• Merry Christmas to all the readers of the Merseyside Dennis Dart Website!  This festive update is quite brief, but has some photos of interest from the last few weeks!

• Stagecoach Merseyside has now begun to withdrawn its recently acquired Leyland Olympians, with them being swapped with Volvo B10M/Alexander PS from Stagecoach South.  So far Olympians 14180 G180 JHG, 14181 G181 JHG, 14183 G183 JHG & 14185 G185 JHG are reported to have moved South, with Volvo B10Ms 20616 L616 TDY, 20621 L621 TDY, 20629 L629 TDY, 20801 N801 DNE & 20802 N802 DNE arriving here.  Other recent arrivals, but from Stagecoach Bluebird are B10Ms 20193 M593 OSO [photo:Karl Sutton] & 20195 M595 OSO [photo:Karl Sutton] with 20301 L301 PSC arriving from Stagecoach Fife!

• Stagecoach Merseyside Optare Solo 47159 S44 ABC, the Solo that was near scrapped by CMT/GTL has finally arrived back on Merseyside, now complete and working, following visits to the engineering department of Stagecoach North West in Preston and Optare works!  It is seen here last week at Gillmoss depot [photo:Karl Sutton] looking quite nice and complete!  Internally, the seats are reupholstered with Stagecoach moquette [photo:Karl Sutton] but otherwise the interior remains as was.   At the rear [photo:Karl Sutton] the vehicle remains unaltered, still with its original lights and the Optare badge still showing, which is usually removed and a Stagecoach logo but in its place on new build Solos for Stagecoach.  Thanks to Karl Sutton for providing these photos!

• Arriva NW&W have transferred its four named Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointers 1153 L153 UKB 'Beryl', 1154 L154 UKB 'Basil', 1155 L155 UKB 'Bertie' & 1156 L156 UKB 'Barry' to Arriva Midlands, whilst it is expected that VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet 2486 CX04 EHV, 2487 CX04 EHW & 2488 CX04 EHY will all move to Arriva Midlands Oswestry depot on January 8th, when the route they operate 2 (Wrexham - Oswestry) transfers over to being operated entirely by Oswestry depot, as presently, it is worked by both Wrexham and Oswestry, with Oswestry using 55 reg Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Alexander Dennis Pointer 2 on its diagrams.

• Arriva NW&W Speke depot is now expected to get its first Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400 around mid January, the first are reportedly completed at Alexanders Falkirk works and have been inspected by Arriva fitters.  The main route these should be running on will be the 86 and the new 86A (Liverpool City Centre - Liverpool John Lennon Airport) which should be an extended version of the existing 86 with reportedly similar operating hours to the 500 & 700, running from around about 06.00 - 01.00 each day!  Last week I had a ride on the 700 (Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Manchester City Centre) and was very impressed, riding on both 2851 CX55 EAA [photo:Andy Rigby] & 2853 CX55 EAE.  These vehicles are very nice inside with high backed seats and very nice heaters, sending most of the passengers asleep on the way back.  Journey time is approx 1¼ hours each way, fare is £5 return.  When I was at the airport too, I noticed that the first of the Omnicities to have its larger luggage racks installed is 2063 CX05 EOY which is now B34F, ex B40F as it has now had quite a large extra luggage rack added on the nearside. On the rack, fittings are marked ELC, so I'd guess that the work was done at S&T in Blackburn.

• Next update should be around about the first week of January with details of the massive number of vehicle movements expected within Arriva NW&W over the coming weeks as further new buses arrive!

• Arriva NW&W began the upgrade of the 79 corridor on 28/11/2005, as expected with the VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet at Runcorn depot for the 79C, those so far in service from Runcorn being 2514 - 2516 & 2520 - 2531, whilst 2517 - 2519 are at Speke for the main 79.  Also transferred to Speke as part of the upgrade were DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige 2475 T917 KKM, 2476 T920 KKM & 2477 T922 KKM.  Unexpectedly too, Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Marshall Capital 7627 V627 DVU - 7631 V631 DVU were also transferred to Speke from Southport.  As a result, a number of Volvo B10Bs have been transferred to Green Lane and Southport, whilst Runcorn's Dennis Dart 9.8M/East Lancs EL2000 are being transferred to a variety of depots.  See the Arriva North West & Wales Fleetlist for more info!

