Snippets

Blackpool Transport Solos 242 and 248 remain licensed, all others have been delicensed on entry into service of the Enviro 200s. Neither is understood to have been used, however. 

The new buses have settled into their 3 and 4 duty - 3 are spare each day and one seems common on the 19, with others noted on the 17 and 18. Sundays sees the former Solo duties covered on 2, 2C, 3, 4, 17, 18 and 19. With Palladium DDs on the 1, 6, 7, 9 and 11 and singles on the 5 - it is now normal to see a 100% Palladium Sunday service.

Catch 22 bus has regularly operated open toppers from the affiliated Sightseeing Tours operation on its Beach Bus 26 operation. These tend to return to Blackpool from outbases for maintenance. Olympian P534EFL, Tridents V158/68MEV have been noted - the latter most frequently. Dart 361 is the most common bus otherwise. 

On Diversion - Seafield Road

From 25 June for 3 weeks the 7, 11 and 68 were diverted in Lytham due to the closure of Church Road. Here BTS DAF 367 and a Stagecoach Enviro call at the replacement stop for Lytham Square on West Beach (Brian Turner)

To return to Church Road, buses used Seafield Road - used by Lytham Buses in the 1930s to avoid the tram service on Church Road. This year it was used to turn the 11 duing Club Day, 23 June - but its use is otherwise quite rare, Fairlawn Road further north is the more common alternative for diversions. DAF 370 turns from West Beach into Seafield Road (Brian Turner) 

Trident 328 heads down Seafield Road (Brian Turner)

Volvo B7RLE 522 turns from Seafield Road before passing the last surviving concrete bus shelter. (Brian Turner)

Old and New Order on the 3 and 4

Brand New Enviro 200 number 222 approaches Mereside turning circle on its way to Tesco on 25 June (Brian Turner) 

Two together at Tesco terminus 230 and 232 on their first day in service (Brian Turner)

Direct to the door? Solo 238 gets closer to the Tesco checkouts than normal, this was one of two buses used for launch events - 229 at Cleveleys was the other (Brian Turner)

Solo 240 leaves the temporary stop on Abingdon Street on a service 4 to Mereside on 21 June (Brian Turner)

286 turns from Dickson Road into Talbot Road. Solos have dominated the 3 since it launched in April 2001 - 17 years of continuous allocation has concluded. (Brian Turner)

Sister bus 287 at Northumberland Avenue, Cleveleys Park (24 June) (Brian Turner) 

291 at the 3 and 4 stop on Abingdon Street on 21 June (Brian Turner)

Debut Day

The 18 new Enviro 200s made their debut today. 221-8, 230-7 all ran on the 3 and 4 while 229 and 238 acted as launch buses at Cleveleys and Mereside Tesco resp. 

Pictures can be seen on Mike Rhodes Flickr site here.

436-455 now have ticket machine bases fitted, some are still on rail replacements but others entered regular service today.

Update: 443-55 are now in the normal service fleet, 436-42 remain dedicated to rail work.

Its a wrap for 857

Green and Cream in Rigby Road - Trident 332, B7RLE 524, Atlanteans 362 and 364 taken from outside Totally Models today (Paul Turner)

Open top Olympian 857 made an appearance at Lytham Club Day in an all-over wrap for Lytham Festival. It will be the shortest lived bus advertising livery as its only for this one day! A picture is here on the festival's Facebook page. It has also recently put in an appearance at RVPT's Morecambe event on Sunday 26th May alongside ex Fylde Atlantean 71, Lytham PD2 10 and Blackpool PD3 512.

Further Solo and DAF withdrawals have taken place with DAFs 360, 361 and 362 now out of use and Solos 241 and 295 have joined 288 and 297 in store.

Blackpool Transport's rail replacement commitment has been extended again, but is reduced to around 7 buses. 

This weekend is Totally Models at Rigby Road - Atlantean 362 and Swift 554 are on the free bus service today, with RVPT's Ribble PD3 1775 and Bristol VR 1995 allocated for Sunday.

Solos Sold

Solos 249 and 257 have been sold locally to Archway, of Fleetwood. 257 was the last of the 2003 Solos to operate and was withdrawn on 23 May. Trident 345 is now reported with Abbey Coachways in Goole. DAF 358 left Blackpool last Friday and is under refurbishment for Dekkabus of Poole. Sisters 354-7 are now in store, with the last Manx Trident 353.

Service Changes and round-up

More details of the BTS summer services are now available from 24th June - the 1, 6, 7, 14 and 20 are involved and 8 more vehicles are needed v the winter timetable with a requirement for 98 buses. 

• Service 1 - Increased to every 20 minutes Monday-Friday from 30 mins (8 PVR v 5)
• Service 6 - Sunday daytime service increased to every 20 minutes
• Service 7 - Monday to Friday increased from every 20 to every 15 minutes (13 PVR v 10)
• Service 14 - Monday to Friday increased from every 12 to every 10 minutes (13 PVR v 11)
• Service 20 - withdrawn between Zoo and Preston New Road. Will run every 30 minutes Tower to Zoo 0945-1745 from Tower and 915 to 1815 from Zoo - meaning the first two outward journeys from the Zoo are before it opens at 1000! It remains weekends and school holidays only. 2 buses v 3 currently.

Not previously reported is that the service 5 school bus from Halfway House to Victoria Hospital has been cancelled, presumably from the March timetable change. Monday 11th June will see the 5, 6 and 7 stop on the Promenade rather than Market Street for a period as part of the tram extension work. The 17 will use Corporation Street instead.

The Rail Replacement contract has been further extended until 24 June due to well reported reliability issues. This gives a further stay of execution to the ex Manx DAFs, many of which are likely to be withdrawn when the E400s are cascaded onto the 7 and 11. 

All 18 of the Enviro 200s had arrived by the end of May, registration details are on the fleetlist page. Branding has started and some photos are here on Alistair Liddle's page. One is reported by BTS to be featuring in the Pride parade on Saturday 9th June. 

Trident 343 was reported back at Rigby Road on 31 May, presumably ready for collection by Tanat Valley. 

Preston Bus has confirmed the disposal of former Blackpool Delta K128UFV for scrap after use as a driver trainer. This was the last new to Blackpool Delta to survive, but sadly suffered a major engine failure which has rendered preservation proposals uneconomic. Their Blackpool outstation was home to:

• Volvo Coaches 11519/23-5
• Mercedes Coach 12000
• Ford Transit 15041
• Solos 20771/2/80, 20802/31
• Dennis Tridents 40007, 40583/8
• Scania double decker 40030
• DAF double decker 40201

More Trident Disposals

Tanat Valley of Llanrhaeadr-Ym-Mochnant near Oswestry has acquired three of the ex Isle of Man Tridents - 343 (H1FBT), 344 (E11BTS) and 346 (E13BTS). 343 has been re-registered W393TBV. 344 has been reported under repaint, 343 was awaiting collection. The last Manx Trident remaining unsold is 353 - this has been taken out of service and is on SORN now.

Ex Bus Vannin Isle of Man Tridents

No	Reg	IOM No	IOM Reg	Disposal	Date	Registration if changed
343	H1FBT	53	EMN53Y	Tanat Valley	May 2018	W393TBV
344	E11BTS	50	EMN50Y	Tanat Valley	May 2018	n/a
345	E12BTS	48	EMN50Y	Stockdale, Selby	April 2018	n/a
346	E13BTS	51	EMN51Y	Tanat Valley	May 2018	n/a
347	E14BTS	52	EMN52Y	Lodge, High Easter	Dec 2017	n/a
348	E15BTS	49	EMN49Y	Lodge, High Easter	Dec 2017	n/a
349	E16BTS	71	MAN93F	Reading Buses	Jan 2018	X399KBV
350	E17BTS	75	GMN324F	Reading Buses	Jan 2018	X393KBV
351	E18BTS	74	FMN540E	Reading Buses	Jan 2018	X401KBV
352	E19BTS	73	FMN412E	Reading Buses	Jan 2018	X398KBV
353	E20BTS	72	FMN158E	still BTS	tbc	n/a

BTS Summer timetable

24th June is the start date for the summer timetable. Registrations for services 1, 6, 7, 14 and 20 have been recorded, the 1 will run every 20 minutes, 7 every 15 minutes, 14 every 10 minutes. No details of the changes to the 6 and 20 are available.

