Friday November 15th 2013 ~ Four Trying Days

Roadworks and road traffic accidents took centre stage this week. Tuesday was a nightmare of a morning as this capture of the rush hour traffic info details :

So I think yes, the A47 does need major investment, shame the powers that be don't see the same urgency.
Incoming morning arrivals from the coast at King's Lynn were a bit of a shambles. L8-XL14 was not seen by me and neither was L10-XL16 and I suspect that one of these may not have run. L11-XL17 had set out from Lowestoft with 33820, but the late running meant 33423 had to be inserted at Lynn for the 10.40 to Peterborough. Des Speed was in charge of Y11-XL17 mentioned above and became embroiled in the chaos following the Acle Straight accident, he says " I was quite close to it and could not turn around. -27 (08.49 at Acle). Queueing into Norwich -33 (09.23) at Norwich . I realised that I could not make any time up so decided to run this service as the next car line. At 11.07 at South Gates outward the passengers were transferred to another bus (33423).
Afternoon buses ran better, but at teatime delays of around 15 minutes were evident through Wisbech. Engineers were working on the collapsed manhole on the Ouse Bridge in an effort to reopen the closed lane on the A47 today. 33824 was sidelined with an adblue fault today and when 33814 came in from Scarborough tonight, 33817 went back north.

On the diversion via Norwich Road in Wisbech. 
Photo copyright : Peter Risebrow

Wednesday would have been better for punctuality had it not been for the closure of Lynn Road in Wisbech for resurfacing work. Buses were once again diverted via Walsoken to join the A1101. The Swaffham - Peterborough turn (K6-XL12) was the first turn to use the diversion and this passed me leaving the town 15 minutes late. Average delays were in the region of 7 - 9 minutes until late afternoon when 33810 passed by on K18-XL05 20 late, followed by 33807 on K19-XL06 19 late and 33821 on K1-XL07 16 late.

Roy reports an unusual visit by 33818 working K4-XL10 14.17 Great Yarmouth - Peterborough on Thursday. The Enviro 400 was an unexpected visitor to Caister Road garage at around 14.25 and departed towards town a few minutes later :

33818 at Caister Road on Thursday afternoon. Photo copyright : East Norfolk Bus Blog

Whatever was wrong with 33818 was not apparent, but it was replaced at King's Lynn by 33808 for the 16.50 to Peterborough. Earlier 33808 itself had been taken off Y13-XL19 13.05 ex Peterborough because of noisy front suspension. 33820 took over the turn. 33423 had a day out today on K3-XL09 as 33823 was still unavailable.
The usual problems with Friday afternoon punctuality were added to by a further closure of Lynn Road in Wisbech to continue the resurfacing. I unusually had to go in to work at 06.00 so was able to view the following :

K1 33804 -1 / RT
K2 33815 -1 / -1
K3 33819 RT / +3
K4 33810 RT / RT
K5 33818 -1 / +3
K6 33822 -9 / -8
Y7 33820 -12 / not seen
L8 33803 -6 / RT
Y9 33807 -3 / -1
L10 33812 not seen / -10
Y11 33808 -13 / not seen
L12 33816 -2 / not seen

So not at all bad during the morning and both K3-XL09 & K5-XL11 returned from Peterborough 3 minutes early. Once again K6-XL12 was the first service to be affected by the roadworks. 33811 was at Scarborough for attention today.

Elsewhere, two more repainted Geminis have appeared to Yarmouth. 37574 & 37577 were first seen in service on Thursday.

37574 working a service 8 on Thursday : Photo copyright East Norfolk Bus Blog

The Geminis destined for the X2 are coming through at a slower rate and 37564/5/7/9/71 are still due to arrive. This has meant a stay of execution for 34155 which has been in use every day this week according to Michael Bryant. Malcolm Hicks always sends me a comprehensive report including the X2 and Service 1. This week as seen the following vehicles in use :
X2 37563/66/68/70, 34155, 32655/6, 30886/889/900/901, 44512

Service 1 & 1a to Martham : 37562/576/78, 32204/05/06/09/12

Following the restructuring of the management levels at First, it was officially announced on Tuesday that the new interim MD for Eastern Counties will be David Squire who will be based at Lansdowne Road office in Norwich.  David joined First with 35 years of experience in the bus industry. David was Managing Director for Network Warrington, Head of Operations in Manchester for Arriva and General Manager, Dewsbury for Arriva Yorkshire.