• Arriva NW&W are also now refurbishing some of the Scanias at Runcorn depot, so far Scania L113/Northern Counties Paladin 1047 R47 XVM has been released, internally refurbished, repainted, and fitted with LED destination displays.  A number of the Scania N113/Wright Pathfinder are also being refurbished and converted to single door, finally!  First to be done, although not yet finished, is 2048 RDZ 1708.  It'll be interesting to see how they do these, as the centre doors have been retained so far, as the front doors were too narrow for most wheelchairs to fit through (strange design really, but they are amongst the first 'low floor' buses built for the UK), but no doubt they'll also receive new seats, new destination displays etc.  Of note, some of the St Helens examples have also had a makeshift single door 'conversion', by adding a panel over the bottom half of the centre doors, so outwardly it appears to be single door.  I've been assured that the Runcorn allocated ones are getting done properly!

• Arriva NW&W DAF SB220GS/ELC Myllennium 2454 Y454 KBU was damaged earlier this month whilst in New Brighton, having been hit by a car whilst the bus was stationary.  Without going into detail of the crash, the vehicle received some damage to the offside front and is to be repaired.  Similar 2474 Y474 KNF that was damaged earlier in the year at Switch Island is reportedly already being repaired at S&T Works (Part of ELC) in Blackburn.  One bus coming out of S&T works just last week for Arriva is Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II 3304 N304 CLV, which was involved in a collision in 2004 (IIRC it has been stolen, but don't quote me on that!), and was written off by the insurers.  Arriva bought it back from the insurers and have now had its bodywork and chassis damage repaired.  The vehicle apparently still requires painting (which will be done locally, this is usual for Arriva), and also a replacement gearbox and engine, as for reasons I do not know, it reportedly came back without either!

• Merseytram seems to have come to a grinding halt, due to funding issues from central government.  Merseytravel are seeking a judicial review over the matter and still believe that they could, it it were approved quickly, have it up and running by sometime in 2009.  Personally, I think that timescale is rather optimistic and considering the governments apparent recent dislike to light rail schemes, even if they do get the funding (or some of it back), perhaps it might be better invested in further improving the local bus/rail services, or even helping to set up a suggested Liverpool Park & Ride scheme, to reduce the number of cars in the city centre.  At the new Paradise Street Interchange, clearly developers were sure they'd get the tram, as this sign [photo:Andy Rigby] warning pedestrians of trams was fitted when the new bus station opened back in November.  Andy Rigby also managed to get this photograph [photo:Andy Rigby] showing the basic layout of the bus station, the view looking from the Paradise Street end towards the Albert Dock.

• North West Travel have now received its first brand new bus, that being an Optare Solo M920, YJ55 BJO [photo:Mark Haldon] seen on the 206 (Crosby - High town) - The Solo that initially operated this service for North West Travel, W84 NDW, is now used on the 245/246/247 (Huyton Circulars) and is still overall white.  Supertravel have received at least another three 55 reg Solos (a total of six 55 reg ones are now reported), the most recent ones noted being MX55 BXN, 027 MX55 BXO & 025 MX55 BXP - As ever Supertravels fleetnumbers make no sense at all, but at least they are applying them to some buses again!  In the opposite way, Dart MPD V261 BNV has now been repainted into standard livery, with full branding, yet hasn't had its fleetnumbers replaced!  Another recent arrival at a local independent, HTL Huyton Travel, is Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Plaxton Pointer 2 T417 MNH [photo:Mark Haldon] which as can be seen remains in overall white from its initial report a few weeks back.  This bus has now settled down as the regular vehicle for the 258 (Huyton - Stockbridge Village).   Another independent operator to report with recently acquired vehicles is Red Kite of St Helens, who have received a number of unusual Mercedes Benz O.405/Optare Prismas from Black Prince, including this pristine example TIL 7902 [photo:Andy Rigby] seen at the company depot last week.  Very MTL-esque the Red Kite livery in my view!

• Cumfybus are another local operator to continue to purchase Optare Solos, with their latest arrivals reported as MX55 WDD & MX55 WDE, these being the first Slimline M780 Solos that Cumfybus have operated.  Two more similar Solos are due this month, whilst it is reported that an additional two 'standard' M850 models are also due shortly.  Of the Darts Cumfybus had on loan to cover its newly awarded services in the St Helens are, the two East Lancs EL2000 Darts have seen little use, with L901 JRN even having been returned early.  The Volvo B6/Alexander Dash acquired back in July, L238 CCW, has now apparently had all its seat belts fitted, MOT completed, and should have finally entered service in the last few days!  Finally Optare Solo YS02 UCD has received an overall advert for the Edge Link service, a service run for Edge Hill college in Ormskirk.  Thanks as ever to Chris Jacko for this info.

