#AYearOfBuses 209: Gold S9 Wantage – Oxford
It’s been quite a while since we featured one of Stagecoach’s Gold routes here on #AYearOfBuses, so today, we’re fixing that with Oxford’s Gold S9. Stagecoach in Oxfordshire’s Gold S9 links Oxford with the historic market town of Wantage, birthplace of King Alfred the Great in 849. It’s one of an unusually high number of Gold-spec routes […]
#AYearOfBuses 151: Blackwood – Newport
Day 151 on #AYearOfBuses has to be one of South Wales’ most scenic routes, full stop. Stagecoach’s Gold 151 links Blackwood, in the Valleys of Wales, with the city of Newport with buses running up to every 10 mins. As it snakes it way down through the valleys, the 151 passes through historic villages such […]
#AYearOfBuses 125: Preston – Bolton
It’s back to Preston’s iconic Grade II-listed bus station for day 125 on #AYearOfBuses! Stagecoach Merseyside and Lancashire’s flagship Gold 125 links the northern city of Preston with the large southern-Lancashire towns of Chorley and Bolton using those signature luxurious, high-spec double-deck Scanias. We mentioned the 125 back on day 114 of #AYearOfBuses, adding that […]
#AYearOfBuses 94: Cheltenham – Gloucester
Fancy sitting next to a secret agent? Stagecoach’s Gold 94 links the twin cities of Cheltenham and Gloucester, with a brief stop at the GCHQ headquarters…and it’s our winner today here on #AYearOfBuses. Interestingly, Stagecoach Gold 94 runs 24hrs a day, 6 days a week, and up to every 10 mins during the daytime – […]
#AYearOfBuses 57: Exeter – Exmouth
On day 57 of #AYearOfBuses, we’re staying put right here in Exeter! It’s the bigger brother of yesterday’s CONNexIONS 56 – Stagecoach Gold 57, linking Exeter with Exmouth. Only the second Stagecoach Gold route we’ve featured in this series, the 57 is Stagecoach South West’s luxury link between the city of Exeter, and the coastal […]
#AYearOfBuses 17: X17 Matlock – Chesterfield – Sheffield – Barnsley
Now on its second generation of glitzy Gold-specification buses, Stagecoach Yorkshire’s X17 is today’s winner on #AYearOfBuses. Stagecoach Yorkshire’s X17 is home to a brand new fleet of Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMCs, its second generation of Gold buses for the route. Buses run every 30 mins between Chesterfield and Sheffield, with extensions to Matlock, Meadowhall and Barnsley, […]
10 UK bus liveries we really, really love
If you saw our recent blog post ‘10 UK bus liveries we really, really miss’, you’re probably also aware of the tidal wave of ‘Hey, what about London and Country?!’ comments it generated. Part 2, however, is for another day – today, we’re focussing on the present. This was an incredibly difficult ‘top 10’ to […]
Sapphire: Arriva adds a touch of sparkle
Something shiny is about to hit the UK’s streets. Arriva UK will roll out its answer to Stagecoach’s Gold and First’s, ahem, “Gold service“ concepts from April 2013 in Chester, followed by further launches in the Midlands, Oxfordshire and the North East. You could be forgiven for thinking that Sapphire is a little short of […]