'Ipernity HBM

Friday 8 September 2023 (1128) – The driver of REL Davian YD19 HGM was delayed somewhat in St. Albans as he waited for two errant passengers that should have joined the four day break to the ‘Yorkshire Dales and Scarborough’. However, the couple sitting on the opposite side of the street were not the missing pair. YD19 HGM is a Yutong T122HDH new in June 2019. REL Capital now owns a number of different coach businesses including Davian (North London), Reg’s of Hertford, South Mimms Travel, Redwing (London) and John James Travel (Romford).

Friday 8 September 2023 (1033) – People with luggage in St. Peter’s Street, St. Albans. Arriva 3653 (LK14 FTC), a Wright StreetLite DF new in July 2014, passes by in the background working the 0940 service 321 from Luton to Maple Cross. (1029 from St. Peter’s Street).

Friday 13 June 2008 (1124) - BUS Sarganserland Werdenberg is the transport administration operating buses in the Sargans area of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. MAN bus 344 (SG 217517) seen at Sargans railway station about to leave as the 1123 hrs service 400 to Buchs via Sevelen. Not sure if the bus is owned by or just contracted to BSW. A bus in the livery of Liechtenstein Bus Anstalt (LBA) on the left.

Monday 1 October 2012 (1347) – Stagecoach (United Counties) 34220 (KV53 EYW), seen in Olney, Buckinghamshire, when operating the 1315 service 41 from Bedford to Northampton. The 65 minute trip serves three counties - Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. A Transbus built vehicle also known as a Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart new December 2003.

Wednesday 18 October 2023 (1145) – A view through the ventilation window of Whippet coaches WG119 (MX23 LRZ) showing sister vehicle WG115 (MX23 LRO), two of the nine Mellor Sigma 12 electric buses new in September 2023 for the re-launched Universal services. The location is Eddington, Cambridge. WG119 was about to depart on the 1147 service U2 to the Biomedical Campus which ran on time throughout. Across the road WG115 had arrived as the 1100 service U1 from the Biomedical Campus which was due here at 1135. Having departed at 1101 it was now running 10 minutes late. The ‘Universal’ bus service in Cambridge, provided by the University of Cambridge and operated by Whippet Coaches, had originally commenced in July 2016. The service links Eddington (a relatively new community on the north-west side of the city which is still growing) with the Biomedical Campus (a large site to the south of the city which houses Addenbrooke’s Hospital and a growing number of medical institutions) travelling via various academic properties on the west side of the city. The nine buses carry fleet numbers WG112-120 with registrations MX23 LCU/V/W; MX23 LRO/U/V/Y/Z/LSC although cherished registrations were soon applied to WG112 (UN14 BUS) and WG113 (UN14 CAM).

Tuesday 11 September 2018 (1246) – A ‘not a bus stop’ in Calverton. Trent Barton’s regular ‘Calverton Connection’ service along this road operates as an anti-clockwise circular and so buses pick-up on the opposite side of the road. In the background is a historical remnant of Calverton’s past in the form of a coal truck once used at Calverton Colliery. Until the 1930s Calverton was a small forest village with an economy based on agriculture. In 1937 the first shaft of what would become Calverton Colliery was sunk but it was in the early 1950s that the colliery opened on a much larger scale bringing an expansion of the population as miners and their families came to live in newly built homes. The mine closed in 1999.

Tuesday 2 April 2013 (0846) – CT Plus DAS1 (SN57 DWE), an Alexander Dennis Enviro200, seen outside The Eagle in Shepherdess Walk when waiting to turn into City Road bound for Islington on London Buses contracted service 394. CT Plus is owned by the HCT Group which began as a social service operation named Hackney Community Transport. Not only is the group very active on London Buses contracted services but in January 2012 it won the contract to operate the bus network on the island of Jersey (Channel Islands). The board high on the wall above the red umbrellas carries the words of a verse from the rhyme ‘Pop! goes the weasel’ (said to have been written by 1856 in a performance at the Theatre Royal): “Up and down the City Road, In and out the Eagle, That's the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel"

June 1998 - C W Sworder and Sons Limited latterly operated a fleet of mainly school and contract vehicles from its base in the Hertfordshire village of Walkern. D164 OJN was seen passing the Moon and Stars pub in Rushden on the way to its first picking up point on the morning school contract E164. It was a Wadham Stringer bodied Leyland Cub that had been new to the London Borough of Redbridge in 1986. Sworders closed their bus operating business and moved to Molesworth, Cambridgeshire focusing on commercial salvage and vehicle sales. The company still trades in 2023 as indeed does the Moon and Stars.

Sunday 25 September 2016 (0909) – Priority seating on board Nottingham Express Transit (NET) tram 220. The tram is a Spanish built Alstom Citadis model new in 2013-2014 as part of the second batch of 22 trams numbered 216-237.