• Stagecoach Merseyside have now received its final new Dart for 2005, having had a total of 33 delivered between September and November!  Delivered so far are 34741 PX55 EDF - 34770 PX55 EFC, the complete first batch of 30, and the first three of the second batch, 34774 PX55 EFD - 34776 PX55 EFF.  Deliveries are expected to recommence during mid January, with some of the 2006 order being allocated to Aintree depot, as thus far the whole lot are at Gillmoss.  Optare Solo 47159 S44 ABC, a Solo that was has been out of use for at very least 18 months, as Neil Hilton saw it [photo:Neil Hilton] in July 2004 at the then GTL Aintree depot, has now finally been refurbished having been taken away by Stagecoach in August to Preston, then moving to Optare, and now back to Preston, it is expected to move to Gillmoss (were all five Solos are now allocated) later this month, and start service on the 197 (Kirkby Circular).

• From January, Arriva, Stagecoach and First are making quite a number of changes to its services, with Stagecoach withdrawing many of the services that competed with Arriva, whilst Arriva are withdrawing one or two that competed with Stagecoach, but also making lots of minor changes to most of the South Liverpool routes, pending the arrival of new buses.  The changes First are making are more significant, as they are withdrawing many of its commercial routes in the Chester area, with no replacements, so much so that the Ellesmere Port outstation is expected to close.  As as result, Merseytravel and Cheshire County Council have stepped in to provide contracts to replace some services, almost all have been awarded, at least for the short term to Arriva, whilst some other services, such as the joint Arriva/First 21 (Chester - Runcorn), Arriva have taken on the First diagrams commercially.  Luckily this is happening as new buses are arriving within Arriva NW&W, so spares should be available, but there is still a general shortage of buses in the group, such that the two Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Plaxton Pointer 2 7681 S377 TMB & 7682 W559 JVV [photo:Mark Haldon] remain on loan to Skelmersdale depot, and have now been for over six months, with as the photo shows, are now working many Liverpool routes such as the 20.

• Merseytravel did as expected close Paradise Street Bus Station on the evening of 12/11/2005, with the final scheduled departure being the 23.51 77 (Liverpool - Halewood) which was operated by Arriva Volvo B10B/Wright Endurance 6591 N591 CKA though apparently all the remaining 500 (Liverpool - Liverpool John Lennon Airport) continued to use the old bus station until the end of service on Sunday morning, so the final one will be whatever was on the 01.08 500, probably a Speke Scania Omnicity, but considering how unreliable they are apparently, it could have been anything from Speke! I think its is a nice touch that an ex MTL depot had a classic ex MTL bus on the final scheduled departure, the B10B having been the first type B10B bought 'en mass' after privatisation.  Neil Hilton was able to get some photos from that final evening, the first shot [photo:Neil Hilton] taken around an hour before midnight shows the parking area with some of the final services about to leave, although I am told the B10B that operated the last service isn't in this shot, it was parked on the bend just to the right of the shot.  The second shot [photo:Neil Hilton] shows the North John Street/Chavasse Park (as was) entrance to the bus station - Still think its a shame it has closed, as I still consider this bus station to be new, despite it being closed down! Taken just after midnight is a very rare pic [photo:Neil Hilton] of the parking area again, with not a bus in sight, and finally, as the sign states, this bus station is closed - A final shot [photo: Neil Hilton] of the Paradise Street entrance to the Bus Station.  R.I.P. Paradise Street Bus Station.

• The new Paradise Street Interchange Bus Station opened on Sunday 13/11/2005 bus has had quite a lot of criticism from passengers, not least due to the fact that on services that enter from the Hanover Street end, passengers must disembark one stop before the station!  A very strange idea indeed, considering its an interchange, although Merseytravel insist its an interchange between bus and tram, despite their not yet being a tram, nor is it guaranteed to be built! Considering the reaction to this, I wouldn't be surprised if they add an alighting stop at the top of the station before the complete building 'Liverpool ONE' or the Paradise Project as it was once known.  Other criticisms include a lack of information to passengers (I can see where this is coming from, as there is that much glass, its not to obvious which stop is which from the inside), it has also been commented that the station is too open, this windswept and cold, and on this note too, there are two separate rows of stops (same idea as Queen Square Bus Station although PSIBS uses two continuous glass shelters), therefore its harder to change between similar services such as the 78/79 were you could previously just walk about 8 metres across PSBS, all undercover!  On the plus side at each stop there are doors that only open as the bus arrives to reduce draughts. Anyone else got any good points about the new station?!

• Peoplesbus have recently had two Alexander Dennis Enviro300s on loan from Alexander Dennis. First to be used for a week in October was SN54 HXG [photo:Andy Cawley] which gained temporary fleetnumber 0101 for its stay.  This one apparently moved to Blackpool Transport shortly after for demonstration and was last reported on loan to Arriva NW&W at Bolton depot, being operated on the 620 (St Helens - Bolton) last week.  The second Enviro300 as Peoplesbus was SN55 HSF [photo:Andy Cawley] which gained temporary fleetnumber 0102 for its stay. As can be seen, this one is the sChOOLBUS demonstrator, its 12.5M long (Merseyside's first service bus over 12M?), and is fitted with 60 3+2 seatbelt fitted seats. Both demonstrators have been used on Peoplesbus school services, the first one also seeing use on the Saturday only 52A (Netherton - Liverpool).  Big thanks to Andy Cawley, owner of Peoplesbus, for his information and photos!

• Arriva NW&W have had over half of its delivery of VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet delivered now, with the 79C (Runcorn - Liverpool) expected to move over to operation with the VDLs entirely from tomorrow morning, 28/11/2005.  From early January the 79C is to start operating later at night too and also being a Sunday service, with similar changes happening to the 82A, also a Runcorn route.   Of the VDLs, 2516 DK55 FXA [photo:Mark Haldon] was the first delivered to Runcorn depot so as to allow for driver/fitter training to take place, and was seen by Mark earlier this month, assumedly on driver type training.  Three of this batch, 2517 DK55 FXB, 2518 DK55 FXC & 2519 DK55 FXD are reportedly at Speke for now, with these expected to be on the 79 (Netherley - Liverpool).   If they are staying, it may only be until Spekes own new buses arrive, which should be for some point in January, with Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400 expected first.  What else really will arrive is unclear, though as noted before VDL DB250/Alexander Dennis ALX400 (reportedly from a cancelled London order) and VDL DB250/Wright Pulsar Gemini - It has also been suggested some older low floor DAF DB250s may make there way here from London also.  On the subject of low floor double deckers with Arriva NW&W, Neil Hilton saw the first of this genre in Arriva livery in Wigan, ex Blue Bus Dennis Trident/Plaxton President 4000 Y46 ABA [photo:Neil Hilton] - I think with this bodywork, the bonded glazing really does look far better than gasket glazing!

• Other transfers of buses into Liverpool depots from elsewhere within Arriva NW&W include Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer 1119 L149 WAG & 1327 P827 RWU to Green Lane, DAF SB220/Northern Counties Palatine II 1799 M849 RCP to Speke from Aberystwyth, whilst with similar 1795 N25 FWU, 1796 N24 FWU, 1797 M847 RCP are all also due.  Other buses that have moved from Aberystwyth to Speke, all displaced due to the new Optare Tempos, all of which have entered service are the three DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige 2475 T917 KKM, 2476 T920 KKM & 2477 T922 KKM.  The shortage of buses at Speke has mainly been created by the addition of routes 76/77 (ex Supertravel 176/177) to the depot, with no extra buses yet provided, whilst although the 500 has its own three buses, the Scania Omnicities aren't all that reliable apparently, so even with the spare Cadet 2479 X782 NWX, often other buses are needed for the route as well. There is a general movement of Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II from Green Lane to Bootle, with Volvo B10Bs moving the other way, seemingly clearing Green Lane of double deckers altogether!  Finally, once the new buses do arrive at Speke, it is believed the Rxxx AEY Olympians will move to Chester in order to see of the Dennis Dominators.

