• TransBus have launched its replacement for the Dart this week, the TransBus Enviro200, at Coach & Bus 2003.  Whilst this was expected to be essentially a standard Dart chassis with a new body, it is something quite different!  What is interesting too, more obviously is that the front panel is different to that on the Enviro300, the 200 looking quite like the ELC Myllennium front!  There are some very interesting developments with the chassis though, they are as follows:

1 • It is low floor, right to the back, thus a set of doors can be positioned at the very rear of the vehicle

2 • The rear wheels are larger than the front ones

3 • It only has two rear wheels (one per side, obviously!), as opposed to four (two per side)!  It can only be assumed that they have managed to make the chassis and body so light that only two rear wheels are required!

• The Enviro200 still uses the Cummins ISBe series engine, although a 3.9 litre version, in place of the 5.9 litre one, but there is also a 200H hybrid version, which Gauvin Lewis has kindly supplied this photograph, showing its rear doors well - To see some other photos of this vehicle, including internal pics, along with others from the show, go to this page of Gauvin's site!.  The 200H is powered by the small Cummins 3.9 litre ISBe engine, a Voith gearbox and electricity - It is even possible that Merseytravel may order some of these, as in the Liverpool Echo yesterday, there was an advert from Merseytravel asking for tenders to supply 6 hybrid vehicles, seating at least 20 plus a wheelchair, to be used on a City Centre service, which must be ready by 30/11/2004!

• Question now is for how long will the current Dart SLF be produced?  I'd personally have thought quite a while, as both Caetano and ELC still build on the Dart SLF chassis, indeed only these two produce narrow bodywork for the 2.3M wide slim Dart, and I'm sure even TransBus themselves will keep the Pointer going so long as there is demand for it!

• Although I haven't been to the show myself, from reports and photos, two 'local' buses are at the show too, those being the first DAF SB120CS/Wright Merit for Warrington Borough Transport, delivered through Volvos dealer network, although no different to a standard SB120CS, other than the body name, and the first Optare Alero to be built with an automatic gearbox, which is for Cumfybus, and has already been registered YN53 SUH.

• Halton Transport have now ordered its next four buses, which are to be delivered next March, and despite an expected change in chassis type, these will be again be TransBus Dart SPD 11.3M/ELC Myllennium Sprytes, much the same as the previous orders.  Following the trial of the Volvo B7RLE and MAN 14.220 it is reported that apparently the fuel consumption of the Volvo was too high for Halton, but the MAN was liked, but as the demonstrator they had was only a short one, they intend to get a longer one on trial first (similar length to the Darts) before making any possible orders for them.  At no point so far have any MANs or any other type been ordered yet, so the Darts can't be that bad after all!

• Supertravel's Optare Solo is now confirmed as not being 53 reg, it is in fact registered MW52 PZD, is a long 9.2M long, B33F and new in 01/03 to Norfolk Green as its 608.  It interestingly has a very small no 301 on the front, not sure if this is its Supertravel fleetnumber or not though, as the numbers are far smaller than those usually used by Supertravel.

• Cumfybus though are the first operator in Merseyside to operate 53 reg vehicles, and again Optare Solos, as they have three operating from their Southport garage in Cumfybus overall yellow livery, one of which, MX53 FDY, was noted on the 200 (Southport Circular) on Monday.  The registrations of the other two are currently unknown.

• Chester City Transport have now begun to start repainting its Park and Ride Scanias into the new livery, which will on the BMC Falcons when they arrive shortly.  Neil Hilton has supplied a photograph of 84 R84 EMB seen in Chester Bus Station on 20th August.  Although this livery is quite plain, it does look smart, lets hope it is applied as well to the BMCs when they arrive!

• Last week I changed the Poll on the site too, so if you haven't yet voted please do, the current question is 'Which of the liveries currently used by GTL do you think is best?' - From the last Poll, it seems that the part of the site you like best is the photographs, followed closely by the news section!

• As you may have also noticed, but I don't think I have noted it here yet, many of the Yahoo groups that are used by local bus enthusiasts are now duplicated as Domeus groups, due to Yahoo no longer archiving attachments from 21st August.  For the three groups which I run, dennisdart, merseyside_buses and haltontransport, the Yahoo version of each will continue for text based messages, as their system in general appears to be better, and the Domeus version is mainly for use to send photographs or other messages with attachments.

