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Spent today in Bristol and also Weston to see these Yutong double deckers. Have to say their front is not exactly a winner in the style category. Also a note for the tall people among you, I'd avoid sitting right at the front on the upper deck as I can personally testify.

Only saw them on the X1 and even then not all are out yet.

One of the 22 plate Streetdecks,35688,has already left Weston and it is believed to be at Stoke.

I took a ride on the new yutongs last week , and quite impressed to be honest. Totally agree with what you say about avoiding sitting at the front upstairs. It happened on my bus, as soon as we got to Weston a guy rushed up and hit his head on the mounted bit at the front where the screen is. Another thing for the seats are a tad hard, compared to a NX west mids electrics. Overall really smooth and I absolutely love the interior, with the lights. Outside is okay,  just wish they were in Badgerline colours. Well greens one of them, just need some yellow .

As of today 19 of the 24 electrics have been delivered to Weston, Hengrove is getting 64 but I think the depot hasnt finished being upgraded. 

Seems like the first Yutong has entered service on the X1 this morning. Only 1 is out, Weston have had more deliveries of them, the past week or so.

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/fbri-30024

Yes Weston-Super-Mare are having 24 delivered in total,.they have started to arrive this week from what I'm seeing, 30019 and 30025. Driver training is taking place and apparently they gonna start entering service this coming week. I think I read they will used on X1 Weston to Bristol and X4 Portishead to Bristol, I could be wrong. They look very striking with a bright green  'Westbus' WECA livery although personally would have preferred them to be in Badgerline colours, certainly the Weston ones. Saying that makes a change of have the grey livery of NXWM when living in the West Midlands.

Hengrove getting Yutongs aswell, I think more than Weston but not sure exactly when.

Just seen on a local Sutton group that 6958 have been involved in a RTC with a car at the Melrose Avenue/Jockey Road island.

First have suspended all bus services in Weston, North Somerset and most of Bristol until further notice. Wells and Bath are running( including routes to Bristol)  but some routes are impacted with fallen trees. 

I believe other operators such as Stagecoach and The Big Lemon have followed suit 

I'm not surprised, iv hardly slept because of the wind and of course we are in a red warning in North Somerset. 

Really bad disruption yesterday (Thursday) in North Somerset due to the closure of the M5 between 21 and 22, a serious accident with a biker and van. Alot of X1's leaving Bristol took hours to get to Weston, one service (35153) left at 16.07 and didn't get to Weston interchange till 22.12. Must have been challenging for all the drivers and passengers on board. 

Double decker bus (33929) overturned this morning near Street, Somerset ,whilst operating a 374 between Bristol and Taunton. Thankfully no serious injuries and bus was only carrying a small number of passengers. However must have been really frightening for all on board. The picture of it looks bad so just glad no injuries.


https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/breaking-police-crash-traffic-travel-9592093

First West of England Bus (33832) has collided with a railway bridge in Twerton, Bath causing extensive damage to the bus. Emergency services on scene but says in the article the bus was returning to depot so hopefully was running empty. Trains still running on the line above.

https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/community/double-decker-bus-collides-bridge-twerton-108150/

It's been like it down here for the past few months, honestly don't know what First are doing. How confusing it must be for passengers to see a South Gloucestershire Lynx with branding of Yate, Thornbury and Chipping Sodbury on a 2 to Stockwood. Theres currently a Gemini with 1,2,2A branding that has been on a 522 to Bath, done the 349 to Keynsham and back. 17 between Southmead to Keynsham and later the T1s to Thornbury. 

Seems at least in North Somerset we are still getting the badgerline in the main, quite a few transfers from Leicester and Worcester that haven't been painted yet but won't be given First's policy I would imagine. 

They have these in Bath, on the X39 route to/ from Bristol. Absolute joke they are, as you say an accident waiting to happen. You have to cross a cycle lane to get on and off the bus. To be fair there is a warning on the bus both audible and visual on the screen when the stop is announced.  Its still not safe, I couldn't believe it when I first saw it. Previously didn't see anything like it in the West Midlands.

Taken from Coach and Bus week on Facebook 

BREAKING NEWS: First Bus has placed single largest order for Yutong electric buses. The order is for 169 vehicles, to be delivered to four depots in Taunton, Weston-super-Mare, Basildon and Hengrove (Bristol) within the next 16 months, introducing electric buses for the first time at those sites. The order is a mix of single- and double-deck E10, E12 and U11DD models, and is part of an £89m investment from First Bus in a further 178 zero-emission buses and infrastructure across four of its regions.

 A TFL bus has hit a low bridge at Paddington Station, causing damage to the upper deck, not sure of any injuries. 

https://www.gbnews.com/news/paddington-bus-crash-double-decker-roof-crushed-taxi-rank

Birmingham City Council missed a trick years ago by not investing in park-and-ride sites dotted around the middle ring road, ahead of demolishing city centre car parks. We now have the ridiculous situation where the two remaining multi-storey car parks at the Bullring and Moor Street are regularly full on Saturdays, and because they are located on a main entry and exit point for buses to/from Moor Street Queensway, the resulting congestion from drivers queuing to get into these car parks causes the buses to also get stuck and delayed.

I agree I think Birmingham missed a trick by not introducing Bus park and rides. I think it would definitely ease congestion if it were set up right, with the right service and cost. Down here in Bristol, there's four park and rides. Stagecoach run services from Portway and Brisington Park and ride, whilst Metrobus( run by First WOE) operate from Long Ashton and Lyde Green. All four of them are well located not far from motorways and are only £4 return with free parking. I do wonder what it would be like without them. Parking is £3.50 an hour in alot of city centre car parks.

There needs to be a thought about tourists that visit Birmingham and the West Midlands that don't want the hassle of driving in a busy city and trying to find parking. Having a bus park and ride could attract more people to the region hence boosting the local economy and long term it would improve the inner city congestion. Surely the new mayor should look at it. 

Curious to know what garage is running it?

It looks like Leamington are running it. 11218 and 11222 are making their way back down A45 Coventry Road

I know its outside West Midlands, 2 new First West of England routes starting on 7th April

374 Bristol - Taunton
375 Bristol - Bridgwater both 3h 10 minutes end to end

Will interesting to see how they go, gotta be near enough 50 miles each way from Bristol to Taunton. I've got the 376 from Bristol to Street before and that's about 30 miles but at least the scenery is nice for most of the route and it don't stop too much.

In terms of the Midlands I agree about the 76 but I haven't quite rode it end to end. Rode it between Solihull and Harborne and that was long enough. Some old routes were long like the 144 between Worcester and Birmingham, when the X20 ran between Stratford and Coventry via Solihull.