(11 Oct 2018, 11:15 am)Kuyoyo wrote First South Yorkshire

Reported on 'Travel South Yorkshire' Forum - Volvo B7TLs 37146-55 (YN06 UPZ, URA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J) and 37172-9 (SF07 FDC/D/E/G/J/K/L/M) are due from First Glasgow (Caledonia depot). This is a return 'home' for 37146-55, which were new to the now-closed Halfway depot for the old service 60 (Fulwood to City Centre - now the south western part of the 120). No details which depot yet.

37146 is a Potteries bus - seen in Hanley last month

First West Yorkshire

Photos of the next batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks complete at Wrightbus are now appearing - the entire batch have been confirmed as joining the original batch at Hunslet Park (note - for now), 9 will join the original batch as Red examples for the Headingley Corridor while the rest will be navy blue for the Dewsbury Road corridor - that being the 2 (Roundhay Park to Middleton Thorpe Lane), 3/3A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to White Rose Centre), 12 (Roundhay Park to White Rose Centre or Middleton Circus or Middleton Thorpe Lane) and 13/13A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to Middleton Thorpe Lane).

And now for the reason for some of the next batch being red examples again, 5 of the original batch are currently in the process of being rebranded for the new Thorpe Park expresses X26/X27 in a Mustard Yellow version - 35261 being one of the first done. 35266 meanwhile has gained an allover advert for 'The Springs' Shopping development on Thorpe Park. 35261-6 will be transferring to Bramley from the start of the X26/X27 at the end of this month.

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/north-kirklees-consultation

Last few dates of the Arriva North Kirklees consultation.

  First West Yorkshire

Photos of the next batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks complete at Wrightbus are now appearing - the entire batch have been confirmed as joining the original batch at Hunslet Park (note - for now), 9 will join the original batch as Red examples for the Headingley Corridor while the rest will be navy blue for the Dewsbury Road corridor - that being the 2 (Roundhay Park to Middleton Thorpe Lane), 3/3A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to White Rose Centre), 12 (Roundhay Park to White Rose Centre or Middleton Circus or Middleton Thorpe Lane) and 13/13A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to Middleton Thorpe Lane).

These are starting to appear in service in Leeds.
Red examples observed in service today on the Headingley corridor were:
35547 SK68 TVM
35550 SK68 TVP

Are Enviro 200s allocated to the 24/26?

South Yorkshire

A consultation is currently running in relation to a revamp of the Rotherham Area network in February 2019.

https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/Feb2019/

(30 Oct 2018, 12:52 pm)Kuyoyo wrote South Yorkshire

A consultation is currently running in relation to a revamp of the Rotherham Area network in February 2019.

https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/Feb2019/

As a matter of general (democratic) interest, is this consultation widely advertised in such as bus stop shelters and available to non-internet users, through paper questionnaires available in bus stations, health centres, shops, Post Offices and libraries (where they still exist!) etc?

Also, broadening it out completely, how many local authorities or Operators up and down the country carry out such consultations? Such things ave never existed in Greater Manchester, and certainly as regards commercial services (the vast majority), being consulted about a bus service being withdrawn or re-routed is just as alien as Sainsburys consulting about withdrawing Lamb Tagliatelli or ruining Singapore Noodles by tripling the spice content - yes, both are actual examples before you ask.

(30 Oct 2018, 9:16 pm)Tamesider wrote As a matter of general (democratic) interest, is this consultation widely advertised in such as bus stop shelters and available to non-internet users, through paper questionnaires available in bus stations, health centres, shops, Post Offices and libraries (where they still exist!) etc?

 Also, broadening it out completely, how many local authorities or Operators up and down the country carry out such consultations? Such things ave never existed in Greater Manchester, and certainly as regards commercial services (the vast majority), being consulted about a bus service being withdrawn or re-routed is just as alien as Sainsburys consulting about withdrawing Lamb Tagliatelli or ruining Singapore Noodles by tripling the spice content - yes, both are actual examples before you ask. 

