A Trip On The 7.

I was waiting at the County Hospital (Don't Ask!) for a Number 7 that would take me from The Hospital to The Clock tower (for Churchill Square) via Eastern Road , Old Steine and west street. I Observed how the Driver was driving his bus ( A 1999/98 East Lancs Lolyne Trident) one of my favorites!, The bus was packed with lots of people hence the good position i got near the Driver. He was a good driver but had a bit of a Attitude about it. But at least he got me to were i wanted to go fairly quickly with a bit of Banter about the Passengers to me! From then on i got on a 5B going towards Hollingbury that was 10 Minuets late for some reason.

Bye for now!

BAB? Beer And Buses

This Weekend i went up to kent (Stayed at my Antie and uncles house) to a Beer Festival! , The beer there didn't really catch my eye that much it was real dark beer! , Didn't taste that good! at least i got to see a few maidstone town services and best of all i had a ride to and from the festival on a Plaxtion Bodied Volvo B6(3606) It didn't sound anything like a Dart should but what should i expect from Arriva?!

Just Started my new College (Varndean) so i see alot more of the Daylight than beeing couped up 8:40 AM - 3:05PM at School! thats something to remember from the older days!

Thats all for now :)

Bus Times Change!

Hello their! , Brighton and Hove buses have changed their times and routes for alot of their services! one route they removed is the 86! one of my favourites ive had some good trips on that service and will be sorry to see it go! for more info check this site. http://www.buses.co.uk/frameset.html?$news/news.asp

They Have Repainted Them at Last!

Buses 246 and 247 have been repainted both famous for operating on the Service 56 route! and 78/79 on Sundays or Saturdays!

Back .. ...

I know its been a while since i arrived back about 5 days but ive had quite alot to catch up with so you can't really blame me! Boarding the coach at Gatwick Terminal North Last monday (when i came back) we were greated by lots of Airport buses run by diffrent companys - i didn't realise that Metrobus wernt the only company to operate in the Crawley Gatwick area so i learn't something knew their. Boarding the coach i got the front seat lucky for me! and going into the South Terminal of Gatwick i saw a Driver change over between one lone National express Driver and A Trainee Driver learning the ropes of the Company with another Driver Trainer. The trainee had been working for another Bus Company so he knew how to drive and he drove us well! i had the charm of the Driver Trainer sitting next to me for the way down to Patcham! Great Stuff and the Palma Buses were good aswell luckliy we were on the Frequentest route Line 3 Ilettes - Point D' Inca ran every 7 Mins!

That's Me Off !

Yes i am off for 2 weeks now in Sunny Majorca - Calamajor! flight is at about 4:30 AM so i gotta coach to catch first! Should be fun :-) Ta ta!

My Trip To Tunbridge Wells :-)

Here is my eventfull day .. First i finally get out of the house and walk down to the Patcham Co-Op Bus stop for service 56 (the 12:26) 202 Plaxton Pointer SLF Dart was running the service! , sure its a realy good route for me because it Takes time to complete the "All around the houses" section of the route that i particually prefer. Any way about 8 minuets down we arrived at churchill square about 13:11 ish that gave me 4 mins to catch the connection to Tunbridge Wells - the 29 and one of my pavourites was working on that route bus 905 - identical to the metro 25 ominidekkas in length but it just has a cream livery! i observed from the drivers GPS thanks to the stig who told me how the new GPS's worked he was -1:40 - 1 Min and 40 secs late! and the other road works in Lewis Road didn't help either Alex, Stiggy boy try getting a 40ish? foot Ominidekka through those road works! must have been held up for about 5 mins trying to get through them! anyway as the service is only limited stop for most of Brighton it was easy from there on! something that really anoyed me about the driver was that he wasn't pushing the bus all the way (In other words he was driving to time!) anyway we followed the normal route through Isfield (29) Uckfield , Five Ash Down , Croborough , Eridige By-Pass then on to Tunbridge wells Arriving at Meadow road , the Driver was 4 mins and about 10 secs late!(and to confirm what Alex said, he had a clock set on his display and a full tank of petrol from Arriva drivers statement:P) not bad as the route ushally gets about a 17 min terminus! On the Bus back it was back to the old school Scania Cityzens this one (774) on the 15:15 Journey had real bad brakes one of them gave me a head ache in the past it was so loud! On return to Churchill Square we were held up again - No suprise there then as this was about 17:39! (Rush hour) When i departed from the bus i Knew there was a last 56 around this time 17:39 so i poped my head around and sure the read time board outside Pizza hut said 56 Patcham 10 mins! i also saw a Metrobus service 273 on layover at Churchill Square so i said to my Self what wins a 273 or a 56? i think the 56 wins!!!

this was of course the last 56 17:24 from the Knoll Estate terminating at Laides Mile Road! - Reference for the Stig as he seems to know that route! so i got this back and it was the same dart i started off in (203) it had a nice squeel to it and the driver was 12 mins late but kept smiling when i was looking to see wether or not he was going to hit something! when we got to Warmdene road he Droped me off at Warmdene Road Top (By the Long man of Wilmington Alex :-) 16 and a half mins late what a Cheek! but i loved Every minute of it!

That Polish Driver....

I was waiting for a Bus at The Deneway at about 6:10 PM i beleive the realtime said 17 mins me knowing that at the stop there is ment to be a 10 min frequencey i was going to unfortunatley have to wait for 17 mins. Not good but then out of the Blue after waiting about 7 mins a Scania Cityzen Whizzes past and indicates into the stop on Service 5a towards Hangleton with his Dot Matrix sign still set to 5a Patcham! i ask for a saver and he issues me it with out putting the £3.00 into his cash tray! i observed his GPS and it said +3.0 - 3 mins early but it didn't show on the realtime! Then the Driver had to tell all the old dears at the stop why his bus wasn't showing up on the realtime "Oh Driver you're not ment to be here for another 8 mins!". I kind of know this Polish Driver i think he is anyway and he was very fast in the Scania - never knew they could go at that speed!

Our Lovely 12's!

A ride i thought was worth Blogging about. Service 12 Brighton - Eastbourne every 20 mins ...
So its a Lovley summers day in Febuary.... well not summer so i Bored service 5a at the Ridgeside Avenue stop heading North bound. I ask for a SuperSaver and the Driver puzzledley replyed "SuperSaver!?" i say "Yes" he Says "£4.00 please" I plonk a £5 pound note and he gives me £1 change i observe he is 1 minute late due to my 'odd' request so we trot on on the 5a .. Speeding along London road at cruising pace making good time untill we get to my stop .. Churchill Square - bus enthusiast's paradise buses coming every few mins all of diffrent makes and models and Build years new and old , what more could you want? so i trot over from Stop B to Stop E there is a 12a going off to Seaford Wow i think to myself! anyway i obvserve that the service 12 to eastbourne is 12 mins i walk over to the somewhat lonley stop E and sit down observing the diffrent buses and people. .. 12 mins passed and there was a Shiny new route 12 livery Ominidekka on the service well it looked new anyway i was first in the rush to get up to the front seats and sat to the far left on the Bus i could hear the Drivers heaters blasting what would seem to be cold air out. Anyway departing from Churchill Square and getting onto the main Brighton seafront from Marine gate to Ovingdean he pelts it straight down the two lane Carridge way i think wow i'd do that anyday if somedrivers wernt that scared! Whizzing past various suburbs - Rottingdean , Saltdean untill we reach Peacehaven or Telscombe Cliffs home the the 14 /14c 92's / 116's / Belting it straight through Peacehaven to Newhaven at the speed the driver was doing he must have been at least 7 mins early! going into the Center of newhaven the traffic has to go around a one way divertion untill the driver hits Newhaven Middleway i think there is a real time board there that said 12 Eastbourne 6 Mins 6 mins early.. and all because the driver wanted the toilet! Ha. So the Driver gets out of his cab takes the Cashtray with him and pops off for about 4 mins then when he gets back in the cab he Turns the engine on wait for it... ** BEEP ** engine **start** Beautifull the charging of the Air in the doors as i beleive then on the return trip the bus went into Overide gear to help it get up a hill! Lovley stuff!

Breakdown At Croborough .... Not Good!

I was on the service 29 heading up to Tunbridge Wells just down from Croborough when the engine of this Scania Cityzen (761) started letting out a long beep! i thought must be the oil ... so when we got to Croborough Cross (the Cross roads) the driver switched off the engine and Called X-Ray the (Brighton bus control room) and said something like this "X-ray 761 overheated location Croborough Cross) and told the people at the Stop and on the bus that he wasn't going anywere untill the next Brighton or Arriva service turned up (Arriva service 229) so we waited while the driver got chating to some old dears about were the service ushally gets held up Old Dear: "Oh driver you ushally get held up in Vale Road dont you?" Driver: "Oh on countless times and the school kids don't Help!" anyway when time got boring i went downstairs to observe his GPS it said "Self Standing -19.0" That ment 19 mins late 11 mins till the next Brighton bus as they run 30 Apart.. o dear i thought as time went on slowly an Arriva service poped around the corner with a Young male driver at the wheel it was a Dennis Dart! so the Brighton driver explaned what the problem was and got the ones which had return tickets including me and one other guy (SuperSavers) on for free with the Arriva Driver trying to pretend to read the tickets! the Dart didn't sound anything like our Brighton ones shame i thought! anyway we got to Tunbridge wells so i had a look around then got the 17:15 128 Yes 128 (first one) back from Tunbridge wells and it was a Lolyne trident (821 i think) i thought "Beautiffly Done" so i got that back to Brighton - St Peters Church Via Halland and Ringmer with the driver speeding down country roads!. Then got a service 5B back due to lack of 5/5a's ! i observed the he was also 19 Mins late aswell! well this was 7:00 PM in the evening so what do you expect?

