Our Mercedes Bends around the 22!

With the Red Rocket service not expected to restart before Easter, we have decided to keep the buses active where possible and to this end MAL53 was prepared for a test operating day on service 22. Last week the bus was driven around the route to test clearances and passed with tolerance even on the tightest turns in the Claremont area.
From 20 January, a bendy will be allocated to the 07:40 departure from Mereside which coincides with a busy northbound run to Cleveleys, with the vehicle returning to depot just before 18:00.

Fleet Changes

We have made a few changes to the bus fleet recently to thin out vehicles no longer required in the fleet and return to the road some stored vehicles needed for service 22.
Volvo B6 No.601 has finally been submitted and passed its MoT and will be pressed into use on service 22, whereas sister bus 611 is away for MoT work and is earmarked to become the first bus treated to a new colour scheme for buses allocated to 22s. Also sent away for electrical work is Dart 162, which has been off the road since September along with Darts 143 & 163 which will follow in the overhaul process.
Buses leaving the fleet recently are Olympian 324 (N324NHG) now with Red Bus Days in Keighley and Volvo B10M no.899 (R899XVM).

All change at Classic Bus

Oakwood Travel Services Ltd purchased the assets and goodwill of Classic Bus North West Ltd on 31 December and although this means no immediate upheaval for passengers on our "Catch22" bus service and the wedding/private hire business, there will be changes introduced over the coming months to give service 22 a new identity.
Behind the scenes, the day-to-day management has been strengthened by the appointment of David Hughes as Transport Manager. David has a long career in transport, starting at Blackpool Transport but with experience at Transport for London before becoming a VOSA Compliance Officer back in the North West region. After a few years working in Spain, David has returned to Blackpool and will be taking over the day-to-day operations at Oakwood Travel.

Statement re suspension of trading

On 18 December following consultation with the finance company that underwrites our VOSA financial standing and invoice discounting facilities, a decision was made for Classic Bus North West Ltd (CBNW Ltd) to suspend trading. The services being operated on the CBNW Ltd licence were therefore suspended, affecting services 80 (Blackpool - Poulton - Preston) and the Red Rocket Express (although the operation of this was going to be paused after Xmas).

The decision was taken against a background of increasing amounts owed to the business and losses on the bus refurbishment side of the business, affecting cash flow and our ability to keep pace with payroll obligations. Some staff have been laid off and it is likely that there will be redundancies. The decision DOES NOT affect service 22, which operates on the Oakwood Travel licence, and we are now working closely with our principal stakeholders to develop a fresh and sustainable operation through Oakwood Travel Services Ltd.

Red Rocket shuttles in orbit!

'Houston, we have a problem' is right up there with 'Beam me up Scotty' at the top of the spaceflight-related quotations tree. To get the negatives out of the way first, we have been experiencing some teething troubles with our Bendybuses, thought mainly to do with being more used to crawling around London's city streets and now we are expecting them, after being laid idle for a few years in store, to run the London marathon everyday (well, up and down the M61). MAL41 is the only one in service at the moment with MAL53 due back in service next week. Unfortunately, MAL49 is out of use and requires a new engine.
Anyway, the upshot of this is that other buses from the fleet have had to be drafted in to operate Red Rocket journeys. Saturday 30 November was our busiest day so far though and extra buses duplicated the 09:00 from Blackpool with even a Dennis Dart venturing to Manchester! Later in the day, Volvo B10M no.898 operated the last return journey - a bus no stranger to Manchester having started life with Stagecoach Manchester for the busy 192 Piccadilly to Hazel Grove service.

898 works the last departure of the day from Manchester at 20:00 on Sat 30 November

From Harrogate to Blackpool

601 & 611 collected from Lancashire United at Blackburn today.

The first two of a possible batch of six former Transdev Harrogate Volvo B6 buses were collected today from sister Transdev company, Lancashire United. They are former 601 and 611 in the Harrogate fleet and have been purchased by CBNW initially to replace some of the Darts on service 22 but they are also likely to be destined for regular use on new service 80 which will be operated by CBNW from December.
We are taking on this route on a commercial basis from Lancashire County Council (LCC) and the current subsidised service operated by cumfybus has been cancelled. From 09 December, the service will be revised to operate Blackpool - Victoria Hospital - Poulton - Preston every hour with a reduced evening and sunday operation. As a result of our registration of the service, other services subsidised by LCC are being amended to fill the Poulton-Fleetwood link and parts of the 75/76 Fylde Villager network.

Is that a Red Rocket?

Looking a bit out of place in the rural setting of Bruntingthorpe are MAL41 & MAL53 following collection from storage at the Leicestershire airfield.

Life has never been busier here at Classic Bus North West and I'm afraid this is the reason for the lack of blog postings over the summer months.
Our current project is to start the RedRocket Express service to Manchester which will use former GoAhead London Mercedes Benz Citaros. See www.redrocketexpress.co.uk
Three of these superb vehicles have been acquired initially to be dedicated to the new route. They are MAL41 (BD52LNU), MAL49 (BD52LNF) and MAL53 (BL52ODK).