102 for Leicester and 70201 for Eastern Counties.

Fleet list – First – bustimes.org

bustimes.org

It would appear that 7xxxx numbers are for repowered deckers.

 

[DaveHarries]

And it’s in green

Doesn’t do much for it IMO

No I agree. I don't mind it being in green but I would prefer more than one shade thereof.

Dave

 

[Private Baxter]

A photo on the "First Bus Wales and West Enthusiast" group on Facebook shows the registration as YK25 OJR.

Dave

Oh dear, that is rather plain and uninspired in my opinion. Especially after all the new schemes we've seen in recent years (many of which will linger on for many years no doubt). I had semi assumed that WestBus livery was a promotional one to be used on a handful of buses, rather like Traveline of old.
Disapointed to hear Badgerline is going, especially after only a few years. It's such a distincyive brand that has done well in Weston in my opinion.

 

[buslad1988]

Oh dear, that is rather plain and uninspired in my opinion. Especially after all the new schemes we've seen in recent years (many of which will linger on for many years no doubt). I had semi assumed that WestBus livery was a promotional one to be used on a handful of buses, rather like Traveline of old.
Disapointed to hear Badgerline is going, especially after only a few years. It's such a distincyive brand that has done well in Weston.

With Liverpool as an exception, every franchised/local government involved livery is uninspiring and bland! I don’t know how and why they expect to attract new users!

Atleast First themselves have had a number of attractive liveries in this area over the years. Shame!

Atleast it’s a bright shade of green and doesn’t have lots of black like the demonstrator.

 

[-Colly405-]

Going against the flow here, but I do like the WESTbus livery - once it has its white text added it is quite smart, and its brightness stands out. Surely the whole point of a livery is to be noticed and to sell the brand? This will do this imho.

 

[The exile]

With Liverpool as an exception, every franchised/local government involved livery is uninspiring and bland! I don’t know how and why they expect to attract new users!

How about reliable services at times when people want to/ need to travel and at a reasonable cost in a vehicle of build quality sufficient that it doesn’t seem to be about to rattle itself to bits. Do that and you can paint the buses in whatever colour you like and most people won’t care!

 

[Citistar]

I won't give firm directions as someone will turn up with a screwdriver.

One is in the Chew Valley (@Citistar knows where - it also has an Avon CC logo), one is near Warminster, another is near Calne, and the latest one is near Burnham on Sea - all are very rural which is probably why they survived.


View attachment 175671

Yes, i know where this one is! It gained a Traveline logo over the Badgerline at some point, but this was subsequently removed (and not by myself), leaving the first generation of Badger. I did know the location of quite a few red Avon ones, but some have disappeared and others not been checked recently.

I did notice, passing through Hutton last year that all Citistar logos have been covered over. I'm sure that gave a slimy little man somewhere quite the ego trip when he signed off the work order to have that done at taxpayers' expense.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

With Liverpool as an exception, every franchised/local government involved livery is uninspiring and bland! I don’t know how and why they expect to attract new users!

Atleast First themselves have had a number of attractive liveries in this area over the years. Shame!

Atleast it’s a bright shade of green and doesn’t have lots of black like the demonstrator.

Not forgetting the battleship grey and accent colours of metrobus in Bristol, which is similar to the Nexus one.

The Manchester one is insipid whereas the Merseyside one really does catch the eye.

Going against the flow here, but I do like the WESTbus livery - once it has its white text added it is quite smart, and its brightness stands out. Surely the whole point of a livery is to be noticed and to sell the brand? This will do this imho.

It is all subjective. However, I'd be more inclined to have something like the First Essex livery that has a dark green element to set off the bright green. IMO, it is both bright and bland at the same time.

 

[Marcus Fryer]

Not forgetting the battleship grey and accent colours of metrobus in Bristol, which is similar to the Nexus one.

The Manchester one is insipid whereas the Merseyside one really does catch the eye.

It is all subjective. However, I'd be more inclined to have something like the First Essex livery that has a dark green element to set off the bright green. IMO, it is both bright and bland at the same time.

