New Southampton Routes

As of tomorrow we will begin operation of new routes 5A (Southampton - Lords Hill North) and 13 (Southampton - Sholing). Each route will operate at a frequency of every 30 minutes and will be operated by one of the spare Streetlite DFs each.

This means two more spare buses will be needed to take there place in Southampton. Plaxton Centros 321 YJ07 JSU and 322 YJ07 JSV have been repainted into Black & Gold livery and transferred to Southampton from storage at Thetford.

Tesco Advertising

We have struck a deal with supermarket chain, Tesco, to advertise there 'Clubcard Fuel Save' promotion on the rear of some of our buses. Tesco have asked us to only display these adverts on single decker buses and one bus has been chosen to gain the adverts from each depot.

At Norwich, 107 AU63 FLO has been chosen:

At Aylesbury, 204 YK08 ESG has been chosen:

At Southampton, 217 PX12 COJ has been chosen:

At Thetford, 233 YX14 RXJ has been chosen:

At Great Yarmouth, 302 YJ60 KAO has been chosen:

These advertisements will stay on these buses until the end of July.

Repaints and Arrivals at Thetford

The latest two repaints at Thetford are Wright Solar 229 YT59 NZG and Alexander Dennis Enviro200 232 SN63 NBB. They arrived back at the Thetford depot last night.

The next two vehicles to go from repaint are Optare Solo 125 MX09 AOS and Wright Eclipse 2 236 BJ60 BYX. These left for repaint earlier this morning.

Alexander Dennis Enviro400s 673 SN58 CGK and 674 SN58 CGO have arrived at the Thetford depot from Norwich to take over from the two Plaxton Presidents in the Coach Services fleet. They will be repainted into Coach Services fleet livery before they enter service.

Coming Soon To BritCoach

We have taken over two BritCoach services which will be operated from our Aylesbury depot. The first route we have taken over is route B6 (Oxford to Portsmouth) and the second is route B7 (Oxford to Cambridge). The first two coaches we have brought for these routes are Caetano Levante tri-axle 801 FJ60 ALF and 802 FJ60 ALG which will be repainted into the BritCoach livery before they enter service.

More coaches will be arriving shortly including ten brand new Caetano Levantes.

Changes at Thetford

There currently have been a few changes to the Coach Services fleet at Thetford. Optare Solo 126 MX04 VMA has been repainted at Aylesbury for transfer to the Black & Gold depot in Southampton for use as a Staff Transport vehicle.

Alexander Dennis Enviro200s 129/30 MX60 BWY/Z have been brought in and are in use at the Coach Services depot in Thetford for use on routes 200 and 201. They carry Coach Services fleet livery.

Optare Solos 127/8 MW52 PYV/U are still in use at the Thetford depot but 129 is in use as a spare vehicle and 128 is in use for Staff Transport.

Fleet Updates

A few weeks ago we mentioned that 263/5/6 W263/5/6 CDN have now been withdrawn from service and have now been sold to Blagg Travel. There replacements on route 43 (Norwich - Reepham) are 220-2 YJ07 PBO/V/Y which carry route branding for route 43. 222 YJ07 PBY will be acting as the spare and may see use on other routes.

At Thetford pending the repainting process we have had to introduce another vehicle into the fleet to allow for delays to services and to stand in when needed due to a shortage of vehicles. We have decided to use 274 YN03 UWG which has had a few panels replaced ready for repaint.

New Norwich P&R Contracts Begin

Today, the new Norwich Park & Ride contracts start but we will not begin operation of either of our Park & Ride routes until tomorrow as they do not operate on Sundays. As of tomorrow we will continue to operate Sprowston Park & Ride service 606 with Alexander Dennis Enviro400s 692-4 AU14 DLY, DOA/D.

However, as we have won Postwick Park & Ride service 605 we have repainted Alexander Dennis Enviro400s 689-91 AU14 DLU/V/X out of the Harford Park & Ride livery into Postwick Red.

Alexander Dennis Enviro400s 675 SN58 CGU and 676 SN58 CGV will be acting as the Park & Ride spares in the Grey livery.

Other vehicles in Norwich Park & Ride liveries are currently off the road.

New Norwich Route

From the 30th June, we will begin operation of new route 35 between Eaton, Norwich City Centre and Thorpe End. We will be using three buses on this new service with the service frequency being set at every 20 minutes. The three buses we will be using are Wright Axcess-Floline 362/5/7 T362/5/7 JWA. These have been in storage at our Norwich depot for a few months now and have only just found permanent work.

 

Latest Repaints

The latest repaints at our Thetford depot are 272 YN03 UWM and 709 CS63 BUS which have now returned to the depot.

 

Our next two buses from the Thetford depot for repaint are 229 YT59 NZG and 232 SN63 NBB which are due to return to use in the next few days.

 

Also repainted ready for the launch of Sunny Summer Route 9 in Great Yarmouth at the beginning of this next week as previously mentioned. The buses repainted are 901 SN03 EAF and 902 SN03 EAG.

 

Latest Repaint for Coach Services

The latest repaint for the Coach Services fleet based at Thetford is Enviro200 233 YX14 RXJ. It arrived back at our depot earlier this morning in its new livery.