Monday 16 June 2008 (1322 hrs) - Zugerland Verkehrsbetriebe (ZVB) Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated 208 (ZG 4313) seen in Baarerstrasse, Zug when working the 1258 service 4 from Cham (Bahnhof) to Inwil (1331). (This is a different Inwil than the one served by buses in Luzern).

Saturday 28 March 2009 (0946) – Almost at the top of the climb to Monsal Head on the road from Cressbrook, Henry Hulley of Baslow 9 (R280 RAU) was working the 0930 hrs Tideswell to Bakewell service 173. Only two 173 buses per day travel this road in each direction, the others (five of them) travel via Wardlow and the B6465 which crosses in the background. It is a Plaxton Beaver bodied Mercedes-Benz Vario that had been new October 1997 to Trent Buses.

Tuesday 12 December 2023 (1203) – Ambassador Travel 305 (BV72 XFB), a Caetano Levante 3 bodied Scania K410 new in November 2022, approaching the pick-up point in High Street, Newmarket when working the 0920 National Express service 727 from Great Yarmouth to Heathrow Airport. The scheduled departure time from here was 1135 so was 28 minutes late. (According to the tracker on the Bus Times website the coach had run on time as far as Thetford (arrived 1050) where an unscheduled stop of 29 minutes occurred with the coach departing at 1119. It was due to arrive at Terminal 5 at 1505 and this was closely achieved).

Sunday 29 August 1993 – Eastern National Omnibus Company Limited 1121 (HHJ 382Y), an Alexander TE bodied Leyland Leopard new in April 1983, seen in travelling down the main street in Thaxted, Essex when working one of the Essex County Council supported Sunday bus services, service 631 from Saffron Walden to Burnham-on-Crouch. Thaxted is a very interesting old town which saw its greatest days in the 14th and 15th century when it prospered making cutlery. The town is well known for its late 15th century timber framed Guildhall which can be seen in the background of the photograph. The parish church was also built around this time and is one of the largest churches in Essex with a spire that stands 181 feet (55 metres) tall.

Saturday 30 June 2018 (1548) – Awaydays of Wood Dalling near Norwich operates the City Sightseeing tour of Norwich. G520 VBB was however seen in Holt Market Place on a special service forming part of the Vintage Bus Rally staged at the preserved North Norfolk Railway. It is a Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian new to Kentish Bus (520) in January 1990.

Friday 9 August 2019 - Libertybus (CT Plus Jersey Limited) 2605 (J 122042) seen passing the Parish Hall for the Parish of St. Brelade in St. Aubin’s. The building was once part of St. Aubin’s railway station. The bus is an Alexander Dennis Enviro400D new in January 2013 at the time that CT Plus was awarded the contract to operate the public bus network on the island. CT Plus Jersey Limited part of the London based HCT Group. Heading for the Airport on service 15.

Tuesday 4 July 2017 (1207) – Go-South Coast (Southern Vectis) 1992 (GSK 962) seen at Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight when working the ‘Needles Breezer’ open top service. The circular (clockwise only) service runs every 30 minutes starting in Yarmouth travelling via Freshwater Bay to the Needles headland and back to Yarmouth via Totland. The full circuit takes 57 minutes and the service is worked with two buses. 1992 is a Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL new in September 2002 registered HW52 EPL. (The second bus today was 1991 (WDL 691)).

Saturday 22 May 1993 (approx. 1307) – Eastern Counties Omnibus Company VR206 (XNG 206S) loads at King Street, Mildenhall bound for Bury St Edmunds on service 155. Take a closer look at the first lower deck ‘window’ on the bus. This is part of the ‘T shaped’ advert for Eastern Electricity and is applied to the blank panel of the bus where the stairs to the upper deck are. The picture appears to give the bus an additional window and includes Aardman Animations ‘Creature Comforts’ animated characters from television and films. A number of Eastern Counties Omnibus Company buses carried adverts from this campaign which also ran on television. Just behind the waiting passengers a yellow and black taxi may be seen which is waiting on the taxi rank. The rank moved to this position when the car park entrance that had been located near the town map on the left was relocated into Recreation Way.

May 1972 – In early 1962 Premier Travel Limited added ten East Lancs bodied Leyland PD2/3 double deckers to its fleet which had been new to Ribble Motor Services Limited in 1950. After one withdrawal in 1970, seven were withdrawn during 1972 although the final two lasted until April 1973. Ribble used the vehicles on medium distance express and limited stop services in North West England and they wore their coach livery of mainly cream with crimson relief, a reversed format of the bus livery which was mainly crimson with cream relief. As a result they vehicles became known as the ‘White Lady’ class. These secondhand acquisitions looked right at home in the Premier Travel livery giving a unique flavour to the fleet. Actually, the styling was not unlike three Wilks and Meade bodied Daimler double deck vehicles which Premier Travel had had built in May/June 1950 for use on its own services. Premier Travel 140 (DCK 208) was one of the pair that lasted until April 1973 and had been new as Ribble 1237. It was seen at the War Memorial in Newton heading to Cambridge on service 1.