You need to have a look in the various posts relating to GNE surveys/consultations.
There's been some crackers over the years!
The cynic in me and many others feel that those consultations were nothing other than a PR exercise (even bad publicity is good publicity). But at least they did them.
Even if the samples have been small, questions have been loaded, key locations have been missed and staff have turned up late to them.
My favourite example was the one they carried out a few years back in Park Lane Interchange. I will try and find the discussion and post it here, rather than describe what went on (or not as the case may be). 

There was a period of time, where online consultations were undertaken. Apart from there being an artificially small sample size, apparently they were abused and results were skewed. 

Nexus did a cracking piece of work about 10 years ago. They hired libraries and community centres, had staff on show and pushed it online too. They really went for it. 

When done well, I am a big fan of a consultation. 
When done poorly, they may as well have not been done at all.

Edit: https://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/s...p?tid=1186&page=18

There's about 9 or 10 pages on the famous Park Lane 'consultation'. Affected a huge area, two depots, red zone, purple zone and green zone, but concentrated on asking passengers in one area of the red zone.

(11 Oct 2018, 11:15 am)Kuyoyo wrote First South Yorkshire

Reported on 'Travel South Yorkshire' Forum - Volvo B7TLs 37147-55 (YN06 URA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J) and 37172-9 (SF07 FDC/D/E/G/J/K/L/M) are due from First Glasgow (Caledonia depot). This is a return 'home' for 37147-55, which were new to the now-closed Halfway depot for the old service 60 (Fulwood to City Centre - now the south western part of the 120). No details which depot yet.

Update on this - originally intended to be allocated to Doncaster depot to increase their decker allocation, they are now being allocated to Olive Grove depot. While presently being used due to a shortage of vehicles, they will eventually allow the replacement of the entire allocation of Volvo B7TL/Plaxton Presidents and a small number of B7Ls.

(24 Oct 2018, 9:16 pm)S830OFT wrote Are Enviro 200s allocated to the 24/26?

Assuming these are the Arriva Yorkshire routes you're asking about, in York, they are supposed to be operated by Optare Solos.

First South Yorkshire

(Information from the usual sources on 'South Yorkshire Transport' Forum)

B7TL/ALX400 31141/2/4/5 and 31786 are in the process of transferring from Olive Grove to Doncaster - alongside a B7RLE swap which sees Doncaster gain Euro4 69245-8 (ex-Southampton but new to Bradford) from Olive Grove in exchange for Euro3 69213-7 (ex-South West, but new to Manchester - the majority of the examples cascaded from Buses of Somerset earlier this year are from the same source). The move of the B7TLs is due to a reported PVR move - with Doncaster due to gain a few Rotherham town trips from Olive Grove.

One as-yet unmentioned allocation change has seen the 27 (Rotherham to Crystal Peaks via Aston) now interwork at Crystal Peaks with the 120 (Fulwood to Crystal Peaks via Sheffield City Centre) rather than the former interworking at Rotherham with the 13 (Rotherham to Bramley) or the 23 (Rotherham to Brinsworth via Rotherham Hospital) depending on the hour.

(12 Oct 2018, 8:27 am)Kuyoyo wrote First West Yorkshire

Photos of the next batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks complete at Wrightbus are now appearing - the entire batch have been confirmed as joining the original batch at Hunslet Park (note - for now), 9 will join the original batch as Red examples for the Headingley Corridor while the rest will be navy blue for the Dewsbury Road corridor - that being the 2 (Roundhay Park to Middleton Thorpe Lane), 3/3A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to White Rose Centre), 12 (Roundhay Park to White Rose Centre or Middleton Circus or Middleton Thorpe Lane) and 13/13A (Brackenwood or Gleadhow to Middleton Thorpe Lane).

And now for the reason for some of the next batch being red examples again, 5 of the original batch are currently in the process of being rebranded for the new Thorpe Park expresses X26/X27 in a Mustard Yellow version - 35261 being one of the first done. 35266 meanwhile has gained an allover advert for 'The Springs' Shopping development on Thorpe Park. 35261-6 will be transferring to Bramley from the start of the X26/X27 at the end of this month.

More details - a member of the 'Travel West Yorkshire' forum has done some digging and it appears this second batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks totals 62 examples - up from the previously mentioned 60. They are numbered 35501-62 and will be registered SK68 TNX/Z, TOA/H/U/V, TPF/O/U/V/X-Z, TRV/X/Z, TSO/U/V/X-Z, TTE/F/J/O/U/V/X/Z, TUA/H/J/O/P/U-W/Y, TVA/C-F/J/L-P/T-Z, TWA/C-F.

Originally intended to increase to a combined 10 minutes frequency in December with the start of the X27, the Thorpe Park Express timetable will now remain every 15 minutes from the introduction on the 9th December, with the X26 reduced to every 30 minutes. Instead, the X27 will be extended to run between Leeds and Garforth Fairburn Drive via Thorpe Park, with the X26 also extending to Garforth at peak times.

(18 Nov 2018, 4:54 pm)Kuyoyo wrote More details - a member of the 'Travel West Yorkshire' forum has done some digging and it appears this second batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks totals 62 examples - up from the previously mentioned 60. They are numbered 35501-62 and will be registered SK68 TNX/Z, TOA/H/U/V, TPF/O/U/V/X-Z, TRV/X/Z, TSO/U/V/X-Z, TTE/F/J/O/U/V/X/Z, TUA/H/J/O/P/U-W/Y, TVA/C-F/J/L-P/T-Z, TWA/C-F.

Originally intended to increase to a combined 10 minutes frequency in December with the start of the X27, the Thorpe Park Express timetable will now remain every 15 minutes from the introduction on the 9th December, with the X26 reduced to every 30 minutes. Instead, the X27 will be extended to run between Leeds and Garforth Fairburn Drive via Thorpe Park, with the X26 also extending to Garforth at peak times.

The latest batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks have started to enter service in the last few weeks - as previously mentioned, this batch is split between the Headingley Corridor (Red branding) and the 2/3/12/13 group (the Navy Blue). The branding has been applied in a mix way - so far confirmed as Red examples are 35501/5/15-7/46-51 (the last 6 having been in use since September as replacements for 35261-6 moving onto the Thorpe Park services). So far noted as Blue examples are 35518-22. Also to note, these examples differ from the original batch delivered last year in having the glazed front pillars and Green Grab Poles internally.

Present rumours suggest Bramley depot's E400s are due to transfer to Halifax depot for use on the 'Zest' 503 between the town and Huddersfield - the current allocation of B7TLs are starting to prove unreliable. A definite transfer from Leeds to Halifax are a number of B9TLs from Hunslet Park - 37123 (YK07 AYY) already reported as transferring.

(24 Oct 2018, 9:16 pm)S830OFT wrote Are Enviro 200s allocated to the 24/26?

Optare solos are normally on it but will find odd dart or E200 on York service if not on 493 or Selby towns

First South Yorkshire

A pair of Wright Streetlites demonstrators are on-loan to cover for warranty work on Olive Grove's newer examples - SK68 TXM/N and the pair have gained First fleetnumbers 63389/90. Due to their non-standard Mobitec destination displays, they have been allocated to Doncaster depot as the depot already has a Mobitec destination list due to the trio of mini E200s 44925-7 being similarly fitted. To fill the void at Olive Grove, Doncaster's 63370 has transferred in place of one of the demos.

(07 Dec 2018, 12:17 pm)Kuyoyo wrote The latest batch of 'Leeds City' Streetdecks have started to enter service in the last few weeks - as previously mentioned, this batch is split between the Headingley Corridor (Red branding) and the 2/3/12/13 group (the Navy Blue). The branding has been applied in a mix way - so far confirmed as Red examples are 35501/5/15-7/46-51 (the last 6 having been in use since September as replacements for 35261-6 moving onto the Thorpe Park services). So far noted as Blue examples are 35518-22. Also to note, these examples differ from the original batch delivered last year in having the glazed front pillars and Green Grab Poles internally.

Present rumours suggest Bramley depot's E400s are due to transfer to Halifax depot for use on the 'Zest' 503 between the town and Huddersfield - the current allocation of B7TLs are starting to prove unreliable. A definite transfer from Leeds to Halifax are a number of B9TLs from Hunslet Park - 37123 (YK07 AYY) already reported as transferring.

In addition to the 62 presently being delivered, a further 33 examples are due for delivery in January - these will be 35563-95.

Stagecoach Yorkshire

Due to the ongoing saga with Northern Rail and the Saturday Strikes, Stagecoach will be increasing the frequency of the X10 (Leeds to Barnsley) and X17 (Barnsley to Sheffield) to half hourly on Saturdays from the 6th January. The 'extra' journeys on the X17 between Sheffield and Barnsley will NOT be 'Gold' vehicles as they will be operated by Ecclesfield depot (using 2 deckers) rather than Chesterfield. The extra journeys on the X10 will be provided by the 3 Coaches alongside the spare Enviro400MMC. This is following the growth in demand on the X10 on Saturdays which has seen deckers used on most journeys instead of the coaches.

(30 Dec 2018, 4:03 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Stagecoach Yorkshire

Due to the ongoing saga with Northern Rail and the Saturday Strikes, Stagecoach will be increasing the frequency of the X10 (Leeds to Barnsley) and X17 (Barnsley to Sheffield) to half hourly on Saturdays from the 6th January. The 'extra' journeys on the X17 between Sheffield and Barnsley will NOT be 'Gold' vehicles as they will be operated by Ecclesfield depot (using 2 deckers) rather than Chesterfield. The extra journeys on the X10 will be provided by the 3 Coaches alongside the spare Enviro400MMC. This is following the growth in demand on the X10 on Saturdays which has seen deckers used on most journeys instead of the coaches.

As these would have needed to be registered by 23rd November (and bus station slots agreed up to 4 weeks earlier?), how did Stagecoach know the Strikes would continue through January (and beyond?) Also, I would have thought demand would be relatively low for weekend services with people having spent up for Christmas and likely poor weather.

(30 Dec 2018, 4:41 pm)Tamesider wrote As these would have needed to be registered by 23rd November (and bus station slots agreed up to 4 weeks earlier?), how did Stagecoach know the Strikes would continue through January (and beyond?) Also, I would have thought demand would be relatively low for weekend services with people having spent up for Christmas and likely poor weather.

A little something called ‘short notice’ change with support from the local authorities. Registration amended has appeared on VOSA today.

Timetables are on the Stagecoach website. One minor note is that the extra X17 journeys will depart from stand C2 in Sheffield rather than from C1 - not sure why as the only other service to use C1 is the X78 and there doesn’t appear to be a timing clash.

(04 Jan 2019, 3:37 pm)Kuyoyo wrote A little something called ‘short notice’ change with support from the local authorities. Registration amended has appeared on VOSA today.

Timetables are on the Stagecoach website. One minor note is that the extra X17 journeys will depart from stand C2 in Sheffield rather than from C1 - not sure why as the only other service to use C1 is the X78 and there doesn’t appear to be a timing clash.

Shame their colleagues on t'other side of t'Pennines aren't so proactive/innovative. Over here its a case of hike fares by 7% compared to frozen Rail fares (Sat is off-peak) and continue running 10 year old unpadded buses instead of the 3 year old buses bought for the route on the basis of investing  where the profits are.
Mind you, its notable that SY PTE/ITA or whatever they are have the time to consider such applications. TFGM have to deal with over 100 service changes EVERY 2-3 months including sorting out the implications of withdrawals and cuts in periods of operation.

(17 Dec 2018, 11:33 am)Kuyoyo wrote First South Yorkshire

A pair of Wright Streetlites demonstrators are on-loan to cover for warranty work on Olive Grove's newer examples - SK68 TXM/N and the pair have gained First fleetnumbers 63389/90. Due to their non-standard Mobitec destination displays, they have been allocated to Doncaster depot as the depot already has a Mobitec destination list due to the trio of mini E200s 44925-7 being similarly fitted. To fill the void at Olive Grove, Doncaster's 63370 has transferred in place of one of the demos.

In addition, two of the lime Green Wright Streetdecks recently spotted at Heysham Docks have joined the First Yorkshire fleet - SK68TXS, having appeared at Doncaster for a short period, is now with West Yorkshire (depot tbc), while Olive Grove have SM68EPD.

South Yorkshire General

Rotherham Interchange will reopen on Sunday 3rd March following its 11 month refurbishment. This co-insides with the changes to Rotherham's town network the same day, which more-or-less follows exactly what was consulted on back in the autumn.

Some minor changes will take place, including:
- Stagecoach operated Monday to Friday only 107 (Rotherham to Swinton via Parkgate and Rawmarsh) diverted to serve Greasborough and Nether Haugh rather than Parkgate as a partly replacement for the 227 (Rotherham to Hoyland via Greasborough and Wentworth).
- First's replacement for the 227, the 136 (Hoyland to Rothertham via Thorpe Hesley) will be slightly amended - the first inbound departure from Hoyland at 0636 will run as a 236 via the 227 route
- Powells' service 87 (Maltby to Meadowhall/Sheffield) is withdrawn. In its place, Powells are re-introduting daytime journeys on the X7 (Sheffield to Maltby) at a half-hourly frequency
- An additional 'extra' trip is being added to Stagecoach's X17 - this time it's one on the northern section, with a new peak time journey added departing Barnsley at 1630, returning from Sheffield at 1740 (likely to be a Barnsley operated turn). Additionally, the Barnsley-bound stand in Sheffield Interchange changes to Stand C2 for all journeys from March (currently only the Saturday 'extra' journeys use C2, the main service uses C1).
- The X78 appears to be staying at every 15 minutes rather than the planned increase to every 12 minutes.

First Leeds Wright Streetdeck 35207 (SL16 RFF) will be the first of the batch of Streetdecks new in 2016 to be repainted into Leeds City colours - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...56044@N03/

Also confirmed within the comments Volvo B7RLE 69348 (YJ08 CFA) will be the first single decker to receive Leeds City colours.

(07 Feb 2019, 10:37 pm)Malarkey wrote First Leeds Wright Streetdeck 35207 (SL16 RFF) will be the first of the batch of Streetdecks new in 2016 to be repainted into Leeds City colours - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...56044@N03/

Also confirmed within the comments Volvo B7RLE 69348 (YJ08 CFA) will be the first single decker to receive Leeds City colours.

Volvo B7RLE 69348 (YJ08 CFA) is now in "Leeds City" livery - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...68/in/feed

(07 Feb 2019, 10:37 pm)Malarkey wrote First Leeds Wright Streetdeck 35207 (SL16 RFF) will be the first of the batch of Streetdecks new in 2016 to be repainted into Leeds City colours - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...56044@N03/

32507 (SL16 RFF) is now in Leeds City livery - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...83/in/feed

(15 Feb 2019, 5:39 pm)Malarkey wrote 32507 (SL16 RFF) is now in Leeds City livery - https://www.flickr.com/photos/128732924@...83/in/feed

And as mentioned in the caption - these repainted Streetdeck will not be receiving a coloured stripe and are therefore considered as ‘spares’ to work any Hunslet Park-operated Route.

Some news filtering through from the 'Travel West Yorkshire' forum this morning

Arriva

Wakefield depot are expected to receive a batch of new 'Sapphire'-specification double deckers later this year for the 110 (Leeds to Hall Green), replacing E400s 1931-47 from the route, along with DB300/Gemini 1547 (TWY7). The E400s are expected to move to Heckmondwike depot to upgrade the 268 (Bradford to Wakefield via Heckmondwike and Dewsbury) to 'Sapphire' replacing the original E400s 1900-13 (YJ58 FHA-H/J/L-P) and DB300/Geminis 1519-21 (YJ61 OAP/S/U) from the route.