Route 20 is currently terminating at Clifton Arms, with buses laying over by Little Marton Windmill, presumably turning at the M55 roundabout. Buses display "Preston New Road for Marton Mere".

Blackpool North to Preston rail replacement work is continuing beyond the start of the new timetable yesterday with services shown until 3 June. 

Last Excel Returns North

The sole surviving Blackpool Excel, 225 (T935EAN) has returned to Lancashire today. One of five bought from Reading, it was the last of its type in service in November 2016, it was sold to Morton's Travel of Basingstoke in May 2017. It formed part of Adrian Morton's preserved collection. Morton's recently changed hands and Adrian has sold many of his collection. It has been purchased by Mark Mccarrick and is moving to the Town and District Transport Trust premises near Accrington.

More deliveries, more diversions

Two further Enviro 200s are now in stock, with 223/4 arriving on Thursday as well as 221/2 as reported. The batch will be 221 to 238 and are 34 seaters. 

The town centre diversions, expected from 9th May, now take effect from Monday 14th with the 5 and 7 using Clifton Street and 6 Corporation Street northbound.

Solo in the Movies - DAF Trainer into Preservation

Former Blackpool Solo 274 is due to become a film star as it is currently in the Great Yarmouth area for filming work for a Danny Boyle film. It retains Halton's livery and has regained its original registration V274HEC in lieu of the dateless plate used by Halton. A fake plate is carried for filming.

971 (W471MKU) - the single deck driver trainer - has been delivered to the South Yorkshire Transport Trust premises near Rotherham today for preservation. This was one of 11 East Lancs bodied DAFs delivered new to Yorkshire Terrier in 2000. It was purchased in July 2013 from Stagecoach Sheffield (successor to Terrier) and finally entered service as a driver trainer in April 2015. It was out of use by March 2018, with Trident 339 under preparation as its replacement.

First Enviro 200 arrives

The first new midibus for nine years has arrived today, as YX18KWA - one of 18 Alexander Dennis Enviro 200s due. These are expected to replace the remaining 21 Optare Solos. They carry the Palladium livery and many of the features of the last batch of Enviro 400s are included. The new bus is illustrated on the Blackpool Transport twitter page linked below. Update - YK18KWB also arrived today.

Palladium is coming to route 3 & 4!

We've taken all of your favourite features from our double-decker buses and squeeeezed them into this wonderful little bus!https://t.co/4SeYuErpzR pic.twitter.com/7LS99ta07I

— Blackpool Transport (@BPL_Transport) May 10, 2018

Diversions and Route Changes

Some minor route changes are taking place during May to Blackpool Transport's network:

• Saturday 5 May - service 20 will now start/finish at Clifton Arms on Preston New Road, following Haven's awarding of a concession to use Marton Mere to Catch 22's service 26.
• Monday 7 May - service 18 will now serve Stanley Park via Mere Road, West Park Drive and Knowsley Avenue. This is a temporary arrangement until daily service on the 20 resumes in the summer
• Wednesday 9 May - various route changes are registered from this day, when access is available to Clifton Street in Blackpool Town Centre once more. Routes 2, 2C, 5, 6, 7, 12, 18 and 19 are affected

Rail Replacements, Repaints, Disposals

The delayed re-opening of the Blackpool North line took place on 16th April, however only with one train per hour as crew training continued. Rail Replacement buses are continuing until at least 5th May, possibly until the new timetable starts on 20 May - when electric trains will make their debut. The bus service now runs every 30 minutes on the direct and 'all stations' routes, with the peak fasts to or from Poulton retained.

Trident 313 is currently under a repaint into the old black and yellow livery following removal of its Sands Venue wrap. It has carried this since late May 2014 - one of the longest lived all-over adverts. 313 has only carried the fleet livery for about two months. It received its first advert - for Tower Dungeon - in 2012, replacing its Metro green base. When this expired, along with sisters 312/4/5 which had schemes for other venues, it was painted into fleet livery. However the Sands advert came along and as the only ones without advert frames, freshly painted 313 was chosen.

Sales are reported for Tridents 344 and 345 - the latter possibly to Stockdale of Selby (who have 334/7). DAF 358 is also reported as sold.