I have been in Blackpool today, here is a collection of the buses I rode today.
21 Blackpool Tower - Blackpool Zoo (Lancastrian Transport Trust - Bristol RESL8 / ECW - OCK336K)
An unusual choice to ride but I thought it would be a good ride and sure enough it was, was not very fast although you can't drive more than 30mph in Blackpool and it was quite loud. Quite enjoyed my journey on this although it was rather warm as all the windows were closed. This service is operated by Catch22Bus normally using one of the Lancastrian Transport Trust's buses.
5 Victoria Hospital - Blackpool Town Centre (Blackpool Transport - Mercedes Citaro - 557?)
After a stroll from Blackpool Zoo and getting a few photos around here I wanted to sample one of Blackpool Transport's new Palladium branded Mercs to see what they are like. This is advertised as a upmarket service like Arriva's MAX and Sapphire buses and I was left feeling rather disappointed as from what I could see the only charging points were where there was some forward and backwards facing seats and it was USB only charging points. It has e-leather seating which has a fair bit padding but the seats where mostly plastic so it was only slightly more comfortable than the seats in say a Tesma Avenue. It was boiling hot and the one thing I cannot stand about all Mercedes Citaros is the massive heaters under the seats which takes up most of the leg room on the inside seats and it's the same on these to. The WiFi worked okay and the bus performed well. So I was a little disappointed as this is meant to be a more upmarket service.
1 Central Pier - Waterloo Road (Blackpool Transport - Dennis Trident - 313)
Only a short ride on this but was rather nice and I do quite like these buses and the seats are rather comfortable. One gripe with this bus was it had all over adverts applied which did restrict the view out of the windows a bit.
12 Waterloo Road - Blackpool Tower (Lancastrian Transport Trust - Leyland Titan PD3 / ECW - LFR 529F)
Time to be getting ready to leave Blackpool and we had just under a hour until we had to leave the car park and we were thinking about getting the tram back up but I saw a bus in the distance and my eyes must have been deceiving me slightly as I thought I saw a Blackpool Transport Dennis Trident on the 1 but this is what actually turned up which made me very happy as it was nice to get another old bus (think it is around 50 year old this bus now) made some cracking noises heading up Blackpool Promenade and passengers and the conductor where discussing that people like these buses as it takes the older passengers back in time when these will have been in regular passenger service many moons ago. I enjoyed my journey on this and was probably the highlight of my day. This service is also operated by Catch22Bus although doesn't normally use the Lancastrian Transport Trust's buses to my knowledge).
Well that's my review, I had planned on riding more including the Catch22Bus MPD's on the 22 to/from Mereside Tesco although some things happened which got me stressed and angry so I had to remove myself for a bit to try and calm myself down.
I took some photos whilst I was there which should be on my Flickr tomorrow evening (Wed 24th June).
RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews