In the last fortnight, I've had two outings on the Borders Buses network, seem as they've been doing their 'Borderless £5 Day Ticket' for the last few weeks, so decided to give it a whirl. Here's a account of the two outings
Outing 1 - 14/11/17
0606 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham Bus Station (ANE 1514 - Pulsar)
0724 Berwick-upon-Tweed (VTEC - 91116)
0905 60 Kelso (Borders Buses: 11209 / AE12AZC - Merc/MCV)
1015 20 Jedburgh Bus Station (Peter Hogg of Jedburgh: MX60BXD - Wright StreetLite WF)
1105 68 Galashiels Interchange (Borders Buses: 11309 / YA13AEL - Optare Versa)
1250 60 Earlston Square (Borders Buses: 11208 / AE12AZB - Merc/MCV)
1340 52 Edinburgh, North Bridge (Borders Buses: 11302 / YA13AEC - Optare Versa)
1610 253 Berwick-upon-Tweed (Borders Buses: 11618 / YJ66AED - Optare MetroCity)
1852 Durham (CrossCountry - unknown Voyager)
2020 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1515 - Pulsar)
The Peter Hogg journey on the 20 cost about £3.30 I think, StreetLite sounded like it didn't like going down the A68 as fast as it could manage, YouTube vid: https://youtu.be/IvebtFREV5M
The 52 journey was boring, Versa just had no soundtrack whatsover which for a journey that long made me want to fall asleep (not helped being up at 04:50!)
The USB ports on 1515 managed to charge my phone just 8% in 40 minutes, poor but better than nothing!
Outing 2 - 23/11/17
0606 7 Durham Bus Station (ANE 1516 - Pulsar)
0724 Berwick-upon-Tweed (VTEC - 91122)
0909 253 Edinburgh Bus Station (Borders Buses: 11502 / SN15LJJ - Enviro 300)
1215 X62 Pebbles (Borders Buses: 11001 / BK10MFP - Volvo B7RLE/Wright)
1403 X62 Galashiels Interchange (Borders Buses: 11229 / BF62UYT - Volvo B7RLE/Wright)
1502 X95 Carlisle, English Street (Borders Buses: 11708 / YJ17FWY - Optare MetroCity)
1825 685 Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station (ANE 4660 - Omnicity)
2035 47 Metrocentre Bus Station (GNE 5417 - Wright StreetLite)
2100 X66 Gateshead Interchange (GNE 5394 - Wright StreetLite)
2117 21 Durham Bus Station (GNE 3965 / Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini)
2220 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1516 - Pulsar)
Was pleased to have a E300 over a MetroCity on the 253, just as I figured I would have one later on in the day, also because I had a MetroCity on this route last week.
On the 12:15 X62 out of Edinburgh, it took us 20 minutes to get from the Bus Station to Princess Street, as a result the journey was delayed by 15 minutes.
The X95 was a bit chaotic, road closures forced us to divert, no clue via where as it was in the dark but it was seemingly via the middle of nowehere, had no mobile signal for over an hour! Got stuck for nearly 10 minutes at one point as on the diversion signposted 'no HGV access' we ended up stuck when two lorries came in the opposite direction, had to pull into a farm junction to let them past. As a result, we arrived into Carlisle a whopping 45 minutes late, meaning I missed the 17:30 685 back to Newcastle.
The 18:25 685 was nice and quiet, took a few passengers to Brampton then it was me and one other lad as far as Haltwhistle then just myself until just outside of Hexham where a old bloke boarded who got off opposite the old bus station with two more passengers boarding at the new Hexham Bus Station. The USBs on this one managed to charge my phone almost 20% just between Carlisle and Brampton (starting from about 48%) and was fully charged by Newcastle. We passed the 17:30 685 from Carlisle which was a Stagecoach Carlisle CrossPennine E300 as it had broken down somewhere near Newcastle.
The two StreetLite's journeys to the Metrocentre and Gateshead were just to kill time as I didn't want to stand around in Eldon Square Bus Station for 30+ minutes bored out of my mind.
Was pleased to get a Volvo B7TL on the 21 as I don't mind the hybrids but I prefer the sound of a B7, at least the seats are fresh now on this, looked manky as owt last time.
Because of the issues encountered resulting in me being delayed by an hour, I was out from 05:55 until 23:05! The longest outing I've ever had.
These outings were quite fun, despite a few hiccups on the second one. May have to do some of the network again.
Photos and videos are now starting to appear on my Flickr and YouTube accounts (links in my signature).
Thanks for reading
RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews