• Today marks the 7th anniversary since MTL was purchased by Arriva Group, on 18th February 2000!  The situation regarding latest company that they have been interested in, ChesterBus which was meant to have been for sale seems to be that ChesterBus are allegedly taking Arriva to court in London some time in the next few weeks regarding Arriva registering almost exact copies of every commercial route operated by ChesterBus to have started in January, although due to the court case it appears, none of these services did run.   Arriva meanwhile still have its store of 56 reg Cadets & Commanders all of which remain in store, untaxed at Birkenhead, Bootle (Liverline) and Green Lane depots.  One of the VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet noted recently at Green Lane is 2636 CX56 EKW [photo:Karl Wilton] as can be seen these are similar to those delivered to Arriva Chester last year, although these are fitted with headrests.  It has been suggested that the whole batch, 2620 - 2641 may be taxed after March 1st and therefore be re-registered with 07 plates.  I'm still not sure which depot the sole Euro4 VDL SB200CS/Wright Pulsar 2620 CX56 EKD is stored at, as other than a brief sighting in St Helens shortly after the Bus Expo is was exhibited at in November, no reported sighting or photographs have been seen to my knowledge!

• Arriva NW&W have finally transferred the final Dennis Trident/Plaxton President 4001 Y47 ABA [photo:Karl Wilton] from Bolton to Speke depot with DAF SB220/ELC Myllennium 2464 Y464 KNF moving to Bolton in return.  This now means that all 40 of the low floor double deckers in the Arriva NW&W fleet are at Speke depot, this consisting of 30 Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400, 7 DAF DB250/Alexander ALX400 and 3 Dennis Trident/Presidents.  A start is now also being made on branding a number of the Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400s with Le bus branding for the 86/86A, whilst some will later gain branding for the 82.  There are now very few step entrance buses left at Speke depot, alongside the few Volvo Olympians, there are just 5 Volvo B10Bs, consisting of 3 Volvo B10B/Alexander Striders 6301 L301 TEM, 6302 L302 TEM & 6303 L303  TEM and just 2 Volvo B10B/Wright Endurances 6590 N590 CKA [photo:Andy Rigby] & 6591 N591 CKA once the mainstay of Speke depot.  It is likely that even these will leave within 12 months, as Arriva are believed to want all main city centre services to be low floor operated by 2008 and all of Spekes services serve the city centre.

• Following damage in the high winds a few weeks back, some of the recent repaints by Arriva have been done at Runcorn depot, instead of the usual Bootle (Liverline) depot. Amongst those repainted at Runcorn include both of the Crosville livery Darts that were repainted last year as part of the Crosville Centenary celebrations.  One of the last repaints done at Bootle prior to the damage to the roof was Speke Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown 2717 Y717 KNF [photo:Mark Haldon] which is now looking very smart and notably without Le bus branding.  I believe some Le bus branding (of the new style) may eventually be rolled out on the 79!  Of note due to the damage it would appear that some buses that were stored at Bootle have had to be moved, including 'Eco' Optare Solo 654 MX05 MKL [photo:Karl Wilton] noted in Green Lane depot last week.  If anyone knows if these were moved for any other reason, please let me know, its a shame these new buses aren't used any more!  Another vehicle to lose its Le bus branding is Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Plaxton Pointer 2284 P214 LKJ [photo:Mark Haldon], likewise some of the Le bus 1 and 4/4A/4B ones have had it removed - maybe all routes will get the newer style branding soon?

• HTL Huyton Travel have now acquired two larger Dart SLFs, one is P17 FUG a Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/UVG UrbanStar which has yet to enter service, the other being Y196 KNB a Dennis Dart SPD 11.3M/Alexander ALX200, which has been in service on the 10B (Huyton - Liverpool) in recent weeks, now in full HTL Buses livery, even still wearing its Dennis, Dart SLF, Alexander and ALX200 badges!  This vehicle is ex Manchester Airport and has been upseated to B41F, as it previously had large luggage racks, and is fitted with bonded glazing and a Voith gearbox!  Also noted as acquired quite recently by HTL is Optare Solo MX06 BPO [photo:Mark Haldon], which is still overall white with HTL branding.

• Merseytravel seem to be rebranding its Merseylink Dial-a-ride service as 'dial-a-link', with Optare Aleros from the three main operators, Cumfybus, HTL Huyton Travel and Raddoneur beginning to gain this branding.  An example of this seen in Elliot Street in Liverpool by Mark Haldon is Raddoneur Optare Alero YR52 WND [photo:Mark Haldon] showing off its new branding!

• Cumfybus continue to acquire yet more Optare Solos, their latest example being Optare Solo M780SL MX05 OTA [photo:Mark Haldon] which like many of the fleet also sports yet another different Edge Hill University advert!  Supertravel have also acquired a similar slimline example recently MX05 OSW, which is used on the 236 (Fazakerley - Maghull).  Both of these, like most of the new vehicles at Supertravel and Cumfybus, are from Mistral (Dealer), their previous last users are shown on the fleetlists.  Other vehicles acquired by Supertravel in recent months which Mark Haldon has kindly submitted photographs of include the more recent new Optare Solo M920 MX56 AAZ [photo:Mark Haldon] (which as can be seen isn't quite in full livery as it is missing the thin purple band above the skirt and the turquoise above the windows), and Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Plaxton Pointer 2 V618 EVU [photo:Mark Haldon], this vehicle being of interest as the DVLA reports it as new in 2004 (thus a TransBus vehicle) yet apparently it was new in 1999 to Meteor Parking, used at an Airport registered W938 JNF!  I can only guess it was first properly registered and taxed in 2004, thus DVLA listed it as TransBus because at the time Dennis was called TransBus (well for the first half of 2004 it was!) - Very confusing anyway!

• Stagecoach Merseyside have now re-registered all four of its Optare Solos that had cherished ABC registration plates, as they are expected to leave Merseyside shortly and Stagecoach Merseyside management wanted to keep the plates to later add to other vehicles.  The re-registrations are as follows, 47156 S111 ABC is now S962 BBV, 47157 S22 ABC is now S964 BBV [photo:Mark Haldon], 47158 S33 ABC is now S963 BBV and 47159 S44 ABC is now S961 BBV.  I'm not quite sure why they weren't re-registered in numerical sequence, but it did make it more of a fun challenge to work out what was what!  47160 T552 ADN, as it was delivered to CMT Buses thus didn't get an ABC plate, remains registered as is.  On the subject of buses being transferred out, a vehicle that left the Merseyside fleet recently to move to Stagecoach North West, Dennis Dart MPD 8.8M/Marshall Capital 33164 T604 JBA [photo:Karl Sutton] made a recent return to Gillmoss for some work, showing its new branding and third set of destination gear, having been delivered with powerblinds, then had LEDs fitted and now has dot matrix displays!  I wonder will it ever get flipdot destinations to complete the set!

• Happy New Year to all the readers of the Merseyside Dennis Dart Website!

• As stated in the previous news update, Avon Buses have Alexander Dennis Enviro200Dart SN56 AYB and HTL Huyton Travel SN56 AYA until tomorrow, when they are expected to go back to Alexander Dennis to go on lease to other operators.  Interestingly, Avon Buses did put SN56 AYB out on the 10A (Liverpool - St Helens) on Christmas Day, along with Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/MCV Evolution 256 AE56 LWK, very impressive for Christmas Day to have such decent sized buses on it!  HTL's Enviro SN56 AYA [photo] remained on the 199 (Whiston Circular) the entire time it has been with them, seen last Wednesday my myself in Prescot Bus Station.  These nearside [photo] and rear [photo] photos show the Alexander Dennis branding off quite well.  Interesting that it has a single exhaust, yet Euro4 'normal' Darts (none on Merseyside sadly) have twin rear exhausts!  Finally, although not the best photo (as it was in service at the time!) this interior [photo] shows that the interior isn't all that different from the Pointer 2 interior, but with an ALX body construction!

• This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Plaxton Pointer 2, the oldest example of which, R226 SBA, was new to First Manchester in August 1997!  Production has since moved to Alexander, Falkirk as a result of TransBus, initially still Plaxton branded at Alexander's, TransBus branding was later introduced and following the collapse of TransBus, Alexander Dennis!  Production has probably carried on some way longer than normal, due to the original TransBus Enviro200 having a total of zero production sales, just a handful of demonstrators were built, but the present Alexander Dennis Enviro200Dart is selling quite well, though Pointer 2s are still being built, the newest example locally being DK56 LWJ [photo:Mark Haldon] at Raddoneur, seemingly on loan from Alliance & Leicester, one of the newest bus lease companies - Much like railway leasing companies, owned by a bank!  Stagecoach are still receiving Pointer 2s, though not for Merseyside, with orders until about May still due, whether or not customer demand will keep the Pointer 2 going much longer is unknown, but either way it remains one of the longest unchanged bus designs in many years!

• Supertravel have now acquired its first slimline Optare Solo, MX05 OSW, which is an M780SL model, and used exclusively on the 236 (Fazakerley - Maghull), a recently won Supertravel route   Meanwhile, 3 year old YN53 ZWH is now numbered 008, with this happening I guess most of the other Solos will be numbered shortly!

• Finally I'd like to thank everyone who has provided news, fleetlists and photos for the website during 2006, I really couldn't do it without you, lets hope we can all continue during 2007 and beyond!