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As reported on Route One, First is to cease its operations in East Lothian with Musselburgh and North Berwick depots closing. This has been on/off the cards for many years but seemed more likely following the lifting of conditions imposed several years ago. Hopefully Lothian will be able to take on staff and routes where viable.

http://www.route-one.net/articles/Operations/First_proposes_to_cease_operations_in_West_Lothian

As the final hours of 2015 draw in, I thought it'd be interesting to do a summary of some of the main bus events of the year. I'll kick off with a few then feel free to add!

Western Greyhound's failure after the sale of Liskeard operations to Plymouth Citybus. First Kernow stepped up to the plate to offer an improved, integrated replacement network of key routes and it signalled the next phase in their transformation plan that's also seen more modern vehicles arrive throughout the year.

Meanwhile, parts of First didn't seem to be doing as well. Plymouth, Hereford, Bracknell and Newcastle under Lyme all went as First's turnaround plan continued, growth in the stronger areas coupled with investment but lack of return in certain areas. First Bristol saw big patronage growth, bits of FSE were back in profit and buses were becoming blue again, Glasgow was back up to near double digit margins.

Stagecoach expanded into Plymouth (well, ish) and had a steady year.

Arriva saw a fair few more Sapphire and MAX relaunches, including expansion of MAX outside of Yorkshire and the North East. Network Colchester began to be integrated into the group.

National Express continued its investment and launched its new livery and Platinum concept plus continuing expansion into German rail market.

Go Ahead did the same and seemed relieved when North East QC on/off, on/off debate finally reached its conclusion as a "no". Its Norfolk and Suffolk operations were chopped back a fair bit while revenue growth in NE was reported as being slow.

Rotala expanded with the purchase of SLT and its rebrand as DBNW, plus integration of some ex Whittle's bus work adding to the Kidderminster network. WM routes were enhanced (002/4H/142), started (29) but changed (42). 

Any other big events?! Feel free to add :D

Been looking through a load of old Stevensons timetables I got a while back now and couldn't find a thread on here for them. I hadn't realised the extent to which they really tried to move into the West Midlands with contracted and competing routes. Didn't WMT buy them out of part of their WM op?

It's interesting they ran the 688 (current 121) and the 223/4, now run by Arriva who bought the rest of Stevensons. Full circle! Prepared to be corrected on some of the above but thought it'd be interesting to have a thread for them.

Don't know to what extent people have seen or heard about this already, but JFS is ceasing trading today, which is their last day of service. Stagecoach have already announced they will be taking on the 111 service http://bit.ly/1NZvscY Dialogue must be ongoing atm between operators and LCC as to who's covering their other services. I gather they also have a number of school/college services that may be uncovered/up for grabs from other operators.

All in all, a sad end for a very long established operator, over 108 years old! We're seeing a steadily reducing number of operators this year with a number of famous names ceasing bus operations. Guess there must be a lot of funding pressure in the industry atm with BSOG, Concessionary Reimbursement, supported services cuts. However, I still maintain that operators innovating, marketing and investing are reaping the rewards, we're seeing the first patronage growth in some areas for many years. I gather they were already under pressure from Stagecoach, just seems a very sudden end. Sad for drivers, customers and the area as a whole, they always looked so smart and professional.

I guess it does help to strengthen existing operators in the area, potentially Stagecoach or even Preston Bus could pick up work out of it and potentially decent used buses for sale as well.

Wonder how many other small/independent operators or even larger group garages are teetering on the brink, losing money and want to throw in the towel at any moment...

Thought we needed a new topic for Social Travel.

Anyone seen them out on the 97 yet to see how loadings are doing initially?

Are all vehicles in the same livery as the one Steve posted a picture of in the Discount Travel Solutions thread?

Are buses roughly halfway betwen Discount Travel Solutions departures on the 97?

I know Arriva used to produce very good area guides for Walsall, Wolverhampton and also Sandwell and Dudley.

However, I haven't seen any available for a while at West Brom, Walsall or Wolverhampton bus stations and Halesowen only have the outdated April 2013 S and D one. Wolverhampton have some pathetic timetable printouts for the 891 etc.

I was wondering if anyone knew if they still make such guides and if so, where they'd be available from, as I find them a lot easier when planning a dayout!!

Do they also do Lichfield, Derby, Cannock, Leicester, Telford and Stafford area ones?

Thanks :)

Planning to ho over to Worcester tomorrow and was wondering if it was worth looking for Worcester timetable leaflets. Anyone know if they do any and if so where you pick them up from?

Thanks in advance  :)

Hi just wondering if someone on here could help me with something. I'm going to london for a day trip soon and wanted to know if there was some sort of ticket or something that I could use on buses and tubes for the day. Anyone know if it exists, how much it costs, where you buy it or what I am best doing if I want to ride on londons buses without having an oyster card etc. If this is not available, what is my best option. Thanks and hope someone can help  :)

Havent seen this bus for ages-anyone seen it recently as it is pretty much one of the few diamond buses I dont now have a picture of cheers

Really like the NBB pictures put up a few days ago. Any chance you could do the same for pete's travel/people's express as it is a company that I can find scarcely any pictures of on flickr thanks  :)

Basically to look at there is some slight difference when you compare say an s reg one and an 06 one-they just look different but I can't put my finger on what it is. The rear overhang almost looks slightly smaller and the whole vehicle shorter-im comparing the standard sized darts in both ranges. This got me thinking, which do people prefer the euro 3 or euro 2 dart. Personally, I prefer the euro 2 as it is smoother, the engine vibrates less when idle and it sounds better. Please compare like with like-ie euro 2 darts in worse nick therefore euro 3 darts-compare new with new.

These have really picked up recently. Walsall to west brom section very busy, 4M from merry hill to west brom packed as was 4H from west brom to halesowen that I caught as well. Seems as if the new buses have made an impact tho still a lot of cadets on there along with the euro 3 dart-30849. Further b7rles should help still further

This afternoon about 3:30 ish I was going through selly oak and i saw a b7rle with doors open and no driver facing into the university south gate on the bristol road -like actually facing into the entrance.  Couldnt see any accident damage but no driver in cab just wondered what it was doing there?

Just asking this but do diamond still do leaflets for services as i know they did for the 002/144 etc-do they still do them?
If so, where would you get them-im thinking they might do some for redditch but not sure just asking

If not, they should resurrect them and produce some sort of an area booklet for places where they operate a lot eg redditch/west brom. Then passengers would really get to see they have a network especially in redditch/west brom and buy a pass

As people may have worked out, I am a big fan of these buses that diamond have. Was looking up on buslistsontheweb and found out that there are only between 40 and 50 of these buses. Wasn't aware of how rare they were-801 and 806 are longer and the only ones that seat 45 although similar length ones were bought by airparks. Are they on a lengthened version of the same chassis as I don't understand MAN chassis coding-whats the difference between 12.240/14.220/14.240. Just interested

I was talking to an ex Pete's driver about what Pete's travel was like. Just interested to see if anyone else had anything to say about one of the region's larger independant operators. Certainly, the yellow livery was distinctive, services competed by and large effectively with a good mix of tendered and commercial work. However, there were issues in worcestershire with some contracts so just interested to hear what people have to say

Hi Just wondered if anyone of this sites good photographers took any photos today in the snow in which case do you have any links to them. cheers

Was skim reading CBW in whsmiths today and found an article about how rotala has secured £11 million of finance from their bank-rbs I think. Can we read anything into this in terms of rotala buying up another bus operation as £11 million would probably be enough to buy some of the companies first are selling. Or, do we think this is being used for debt repayments, fleet replacement etc. It just sounded like a lot of money.....

Can anyone confirm for certain if all rotala's wm buses are now operating as either diamond bus company ltd or on hire to diamond bus company limited? If so, maybe the bus site could have one page for all rotala's wm buses ie diamond bus company

Just wondering what type 30831 MX09 PZH is/will be as I cannot find any pictures of it on the internet. My guess is its a b7rle of some sort but can anyone confirm...