New Buses, New Routes

The return of the 6 to Mereside - Enviro 418 stands at the temporary stop on the Promenade during the closure of Market Street stops (Shaun C)

The revised BTS service network is now bedding in. Observations so far:

• Route 1 is using Tridents/DAFs generally, with Enviro 400s observed on Sundays
• New Route 2 is using two Tridents/DAFs. 308 was noted on the first day, 365 on Tuesday. Sunday's allocation was a Solo.
• Route 2C is continuing to use Tridents/DAFs with Solos observed on Sunday
• Routes 3 and 4 continue, as ever, to use Solos
• Route 5 has seen its regular Citaros, supported by Centros as required
• Extended Route 6 has seen a mix of singles and double deckers. 532, 430, 525, 433, 423, 417, 418, 528, 429, 529 were noted on Tuesday in timetable order
• Route 7 is DAF/Trident operated, with Enviros noted on Sunday. 11 of the 12 buses were observed on Tuesday as 313, 319, 324, 326, 330, 332, 351, 357, 358, 359 and 361 - heritage livery 332 is normally found on the 7
• Route 9 continues with its Enviros and will return to Crossley's Bridge and Layton on Saturday 8th - albeit via Plymouth Road roundabout as Benson Road will not reopen until July. On Tuesday eight of the nine workings were seen 401, 402, 404, 405, 406, 408, 409 and 427
• Route 11 has yet to be fully converted to Palladium standards with a mix of old and new on Tuesday 350, 360, 363, 371, 415, 425 and 431 - the eigth bus was not seen.
• Route 14 is mainly Palladium operated - but Sunday, Monday and Thursday have all seen older DDs in use. Tuesday saw 403, 426, 413, 420, 422, 424, 419, 428, 432, 412, 434, 416, 410 and 421 on the service. 368 was noted as one of the buses on school service 414.
• Routes 15 and 16 saw double decks on Sunday, but seem to have reverted to a Solos with some big bus workings. 524 was noted on Tuesday and Thursday. 
• Route 17 was Solo operated on Sunday, 520 was noted on Tuesday

Thanks to Shaun C for his observations used above, he has posted some excellent photos on his Flickr page - here

Rear view of Enviro 422 at Carelton on service 14 (Shaun C)

So far 17 Tridents 333-349 have been replaced by the 24 Enviros (435 is being held back for the formal launch events this week), five Solos (254-6/8/60) are also now stored. Sister 259 has been sold locally for spares. 333 has been reported at Tyrer's of Adlington.

431 outside the Town Hall on service 11 to Lytham (Shaun C)