Stagecoach East: With the sad news on Tuesday that one of last years heroes, the truly inspirational Captain Sir Tom Moore had passed away, Enviro 200 37210 is seen displaying a destination blind to commemorate him. © Luke Fisher. — **Stagecoach East:** With the sad news on Tuesday that one of last years heroes, the truly inspirational Captain Sir Tom Moore had passed away, Enviro 200 37210 is seen displaying a destination blind to commemorate him. © Luke Fisher.

Compass Travel

Now all placed into storage here are the following; Dart SLF 1003, Enviro 300 3105, Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse-Urbans 3203-05, Optare Solos 5002/05, VDL DB250/Wright Pulsar-Geminis 6101/02/06, Enviro 400 6111, Scania Irizars 8001/02/05-07, Temsa Safari 8004, and Enviro 200s 9035-37. This include the entire double decker and coaching fleets.

East Yorkshire

Recently noted as working from Elloughton depot are Enviro 200 MMC 506 and Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse-Urban 735.

Volvo B9R/Caetano Levante 86 has recently been noted as operating rail replacement services between Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber, covering for the currently suspended rail services.

Go North East

A big set of changes reported by Go North East during the last month.

Repaints during January included Optare Solo SR M925/Optare 684 into a two-tone pink base livery for the new “Little Pinks” brand; Mercedes Citaro 0350N/Mercedes Citaros 5358 and 5359 into a two-tone pink and blue base livery for the new “Connections4” brand; Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 6087 into the 2019 fleet livery; Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s 6088, 6089, 6090, 6091 and 6098 into the two-tone orange and red base livery for the new “Cityrider” 56 brand; and Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 6154 partially repainted into the 2019 fleet livery following accident damage repairs.

Over the past few weeks, Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s 6087 (NL63 YHP), 6088 (NL63 YHR), 6089 (NL63 YHS), 6090 (NL63 YHT) and 6098 (NL63 YJB) have been returned to service at Deptford, enabling the displacement of similar 6094 (NL63 YHX), 6095 (NL63 YHY), 6096 (NL63 YHZ) and 6097 (NL63 YJA) to be taken out of service for repaint and seat re-trim.

Volvo B11RT/Caetano Levante 2 7132 (BX16 CLU) has been reinstated at Deptford.

ADL Trident 2/ADL Enviro 400MMC 6337 (YY64 GWX) has transferred from Hexham Depot to Consett.

In response to the UK’s third national lockdown, which has yet again seen a reduced demand for public transport, service reductions have taken place. Whilst almost all buses remain in service, albeit older buses allocated less frequently due to the reduced PVR in operation, a number of re-allocations have taken place to ensure better capacity is offered on services where possible:

Wright StreetDeck/Wright StreetDeck Micro-Hybrid 3 6376 (NK70 BYU) has transferred from Washington to Consett.
Wright Streetlite DF/Wright Streetlite Max Micro-Hybrid 5400 (NK15 ENN) has transferred from Chester-le-Street to Consett.
Scania N94UD/East Lancs OmniDekka 6129 (GX03 SVD), 6140 (YN04 GJJ), 6141 (YN04 GJY), 6142 (YN04 GJZ) and 6146 (YN55 NFE) have transferred from Chester-le-Street to Riverside.

Scania CN230UB/Scania Omnicity 5239 (NK56 KHG), 5240 (NK56 KHH), 5241 (NK56 KHJ), 5242 (NK56 KHL) and 5253 (NK56 KHZ) have all been temporarily taken out of service. Similar 5238 (NK56 KHF), which was taken out of service in April 2020 because of service reductions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, has now been permanently withdrawn from service, ahead of its impending disposal.

From Monday 25 January 2021, Go North East began operation of a new ‘ConnectorShuttle’ service, as one of the UK’s first dedicated vaccination shuttle bus services, to the Nightingale Hospital. Mercedes Citaro 0350N/Mercedes Citaro 5294 (NK08 CGV) carries a special livery for the service and has transferred from Riverside to Washington, where the shuttle bus is in operation from. Scania CN230UB/Scania Omnicity 5263 (NK56 KJY) has transferred to Riverside in lieu.

In partnership with Nexus, Go North East launched its second vaccination shuttle bus service on Thursday 28 January. The service, which is branded ‘MetroShuttle’ runs from Heworth Interchange (Stand D), serving the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East at the Sunderland International Innovation Centre. Running up to every 15 minutes from around 7am until 8.45pm, seven days a week, MetroShuttle offers great connections from buses and the Tyne & Wear Metro. Optare Versa V1110/Optare 8332 (NK11 HJC) and 8333 (NK11 HJV) have received dedicated branding for this service, and have consequently transferred from Riverside to Washington, where this shuttle service is operating from. Scania CN230UB/Scania Omnicity 5251 (NK56 KHX) and 5252 (NK56 KHY) have transferred from Washington to Riverside in lieu.