• May I also remind all readers following a problem yesterday, that any of the photographs sent into any of the groups, or displayed on this site remain the copyright of the photographer, and may not be republished anywhere without the prior consent of the photographer.  I'm sure, along with most other people, that we are happy for people to copy photographs (and any other data from this site) for your own use (i.e. to print off or save on your computer), but not for use on any other website, email group or publication.  All the photographs used on this site have been used with permission of the photographers, to who I am very grateful too, as I am still using a 35mm camera and an old scanner, the digital ones that some of the contributors send in are much better and much quicker, so can be used in the news!

• Arriva NW&W continue to make alterations to the vehicle allocations, amongst the changes being Volvo B6BLEs 2801 - 2804 moving from St Helens to Southport in place of 2807 - 2809 & 2811, whilst further Leyland Olympians sent to Birkenhead have been 3105 from Manchester and 3113 - 3115 from Speke.  Most unusually too, Neoplan N4009 0603 M303 YBG had arrived at Chester depot on Friday, from store at Bootle, and amazingly had entered service by Monday!  Richard Hughes has also reported the following two Leyland Tigers, 1776 H278 LEF, 1772 F52 ENF, and Volvo B10Ms 1786 H86 DVM, 1787 H87 DVM at Aberystwyth.  Finally, last Saturday was said to be the final day of open top Bristol VRs at Rhyl, with these not expected to be used next year, some of these have already been earmarked for sale to preservationists.

• Halton Transport are continuing to fit LED displays to the remainder of its Dart SLF/ELC Myllennium Spryte fleet with at least 34, 39 and 40 now fitted, leaving just 35 and 36 to receive them - 38 DK03 NTE is currently out of traffic after receiving accident damage, so presumably will receive them when it goes back into service.  The MAN 14.220/ELC Myllennium demonstrator, currently with Halton Transport is believed to be registered PN03 OWA, and has a Stagecoach corporate interior, as it was delivered new to Stagecoach North East as a demonstrator, as its 80002!  This generally operates route 62, and has interestingly been kept far longer than the B7RLE, which has since left, suggesting that this is what they may possibly buy in the future!

• Nip On Transport is now reducing the size of its fleet, due to a loss of Merseytravel contracts and driver shortages, and is reported to have sold five of its Dart fleet to other local operators, those being R416 XFL & R417 XFL to Tanner Travel and M89 DEW, P654 HEG & P655 HEG to Norbus of which M89 DEW was new as Halton Transport 65.  As Norbus have acquired so many step entrance Darts recently, it is very possible that some of the Dart MPDs could have been sold/returned off lease, as I don't think I've seen any of the T reg ones around for a while - If anyone does know which Darts have been sold, or if any are to be sold, please let me know!  Tanner Travel on the other hand have now reportedly sold all of its Marshall Minibuses, its F reg Metrorider and their National is withdrawn, but could be reinstated!  Thanks to Christopher Walsh and Jon Welch for this info!

• Finally, news of a possible 53 reg bus on Merseyside was the unusual sighting on an overall white Optare Solo inside the Supertravel depot yesterday by Neil Hilton, I intend to go down to the depot some time this week, or at least look around on some Supertravel routes for it, but this all depends if it actually stops raining for a bit first!

• Several of the smaller operators on Merseyside have recently acquired new or used buses, and even BBC Radio Merseyside now has a bus!

• Norbus now has at least 4 Dennis Dart 8.5M/Reeve Burgess Pointers, for use on its commercial services, mainly the 159, but also the 511 etc (as these are commercial, they do not need SLFs are as stipulated by Merseytravel for its contracts).  Those noted are J161 GAT & J372 GKH which are both in London Red livery still, whilst J101 DUV and J362 GKH are in Norbus livery.

• Cumfybus have another two Optare Solos too now, presumably allocated to their Bootle depot for services 144/145 are MX03 YCN and MX03 YCP both of which are overall unbranded white.  Timeline also have two Optare Solos for its St Helens based services, replacing two loaned Dart SPDs, the Solos beingMX03 EHC and MX03 EHD, both of which are in full white/yellow/orange Timeline livery.

• Third operator with more Optares is Raddoneur, who have another two ex London Optare Excels on loan for services 216/217 although it has been suggested that three new Excels may replace these two, along with one they acquired a little earlier, a former Dave Forrest vehicle, R88 MMS.  The two ex London ones are R380 DJN and P333 HBC.  Two of these were noted in service today by Neil Hilton at Birkenhead Bus Station, first was R88 MMS, followed by P333 HBC, and if you look at the photos, most unusually the same person appears to be getting onto both vehicles, despite these photos being taken within about five minutes!

• Finally, not quite a bus operator, but nevertheless, a bus, BBC Radio Merseyside now have a MAN 14.220/ELC Myllennium, for use as an outside broadcast unit it seems, though I'm not sure, registered MW03 DUU, and seen in this photo, taken mid August by Neil Hilton.

• This is the first update for just over a week, as I've been going out on local trips, and enjoying the summer weather!  Large update is made today on the Arriva NW&W fleetlist, as there are even more reallocations made than had been noted in the news section previously - To reduce duplication, go to the Arriva NW&W Fleetlist and read the update notes, as there are a huge number, with every single depot involved!  On that fleetlist now too, I've simplified the set-up again, so to view any particular depots allocation, just click its name in the top of the page, or to view whole list, click on the 'View All Buses', or 'Search by Registration/Fleet Number'

• Alterations made are as follows:

Speke
3206, 3208, 3209, 3212 & 3251 to BH

Green Lane
7660 & 7670 loan to HU

Huyton
1171 & 1176 loan to GL

Bootle
0601 - 0603 to store at BT
0801 to WY
0803 loan to LL
1232 to BH
1248 to RU

Southport
1712 - 1714 & 1729 for disposal

Chester
1722, 1724 & 1736 for disposal
3062 to BA
3091 - 3093, 3096 & 3118 for disposal

Wrexham
0374 - 0375 to CR
3343 - 3349 to SL

Llandudno
0153 - 0155 to WD
2331 loan to WX
2603 - 2605 to WX

Rhyl
2606 - 2608 to WX

Bangor
3086, 3119 - 3122 for disposal

Aberystwyth
3051, 3053, 3055, 3065, 3066, 3067, 3068, 3127 for storage at Wrexham

Skelmersdale
1120, 1124, 1125 to MC
1230 to BH
1258, 1259 to WY
1715 & 1716 for disposal
1719 to WX (for training)
3646, 3647, 3651, 3652, 3563 to SH

St Helens
All Metrobuses for disposal
2807 - 2809 & 2811 to SP
7240 - 7244 to SK

Wythenshawe
1121 - 1123 to MC
2301 loan to WX

Manchester
1264 to WY
1778, 1786 - 1788 to SK
3112 to BH

Macclesfield
0094, 0095, 0148, 0164 to WD
1723, 1727, 1730 for disposal
1753 to spare store (at Bootle)
3022, 3038, 3039, 3041, 3048 & 3064 to WD
3214, 3215, 3226, 3227 to BA

Birkenhead
2601 - 2602 to WX
3326 to SL
7547 - 7549 to BT
7559, 7560, 7562 to LL

Runcorn
7540 currently unlicensed, at TransBus for fire damage repairs

Winsford
0053, 0054, 0055, 0057, 0058, 0062, 0072, 0073, 3007, 3008, 3026, 3037, 3644 & 3645 for disposal

Crewe
0195, 0196, 1717, 1718 & 1720 for disposal
3831 - 3836 to CH

In addition, 2277 - 2279 are now at Llandudno, whilst 2296 & 2297 are at Rhyl, 1326 & 1329 are at Aberystwyth, 1289 & 1331 are at Chester, all of which are ex Arriva London.

• Halton Transport have now received what are believed to be its last three Darts ever, these being 41 PG03 YYW, 42 PG03 YYX & 43 PG03 YYZ all of which are pretty much identical to the previous batch, although these also have TransBus wheel disks on the front wheels, and all have LED destination displays from new!  Halton have already begun to look at alternative manufacturers, with at least two demonstrators being at Halton, those being an unidentified MAN 14.220/ELC Myllennium, and a Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban, which was noted this morning by James McCollom, registered BX03 BKU.

• More news to be added tomorrow!

• First Wirral & Cheshire closed its Moreton 'Red Rider' garage on Saturday 02/08/2003, with most routes and buses moving to Rock Ferry garage.  On the final day, some drivers decided to drown their sorrows about the closure of the garage by running with 'Red Rider' on the destination display, and the letters 'RIP' in the number box, as shown here on Optare Solo 40007 T160 BBF, in a photo taken by Neil Hilton!

