Ex-Cardiff Dart joins the fleet

A further Dennis Dart joined the fleet today, former Cardiff 147 (T147DAX), acquired from Aimee's Travel in Leek. It is ironic that our fleet colours closely resemble those of Cardiff Bus, but 147 retains the previous Cardiff livery of turquoise and cream.

147 in Cardiff in 2013 before withdrawal with a new liveried Dart following it.

147 was once part of a batch of seven MPDs (Mini Pointer Darts) delivered to Cardiff Bus in August 1999, nos 144-150. Withdrawn in 2013 and all still in good condition the entire batch found homes with independent operators, including Select of Swansea & closer to us M&M Coaches in Accrington.

147 pictured in Macclesfield on its journey to Blackpool.

Trent Olympian to return home

It has been over seventeen years since Blackpool Transport acquired a batch of ten ECW bodied Olympian buses from former NBC subsidiary Trent to replace a motley collection of life expired Atlantean buses acquired from Fylde Transport. Now, former Trent 701 is soon to return to its native Derbyshire for further preservation and restoration to Trent livery.
After withdrawal by Blackpool Transport, XAU701Y initially joined the LTT collection but later returned to active duty on the summer season 12 service, complete with an all-advert wrapped advert for Blackpool Pleasure Beach's "Hot Ice" show.
Unfortunately, 701 suffered a gearbox fault earlier in 2014 and the decision has been taken that it is surplus to operational requirements, but we wanted to ensure it found a good home preserved, preferably back in its native operating area. This has been achieved and it looks like 701 will return to Derbyshire early in 2015. We look forward to following the progress with 701's restoration in its 32nd year...

701 at Cleveleys on summer season "SeaFront 12" after returning to duty wearing an all-over wrapped advert for the Pleasure Beach "Hot Ice" show. (Photo: David Umpleby)

A bad day on the Buses

Traffic management in Blackpool is one of my pet subjects and today Blackpool Promenade was closed between Tower and North Pier because of scaffolding debris resulting in the closure of this section of the Promenade and traffic being diverted through the town centre. Cross town bus services were disrupted with routes operating the "illuminations diversion" around the town with these routes badly congested, extending journey times. Our service 22 certainly suffered resulting in some lost mileage and disgruntled passengers whilst BTS cross town services 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11 & 14 were observed with buses bunching together.

Volvo 139 waits at Bispham Library to get back to timetable after services were heavily delayed attempting to cross the diversion route due to the closure of the Promenade.

It's a Name changer

With effect from 01 December 2014, Oakwood Travel Services Ltd has been renamed Catch22Bus Ltd to consolidate the bus services operated within the increasingly recognised trading & brand name. The Catch22Bus fleetname already appears on the bus fleet and bus services such as the recently introduced service 6 also appear on the Catch22Bus website.
The name change was introduced to coincide with the company's new financial year and has been recognised by Companies House, there being no other changes to the legal entity.