London 30/1/2010 - Busy 15s

The first two pictures were taken at the Tower of London where visitors from Euroland were not familiar with our quaint habits of forming an orderly queue at bus stops. Similarly there were 4 adults and 2 children standing upstairs!

London 30/1/2010 - Hybrid bus and a Routemaster

East Midlands Trains had a special offer yesterday so we went to London. I wanted to see the hybrid buses on route 360 from Elephant & castle to the Albert Hall. However most of the buses on the 360 were Dennis Darts and I only saw 2 hybrids.

Loading at Vauxhall bus station and interior view from the rather cramped and noisy back seat.

Arriving at the Albert Hall and lay over at the rear of the Albert Hall.

These hybrid buses have an electric drive system and a diesel generator and also regenerative braking. When the generator was not running it was similar to a modern trolleybus but on my journey, mostly in traffic on level ground, the generator at the back was running most of the time. The bus accelerated well and the braking was smooth.
I took the picture of the Routemaster because RMs replaced most of the London trolleybuses. Will hybrids replace conventional diesels? 

Mansfield 29/1/2010 - National Express, TM Travel, Veolia, Midland General

The National Express driver could only just reach the top of his mirror to clean it.
A TM Tesco bus displaying its new fleet number 1190.
Veolia arriving - the bright sun was a hazard for drivers and photographers.
A non standard Wellglade bus using the Midland General fleetname.

Nottingham (Friar Lane) 28/1/2010 - TrentBarton and Premiere

Premiere seem to be expanding with a mix of tendered and commercial services. The 'X1' or 'Red1' now runs every 15 minutes between Nottm and Bingham in competition with TrentBarton departing from the same stop.

Nottingham (Milton St) 28/1/2010 - NCT and YourBus

Three pictures of typical NCT buses in the bright winter sun. The city terminus for YourBus service 81 has moved to Milton St. Today I saw a Wright bodied Volvo as used on the Crich services and this double decker.

Derby Bus Station - in and out

The third way in to the new bus station is to turn right from The Moreledge.
The exit is at the river end and buses going over the inner ring road bridge simply turn left but others turning right get mixed in with cars for the multi-story car park and inbound buses as can be seen from pictures 2 and 3. I think that it will be better if this road is widened to have three lanes: buses in; buses out; cars.

Derby Bus Station - entrance

The entrance area seemed congested with inbound buses having to wait until a reversing outbound bus cleared the space. The inbound bus then has to swing accross the same area. The entrance from The Moreledge is much easier.

Derby Bus Station - a glimpse of the future

On Sunday morning the new bus station was tested by TrentBarton, Arriva and Felix buses.

October 1986 - Deregulation!

Way back in 1985 the local bus services from Derby to Ripley and Alfreton were operated by Trent. Weekday services continued to be operated by Trent but other operators won tenders for Sunday work.
The August 1985 timetable shows:
243 Derby - Ripley - Leabrooks - Alfreton - Mansfield (hourly on Sundays)
244 Derby - Ripley - Alfreton - Chesterfield (hourly on Sundays).
Deregulation in October 1986 changed everything:
243 Derby - Ripley - Leabrooks - Alfreton - Mansfield operated by East Midland until 14:30 and then Trent (hourly)
245/246 Derby - Ripley - Leabrooks - Alfreton - Chesterfield operated by Maun International (hourly)
248 Ripley - Alfreton - Chesterfield operated by Chesterfield Corporation (hourly)
In May 1987 things changed again:
243 Derby - Ripley - Leabrooks - Alfreton - Mansfield operated by East Midland until 13:25 and then Trent (hourly)
244 Ripley - Alfreton - Chesterfield operated by Chesterfield Corporation (hourly)
This pattern of services continued until 1990. By May 1993 East Midland were operating all of the 243.

The Sevens

The first bus to arrive in Derby on service 7.1 (formerly service 71). Stagecoach still run hourly on Sunday service 92 to Mansfield although the daytime journeys are not shown in the new TrentBarton leaflet.

Sunday buses on service 9.1

For the first time since October 1986 TrentBarton are running buses from Mansfield to Derby via Alfreton and Ripley on Sunday mornings. The pictures show the first bus arriving in Ripley at 9:20 and then on arrival in Derby. The last picture is the 11:50 arrival in Derby.