• Further to the notes on expected transfers of Arriva NW&W buses in the coming weeks, some of which have already taken place, it is now also expected that all of the Metrobuses from St Helens will now be withdrawn prior to the start of the new school term, as they are now not needed for schools contracts, whilst the three short Neoplans at Bootle 0601 - 0603 M301 YBG - M303 YBG are also expected to be withdrawn too, but are to be kept stored in a serviceable state, for potential further use - Whether or not this will ever happen is debatable though, as it must cost Arriva far less to run Dart MPDs that those Neoplans on similar routes, as maintenance costs would be far lower for the Darts, as the Neoplans are so sub-standard.  Further ex London Darts now with Arriva NW&W too are 1289 N678 GUM, ex London LDR8 and 1334 P834 RWU ex London LDR834, with P832 RWU ex London LDR832 still expected.  Allocations for all the recently acquired buses, and all others should be added to the fleetlist next week.

• Further news on Arriva NW&W vehicle movements will be added next time too.  The Arriva NW&W fleetlist is now properly searchable now too, and also has a facility to view the allocation for each depot separately, which is especially useful for me when checking the lists are all correct, as the information I receive shows the allocations for each depot separately.

• GTL Glenvale Transport are now continuing to repaint further vehicles into its overall red livery, those being done recently , noted and photographed by Karl Sutton being Titan 2612 NUW 612Y which is now named 'FREDA' seen in this photo, this being especially interesting, as 2612 was only last repainted in February, and given the name 'KATHERINE-ROSE', which was so big, it took two lines on the front of the Titan!  Also seen last Saturday at Gillmoss in overall red was Titan 2255 GYE 255W now named 'COSTELLO' as see in this photo, and perhaps the weirdest one of all is Volvo B6 7247 L247 TKA, odd, as its incomplete, and was withdrawn, which is now named 'JAMIL', formerly named 'HAYLEY', seen in this photo, which clearly shows the missing lights, bumper and windscreen!  I've no idea why GTL are repainting and renaming buses that were painted recently, as some vehicles, such as Titan 2045 WYV 45T haven't been painted since MTL days, and have never been named!

• Today, the Merseyside Dennis Dart Website has been online for exactly 1000 days (or 142 weeks and 6 days!), which in quite a major milestone for this website, which I only started as I was bored one day!  Thank You once again to all the people who have provided news, information, fleetlists and photos over the last 1000 days!

• A1A Travel Dart MPD 53 KP51 UFJ was the victim of accident damage on Sunday 13th July, when a car allegedly jumped the lights near to Woodside Bus Station, causing extensive damage to the front of the bus (the car was apparently even worse off!)  Although it was thought that the bus may have to go away, possibly to TransBus for repairs, A1A Travels own engineers were able to almost totally rebuild the front of the bus, and after 36 almost constant hours, the bus re-entered service by the Wednesday of that week!  Thanks to Neil Hilton and Paul Redfern for this info.

• Following the end of the financial year, the three ex Arriva Midlands North garages acquired by Arriva North West and Wales are now legally part of the group, having been running with Arriva Midlands North lettering up until now, with Crewe garage now legally Arriva North West, Macclesfield garage now Arriva Manchester, and perhaps most peculiarly, Winsford in now Arriva Merseyside!

• Several vehicle transfers taking place on Merseyside include Avon Coaches acquiring two Marshall Minibuses from Supertravel, those being 013 R113 VLX and 017 R7 STM.

• Arriva North West and Wales are about to embark on a series of vehicle transfers too, with Darts 7457 - 7549 reported to be moving from Birkenhead to Bootle (though 7458 is already in service at Bootle, 7549 is parked there), Darts 7559, 7560 & 7562 are moving from Birkenhead to Llandudno, whilst 2601 - 2602 are off to Wrexham from the same garage.  Step entrance Darts 1230 and 1232 are moving into Birkenhead, along with Leyland Olympians 3251 - 3255 and 3113 - 3115 from Speke and 3112 from Manchester.  Finally Speke are to gain another 8 Volvo Olympians, with ex MTL 3326 coming from Birkenhead, along with all 7 Arriva Cymru Palatine I Olympians from Wrexham, 3343 - 3349.

• Arriva North West and Wales are now operating two new TransBus Dart MPD/TransBus Pointer 2s, 0887 SN03 DZY and 0888 SN03 DZZ.  These two Darts are allocated to Macclesfield depot, are owned by Cheshire County Council and are in a yellow/blue Macclesfield Rider livery, as seen in this photo of 0888 taken by Andrew Barnett.  Matthews Travel run an MPD in a very similar livery on Neston Rider route 272, the similarities can be seen here in this photo of SK02 TYS, taken by Neil Hilton.

• Although the two new MPDs that Arriva have still show Dennis and Plaxton badges (as does HTLs new MPD), TransBus have now finally got around to putting TransBus badges on the newest Pointer 2s, as shown in this months Buses magazine, on those with Solent Blue Line.  It can also be seen that the new ones also have LED rear lights, in place of the older units with lamps, and of course the TransBus Pointer badge (similar to the TransBus ALX400 badges seen on new ALX400s), although the MPDs at least still retain the original style Mini Pointer Dart transfers on the right hand side of both front and rear bumpers.

• Avon Coaches have recently acquired another ex MTL Olympian, that being Alexander bodied F244 YTJ, from Arriva North East, although this one was seen outside the Warrington Borough Transport garage recently too!  Avon are expected to possibly get more of these Olympians, whilst they have sold Dennis Dominator/Northern Counties 209 A209 GHN to LMS.  Noted this morning by Karl Sutton, LMS have now also acquired an ex Arriva London Volvo Citybus B10M-50/Alexander H156 XYU which is an an almost totally cream livery, but with green Arriva London cow horns!  Thanks to Arthur Hogan and Paul Redfern for the great Avon Coaches information!

• Supertravel have now returned Dart MPD VU02 TPZ off lease to Mistral, but Norbus are now operating it instead!  This vehicle was seen yesterday on route 169 (Belle Vale - Halebank), wearing Norbus legal lettering - It definitely had been with Supertravel though, not Norbus all along, as it had been seen on separate occasions on the 173/174 and photographed by Neil Hilton on Supertravel route 163 (Belle Vale - Halewood Ravenscourt).  This Dart has the standard Mistral interior, very similar to the Alexander bodied Darts Supertravel have, with blue panels, dark seats with the Mistral M logo on them and weird seat frames with bends in the bars on the back of the seats!  Supertravel are now also operating a third 10.7M Dart, S783 RNE, one of the ones that had been used by Selwyns on the Airport service - This bus currently has no Supertravel fleetnumber.

• GTL Glenvale Transport did, as expected repaint Titan 2333 KYV 333X into the experimental overal red, CMT style livery, to be sent up to the Fleetwood Bus show on Sunday.  This Titan possibly has the daftest name yet applied to a GTL bus, one worse that 'SPARTACUS', as 2333 is named 'GLENN' (the Glenvale Titan!).  Then again, this is hardly the worst name applied to a bus anywhere in recent times, as the company who bought the demonstrator Volvo B7L/Wright Eclipse Gemini (Reliance I think) named that 'Spirit in the Sky'!

• Finally, the Warrington Borough Transport Dart that was damaged last weekend is now confirmed as being 30 DA52 ZVM, and it is believed that the damage is so severe that the body is likely to be scrapped, so the chassis will probably end up being reboided - Question is, will MCV produce one last Dart body, or will it have to go to Caetano, ELC or TransBus?

• GTL Glenvale Transport have now painted one of its Darts, 7410 K870 LGN into a new experimental livery, which has a cunning resemblance to both CMT Buses and London livery!  Karl Sutton went over to Gillmoss garage yesterday and was able to get a photo of the Dart in its new overall red livery, which also has resulted in it losing its name! - Lets hope this red paint doesn't fade as badly as MTL red paint does!  Although this livery may look okay as it is (with the nice inverse GTL logos), it is a very plain livery, compared to the existing GTL livery, so like many of the London liveries, it could maybe do with some coloured stripes to break is up a bit.  Another bus, Titan 2333 KYV 333X is also being painted in this livery and is to go to the Fleetwood bus show next Sunday in this livery.  Other GTL news is that Titan 2315 KYV 315X has been withdrawn following fire damage, whilst Metrobus 551 GYE 551W and Volvo B6 7249 L249 TKA are also withdrawn, though Titans 2147 CUL 147V and 2561 NUW 561Y are reinstated - 2211 CUL 211V which isn't withdrawn is expected to get a replacement engine, from 2315!

• Warrington Borough Transport had an accident yesterday in one of their new Darts.  Going from photographs and online reports, the vehicle was traveling along the A56 Chester Road in Warrington when it left the road and careered down a 50ft embankment.  A full report can be seen on the Sky News Website which appears to be the only online news site with a photo of it!  From photographs in newspapers and TV news, it is either one of the 52 reg MCV Capital Darts, or Marshall Capital Dart 29 DE02 URX, as it has a side LED display, and although only the MCV Darts had these displays on all sides, 29 has a side one as an experiment - I've still not seen a photo where either the registration of fleetnumber can be seen!  From the looks of the photos, it didn't do the bus any good, as all the windows on the nearside, expect the very front one are smashed.  Fortunately no-one was very seriously injured in this incident, although one person did become trapped under the bus for some time, they escaped with a broken ankle.

STOP PRESS - Just after writing this, I looked on the icCheshire Website which shows a front photo of the bus, which looks like it is either Dart 32 DA52 ZVL or 33 DF52 ABU.

• It is reported that Arriva NW&W Dart 7540 P540 MBU went on fire too, on Wednesday 09/07/2003 whilst being used as a staff bus, so arson is out of the question.  The Pointer bodywork is apparently badly damaged, with the rear of the bus very badly damaged, and all the ceiling damaged throughout the bus due to the smoke passing down.  It is now believed to be in the body shop at Bootle, but whether it will be fixed is another matter.

• Saturday 12/07/2003 marked the 10th anniversary of the Merseytravel SMART bus project, and also that of low floor buses operated in the UK.  Neoplan 6401 K930 EWG, now owned by Ulsterbus as a mobile classroom, converted to single door and registered IAZ 2009, fleetnumber 2009 was first used on SMART 224 on 12th July 1993, with the Neoplans 6402 - 6413 entering service on 20th February 1994, when the SMART project was extended, and route 224 renumbered SMART 1.  This Saturday marks a significant time for Arriva Merseyside too, as it is the last day that Arriva holds the franchise for Merseyrail Electrics, with NS Railways/Serco taking over on Merseyrail from 02.00 on Sunday 20th, though interestingly, there is a rail replacement on the Northern Line on Sunday morning, so it will be interesting to see if this is operated by Arriva anyway!

• Following the lead that HTL Huyton Travel were operating Dart MPDs around Bootle, I went up there last week, and saw two other MPDs, those being unbranded overall white X184 BNH operating on the 143, and KV51 KZL operating on the 159.  It is thought that these two could be on short term loan from Mistral Bus & Coach, pending arrival of further Darts in HTL livery.

• GTL Glenvale Transport have now reportedly sold one of its Optare MetroRiders, believed to have been 7810 L810 TFY - This is interesting really, as both MetroRiders, this and 7811 N811 CKA were only recently repainted.  When sold, 7810 reportedly had a full MTL Fareway destination blind set!

• CMT Buses have now acquired a 9.8M Dennis Dart/Wright Handybus, K380 RTY from Go-Ahead North East, presumably for spares, seen here are the CMT Buses depot on Sunday, photographed by Karl Sutton.  A few other buses at the CMT depot are 'scrappers', those being Optare Excel 6032 R642 MBV, this reportedly had an engine fire whilst returning to the depot having been on the 79 around 6 months ago, so is likely to be scrapped, Optare MetroRider 6009 which is thought to be K400 ABC, though this isn't confirmed.  Exactly why CMT have retained this is unclear, as they haven't got any other MetroRiders and even parent company GTL only have one now!  Finally, Leyland Lynx 2061 E325 SWY which generally appears complete, apart from the front panel, though as it seems to have been like this for a while, I'd say it was withdrawn! - Interestingly to its right is Optare Excel 6033, showing its incorrect rear registration plate of R643 NBV which should be R643 MBV.  I have contacted CMT over this, and apparently, the engineering manager will be informed!  There are some complete buses at this depot though, such as ex L&M Travel Greenbus Dart MPD 2085 V484 LCW which is the only ex Greenbus vehicle to be painted into CMT Buses livery, and the only one to actually display its fleetnumber!  Not sure why the CMT logo on the front is in such as weird position, as it can't be entirely the fault of the Dennis and Plaxton badges, as prior to repaint, they were lower down, on the same panel, where most Pointer Darts SLFs have them.