Dealer-stock Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs 6118 (BG15 RNF), 6119 (BG15 RNJ), 6120 (BG15 RNN) and 6121 (BG15 RNO) have all been permanently withdrawn from service, ahead of their impending transfer to East Yorkshire. Go North East received two Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TLs and two ADL Enviro 400MMCs in exchange for these vehicles in late 2019, but retained the Volvo B9TLs being swapped for these for much longer, due to the delayed delivery of new vehicles and then an increased double-deck PVR requirement, beyond the delivery of the new vehicles. Of these 6118 (BG15 RNF) and 6119 (BG15 RNJ) have transferred to East Yorkshire.

Scania CN230UB/Scania Omnicity 5238 (NK56 KHF) has been sold to Howards Travel, being re-registered as ‘K4 HOW’. It has transferred immediately on loan from Howards Travel to MP Travel. Similar 5234 (NK56 KHB) and 5237 (NK56 KHE) have been sold for scrap to Alpha Recovery, Weetslade.

Optare MetroDecker MD1114/Optare 9083 (YJ65 EPU) has returned to Optare, following its three-year loan period to Go North East.

Mercedes Citaro 0350N/Mercedes Citaro 5306 (NK08 CHO), 5307 (NK08 CHV), 5308 (NK08 CHX), 5313 (NK08 MYB), 5321 (NK58 DVX) and 5322 (NK58 DVY) have transferred to Go North West.

During January, in partnership with Nexus, Go North East set up three free to use ‘Vaccination Shuttles’ running from Concord, Heworth and Sunderland to the Vaccination Centre at the local NHS Nightingale Hospital. Pictured are Mercedes Citaro 5294,… — During January, in partnership with Nexus, Go North East set up three free to use ‘Vaccination Shuttles’ running from Concord, Heworth and Sunderland to the Vaccination Centre at the local NHS Nightingale Hospital. Pictured are Mercedes Citaro 5294, Optare Versa 8332, and Mercedes Citaro 5334. © Go North East.

Megabus

Noted as parked up at Stageacoach South Wales Cwmbran depot are Volvo B11R 54202/276-279/285-293.

National Express West Midlands: One of the Dennis Trident/ALX400s to have recently been disposed of out of this fleet, 4361 is pictured. © Dylan Jones. — **National Express West Midlands:** One of the Dennis Trident/ALX400s to have recently been disposed of out of this fleet, 4361 is pictured. © Dylan Jones.

Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire

Now repainted here into ‘Lakes Connection’ livery is Enviro 400 19569, whilst MAN/Enviro 300 22789, and Optare Solo 47722 have been repainted into Stagecoach ‘Local’ livery.

Stagecoach East

Now in passenger traffic, from Peterborough depot, is Dart SLF 34773. This transferred with similar 34771 last week.

Stagecoach 34773 — Dart SLF 34773 is pictured in Peterborough on 2nd February 2021. © John Abbott.

Stagecoach East Midlands

Further maintenance swaps have seen Skegness allocated Enviro 400 19206 returned to Hull, which has allowed Dennis Trident/ALX400 18416 to move to Hull. Of note is that 18416 is due to move on to Mansfield, with Enviro 400 19181 being formally reallocated from Hull to Skegness to replace it.

Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse-Urban 21248, and Dart SLF 35142, both from Scunthorpe have been noted on loan at Hull. Dart SLF 34572 and 35140 are also back in service at Scunthorpe. Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse-Urban 21272 has been returned to traffic at Grimsby.

The latest repaint here into Stagecoach ‘Local’ livery is Gainsborough allocated Dart SLF 34850.

We are expecting MAN/Enviro 200s 39676-679 to transfer from Mansfield to Hull in the coming days, along with some further associated moves. This will place all the MAN chassis vehicles in East Midlands at Hull. Their replacement at Mansfield should be in the form of Dennis Trident/ALX400 18416 (see above), and Enviro 300s 27198/199/594.

Stagecoach Manchester

Sharston allocated Enviro 400 19564 has been repainted into Stagecoach ‘Local’ livery.

Stagecoach Oxfordshire

Enviro 400 10067 has now moved back to Oxford, from Banbury after spending around 6 weeks there on loan. It has been replaced by Enviro 400 MMC 10439 which has moved to Banbury from Witney.

Stagecoach South

All now sold to T.Wigley & Sons for scrap, are Dennis Trident/ALX400s 17858 and 18065, Enviro 200s 36015/029, Optare Solos 47540/541/625/738. Of these, 17858 was sent to the area purely to act as a source of spare parts.

Stagecoach South East

We now understand that the three Volvo B9R/Plaxton Elites being retained here have all now been reregistered. 53703 now carries PS2045, 53706 is RHE353 and 53708 is RHE194.

Expected in March for the new contact of the Canterbury Park & Ride are 4 new build Enviro 400 MMCs. Further details are awaited.

Currently in the paintshop at Ashford are Scania/Enviro 400 15441, and Optare Solo 47661.

Wellglade Group

Trent Barton: Now returned to Derby Meadow Road depot is Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse-Urban 716, although it has yet to enter traffic.

Optare Solo 467 is now back in service, operating from Sutton Junction depot.

4th February 2021