Perhaps a white band between decks, which would keep it complying with Travelwest house colours, but break up the monotony. A bit of nostalgia for those who remember the VRs and Olympians in leaf green and white.

Bristol VR - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[WelshBluebird]

How about reliable services at times when people want to/ need to travel and at a reasonable cost in a vehicle of build quality sufficient that it doesn’t seem to be about to rattle itself to bits. Do that and you can paint the buses in whatever colour you like and most people won’t care!

Agreed with this.
The main times people care about the livery are where its route / location based but used elsewhere, or where the livery covers the windows or where it's old and needs reapplying (making the bus look old and unloved).
What the actual livery is part from that, be it bright green, red, yellow, blue, orange etc, people generally don't care!

 

[Private Baxter]

Going against the flow here, but I do like the WESTbus livery - once it has its white text added it is quite smart, and its brightness stands out. Surely the whole point of a livery is to be noticed and to sell the brand? This will do this imho.

Of course! Nothing wrong with that. Indeed I suppose it's not too dissimilar to the citylines24 brand in use of parts of Bristol at thw moment.

I think my issue perhaps is that it comes at the expense of a lot of, in my opinion, better and more visually appealing brands across the region, be they Badgerline, Citylines, or any other sheme brought in over the last ten years, which have not been phased out yet.

 

[DaveHarries]

Regarding the revision to Service 77 wef 07-Apr-2025 which will see it operate via. Clifton Village and Alma Road to serve Clifton Down and Blackboy Hill Top there is one thought which occurs to me.

Instead of reworking the 77 would it not be simpler to extend Service 5 to Blackboy Hill Top and turn it there? Also I can't see the plan to use Alma Road working too well: I tried to go down Alma Road a couple of days ago and found that I couldn't because of an HGV blocking the road to unload so I had to turn back and I can't see them doing that in a bus. Also Alma Road might not be wide enough for a B7RLE (or Streetlite for that matter) and another vehicle to pass so I think First will soon end up rethinking this change. That might, in turn, see them using St. Paul's Road but that would make a loop of its own (Clifton Triangle - Clifton Village - Clifton Park - Pembroke Road - St. Paul's Road) because you would use the Queens Road / Pembroke Road roundabout twice on the same trip.

Dave

 

[Callum15632]

Regarding the revision to Service 5 wef 07-Apr-2025 which will see it operate via. Clifton Village and Alma Road to serve Clifton Down and Blackboy Hill Top there is one thought which occurs to me.

Instead of reworking the 77 would it not be simpler to extend Service 5 to Blackboy Hill Top and turn it there? Also I can't see the plan to use Alma Road working too well: I tried to go down Alma Road a couple of days ago and found that I couldn't because of an HGV blocking the road to unload so I had to turn back and I can't see them doing that in a bus. Also Alma Road might not be wide enough for a B7RLE (or Streetlite for that matter) and another vehicle to pass so I think First will soon end up rethinking this change. That might, in turn, see them using St. Paul's Road but that would make a loop of its own (Clifton Triangle - Clifton Village - Clifton Park - Pembroke Road - St. Paul's Road) because you would use the Queens Road / Pembroke Road roundabout twice on the same trip.

Dave

A little mistake in the top paragraph where you say the revision of service 5. You mean revision of the 77. I don't think they will fit it down Alma Road too.

 

[DaveHarries]

A little mistake in the top paragraph where you say the revision of service 5. You mean revision of the 77. I don't think they will fit it down Alma Road too.

Thanks: I did indeed mean the 77 and will correct it. I think the 8 and 9 ran down Alma Road for a time but were then rerouted via. St. Paul's Road. If it came to that I wonder if having to go to the end of Pembroke Road and then via. St. Paul's Road to reach Clifton Down might muck up the timing in which case what will they do then? Also I wonder if Upper Belgrave Road might cause issues for the revised 77 if they used B7RLEs: I know that Stagecoach, who operate the 505, use Enviro200s on that route but they do use double-deckers, particularly on Saturdays when it gets busy with Bristol City / Bristol Rovers match attendees so who knows. But refuse collection days might cause issues for buses on UBR as might any roadworks.

Dave

 

[WelshBluebird]

Do we know what routes the electric buses will be used on? At least in Bristol a fair few of the routes have changed since their initial announcement that detailed what they would be used on (e.g. the 70 no longer serves Hengrove, but it was one of the ones initially on the list to go over to electric buses).

 

[DaveHarries]

Do we know what routes the electric buses will be used on? At least in Bristol a fair few of the routes have changed since their initial announcement that detailed what they would be used on (e.g. the 70 no longer serves Hengrove, but it was one of the ones initially on the list to go over to electric buses).

I think the electrics will be for the X1 and X4 with a couple of vehicles or so kept as spares but I wonder if they will use them on other routes in Weston - ie. Service 7 - in the event that a diesel one fails. The Bristol ones, IIRC, will be for the 8 (single-deckers), 24, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75 and 76.

Dave

 

[t rex]

37669 on service 4 in Bristol on Monday 3rd of March 2025

 

[DaveHarries]

I spent a bit of time in Weston-super-Mare earlier and got a look at 30025 (YK25 OJR) while it was pausing during driver training. The plain green paint job makes the bus stand out but I still prefer the Badgerline livery. While the next trainee was awaited I chatted briefly with the Firstbus employee supervising the training and asked him how the handling was compared to the Wrightbus StreetDecks: he wasn't too complimentary about the StreetDecks.

Lastly, when I said I looked forward to trying one the reply was "Well you won't have to wait too long" and when I replied "Oh?" the Firstbus man said that they hope to start putting them into service the week after next.

Also I hear that these may not be the only Yutongs incoming: I gather that Bristol Airport have a number on order for use on the A3 and they will be driven by First-employed drivers and have been ordered independently of First. If that is the case I presume the A1 will keep its E400 MMCs for the time being at least: nothing was mentioned to suggest otherwise. Also, regarding the A3, I see that is going to become a 24hr service with the changes of 07th April but I presume that will be a seasonal thing.

Dave

 

[kei.8532]

I spent a bit of time in Weston-super-Mare earlier and got a look at 30025 (YK25 OJR) while it was pausing during driver training. The plain green paint job makes the bus stand out but I still prefer the Badgerline livery. While the next trainee was awaited I chatted briefly with the Firstbus employee supervising the training and asked him how the handling was compared to the Wrightbus StreetDecks: he wasn't too complimentary about the StreetDecks.

Lastly, when I said I looked forward to trying one the reply was "Well you won't have to wait too long" and when I replied "Oh?" the Firstbus man said that they hope to start putting them into service the week after next.

Also I hear that these may not be the only Yutongs incoming: I gather that Bristol Airport have a number on order for use on the A3 and they will be driven by First-employed drivers and have been ordered independently of First. If that is the case I presume the A1 will keep its E400 MMCs for the time being at least: nothing was mentioned to suggest otherwise. Also, regarding the A3, I see that is going to become a 24hr service with the changes of 07th April but I presume that will be a seasonal thing.

Dave

I presume both A1 and A3 will have a mixture of diesel and electric bus, the current number of E400MMCs won't be supporting the upcoming 7/8 mins frequency in April, and considering they have tried out the demonstrator on A1 before, the chances of electrifying the airport flyers won't be slim either?

 

[DaveHarries]

I presume both A1 and A3 will have a mixture of diesel and electric bus, the current number of E400MMCs won't be supporting the upcoming 7/8 mins frequency in April, and considering they have tried out the demonstrator on A1 before, the chances of electrifying the airport flyers won't be slim either?

Yes I seem to recall hearing that the trial of an electric on the A1 did not, shall we say, go very well. That gives three possibilities in my mind: first is that the Yutong order for the airport will include some U11DDs to help on the A1 making it, for want of a better description, a hybrid route. Secondly there is the possibility that some of the StreetDecks getting deposed from Weston Depot by the new U11DDs might transfer into the Airport fleet to help on the A1 but that is, perhaps, unlikely.

The last possibility I can think of would be that some of Weston's StreetDecks transfer from WSM to HG (Hengrove) with some of the A1 diagrams being operated from there. I think the PVR on the new timetable for a Monday to Saturday daytime schedule will be 13 vehicles. Although it is possible that the frequency increase might be seasonal there is a news release on the Airport's website dated 13-Jan-2025 which, in terms of passenger figures, says of the A1:

For the first time ever the A1 bus service to Bristol Airport carried more than 1 million passengers. [...] The A1 route to Bristol has seen almost a 20% increase on journeys since 2023. [...] In addition to this, staff commuting to work on the Flyer made nearly a quarter of a million journeys in 2024.

Source for the above: https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/co...urneys-for-airport-flyer-bus-service-in-2024/

Nothing about any electric buses, as far as I can see anyway, on the Airport's website but today wasn't the first time I had heard of electrics being on order for the A3. I was allowed to poke my head through the door of 30025 and get some photos: I thought it looked quite nice but the proof of the quality is in the ride and I hope to try one sooner or later when they enter service.

Dave

 

[Streetdecks]

Also I hear that these may not be the only Yutongs incoming: I gather that Bristol Airport have a number on order for use on the A3 and they will be driven by First-employed drivers and have been ordered independently of First. If that is the case I presume the A1 will keep its E400 MMCs for the time being at least: nothing was mentioned to suggest otherwise. Also, regarding the A3, I see that is going to become a 24hr service with the changes of 07th April but I presume that will be a seasonal thing.

Dave

Interesting, first time hearing this information - where did you get that info from?
I assumed that 67160 & 67106 would be utilised for the A3 along with the 2 other airport flyers, since it'll be every 30 mins

 

[DaveHarries]

Interesting, first time hearing this information - where did you get that info from?
I assumed that 67160 & 67106 would be utilised for the A3 along with the 2 other airport flyers, since it'll be every 30 mins

The new TT for the A3 is on TravelineSW.com - click "Routes and Timetables" and search for route number A3. Two will come up: one will the present timetable, the other will be the forthcoming timetable but if you hover your mouse pointer over them then it should come up with a bubble saying which is which.

As for the info about electrics for the A3 this was told to me by the Firstbus employee supervising the driver familiarisation on board 30025 in Weston yesterday (Thursday 7th) but it wasn't the first time I have heard about the idea as it also came up in a post on this thread (14-Jul-2023, post 30856, page 1029) where "D2007wsm" wrote:

In other news I heard from a reputable source 3 electric busses have been ordered to replace the 2 E200MMCs 67107/8 on the A3, however it looks like more electric busses may be coming to Weston. There is a planning application on North Somerset Council’s website for work to be carried out at Weston Depot. This is for the installation of electrical substations and charging points for 48 busses and 5 cars.

Whether those buses were ordered or not for the A3 I don't know: perhaps given the planning application referred to they delayed putting any orders for electrics for the A3 until plans for the larger electrification referred to were confirmed or otherwise.

Dave

 

[37114]

I didn't see the reg or fleet number but there was a First liveried Yutong double decker on the M5 at cribbs causeway at 4pm today

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I didn't see the reg or fleet number but there was a First liveried Yutong double decker on the M5 at cribbs causeway at 4pm today

Two were on Flickr - one green, one ultraviolet - snapped on the M1 by Woodall services

 

[nick291]

Also I hear that these may not be the only Yutongs incoming: I gather that Bristol Airport have a number on order for use on the A3 and they will be driven by First-employed drivers and have been ordered independently of First. If that is the case I presume the A1 will keep its E400 MMCs for the time being at least: nothing was mentioned to suggest otherwise. Also, regarding the A3, I see that is going to become a 24hr service with the changes of 07th April but I presume that will be a seasonal thing.

Dave

It's about time the A1 got some new buses, they tend to get replaced every 6-8 years. Guess we'll have to see what happens in the not too distant future.

 

[t rex]

37097 yj08gwn on 349 on Keynsham high street today