• Arriva started the month off in style when the first of an unexpected (to most of the local bus enthusiasts anyhow!) delivery of around 30 Optare Solos began to arrive at Green Lane depot, for onward movement to Manchester, Bolton and the Welsh depots, in order to replace almost all (if not all) of the Mercedes van derived minibuses.  These Solos are reportedly M880SL models, B28F and are fitted with the Euro4 Mercedes engine.  The fleetnumbers for these are believed to be 660 - 690, excluding 666, though the highest number noted delivered so far is 670.  Solos 660 - 670 are all at Manchester for Eccles services, the rest assumedly will arrive in 2008, probably for use in Wales.  Solos 664 CX57 CYU [photo:Dave Root] & 670 CX57 CZA [photo: Dave Root] were both seen by Dave Root in Eccles recently, not quite looking the part covered in muck, though given the cold weather at the time, it is quite understandable!  Full details of those delivered will be added to the fleetlist shortly!

• Arriva have continued to apply the Le bus 79 branding to the buses used on the route, with Volvo B10BLEs 2716 Y716 KNF [photo:Mark Haldon] now being branded (losing its Merseyside Police livery), along with 2717 - 2719 though these three haven't been fitted with LED destination displays, as were fitted to 2720 Y457 KNF & 2410 V410 ENC [photo:Mark Haldon] when branded.  B10BLE 2721 Y721 KNF retains the previous Le bus 79 branding for now!  Bootle depot are also still branding buses for the generic set of routes between the City Centre and Crosby, with the Dart SLF/ALX200s being treated at the moment, the most recently noted example being 2271 X271 OBN [photo:Mark Haldon]. Finally on this note, is is reported that one of the Dennis Trident/Plaxton President at Speke has been given Le bus 82 branding, however which one of the three is done is yet to be confirmed - Sadly too these haven't gained LED destinations either on branding and given the poor visibility of the displays fitted for Blue Bus on these vehicles, it would be a massive improvement to these buses if they were to be fitted.

• HTL Buses have acquired an new Alexander Dennis Enviro200Dart, noted today on the 10B (Huyton - Liverpool) registered DK57 OPY, it is in overall green HTL Buses livery, fitted with gasket glazing, Lazzerini Practico seats (from the outside the interior looked very similar to the demos they had used) and seems to be 10.7/10.9M long, so probably around B38F, however the length, capacity and the engine size fitted do still need to be confirmed!  There was no fleetnumber visible externally on this vehicle, nor is it yet known if it is the only example delivered or due.  Full details and hopefully a nice set of photos will feature in the January news update!

• ACE Travel have been buying a few more buses again, themost notable being Dennis Dominator/East Lancs K37 XNE [photo:Neil Hilton] from Maynes of Manchester, but a one time Arriva Southern Counties bus.  Meanwhile Mark Haldon was able to track down both of ACE Travel's new Optare Solos 711 MX57 CCU [photo:Mark Haldon] & 712 MX57 CAA [photo:Mark Haldon] both of which are confirmed as being fitted with the Euro4 MAN engine.

• Click Travel Services are a little reported operator (on this site anyway) in the area, who have recently acquired a number of Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital from Metroline including R684 MEW, R688 MEW, R695MEW & R697 MEW, of which R684 MEW [photo:Mark Haldon], was seen recently in Ormskirk in fading light by Mark Haldon.

• Stagecoach Merseyside have re-registered another of its Alexander Dennis Darts with a former ABC Travel plate, this time 34817 PX06 DWC has been re-registered S22 ABC [photo:Karl Sutton] with 34818 PX06 DWD expected to follow shortly and become S33 ABC.  The plate S111 ABC however is reportedly on a car owned by Stagecoach, so whether or not this will ever make its way to Dart 34816 is unknown.

• The Christmas Day workings that had been operated by Stagecoach were reportedly operated entirely with Dart SLFs, however recently there have been some rather more unusual buses on the X2 as a few TransBus Trident/TransBus ALX400 have been reported working this route recently at weekends, such as 18156 PX04 DPV seen on Saturday 9th December!  I've personally not even seen an Enviro400 on this route, let along an ALX400!

• For more news and pics from the last month check the December 2007 • 1, December 2007 • 2 & December 2007 • 3 photograph pages!

• Finally can I wish all the readers of this website a very Happy New Year and all the very best for 2008 and I do hope you all did have a wonderful Christmas.  As can be seen, with tomorrow being the begining of 2008, Arriva haven't quite made ALL of the services into Liverpool City Centre low floor, however the vast majority are (and a similar situation with Stagecoach   and all the other operators too) which given the number of buses bought and those on order has been no mean feat!  Thanks again for all your continued support throughout the year, with your photos, news, fleetlists and contributions to the forum and guestbook - the site wouldn't be here without you all!

• Arriva began operating the revised Southport Park & Ride system with effect from Monday 5th November, using 4 repainted VDL SB200/Wright Commanders, 2625 CX07 CPN [photo:Andy Rigby], 2626 CX07 CPO [photo:Andy Rigby], 2627 CX07 CPU [photo:Andy Rigby] & 2628 CX07 CPV [photo:Andy Rigby] all of which are in a special Southport Corporation themed livery, replacing the previously used vehicles Dennis Dart SPD 11.3M/Plaxton Pointer 2s from the original services.  The Park and Ride services have been upgraded in Southport, with the addition of a new service to Kew, which is numbered PR2, while the original E21 is now PR1 and the former E22 (which runs Saturdays only, often still with the SPDs) is PR3.  Shortly after the services started, the Commanders at Southport were joined by 2624 CX07 CPK which is still in and believed to been keeping Arriva corporate livery.  The life span of these buses in this livery is believe to be very short however, with replacements due as early as next April, in the form of an order for 5 brand new 10.7M Alexander Dennis Enviro200Darts!  After then it is believed the Commanders will return to normal Arriva livery and work normal routes, though whether or not they will stay at Southport is unclear.

• Arriva have begun to rebrand the vehicles used on the 79 (Liverpool - Netherley) with new Le bus branding, first out being Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown 2720 Y457 KNF [photo:Mark Haldon] shortly followed by DAF SB220/Alexander ALX300 2410 V410 ENC [photo:Karl Wilton], which is seen in Speke depot as the bus was only reported on the road for the first time earlier today.  Both have been treated to LED destination screens on all sides, which should help the ALX300 quite a lot as the side destination boxes on these seemed to be the one item on the bus that rattled continuously, so as long as the LEDs haven't been mounted in that box, that should be a significant improvement!

• HTL Buses have been taking advantage of a few Alexander Dennis demonstrators recently, first to arrive at the start of November was Enviro300 SK07 DYA [photo] which was in use for around two weeks, then replaced by Enviro200Dart SN56 AYB [photo], both of which have only been reported on the 10B (Liverpool - Huyton). This is the third ADL demo HTL have operated in 12 months as they used short Enviro200Dart SN56 AYA on the 199 (Whiston Circular) last December/January.   The irony of the Enviro300 demo though is that is is the 'old' model, as it has been replaced during November by the revised model, which features the new front and back ends, Euro4 engine and now has all forward facing seats over the rear wheelarches.   ADL have just built a demonstrator for the revised Enviro300, which is registered SN57 DXC so I wonder if HTL are already lined up to test this one?!

• ACE Travel have recently acquired another two Optare Solos, reported by Kevin Duggan as 711 MX57 CCU & 712 MX57 CAA, both of which are thought to be M950s with MAN engines.  These two have been sighted mainly on the Maghull Circulars!  Fleetnumber 710 doesn't appear to have been used, but there have also been reports of ACE Travel trailing an Optare Versa demonstrator, YJ57 EHE in overall white, so this may be (or have been) 710, in the same way that the Plaxton Primo demo they used was 707, yet this number wasn't reused when further Solos were delivered.  No pics seen of the Versa with ACE have been seen by myself, however a few people have reported it and it was apparently seen in the depot by one contact.

• Halton Transport's four new Alexander Dennis Dart 4/MCV Evolutions (chassis name confirmed from chassis builders plate) have all now entered service.  First reported out were 2 AE57 FAK [photo:Andy Rigby] and 4 AE57 FAO [photo:Karl Sutton], followed by 1 AE57 FAJ [photo] and 3 AE57 FAM [photo:Karl Sutton] around a week later.  The chassis on these is the same as the Enviro200Dart demo that HTL have been using recently, as they are 10.9M long, fitted with the 6 cylinder Cummins ISBe Euro 4 engine and Allison Transmission.  Although some people wondered why they had changed from Voith in all their recent deliveries to Allison again, the transmission in these does seem very very smooth, possibly the smoothest ride I've ever had on any Dennis Dart SLF!

• Cumfybus have began to re-register its ex Millennium Dome DAF SB220/ELC Myllenniums, those so far confirmed re-registered are V2 GMT which is now C12 MFY, V3 GMT is now C13 MFY & V6 GMT is now C18 MFY, though it is thought more have been re-registered, it is just working out which ones were which registrations!

• Production of the Enviro200 body has now moved to the Plaxtonfactory in Scarborough (almost back home after the Pointer 2 moved out in 2001), the first production examples out of Scarborough apparently being with Town Lynx, North Wales.  DK57 SPZ [photo:Mark Haldon] looking pristine in the low autumn light, shows that these are still Alexander Dennis badged as before, as when the announcement of transfer of production was made, there were suggestions they may have had Plaxton branding in addition to the ADL branding.  This sort of completes a cycle too, as when the Pointer 2 moved to Falkirk, Alexander still fitted Plaxton badges to them initially and now Plaxton are fitted Alexander Dennis badges to Scarborough production!  All other production from Scarborough is still solely Plaxton branded.  Another addition has been made to the Enviro range too recently, with the announcement that ADL are to build the new Enviro300 body on the Volvo B7RLE chassis, as well as the Dennis and MAN chassis previously announced.

• The next news update will most likely be in late December, so although it is still a while to go, some interesting news to report is that the special Merseytravel funded Christmas Day services in Liverpool, the 10A (Liverpool - St Helens), 201 (Liverpool - Speke) & 212 (Liverpool - Huyton) are very unusually thought to be going to be operated by Stagecoach Merseyside this year, which is a very big change for Christmas Day  bus operating as these are usually operated by the much smaller companies.

• Thanks to all the members of the sites forum that continue to make it a success. Recently some additional sections have been added to the forum to help make it easier to use and also broaden the scope of discussion in the forum and so to help with this, Andy Rigby and Chris have kindly agreed to become moderators on the forum!

• For more news and pics from the last month check the November 2007 • 1, November 2007 • 2, November 2007 • 3, November 2007 • 4, & November 2007 • 5 photograph pages! Thanks again to all the photographers who have supplied excellent photographs again this month!

• Arriva began operating new route S1 (Liverpool City Circular) from 14th October, using four VDL SDB120CS/Wright Cadet, 2517 DK55 FXB, 2518 DK55 FXC [photo], 2519 DK55 FXD [photo] & 2638 CX07 CSO [photo] all in a new overall livery for the route. While this branding does look good to the passer by, seeing as the route is being pushed as also being a tourist route as well as a link between many major areas in town, the overall contravision branding doesn't help too well for seeing out of the bus!  The service provides at 10 minute frequency linking Queen Square Bus Station, Norton Street Coach Station, Lime Street Station and the Albert Dock amongst other places!  Although it doesn't actually go into Paradise Street Interchange Bus Station, it does stop just opposite in the Albert Dock, however for the first two weeks the service operated it didn't call at the Albert Dock due to roadworks!

• Arriva have begun to transfer the DAF SB200/Ikarus Citibus out of Birkenhead with 1792 K132 TCP [photo] and 1793 K250 CBA now at Green Lane, seeing use on the 10B and 1794 K510 RJX now reportedly at St Helens.  At least 1790 K130 TCP [photo] remains at Birkenhead, as I noted it today on the 464 (Liverpool - New Ferry).

• A2B Travel have begun operating Merseytravel services inthe Wirral again after an absence of a few years, the vehicles used all being Optare Solos acquired/leased from Mistral Bus & Coach. Those reported so far are M920s YG02 FWJ [photo:Dave Root] , YJ54 BSU [photo:Dave Root] & MX05 ELV [photo:Dave Root] along with shorter M850 MX04 VML.  YJ54 BSU is the only one to remain its its previous operators livery, the others are all overall white.  These are used on Wirral Merseytravel routes 145/146/174/175/286 & 901.

• Eazibus have acquired a new Optare Solo MX57 CCY [photo:Mark Haldon], which is the first in this area to be fitted with a MAN engine. It is therefore too the first service bus in the area to comply with Euro 4 regulations, but by using EGR (thus no AdBlue) rather than SCR which uses AdBlue, as in the Cummins and Mercedes engines in other Solos and Darts.  This is an M880SL model, B28F model with Esteban Civic V0 seats, and is used pretty much exclusively on route 201 (Speke - Royal Liverpool Hospital), a route recently won, replacing Halton Transport as the operator.  Halton Transport still do however operate the Sundays only 801 (Speke - Royal Liverpool Hospital), even though the Eazibus operated 201 also runs Sundays!

