"Morning Gerard" said Bruce this morning, "Isn't it boring now ?". I guess this is just what the X1 operators want to hear and who can blame them ? I've been busy preparing for my forthcoming weekend event in Herefordshire, so the lull has come at just the right time for me.
Actually I'd expected to have been bombarded by reporters from the 'Daily Mail', 'Sun' and 'EDP' all wanting interviews with me about the withdrawal of 'The Beast' !
Imagine .........A 'First' spokesperson said "We are a global organisation with thousands of buses and we cannot possibly justify spending a few hundred quid on a clapped out old coach with no disabled access , just because 'Sun' and 'Mail' readers have a soft spot for it !
Janet Street-Porter responding to a member of the audience on 'Question Time' added her not inconsiderable voice to the protests, "The Gaavernmunt carnt let this baas which is laaved by millions of peerple seemply rot awaiy".
Vince Cable responded that the coalition had looked into the programme of cuts with a fine toothcomb and that there was simply no justification for keeping N607APU "which I believe is known as 'The Beast'" in service.
Mr Cameron speaking from the newly opened 'low floor' in the House of Commons added "We are all in this together, it is going to be tough, but I have spoken with a 'First' representative and they have agreed to cut the X1 route into sections". "This follows recommendations from the Health & Safety Executive after concerns were expressed by drivers about the increasing number of passengers who were sliding off their seats and becoming trapped". The 'Toftwood Times' recently reported a case where an X1 passenger had over imbibed in the Millwrights Arms, boarded 37568 and was only discovered beneath the seat the worse for wear when the bus was being cleaned in King's Lynn garage, some eight hours after he joined the service.
Anyway, back to reality. 37573 had an interesting day. It replaced 37579 on K5 at 17.15 and after completion of the turn was called upon again to replace 37160 on Y13 21.50 King's Lynn to Peterborough.
37563 and 37158 were not in X1 use today. Malcolm says "I had a walk down to Lowestoft bus garage this afternoon. On the way I saw 37579 work K5 1355 service to Peterborough. At the garage were 20107, 43462, 32210, 32214 & 37563".
I'm away now until Monday, so expect an omnibus blog, if you'll pardon the pun, on Tuesday or thereabouts. Thanks to all our regulars. G
This is the unofficial blog for the Peterborough - Norwich XL bus service operated by First Group. Originally reporting the introduction of the 'Gemini' double deckers and the phasing out of coaches, the blog is now incredibly in its twelfth year and in 2021 the new fleet of state of the art double deckers enter their second year in traffic. To contact me with your observations/experiences on the XL, email gerardtcc@gmail.com .
No comments:
Post a Comment