Friday's trip - One Stop Beyond!
Today's trip saw me visiting Ayrshire, for the first time in a while. I'd originally planned to use the new Fishers Tours service from Dundee to Largs, but I'd heard word from one of the regular passengers on those services (thanks Tony!) that the bus would be fully booked. Never mind, next time. So that was late last night, and I booked on Megabus to take me to Glasgow - Neoplan 50131. Upon arrival at Broxden Park & Ride, I could see 52298 (N448 XVA), which used to be a Scottish Megabus, now in Stagecoach South Wales X3 colours - it had duplicated one of the coaches from London. After arriving in Glasgow (WEP had a bit of a hangover from his night out), I got MAN coach 50044 on the X77 to Ayr (direct) - alighting at Tam's Brig (the last stop before Ayr Bus Station) before getting on Volvo/PS 20511 on the 585, to take me to Ayr proper.
The 585 - now branded as CoastLiner, without having any branded buses - is two hours from end to end, and runs every 30 minutes during the main part of the day. The history of this route is a little long for a short time, but it's noteworthy for many reasons of comeptition, including the time when the four main local operators (Stagecoach A1 Service, AA Buses - which was then Dodds of Troon, Clydeside - now Arriva who sold Greenock to GMS/McGills, and Clyde Coast, who ran on a chunk of the coast before selling out to Stagecoach too) all combined to launch a combat bus against Coastline Express - who's proprietor latterly ended up in charge of McGills... but anyway... now you see what you've got me started... the main bits of the route are Ayr, Prestwick Cross, Prestwick Airport (main road) then via the Troon by-pass to Irvine, then the Kilwinning by-pass before picking through the three towns of Stevenston, Saltcoats, and Ardrossan, where the driver changes are done on the corner of Princes Street. The bus then heads up out of Ardrossan, and passes Seamill, before doing a loop of West Kilbride, before contonuing to Largs, Wemyss Bay, then inland via IBM to Greenock. It's the kind of route you could hop on and off all day if you wanted (SPT Day Tripper ticket recommended - and you don't need to bring the kids, you can travel on your own, or have two Adults on the higher priced ticket). There are lots of other more frequent services over chunks of the route too.
From Ayr, I got back on 20511 to Irvine, giving me time to see Stagecoach buses in AA livery, A1 Service livery, as well as this Titan on Irvine town service 22, which I thought was unusual as I'd not seen a decker on it. Must be a school thing... as well as the two Shuttle Buses Darts, which had turned up together.
The next bus has been with Stagecoach for well over 10 years, and is one of the last new buses purchased by A1 Service. Now, it just reminds me of the Strathtay B10B's/B10BLE's. Yes, it's 21051 (M151 FGB, ex M1 ABO), which took me from Irvine all the way up to coast to Greenock. Amongst the buses in Greenock which were of interest included this McGills "easy access" Dart with two steps in the way, and the new Mercedes Citaro - no doubting the accessibility on that one!
Took the train into Paisley, and just between Paisley St James and Paisley Gilmour Street, I saw former Tayside Ailsa 43 in this yard! Oddities of interest included this dual door bright yellow Iveco minibus. I then got back on the train, headed for Glasgow Central, walk to St Enoch, subway to Buchanan Street (all included in the DayTripper ticket!, but you need to get a ticket each time you want to use the subway, to let you through the gates. You get a standard Adult Single card ticket, to the value of £00.00 - i.e. at no cost. Anyway, after tea, headed back on the 1900 Megabus back to Dundee, which was Strathtay 453, now 143 CLT, and the first one with a new fleetnumber.
End-to-end, around thirteen hours. Back to work tommorrow!
posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:08
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