• Supertravel have received a third new Solo now, this being MX55 BYF [photo:Mark Haldon] whilst older Solo MX54 KYJ now has LEDs fitted, so is near identical. MX55 BYC and MX55 BYD seem to spend all of their time on the 165 (Belle Vale Circular), whilst MX55 BYF and MX54 KYJ stay on the 886 (Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Halewood).  Not sure if they still have the two 53 reg Solos, these haven't been reported for a while and they were directly replaced on the 165 which they used to operate. Supertravel have also just repainted Dart MPD V264 BNV into Supertravel livery, ex Smart Eco - Just to confirm too, Dart MPD T74 JBA is still at Supertravel too, but mainly operates the 212 (Speke Circular). Thanks to Andy Smith for this info!

• Stagecoach Merseyside have had the entire of the first batch of 30 Darts now delivered 34741 - 34770 with the final one 34770 PX55 EFC noted last week.  Personally I'm supervised it got this registration, bearing in mind the possible reference to Everton! Earlier than planned too, the first few of the second lot have already arrived with 34774 PX55 EFD also noted last week.  The reason for the gap of three fleetnumbers is because 34771 - 34773 are similar Darts that were delivered last weekend to Stagecoach East and for reasons only known to Stagecoach they stuck them in the middle of the Merseyside orders!

• Next Sunday, Stagecoach are meant to be having a Titan running day, with Titan T1 THX 401S and T1125 B125 WUV (the first and last Titans built) coming up from Stagecoach London. No further details are known at present, but I aim to make some report of them on the website in the week after, hopefully with some photos, along with news of other happenings in the local bus world!  Check the Merseyside Buses Yahoo Group (which itself is five years old today, three weeks younger than this site!) for more details!

• All of today's photos are already in the 'Photographs' section of the site, along with all other pics used recently in the news, and some others, including some take at Optare Works and in Leeds Bus Station!

• The Merseyside Dennis Dart Website is now five years old! Big thanks to everyone who has ever supplied any news, photos, fleetlists or any information whatsoever to the website. It simply couldn't exist without the help of others who regularly send in information! Here's to the next 5 years!

• Over the past five years, many large and small news stories have been reported on this site, probably the most significant story that has been ongoing is that of Gillmoss depot and its various sales. Five years ago, Arriva owned it (having bought it with MTL on 18/02/2000) but as you all probably know were forced to sell by the Competition Commission. It was then reportedly to be sold to the Go-Ahead group in November 2000, but for reasons that never became clear, they pulled out. Arriva then attempted to keep the depot, but were turned down and so continued to try to find a buyer, which they finally did in 2001 and Glenvale Transport Ltd, headed by ex MTL manager Dominic Brady, took on the depot from 15/07/2001. GTL kept the existing fleet at Gillmoss, with the exception of the Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II which Arriva retained and replaced with Metrobuses from Arriva Southern Counties, apparently to keep the buying price of the operation lower, thus attracting more interest. Meanwhile, CMT Buses who seemed to be doing quite well, considering its modern fleet, its order for 50 Dennis Dart SPD 11.3m/Plaxton Pointer 2 and even having a TransBus Enviro300 demo visiting, gained interest from GTL, it being noteworthy that CMT and GTL didn't seldom competed directly and the order for the Darts was interestingly cancelled after just five were delivered. Not long after the order was reported cancelled, it was announced that GTL had indeed bought CMT Buses outright on 13/06/2003. I have a feeling the order was again cancelled so as to keep the cost of buying CMT low enough got GTL to pay for it! GTL did eventually rebrand most of the CMT fleet, with some buses getting repainted, although no buses were renumbered, despite duplications with the Gillmoss allocated fleet. GTL adopted an overall red livery based on CMT's and purchased a large number of Dennis Dart/Alexander Dash and Volvo B6/Alexander Dash, mainly from Stagecoach fleets, all via Engisnbus. Rumours were around for most of 2005 as to a sale of GTL, with Go-Ahead initially the strongest contender (again), yet they in the end, as you all know, Stagecoach took control of the whole company with effect from 13/07/2005.

