Saturday 5th October 2019
Well, almost three years following my last review, here I am with my report of my adventure this Saturday. I embarked on a Bluebird Explorer, priced at £10.95 for students, and tried to navigate the Stagecoach Bluebird network around Aberdeen for the first time.
10:17 SNS X17 29019 Aberdeen Union Square to Kingswells Park & Ride
My first vehicle of the day was 29019, an ADL E350H electric hybrid. I boarded in Union Square bus station and was greeted by a fairly amicable driver who expressed confusion as to the Bluebird Explorer I asked him for. After about twenty seconds of looking through the ticket machine, he found it. I assume it's not a particularly common ticket, at least with the Bluebird network. Come to think of it, I can't ever recall an instance during one of my adventures back home where a driver hasn't been familiar with the North East Explorer. As I made my way towards the back of the empty saloon, which still retained its Stagecoach Gold interior from its previous existence in Perth, I was somewhat surprised to find there was no gradual ascent of the gangway but then realised this was due to the 'engine' being on the roof. After we reversed off our stand in Union Square - which I only today realised is allowed after blasting the horn twice to alert others - we picked up a couple more passengers on Union Street (essentially Northumberland Street in terms of shops and facilities but not pedestrianised and always with a heavy flow of traffic) before the journey to Kingswells was underway.
11:44 SNS 747 47606 Kingswells Park & Ride to Aberdeen International Airport
I spent some time at Kingswells getting photos of the steady stream of vehicles on the X17s heading to and from the city on a regular frequency, also photographing an Enviro on the 747 heading to Stonehaven and a Mercedes Sprinter on the 44 shuttle service to the nearby housing estate at Countesswells. The X17 appeared to be a toss-up of just about anything Tullos depot had, with electric hybrid Enviro300s, ex-Highlands ALX400 18111 and regular Enviro300s making up the boards I observed in the time I spent there. Running about ten minutes late, old-style 2008 vintage Solo 47606 came in with a 747 heading towards the Airport. The last time I was on a Stagecoach Solo was way back in May 2015, when Dan and I had a run on one on the 302 from Workington Bus Station back to Lillyhall depot at the open day there one Saturday. I was surprised to find its seats were all equipped with seatbelts and also by how violently the seats in this one shook when idling in traffic. It was quite something. It was otherwise a fast run to the Airport, and we were on time for arrival at 1155.
11:58 SNS 727 10531 Aberdeen International Airport to Aberdeen Union Square
After taking a photograph of 47606 while it took a minute or so to layover, I immediately crossed to board the 727-branded Enviro400MMC which was standing ready to depart. I had wrongly assumed that this would be much like a shuttle between the Airport and Union Square but found that the bus picked up a great deal of passengers as it approached the city centre. It had been quite a while since my last journey an Enviro400MMC and it reminded me of my intention to try and catch the Cumbria example on the 685 next time I do a North East Explorer (potentially when I'm home at Christmas). Not much else to say really, 10531 provided a smooth ride and showed no real sign of the ageing and vibrations we're all fairly accustomed to on other 16-reg deckers such as 6301-6307. It was a reminder of which is the infinitely better product. Very much looking forward to trying Go North East's handful hopefully soon. I debated between having a ride out to Banchory on the 61-reg Panther 2s that dominate the 201/202 allocation or to Inverurie to tick off an 'A96 City Connect' Elite on the 10.
13:05 SNS X37 27111 Aberdeen Union Square to Inverurie Town Centre
After patrolling Union Square for a short while, I didn't see the 1245 service out to Banchory on its allocated stand. It would leave some ten minutes late in the end, by which point I'd decided to head north west to Inverurie instead on the X37 at 1305. The driver rather gruffly demanded to see my University ID card on presentation of my Bluebird Explorer - something no driver earlier in the day had asked to see - I complied and took a seat on the back row. The vehicle for the ride out to Inverurie was 27111, a 14-reg Enviro300 with 'Inverurie Connect' branding. Pretty much your standard Enviro300, nothing particularly worthy of discussion. I did notice that the bus gradually got fuller and fuller as we left Aberdeen with most passengers travelling a good forty minutes or so to Inverurie. Seems a well-patronised route, but I imagine I'd have enjoyed it more if I'd had 19369, which I saw heading out to Inverurie on the X37 earlier in the morning. I alighted in the town centre with the majority of passengers and 27111 went on its way.
14:27 SNS 10 54827 Inverurie Town Centre to Aberdeen Union Square
My next journey was on the 'A96 City Connect' 10 service back to Aberdeen from Inverurie. I took in the sights of the town centre and have to say it did seem, on the surface, to be quite a nice place. I took a photograph of another Stagecoach Solo on the local town service heading to Tesco as I killed time for the 10 to arrive outside the Town Hall. Running seven minutes late, Elgin-based Volvo B11R/Plaxton Elite 54827 approached on the last leg of its run down from Inverness. A handful of passengers alighted and I was the only passenger to board - I climbed up the stairs at the door, showed the driver my Explorer and took a seat about two thirds of the way towards the back on the offside. Had a great journey back into Aberdeen, the route along the A96 was great and very scenic, less suburban than the trip on the X37 had been and my goodness, did this coach fly. It was so effortless in pulling and very responsive, and good enough to convince me to think about having another ride out to Inverurie next time I do a Bluebird Explorer, perhaps breaking the hour-long wait between 10s in each direction with a run on the circular to Tesco. Arrival back into Union Square was on-time.
15:20 SNS 68 54243 Aberdeen Union Square to Ellon Park & Ride
After having had such a good journey on 54827, I decided I'd finally have a go on the Buchan Express. Standing on the final stance in the bus station was Volvo B11R/Plaxton Elite i 54243 with the 1520 68 service to Ellon Park & Ride. Much like with a ride on a 62-plate example on the X74 between Glasgow and Dumfries with citaro5284 in March 2018, I found myself walking in through the entrance door, going to the left to present my ticket to the driver and then going right to ascend the stairs to the passenger saloon upstairs. The service wasn't very busy but it seemed the majority of passengers were sitting in the forward half of the upper deck rather than towards the rear. I was able to bag a pair of seats to myself with a lot of legroom thanks to the seating arrangement changing to just a single seat in front of me rather than a pair. I was thoroughly impressed with the speed this Elite i was able to get up to on the ride up to Ellon and decided to brave the twenty minute wait at the Park & Ride site for the next one back down.
16:20 SNS 67 54241 Ellon Park & Ride to Aberdeen Union Square
After a wait in the very exposed bus stop at the Park & Ride site, during which I mused to myself as to why on earth somewhere as far inland as Kingswells had a waiting room available and somewhere as cold and windy as Ellon didn't, I was greeted with the sight of 54241 with a southbound 67 for Aberdeen. Also occupying the bus stop and waiting to board was a group of walkers, each of whom commented on the harsh climate and how grateful they would be for the bus to arrive. I boarded first and took a seat towards the back of the upper deck this time to get a feel for the perspective when sitting further towards the back. I have to say, you realise these things are longer than they feel when you sit towards the back. I couldn't help but feel that these would be ideally suited to the X9 and X10, although there would be obvious capacity issues particularly at peak times, and they'd perhaps be the next logical step to take those services to the next level so to speak. After a smooth run back into Aberdeen, I once again alighted in Union Square.
17:15 SNS 202 19174 Aberdeen Union Square to Peterculter
As the day drew to a close, I decided I'd have a ride out to Peterculter on the 201/202 services which I'd decided against doing today in favour of Inverurie. A full ride out to Banchory is definitely on the cards for a future trip, though. Seems to be a nice enough place. The vehicle for the 1715 departure was 19174, a 12 year old (!) Enviro400 with high back seats and seatbelts. I'd previously had sister (or should that be 'sibling' or another non-gender specific term, given how far the social justice warriors have taken us towards oblivion in the last few years) 19171 on the free university shuttle service and was astonished at how quick off the mark it was and how it maintained speed on climbs. 19174 didn't quite have the opportunity to show what it could do due to a fairly flexible timetable but it certainly seemed to manage the route without any difficulties. I did notice how uncomfortable the seats on the very back row in the downstairs saloon looked.
18:14 SNS 202 53639 Peterculter to Aberdeen Union Street
My reason for alighting in Peterculter was not only as it was a nice, twenty minute connection in a fairly nice location, but because it was a good spot to try and catch the First B9TL/Geminis on the 19 service. I had visited the same spot earlier in the week (chauffeured by mb134) but found the decreasing light made moving shots difficult. Once again, I had misjudged how dusk it would have been by the time 19174 got me there given how light it had been at Union Square on departure, but no matter. Ex-Megabus Panther 2 53639 was my chariot back to the city centre on the 202, and I took a seat towards the back. I could tell, even for an eight year old coach, it was a bit tired and had been through the wars in its previous capacity, but enjoyed the journey back to Aberdeen nonetheless, alighting on Union Street rather than in the bus station. I've always had a bit of a thing for the Stagecoach moquette on coach seats - perhaps my only complaint about the younger coaches sampled earlier in the day was the absence of them in favour of leather over fabric.
All in all, a great day exploring the Stagecoach network. I hope to do another Bluebird Explorer before the year is out. It's been a while since I last did one of these, so I'm a bit rusty. Pleased I've made the effort though and hope they'll become routine again. If you haven't fallen asleep yet, thank you for reading.
R852 PRG