• Cumfybus also have new Optare Solos, two M880SL models, with Cummins ISBe 6 cylinder engines, MX57 CDO [photo:Mark Haldon] & MX57 CDU [photo:Mark Haldon] which generally seem to operate services around Bootle, whilst ex London Central DAF SB220/ELC Myllenniums now confirmed in service with Cumfybus are V1 GMT [photo:Mark Haldon] , V2 GMT [photo:Mark Haldon] & V16 GMT [photo:Mark Haldon] which generally seem to see use on route 40 (Southport - Crossens) and school work.

• Halton Transport have purchased four new Alexander Dennis Dart 4/MCV Evolutions, 1 AE57 FAJ [photo:Andy Rigby], 2 AE57 FAK, 3 AE57 FAM & 4 AE57 FAO, two of which were reportedly delivered in the last week of October, though I'd expect them to possibly enter service from 1st November.  This marks something of a change for Halton Transport, as not only are these shorter than all recent deliveries (they are 10.9M chassis, rather than 11.3M, though the overall length including the bodywork is 11.1M), but they are also the first MCV Evolutions for the company, however they will be reasonably familiar to Halton as the MCV Evolution is largely based on the Marshall Capital.  Luckily too, due to them being numbered 1 - 4, rather than after the previous newest Dart, 54 PN05 SYO, this means that the final Lynx built 57 K853 MTJ won't need to be renumbered!  The chassis on these is the same as that used on the Enviro200Dart, which is officially called the Dart 4, though quite what the difference between the Euro 4 Dart SLF and Dart 4 (which is Euro 4), other than they have the newer dashboard set up on the Dart 4, I'm not sure!  Darts 8 - 11 are reportedly already advertised for sale in the trade press.

• First ChesterBus have finally begun to repaint he vehicles they are expected to keep from Chesterbus, those being just the Dennis Dart SLFs, Optare Solos and BMC Falcons and the City Sightseeing fleet all of which now have FirstGroup national 5 digit fleetnumbers applied (though the others do have numbered allocated at present though they are no displayed), as shown in the most recent First Cheshire & Wirral fleetlist, which is kindly updated by Mark Haldon.  The first reported repaint is of Dennis Dart SLF 10.1M/Marshall Capital 41069 V369 KLG [photo:Phil Halewood] whilst 41068 V368 KLG is reportedly done now too!

• FirstGroup have also recently been operating a rail replacement service on for the line between Southport and Wigan Wallgate, from Saturday 20 to Sunday 28 October inclusive.  For this replacement they were using a collection of their own normal service buses from First Manchester, but very interestingly, some of the BMC schoolbuses from the Kirkby Depot (including the Belvedere School branded ones) and even some from outside of the local area, including 68501 BU04 CAA [photo:Mark Haldon], a BMC 1100FE from First West Yorkshire!  Although these are not coaches as the Northern Rail site was suggesting, they are very rare vehicles to be able to ride and even photograph freely.

• Maghull Tours have made another addition to its sightseeing tour fleet now, as Dennis Trident/ELC Lolyne V413 KMY is now branded for the City Explorer tour - It does retain its roof however!  I guess the idea behind this is to be able to provide a nice warm and dry vehicle during the winter months, but also so as to provide a low floor bus, as up to now neither ACE Travel's City Sightseeing or Maghull's City Explorer have.  However, despite the onset of winter, the Metrobus and Metroliner are still seeing much use, as surprisingly was less used Atlantean YWC 648F [photo] which was in use on Monday 22nd October.  Also seen just a few minutes later on the Liverpool Duck Tours service was the entire fleet of DUKWs in one go [photo], with Wacker Quacker I RSY 883 and Wacker Quacker `08 TSL 931 on land and YSJ 668 Wacker Quacker II in the Salthouse Dock!

• Thanks to all the readers and writers in the dartslf.com forum.  Since it was set up at the end of July there has been over 2500 posts, so thank you to you all, there has been some very interesting posts made on the forum!

• For more news and pics from the last month check the October 2007 • 1, October 2007 • 2, October 2007 • 3, October 2007 • 4, October 2007 • 5, October 2007 • 6 & October 2007 • 7 photograph pages!  Thanks again to all the photographers who have supplied excellent photographs again this month!!