• The largest operator in the area, Arriva have had its own colourful history in the last five years too! Having just bought MTL North on 18/02/2000, the local Arriva fleet had grown significantly during 2000, thus many new buses were ordered to update the ageing Arriva Merseyside fleet. Arriva Merseyside, Arriva North West & Arriva Manchester, all of which were controlled from Aintree HQ were eventually given the group name of Arriva North West and Wales, when Arriva Cymru became part of the group, rather than a stand alone division, on 24/02/2002. Further depots moved into the group too from Arriva Midlands North were Crewe, Macclesfield & Winsford when that division was consolidated to become Arriva Midlands. Two companies purchased by Arriva NW&W in the last five years have been Merseyline Travel of Garston on 02/08/2004 and Blue Bus of Bolton on 31/07/2005. Arriva NW&W have a massively varied fleet, not only due to the purchase policies of the constituant companies, but even its new vehicle policy is very varied, even then for a variety of reasons including contract specifications or lead time for building buses. This year alone, the fleet has gained the following 'new' types, Optare Solo, Optare Tempo, Mercedes Citaro & VDL SB200 and are still expecting to gain some Volvo B7TLs and VDL DB250RS! Added to that the acquired 'new' types from Blue Bus such as the Dennis Trident, MAN 14.220 & MAN 18.220, along with the Ikarus Polaris and Ikarus 481 bodies, the Arriva spares dept must have their work cut out!

• Over the past 5 years the design of the website has changed several times, with the present basic layout having been used the longest, even the with many tweaks! Initially the website had a rather dull image as can be seen in this replica of the original main page (can't find any original of the main page sadly!) which was at dennisdart.20m.com, an address which does still work! Thanks to the archive.org website, we are now able to see heritage versions of any website at all! This scheme was then extended with separate news/fleetlists sections as can be seen in this version from Feb 2001. Later in the same month, the colour scheme was altered to a light blue version which does admittedly look a bit better! In December 2001 a special Christmas version of the main page was used, with falling snowflakes and a white background! By May 2002 the present three column scheme had been adopted, although with lighter blue columns and not so valid code! This was then recoded, but otherwise looking similar, and with a slight colour change is much as the site is today! (All of the above site pages are slightly modified from the original due to out of date links etc, and may be amended over the coming days to look better!)

• One major advance over the last few years, as well as the availability of information due to more people being online is photography, helped massively by the digital camera era. Even scanners have come a long way since 2000, as I found out when I rescanned one of the earliest photos on the site with my new scanner, the original photo of North Western Warrington Gold Lines 1211 M211 YKD as can be seen, the original photo is a tad dull and dark whilst the rescanned photo shows an improvement, I think!

• A little bit of 'proper' news to add it that the new Stagecoach 78 (Liverpool - Childwall) Circular began today replacing its existing 78 (Liverpool - Halewood), but is operated by Aintree, rather than Gillmoss depot. Further Volvo B10M/Alexander PS to arrive from Stagecoach Manchester, this time at Gillmoss are 20846 P846 GND, 20847 P847 GND [photo:Karl Sutton], 20848 P848 GND & 20857 P857 GND.

• Finally the existing Paradise Street Bus Station is set to close as of midnight on Saturday 12/11/2005, with the replacement Paradise Street Interchange opening immediately after. The new station looks to be accessed from The Strand, rather than Paradise Street itself, and is to be two rows of 4 stops, with electronic doors at the stops which are only opened when a bus is on the stand. For further information you can download the leaflet with full details from the Merseytravel Website. As far as I can work out, by the timetables, the final bus to leave Paradise Street Bus Station should be the 23.51 77 (Liverpool - Halewood) operated by Arriva Speke depot, although only one minute before an 86 is due out, so if this is late, if could possibly be the last! First bus out of the new bus station should be the 00.08 500 (Liverpool City Centre - Liverpool John Lennon Airport), again an Arriva Speke duty! Whether or not they'll close/open bus stations exactly to schedule is yet to be seen. Good news too is that from the same weekend, the roadworks at the bottom of Brownlow Hill/Lime Street are meant to be cleared, so that should shave about 10 mins off the time of most buses at the junction. Finally the 79C is due the first of its new VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet about a week later too, and this very site will aim to continue to keep you up to date with all the info!

• Arriva NW&W are continuing to receive more new buses, with the three Citaros 2851 CX55 EAA, 2852 CX55 EAC & 2853 CX55 EAE now all in service on the 700 (Manchester City Centre - Liverpool John Lennon Airport).  Fare for this service is £5 return, no Arriva Day/Week passes valid, and you can return any time within a month of outward travel.  The Citaros are DP39F with a non-corporate interior, assumedly as they are stock build, as a report I've read suggests they were ordered as they could be delivered quickly!