5 And 5A Vs 5B ....

Something i think is worth blogging/Ranting about .. the number of evening journeys heading towards hollingbury/patcham at this time (23:30ish) if i rightly look on my trusted city transport website http://www.citytransport.org.uk/ i can see the they are/were at least 4 5B's towards Hollingbury and about 2/3 5's towards Patcham not even that ... Now observing a Bus Stop along the 5B route (St Marys Church) heading towards Hangleton (City Center) i observe this Graffiti "Evening Service is shit don't bother using it" scribbled over the Timetable board obscuring some other Aproximate readings past each hour! By these screens they dont prove the 5B's are better but they prove they are more 5B's than 5 and 5a's put together. So i think the evening service is better for the 5B than the 5/5A's put together although the Mon to Sat day time frequencey is great Every 10 Mins or 5 Mins if i am lucky!

Late Running On The 56.... O dear!

This was possibly about 2 months ago i was waiting down by the Patcham Co-Op for service 56 (Runs every hour at 26 mins past exept last journey) I checked him on real time... http://www.citytransport.org.uk/ (he was the 16:26) i knew he was running a little bit late .. 7 mins in fact i got on Greated by a Bald headed driver wearing his white shirt and floresent Jacket for Garage work! and Asked for a Saver He replyed "£3.00 please" i flonked £3.00 down on the tray and he issued me the ticket and i saw his hand reach for the Ignition which i previously thought was the Interior lights switch! O dear i thought to my self. The driver got out of his cab and had a ciggy for 3 Mins and seemed to be checking his bank account at a Hole in the wall .. Finaly at 16:36 (10 mins down!) he clambered into his cab and started the engine ***BEEP *** and the engine kicked into life! Off He went Amazingly not hitting the car infront of him as he pulled out from the Bus Stop (Inches to spare!) finally making it around Hollingbury coming to Frair Road East End.. the driver opened the doors .. i thought "Hmm strange no ones getting off" he flicks the two latches up and pulled the destination cover up that revealed various destinations i.e Knoll Estate , Stalmer Park , University's and so on he would the sign to "Sorry I am Not In Service" and did the same with the two Left ones witch are the Numbers he closed the latches and then turned around to me and asked "How far you goin mate" i Replyed "Churchill Square" he then said to the other woman "You going to churchill two?" the woman replyed "Yes" and i thought YES! so the driver took us to Churchill Square Imperial Arcade running Light - Out of service via the Normal route then via the 38A route of Cheapside and Trafalgar St i thought "Barstard" i wanted to do that on a actuall 38A not on a Dead 56! anyway alighting at Churchill Square i was greated by frouning passengers who puzzledly followed me off the Bus with their eyes! Anyway i were actually heading for Sainsburys Lewis Road and layed over i saw a Lolyne Trident (828 i think) on the Metro 25 i thought "Beautifull" so i got that to Sainsburys Lewis Road - he was 15 mins late but at least i got to Starbucks on time!

Driver do you know were to go?!

I was on a 5B about 1.5 months ago in the evening heading towards Hollingbury at Preston Road (By Stanford Avenue) the driver decided to go straight along via the 5/5A route this totally messed with the passengers minds and the driver soon did a 3 Point turn , Yes! in the middle of the road in a 40 foot Trident! And whats worse the Driver even had his reversing horn switched on :-)

Uckfield For Tunbridge Wells?

Of course our route 29's used to be jointly operated by Stagecoach , Arriva , Brighton untill March (i think!) 2005. And Mr French recently changed the Uckfield - Tunbridge Wells number from 29 to 129 pointless? .... Brighton and hove operate Non low floor Scania cityzens on the route - it will be a shame to see these go but we are going to get some newer Scania ominidekkas soon! should be fun for me then!

Route 56

Route 56 is a Loved favourite of mine as i like the workings - you only get Darts (MPD/SLF) nothing else from what i have experienced and its a nice queit route serving the estate of Hollingbury i could tell you how many right and left turns there are in that route over the estate of Hollingbury! i know it so well! ;-)

Conway Street ....

I discovered this video on Youtube and i love it very dearley!

5 Or 5A?

I borded the last 5 towards Patcham 866 or a 2002 PLAXTON PRESIDENT BODIED Trident. ;-) at the Old Stiene .... the driver had set the sign set to 5A patcham instead of 5 Patcham getting to the end of my stop 3 Mins early i informed the driver and he said sorry! and changed the sign just for me!. How sweet :)

Hey Hey

Welcome i am called Jack , 16 from Brighton and Hove , Patcham :D i love buses and want to drive then when i am older i often read Bus driver Jimmys blog , Arriva driver , Seven heaven , ravings of a Brighton bus driver(Alex)'s blogs :D