• Some sad news to report is that Arriva have repainted Driver Trainer National 8190 BCW 824V into Arriva Training white and grey.  Although this doesn't seem odd at first, this was the National that had been in North Western livery for the past two years or so, repainted for use by BBC Crimewatch UK, even though the vehicle had never been operated by North Western, it having had entered the Arriva fleet via MTL, who had bought it for its Liverbus garage from Stagecoach Ribble!

• Another big change has been made to the fleetlists now, as instead of having separate Dennis Dart, Modern Bus and Older Bus Fleetlists, these are now combined into one list per operator.  Although this does mean that a few lists are now quite long (the only VERY long one is the Arriva list), it speeds up viewing the data for almost all lists, instead of going back and forth between lists for one operator.  The problem of long lists will be reduced too when I finish transferring all the fleetlists to the MySQL server and so there should be a search box to be able to search all the fleetlists simultaneously by registration, and possibly other fields.  More and more data is being added to the lists too, as Mark Haldon has supplied very good information for many of the Wirral based companies, and this is being added to the fleetlists at the moment!

• On the fleetlists, three companies I am still trying to find large amount of information are Harding Coaches of Huyton, Selwyns Coaches of Runcorn (coaches mainly, this we have most of the buses listed!), and the Home James Travel part of Supertravel (Home James have a mainly mini coach/coach fleet, used for private hire, but all legally under the Supertravel licence).  One vehicle not listed that I do have for Home James is Mercedes 814D/Autobus Classique N990 FWT C29F 02/96 Ex Baildon, Guiseley, which is in Home James Travel livery!  Any further info on these, or any other operators in Merseyside would be very much appreciated!  Lists for Raddoneur, Birkenhead and Lancashire Rose have just been added, with Huyton Mini Coaches and A2B Travel being possible new lists too!

• HTL Huyton Travel have now started operating standard Merseytravel route 159 in Bootle, as opposed the the JobLink/Merseylink work they normally do, and have as a result acquired at least one brand new Dart MPD.  Noted and photographed yesterday in Bootle by Neil Hilton was this MPD, DF03 NTE.  Interestingly, this Dart even though brand new wears Dennis and Plaxton badges, even though officially all Alexander/Plaxton/Dennis products were meant to have been rebranded TransBus from last November!  Halton Transport's newest Darts do have internal TransBus badges, but nothing external, so these could well have internal TransBus badges.

• German State Railways, DB (Deutsche Bahn) have reportedly been in talks with Arriva over a buy-out of the company, for around £4 per share!  A formal offer by DB is expected within a few weeks!  For more on this story, read the report on The Sunday Herald website.  This would lead to the very odd situation of Arriva becoming publicly owned, even if to the wrong country, though this would be short lived, as DB itself, as it wishes to float on the German Stock Exchange.

• CMT Buses (well it's still a separate division of GTL!) yesterday had one of its Optare Excels operating with the incorrect rear registration plate!  I noted 6033, which should be R643 MBV, and had that on the front, wearing rear registration plate R643 NBV!

• Peoplesbus now operate a fleet of three Titans, three Atlanteans and one Leyland National!  After seeing one of these Titans on the road on Friday, I emailed the owned of the company, Andrew Cawley, who very kindly provided full fleet details for the entire company, which can be see on the Peoplesbus Older Bus Fleet.  This fleetlist too is a first for the site as well, as it is the first fleetlist to work from a MySQL database, so eventually when more lists are done they should be searchable.  I have also now done the Arriva North West & Wales Dennis Dart Fleet and also an additional test page, which may change frequently over the next few days, but essentially from it you can search the Arriva Dart Fleetlists by either Fleet Number or Registration number - Please give it a go!

• I was surprised to learn yesterday that Arriva Dart 0801 R546 ABA which is now allocated to Bootle is actually an older styled low floor Pointer, even though the whole rest of the Rxxx ABA batch are Pointer 2s!  I was discussing this last night and we came to the conclusion that as it was shorter is may well have been built prior to the rest of the long batch, and so had the older front.  Neil Hilton, whilst in Bootle, was able to get a photograph of the aforementioned 0801 R546 ABA!