Inside Liberation Station, St. Helier - 9 Aug 2019 (P1030981)

Friday 9 August 2019 – From a bus enthusiasts point of view the main bus station in St. Helier, Jersey (Liberation Station) is a rather dismal place.

Opened in 2007 as part of a low rise apartment block building the passenger waiting area stands on the ground floor facing the street with a certain amount of natural daylight. The buses load behind the building beneath an outdoor recreational area forming part of the residential facilities and so is the equivalent of an underground facility. The roof height signs show 3.5 metres and so only the single deckers may use the station. The bulk of the Libertybus fleet is single deck although some double deckers are operated on a limited range of services and as a consequence the loading stands for these are located on the street outside the bus station.

This view was taken from on board Optare Solo 1712 (J 122012) which was loading on stand E for a 12a service journey. Similar bus 1718 (J 122018) is on departure stand G. Parked in the layover bays on the right are two former Connex Transport Jersey Limited SC Coachbuilders (Caetano) Slimbus bodied Dennis Darts new in April 2007. The Slimbus was a narrower variant of the Nimbus model. They passed to Libertybus (CT Plus Jersey Limited) from Connex in January 2013 at the time that CT Plus assumed the contract to operate the public bus network on island. CT Plus is part of the London based HCT Group.

At its formation Libertybus placed 33 Optare Solo M9700SR models in service but in late 2017 two shorter and narrower M8570SL models were added to the fleet. These are now numbered 1734 and 1735 (J 138090/3) and this was the only photograph I got featuring either of them.