Eastern Counties M378 YEX in Kesgrave - 11 Apr 1995

Tuesday 11 April 1995 – Eastern Counties Omnibus Company DP78 (M378 YEX) was one of the Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts equipped with guide wheels to use the short stretch of guided busway track in Kesgrave, east of Ipswich. It was new in January 1995 at the time when the guideway first opened.

The guideway gives a direct link between two housing estates and allows buses to avoid a busy section of the A12 trunk road. When first opened it could only be used by a selection of single deckers that were narrower than standard width buses and were branded as the ‘Superoute 66’. In 2005 the guideway was re-gauged to allow standard width vehicles. Over the ensuing years the somewhat bare landscape is now bordered by hedgerows and shrubbery.

There were three buses per hour on the service at the time, two were service 66 and the third was a 66A that featured a slight variation from the 66 in Martlesham. DP78 was heading towards Ipswich working the 1438 trip from Martlesham which was a 66A working.