• Other new buses currently in the process of delivery include the 42 VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet for Runcorn, which are confirmed numbered as 2514 - 2555.  These numbers fit nicely in the gap left between the last delivered DAF/VDLs and those acquired from Blue Bus, such that with very few gaps, the entire series from 2400 - 2569 is at present used!  Also in delivery are the 7 Optare Tempos for Aberystwyth 2860 - 2866 which are confirmed as X1200 (12M) models, DP41F and fitted with bike racks.  Of note, 2862 YJ55 BKL has been to Belgium with Optare to go to a bus trade show, whilst 2861 YJ55 BKK went to the UK Coach & Bus Live at the NEC a few weeks back!  Full registration details of the VDLs and Optares are available on the Arriva North West & Wales Fleetlist!  No details are yet known on delivery dates for the delivery of the Volvo B7TLs (or other low floor deckers), but large changes are expected to the South Liverpool services from January, so they may well enter service then.

• Stagecoach Merseyside have acquired another two Volvo B10M/Alexander PS from Stagecoach East Midlands, these being 20418 H618 ACK & 20419 H619 ACK.  These are believed to be direct replacements for Darts 32023 H541 XGK & 32025 H545 XGK despite the fact that the Darts are slightly newer!  These two B10Ms are at present the oldest buses at Aintree depot, and were unusually not new to Stagecoach, having been acquired when Stagecoach bought Burnley & Pendle a while back!  Another recent acquisition is Leyland Olympian/Alexander 14985 K235 NHC [photo:Phil Halewood] seen in Queen Square Bus Station.  The new Alexander Dennis Darts are now being seen on a variety of routes over the whole area, such as the 78 (Liverpool - Halewood) where 34743 PX55 EDK [photo:Phil Halewood] passing the road works on Lime Street.  The main 78 is expected to supplemented soon by additional journeys, which will travel from the City Centre, to Fiveways, then up to Taggart Avenue, and then back to the City Centre!

• An unusual visitor to Gillmoss depot a few weeks back, noted by Karl Sutton was Stagecoach North West TransBus Trident/TransBus ALX400 18157 PX54 AWU [photo:Karl Sutton] which had apparently been driven down by a retiring Stagecoach North West driver, who had come to Gillmoss for the day to have a go of driving a Leyland Titan!  At present, no Tridents are on order for Stagecoach Merseyside, nor are any expected to be transferred here from other fleets.  On the subject of Titans, as of yesterday, only three retained their fleetplates, an example of one without plates is seen in the soon to close Paradise Street Bus Station, is 10868 A868 SUL [photo:Phil Halewood].

• Cumfybus have recently gained some Merseytravel tenders in the St Helens area and have ordered further Optare Solos to operate these services.  In the meantime before these arrive they have 5 Dennis Darts on order.  Plaxton Pointer bodied J379 GKH, J380 GKH & J141 DUV plus East Lancs EL2000 bodied L901 JRN & L907 JRN!  Further details of changes to Cumfybus fleet can be seen in the Cumfybus Fleetlist which is updated by Mark Haldon.  Thanks to Chris Jacko for his excellent supply of Cumfybus info!

• Supertravel now have another 2 Optare Solo M920s, those being MX55 BYC & MX55 BYD both of which have LED destination displays, which have now also been fitted to older Solo MX54 KYJ. The two new Solos tend to live on the 165 (Belle Vale Circular)!   Thanks to Andy Smith for this info!

• Finally HTL Huyton Travel now have an overall white Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Plaxton Pointer 2 T417 MNH which is in use on the 258 (Huyton - Stockbridge Village) whilst in the same area North West Travel are now operating Mercedes-Benz 709D/Plaxton Beaver N918 ETM on the 245/246/247 (Huyton Circulars).

• Saturday 5th November 2005 marks this websites 5th birthday, so there will almost certainly be news and fleetlist updates then, and some 'classic' views of the progress of the website will also be available, showing each of the different formats used so far for the site!  Thanks to everyone who has helped keep the site going for the last five years!

