2011 was quite an important year for bus services on Merseyside, with many new deliveries to various operators, many withdrawals of older buses, the departure of one of the local operators and as already noted the many many rent-a-buses and demonstrators used. I shall try to summarise the major events of 2011 below!

The first new buses delivered to an operator on Merseyside in 2011 were a fleet of 22 Alexander Dennis Enviro300s to Stagecoach Merseyside, back in March 2011. An example of one is show below, 27717 PO11 BCV, showing its newly applied 10A branding in May 2011.

These buses replaced the ex CMT Volvo B10Ls (however they remain with Stagecoach with a view to them being used during the 2012 Olympics when other buses from Merseyside will go to London) along with remaining Volvo B10Ms, converting the service fleet at Stagecoach Merseyside to be entirely low floor. At the very end of 2011 it seems more new Enviro300s will enter service with Stagecoach Merseyside in early 2012, however these will have the revised bodywork with a mid body emergency exit door and a Plaxton Centro style interior!

Following on from these, some of the independent operators also received new buses just after the begining of 11 reg in March, with ACE Travel receiving two Alexander Dennis Enviro200s, 725 MX11 CZL & 726 MX11 CZK, of which I managed to photograph 725 on the once weekly 79C operated by ACE Travel, at 6.24 on the morning of Saturday 11/06/2011.

Other operators locally who received 11-reg buses were Arriva NW&W received 2 Optare Versa V1100s at Chester, HTL Buses received 8 Optare Solo M710SEs, Network Warrington received 6 Optare Solo M780s and Supertravel received 3 Wright Streetlite 8.8Ms.

HTL Buses 61 YJ11 EKL, one of their 8 Optare Solo M710SEs.

Network Warrington 203 YJ11 EKC, one of their 6 Optare Solo M780s

Supertravel 021 MX11 EGE, one of their 3 Wright Streetlite 8.8Ms.

Arriva’s new deliveries for 2011 in Merseyside began from September, thus all were 60 reg with deliveries of further VDL SB200/Wright Puslar 2s for Green Lane and Southport depots as well as others outside of Merseyside. Seen in September 2011 is Green Lanes 3066 MX61 AWW, on the route they were bought for, route 15 (Liverpool – Huyton).

The most anticipated delivery of the year was of course the delivery of 44 VDL DB300/Wright Gemini 2s for Speke depot, primarily for use on routes 79 and 82. While route 82 had been largely double deck anyway, these replaced the older Olympians and allowed some of the ALX400s to be cascaded to other depots, while route 79 had previously been operated in the main by single deck buses such that the introduction of these new larger buses is very much welcomed!

Seen on route 79 with another example similar behind it, is 4459 MX61 AXW.

The only other operator of 61 reg buses in Merseyside, as far as I am aware, is Hattons Travel, who have a pair of Enviro200 Darts, registered MX61 KOD/E.

Within Arriva, in addition to these brand new buses, a large number of other buses arrived from London, while the Welsh depots gained a number of Dart MPDs, many depots within the entire of Arriva NW&W gained ex London DAF DB250/Alexander ALX400s, all of which have quite neatly been converted to singled door (compared to the previously converted ones!) and repainted into the new Arriva livery.

Seen in Southport in July, but still operated by Skelmersdale depot which closed at the end of that month, is Arriva NW&W 4073 S243 JUA.

Much newer cascades from London were a set of 6 Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Geminis which have been allocated to Birkenhead depot and while they seem to be given priority to work Mersey Ferries contracts, when these are not operating they can be seen on any route, such as the pioneer of the fleet (indeed the first double deck bus built by Wrightbus at all!), 4200 Y581 UGC seen on route 464 in September.

The most notable transfers up North to the Arriva fleet in Merseyside have been the Mercedes Citaro G O.530s, of which 11 are now in service at Speke depot. These buses are currently just used on 3 routes, route 500 (Liverpol City Centre – Liverpool John Lennon Airport), route 501 (Liverpool South Parkway – Liverpool John Lennon Airport) of which two are in a dedicated livery, and route 699 (Carnatic Halls – Liverpool University).

