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| Heritage livery Volvo B7RLE 524 has been a regular on service 2 recently - this seems largely single deck operated on weekdays now instead of double deckers - perhaps for the school holidays (Paul Turner) |
Recent events have caused some disruption to the bus network due to the closure of the Promenade. This weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) the Livewire events have closed the Promenade in front of the tower after 1300 and next Friday's switch on ceremony for the Illuminations will do likewise.
Blackpool Transport has taken the decision to split its cross town services for the duration with a free shuttle bus linking the two termini. The 5, 6 and 7 are split, with the 1 suspended south of the Town Centre:
- 1 operates from Talbot Road (opposite Wilkos) then via Dickson Road and Pleasant Street to rejoin the Promenade.
- 2/2C will terminate at St Johns Square rather than Corporation Street
- 3 and 4 will miss out Abingdon St towards Mereside
- 5 will run Hospital to Abingdon Street and New Bonny Street to Halfway House
- 6 will run Grange Park to Abingdon Street and New Bonny Street to Mereside
- 7 will run Cleveleys to Talbot Road (outside Wilkos) and New Bonny Street to Lytham
- 9 will terminate at Talbot Road (outside Wilkos)
- 11 will terminate at New Bonny Street
- 14 will terminate at Talbot Road (opposite Wilkos)
- 15/16 will terminate at St Johns Square
- 17 will terminate at New Bonny Street
- 20 will terminate at New Bonny Street
The 5, 6, 7 and 17 leave New Bonny Street via the Promenade then Chapel Street to resume normal routes. 5 and 6 will also run through St John's Square to reach Abingdon Street terminus, with 2/2C, 15/16 using temporary stops at the pedestrianised Winter Gardens end of Abingdon Street
Longer term diversions affect the 15/16 currently with a closure of Harrowside bridge. Both routes are using Lytham Road, Squires Gate Lane and Clifton Drive to avoid the bridge.
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| The recent Blackpool Airshow (12/3th August) also saw the 1 suspended south of the Town Centre, the full route allocation still ran with buses standing at North Station - here Trident 316 and DAF 362 wait time (Shaun C) |
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| DAF 369 runs slowly through the pedestrianised St John's Square on 25 August (Paul Turner) |
During August a second Enviro 200 demonstrator has seen service with BTS on the 3 and 4 services, following on from the first demonstrator earlier this year. This one is YX17NLF.
Catch 22 Fleet and Service Changes
Further Dennis Darts have arrived from Cardiff, in the 'Capital Links' yellow livery. Y379GAX and Y381GAX were the first pair and have since been joined by Y373/82/6GAX. Older Darts 316, 362, 363, 369 and 371 are now believed withdrawn removing some of the longer Darts following the recent eradication of the MPDs.
The withdrawal of 316 appeared to eradicate the orange/teal livery variant with recent repaints emerging in all-over teal. However a recently acquired ex Stagecoach Trident S833BWC has been outshopped in this livery! Ex Manchester Airport SN55HSK is now in use in all-over green livery after repaint.
For a small fleet there is currently a variety of liveries:
- 5x All-over teal YJ10MGU, SN55HSK, 361, 812/3
- 1x Teal and Orange 833
- 5x Lighter Orange (ex Cardiff Links buses not repainted) 373, 379, 381, 382 and 386
- 2x Teal and White YJ61JHE/H
- 1x Manchester Airport SN55HSZ
- 2x Red 319, 365