• Arriva NW&W have recently added another new type to its fleet, the Optare Tempo of which the first has recently arrived at Aberystwyth, and is reported on the 'arriva-northwestandwales-fleetnews' Yahoo group as 2860 YJ55 BKG,  which is believed to be in standard Arriva livery with Traws-Cambria branding, as per the Wright Commanders.  They have now also ordered 3 Mercedes Citaros, for use on a new service 700 (Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Manchester Piccadilly) from the end of this month - The Mercedes are apparently in the same blue/cream livery as the recently delivered Scania Omnicities for the 500, and the Mercedes are expected to be allocated to Manchester depot!  The Mercedes are expected to be numbered in the 285x series!  The first of the VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet have also just arrived, although they are not yet in service, the first is numbered 2516 DK55 FXA.  These have the 'upmarket' Arriva interior with high backed seats, an alternate Arriva seat moquette and green dashboard!  Externally they are in standard Arriva livery, and the 42 of these on order for Runcorn are expected to replace almost everything at the depot, bar for some of the Dart SLFs, which are being refurbished.  The first of these has also been done, 7533 P533 MBU, which has been thoroughly cleaned, re-panelled, repainted, seat frames repainted blue and seat moquette replaced!

• Arriva are also expected to replace Merseytravels routes 176 & 177 (Liverpool - Halewood) currently operated by Supertravel with commercial routes 76 & 77 (and 74 apparently!), from later in this month too.  Not sure yet as to what will operate these services, but if like the present one, the 76 runs daytime, the 77 evenings and weekends.  The 74 is meant to be similar to the existing Arriva 75 but take a different route through the Halewood area.  Also what Supertravel will do with the buses is uses on this route (primarily the V reg Dart MPDs) is unclear.

• Stagecoach Merseyside have continued to receive its delivery of new Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Alexander Pointer 2, delivered so far are 34741 PX55 EDF, 34742 PX55 EDJ, 34743 PX55 EDK, 34744 PX55 EDL, 34745 PX55 EDO, 34746 PX55 EDP, 34747 PX55 EDR, 34748 PX55 EDU [photo:Neil Hilton], 34749 PX55 EDV [photo:Chris McCann], 34750 PX55 EEA & 34751 PX55 EEB.  All of these are allocated to Gillmoss depot!

• Further second hand buses now at Stagecoach Merseyside Gillmoss are Volvo B10M/Northern Counties Paladin I 20601 L601 VCD, 20602 L602 VCD, 20603 L603 VCD, 20604 L424 TJK [photo:Karl Sutton] & 20605 L425 TJK.  Another recent arrival at Gillmoss is Olympian 14985 K235 NHC, whilst Aintree have another Volvo B10M/Alexander PS 20744 K744 DAO.  Titans continue to be withdrawn, the latest two casualties being 10821 RYK 821Y & 10613 NUW 613Y whilst surprisingly 10073 CUL 73V has been transferred to Stagecoach North West for further use as a school bus!  Almost all buses now at both depots have the new number applied, Titans are loosing their fleetplates to have the new numbers added. Thanks to Karl Sutton for all Stagecoach Merseyside info!

• Avon Coaches are another operator of brand new Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Alexander Pointer 2 on Merseyside, they now have three, 155 SN55 DVF [photo:Michael Bennett], 255 SN55 DVG [photo:Mark Haldon] & 355 SN55 DVP!  These three were delivered in overall white but have since been painted into fleet livery, thankfully retaining the Alexander Dennis and Pointer badges!  The other two Darts that Avon acquired just before these three are confirmed as being 213 Y213 BGB & 486 Y486 TSU - Of note is that Y486 TSU was built in 1999 but was stored after build in order to qualify for a Y-registration!  213 was new to Gibson Direct whilst 486 was new to new to Coakley Bus (Motherwell).  Thanks to Mike Bennett for this info!

• Yesterday was the annual Wirral Bus & Tram show, which I am sure many of you attended and enjoyed!  I did too and was pleased to be able to get some nice photos of Avon Coaches Dart/Pointer 355 SN55 DVP [photo] Stagecoach Merseyside Dart/Pointer 34750 PX55 EEA [photo] and Arriva NW&W DAF SB120CS/Wright Cadet (ex Selwyns) 2479 X782 NWX [photo] were amongst the modern service buses attending.  Also quite modern, but preserved was ex Halton Transport Leyland Lynx II 35 H35 HBG [photo] was at the show, looking splendid in Halton colours!   On the subject of 'modern' preserved buses Stagecoach have rather amazingly added Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400 17001 S801 BWC [photo:Andy Rigby] to its heritage fleet and so it is seen it is now in its original livery at Showbus, photo by Andy Rigby!  More photos from Showbus and the Wirral Bus and Tram Show will be added to the photographs section shortly!