Now that 233 has arrived back at Thetford two more buses have been sent for repaint. These being Scania OmniCity 272 YN03 UWK and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 709 CS63 BUS. Due to a second bus being sent this time for repaint another bus has had to stand in and this is Scania OmniCity 275 YN03 UWH which has been in storage at Thetford for about a week now. 275 is still in its previous operators livery.

Changes to Norwich Park & Ride Services

The tender results for the new Norwich Park & Ride contracts have been released which will start on Sunday 22nd June. Harford Park & Ride service 602 has been lost and will now be operated by BetterBus. We have also lost the Airport Park & Ride service 603 contract to GoNorwich.

However, we have retained the Sprowston Park & Ride service 606 which will continue to be operated by its 14-plate Alexander Dennis Enviro400s already in its purple based livery. We have also won the Postwick Park & Ride service 605 which will be operated using the 14-plate Alexander Dennis Enviro400s currently used on Sprowston Park & Ride service 606. As 689-91 AU14 DLU/V/X will be away fro repaint the Park & Ride spares will be operating Harford Park & Ride service 602 this week with Braham liveried buses acting as spares. 

Open Top Buses Go For Repaint

This morning, 901 SN03 EAF and 902 SN03 EAG were delivered to our Norwich depot for repaint but as we are currently repainting the Coach Services fleet and Norwich and some members of the Norwich fleet are soon due to be repainted. Due to this, this afternoon the Open Top ALX400s will be driven down to the Aylesbury depot for repaint over the next few days and the driven back to Great Yarmouth. This will not affect the launch date of new route 9 in Great Yarmouth. They are seen below as present:

Updates from Aylesbury

We have lost the contract for route 353 between Hemel Hempstead and Slough. The route will be operated by another operator from the 30th June. Due to this our five 60-plate MCV Evolutions we brought for the route are due to go up for sales shortly.

This means that Aylesbury will then be low on spare buses so we have drafted in 223 YJ07 PCO and 224 YJ07 PCU. These were previously based at our Great Yarmouth depot. They will not enter service until the 30th June unless they are needed in an emergency.

New Coach Services Livery Revealed

The brand new Coach Services livery has been revealed with the arrival of Enviro200 234 YX14 RXK back to our Thetford depot this afternoon after repaint. 234 will be back in service tomorrow in its shiny new livery.

Sister 233 YX14 RXJ has now been sent for repaint with it expected to arrive back at our depot on Monday.

Open top tour planned for Great Yarmouth

An open top tour operated by Braham is due to be launched on the 23rd June in preparation for the school summer holidays. The tour will operate along the Great Yarmouth seafront from Seashore Haven to Market Gates via the Sealife Centre. The service will have a 30 minute frequency. For the route we have brought ex-London United 901/2 SN03 EAF/G which arrived at our Great Yarmouth depot this morning.

Tomorrow they will be sent away to be converted to single door layout and open top. They will then be returned via our Norwich depot where they will be repainted.

Fleet Updates

As of today, we have taken over the Coach Services of Thetford fleet. Currently there are no major changes to the fleet and all services have remained the same. As mentioned with will be launching a new livery on the Coach Services fleet later this week. The first bus left the Thetford depot today for repaint into our new livery. The bus in question is brand new 234 YX14 RXK, an Alexander Dennis Enviro200.

Two buses from the Coach Services fleet have been sold on due to the arrival of the two new Enviro200. These are Optare Solos MX05 OUE/D which have gone to Norwich Bus Group. These did not receive fleet numbers with us.

New arrival to the Braham Buses Group fleet are 273-5 YN03 UWF/G-H and 321/2 YJ07 JSU/V. These are currently parked up in our Thetford depot but have not yet be allocated to a depot and they are in plain orange. These are all ex-Norwich Bus Group.

Today, 263 W263 CDN returned to service at our Norwich depot. It has been given some temporary route branding for route 43 despite it being expected to be withdrawn early next week with 265 W265 CDN and 267 W267 CDN.

Braham Bus Builders launch the inter200

As an experiment Braham Buses Group has launched its first own build bus under the name of Braham Bus Builders. Braham Bus Builders welcome all comments and will take this into account when improvements to the model are made. The brand new model is called the 'inter200' and is available with 29 and 39 seats.

 

To comment on the bus, book a demonstration or order some comment below. All comment are welcome to improve the looks and specification of the bus.

Coach Services of Thetford join Braham Buses Group

From Monday 9th, Coach Services of Thetford will be joining Braham Buses Group. It will continue to be operated under the Coach Services name despite us only taking over the bus side of the business. The coach side will remain with its current owners and will be rebranded. Coach Services buses will be receiving a brand new livery with the first bus going for repaint on Monday 9th. All Coach Services routes are currently set to remain the same.

No pictures of the fleet will be posted on our website until they have received the new Coach Services fleet livery.

Ticket Deal in Luton and Aylesbury

Tomorrow, Blagg Travel will be launching there new Kangaroo Ticket which can be used on all of there Luton services. The ticket can also be used on TravelAylesbury route 61 to and from Luton. The ticket can be brought on both TravelAylesbury and Blagg Travel buses. The ticket will cost £8.00 for a week and £4.00 for a day.

Happy travelling with Blagg Travel and TravelAylesbury!