(25 Jan 2019, 11:23 am)Kuyoyo wrote South Yorkshire General

Rotherham Interchange will reopen on Sunday 3rd March following its 11 month refurbishment. This co-insides with the changes to Rotherham's town network the same day, which more-or-less follows exactly what was consulted on back in the autumn.

Some minor changes will take place, including:
- Stagecoach operated Monday to Friday only 107 (Rotherham to Swinton via Parkgate and Rawmarsh) diverted to serve Greasborough and Nether Haugh rather than Parkgate as a partly replacement for the 227 (Rotherham to Hoyland via Greasborough and Wentworth).
- First's replacement for the 227, the 136 (Hoyland to Rothertham via Thorpe Hesley) will be slightly amended - the first inbound departure from Hoyland at 0636 will run as a 236 via the 227 route
- Powells' service 87 (Maltby to Meadowhall/Sheffield) is withdrawn. In its place, Powells are re-introduting daytime journeys on the X7 (Sheffield to Maltby) at a half-hourly frequency
- An additional 'extra' trip is being added to Stagecoach's X17 - this time it's one on the northern section, with a new peak time journey added departing Barnsley at 1630, returning from Sheffield at 1740 (likely to be a Barnsley operated turn). Additionally, the Barnsley-bound stand in Sheffield Interchange changes to Stand C2 for all journeys from March (currently only the Saturday 'extra' journeys use C2, the main service uses C1).
- The X78 appears to be staying at every 15 minutes rather than the planned increase to every 12 minutes.

Timetables for these have now appeared on the PTE website
https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/servicechanges/

A further change being introduced on 6th April sees the Stagecoach-operated 737 (Sheffield to Doncaster Sheffield Airport) replaced by new service X6, which will operate half hourly between Sheffield and Wickersley (following broadly the same route as the 737 except diverting off Sheffield Parkway to serve the Waverley area), continuing hourly to the Airport via iPort. Reports suggest that this will be operated by Barnsley depot (rather than Rawmarsh, who currently operate the 737, or either Sheffield depot) using the 4 Scania E300s which recently returned to the depot from Sheffield Holbrook.

Arriva Yorkshire

As part of the Yorkshire network revamp taking place this weekend, 4 Volvo B7RLEs have been refurbished for the revised 229 (Leeds to Heckmondwike/Huddersfield) to operate alongside the 'MAX' Geminis already used on the route. They have also gained private plates from retention. 1101 shown here

The four are:
1100 - PIL9733 - Ex YJ08 DVA
1101 - PIL9735 - Ex YJ08 DVB
1102 - KIG7305 - Ex YJ08 DVC
1103 - KIG7306 - Ex YJ08 DVF

Reports suggest the 110 (Leeds to Kellthorpe/Hall Green) will be receiving new vehicles later this year. As part of this, the 'Sapphire' E400s currently used on there are intended to move onto the 268 (Bradford to Wakefield) once displaced. This then leaves 13 E400s and 4 Geminis to be displaced. Mentions have been made of the E400s heading northwards......

South Yorkshire

One missed piece - the entire allocation of Streetlite Mild-Hybrids at both Stagecoach and First Sheffield, as well as First's batch of Mild-Hybrid Streetdecks, now carry 'Buses for Sheffield' vinyl.
First South Yorkshire 35321 (SN18 XYU) by Tony Kuy, on Flickr

North Yorkshire

First York have this morning registered the Moorsbus service M6, operated by York Pullman last year

PB0001747/73 Registered
FIRST YORK LTD
Route: Pickering Ropery to Danby Moors Centre
Service number: M6 ()
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 05 May 2019

PB0001747/72 Registered
FIRST YORK LTD
Route: Norton College to Pickering
Service number: M6 ()
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 05 May 2019

PB0001747/71 Registered
FIRST YORK LTD
[b]Route:[/b] Pickering to Dalby Forest
[b]Service number:[/b] M7 ()
[b]Service type:[/b] Normal Stopping
[b]Effective date:[/b] 05 May 2019