An example of one in 501 livery is 6014 BX04 MXM (the other is 6005 BX04 MXB) seen in Liverpool South Parkway in August 2011.

Seen in standard livery on route 699 (and very packed too!) is 6032 BX04 NDD seen near to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool.

The final set of ex London cascades into Liverpool is for Stagecoach Merseyside who have received 9 Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400s which have been converted to single door and re-registered, for use on route 86, such 17283 KLZ 2316 as seen below.

As a result of all these new deliveries and cascaded in buses, this has meant the withdrawal of many older types from the streets of Merseyside with all of the Volvo B10B/Wright Endurances withdrawn, all of the N reg Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine IIs withdrawn, many of the Scania L113/Wright Axcess Ultralows withdrawn and even some newer types are beinging to be withdrawn such as some R reg Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine IIs and even some early Dart SLFs!

Arriva NW&W 6606 N606 CKA is one of the Volvo B10B/Wright Endurance withdrawn during 2011.

The final N reg Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II to be in service was quite unusually at Bootle depot (surprising as most remained at Birkenhead their entire lives) with 3288 N288 CKB seeing outs its final days towards the end of 2011 on routes 61 and 68 as well as some schools use.

As a result of the newer buses too, some notable cascades within the local depots have been made, such as the ex Speke DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige and DAF SB220/Alexander ALX300 to Green Lane.

Recent transfer to Green Lane, 2402 R152 GNW is seen glistening in the new Arriva livery in December 2011.

Now fitted with LED destination displays and refurbished internally, 2415 V415 ENC should make a good impression on any travellers using it.

During 2011, the largest loss to the local bus industry was that of Supertravel who closed down late 2011 with very little notice. During 2011 the company had gained a number of contracts for Wirral services early in the year (which is why the Wright Streetlites were delivered) however a number of Liverpool contracts were subsequently surrendered and transferred to other operators.

Seen in Birkenhead Bus Station on route 154 is 001 MX56 AAV Optare Solo M920.

A classic photo from happier times is of Supertravel’s first low floor bus, T6 STM a Dennis Dart MPD 8.8M/Plaxton Pointer 2, seen in Queen Square Bus Station in 1999.

A1A Travel also ended its operation of stage bus services in 2011, the last remaining routes they operated were routes 107/207 (Liverpool City Centre – Mossley Hill Hospital/Penny Lane) which were taken on by Stagecoach on 13/09/2011, subsequently being replaced by similar routes 83/84.

Seen on the final day at Penny Lane terminus is A1A Travel 2 Y11 JBA Mercedes Benz Vario O.814/Plaxton Beaver 2.

2011 also marked the end for one of the local Arriva NW&W depots, with Skelmersdale depot which closed in late July 2011, with its services being moved to other Arriva depots.

Finally although not a closure, First Chester & Wirral which has previously been part of First Potteries was reallocated within FirstGroup to become part of First Manchester during 2011. Although very little has changed in that time, a small number of ex Manchester buses have been transferred to the depots at Rock Ferry and Chester.

Seen on a rare working on route 71 (Liverpool – Heswall) is First Manchester 65739 YN05 WKH Scania L94UB/Wright Solar, seen in Liverpool on 22/12/2011.

Finally, as this review has been a lot longer than expected, a photo of some of the rarest workings of 2011, those on Christmas Day, where in Liverpool ACE Travel operated most of the services, including route 201X (Speke – Liverpool) with 730 V192 ERG Dennis Dart MPD 8.8M/Plaxton Pointer 2 seen operating on the route, a bus which has only arrived at ACE Travel in the last few months from Go-North East.

I’m sure there are some bits I may have missed out of this review but I hope it gives an insight to the huge number of changes to the local bus operators in 2011 – Lets hope 2012 is just as interesting!

To see more of my photos from this week along with many other recent ones I have uploaded please view my Flickr page!