one of the last Pointer Darts built. These buses are used on the 700 but mainly on sections east of Chichester. Analysis of Buses
Chassis 2009 2006 2004 2002
After three successive surveys producing Aqua’s Plaxton bodied No % No % No % No %
Javelin K388OWN on the Cliffdale school pupil contract, the 2009 was a Plaxton bodied registered coach J10CWC. Scania Omnicity 16 32.0 14 19.7
Dennis Dart 13 26.0 32 45.1 23 35.4 26 38.2
This reflection from the 2004 feature at North End is worth Enviro 300 11 22.0
repeating; “What might the next two years bring? First has over 800 step Dennis Trident 3 6.0 4 5.6
Darts nationwide and these have a lot of life in them so they Mercedes 709D 3 6.0 3 4.2 7 10.8 2 2.9
should be around for some years. We have seen the slow decline Volvo B10M 2 4.0 1 1.4 2 2.9 of the Iveco with Portsmouth continuing to house the largest
concentration of them in the country. Their natural replacements Mercedes Vario 1 2.0 2 2.8
would appear to be from three sources - Volvo B10BLE 1 2.0 5 7.0 16 24.6 14 20.6
cascaded Mercedes which has already been seen from Essex and Potteries; Iveco 59.12 8 11.3 11 16.9 17 25.0
Leyland cascaded low floor Darts from London but these are in decline as Olympian 1 1.4
Transport for London realises that new buses every five or seven years costs a lot of money Volvo B6BLE 1 1.4 3 4.6 1 1.5
Optare Solos which First has accumulated just 220 of after six Volvo Olympian 4 6.2 4 5.9
years and would hopefully now come to Portsmouth. Volvo Citybus
Zip route 41 which uses a £31 million bus lane along the old A3, B10M-50 could be due for an upgrade, New Scanias have been rumoured 1 1.5
which could lead to cascading of the Volvos on the route onto the Leyland National 2 2.9
non low floor routes 1 and 3. Bodies 2009 2006 2004 2002
Stagecoach’s Olympians on the 700 are now in their ninth year and rumours of changes to frequencies and vehicles again abound, No % No % No % No %
whilst the buses on the 23 are now four years old and all are still Scania 16 32.0 14 19.7
in the Stagecoach striped livery. Similar buses were on the Enviro 11 22.0 Cheltenham to Gloucester 94 service but have been replaced this
summer by new Dennis Tridents, one of which appeared at the Plaxton 9 18.0 24 33.8 21 32.3 16 23.5
Stokes Bay rally on 30 August. Alexander 6 12.0 7 9.9 8 12.3 9 13.2
Marshall 5 10.0 14 19.7 16 24.6 15 22.1 For 2009, First still has over 450 step Darts, we have had some
more Mercedes from First Essex, a Solo or two although First still Reebur 1 2.0
has fewer that 300 nationwide. The 41 has its Scanias which are UVG 1 2.0 1 1.4 4 5.9
about to be replaced by some new buses, although the 1 and 3 Wright 1 2.0 11 15.5 19 29.2 20 29.4 routes are still only partially low floor. The Ivecos went with Northern
Portsmouth City Council’s subsidised route reductions. The 700 Counties 1 1.5
got Tridents and the 23 has the Enviro300s, which was perhaps the biggest surprise! Leyland National 2 2.9
Mellor 2 2.9
How predictable is your local area? Operators 2006 2006 2004 2002
No % No % No % No %
Facts and Figures First 35 70.0 52 73.2 47 72.3 49 72.1
Venue…………………………………North End Junction, Portsmouth Stagecoach 15 30.0 19 26.8 18 27.7 19 27.9
Date……………………………………..…Friday 23 January 2009, W Wednesday 6 September 2006 Type of Vehicle 2006 2006 2004 2002
Monday 19 July 2004 No % No % No % No %
Thursday 20 June 2002 S i n g l e D e c k 4 3 8 6 . 0 5 3 74.6 42 64.6 45 66.2
Time………………………………………1500-1600 Minibus 4 8.0 13 18.3 18 27.7 19 27.9
Number of Journeys arriving or departing 53. 74 69 73 Double Deck 3 6.0 5 7.0 5 7.7 4 5.9
Number of different buses……………….……...50 71 65 68 Median Age……………………………..…September 2004 (4 years 4
months) September 1998 (8 years) October 1997 (6 years 9
Months) December 1995 (6 years 6 months)
Oldest Bus………………….…First Dennis Dart 46010 H308DRV
F First Dennis Dart JDZ2300
Stagecoach Volvo Citybus F303MYJ F First Leyland National AST151W
Newest Bus…………………. Stagecoach Enviro300 GX58xxx
F First Scania OmniCity YN54NZY
S Stagecoach Dennis Dart X969VAP
S Stagecoach Dennis Dart X972VAP
Liveries…………………………………………..3 5 6 7 Percentage of low floor…………………78.0%.63.4% 50.8% 35.3%
Most distant destination…………………….Brighton
The statistics above are scheduled in the order 2009
2006:2004:2002

An Hour @ written by Newsletter Editor Rodney Barnes New Scania Omnilink at University’s Highfield Interchange. Rodney
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12