First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[nick291]

Streetdeck repowers are for Bath not Hengrove. Hengrove are due another batch of Yutong U11DDs imminently.

I see, thankyou.

 

[Marcus Fryer]

I've noticed that the 74 is rarely a Yutong U11DD lately, usually a B9TL. Is this in preparation for the streetdeck repowers that are coming? Not that the enthusiast in me is complaining!

Bustimes.org is showing that of the 11 buses on the 74 at present, 9 are U11DD and 2 are B9TL, so you’ve been lucky to get a B9TL!

 

[nick291]

Bustimes.org is showing that of the 11 buses on the 74 at present, 9 are U11DD and 2 are B9TL, so you’ve been lucky to get a B9TL!

I guess so! Would have liked some aircon in the heat though...

 

[Callum15632]

Bustimes.org is showing that of the 11 buses on the 74 at present, 9 are U11DD and 2 are B9TL, so you’ve been lucky to get a B9TL!

There was more B9s on in the day. There was like 3 or 4.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Apr 2026 ==

I guess so! Would have liked some aircon in the heat though...

Talking about yutongs. 30129 has made it's debut on the 74.

 

[SheikhYerboote]

Firstly, Apologies if this is the wrong thread however I had a good chat with a nice driver chap whilst being sat on the clapped out 44632 today which broke down and was towed off to bus heaven. When commenting on the state of the clapped out Worcester fleet, he mentioned that there may be new buses on the way in December but it is all linked to the depot being moved from the Western division to a division based in Leicester.
Anyone know anymore as Worcester seems to be the dumping ground for so many second hand buses.
I guess it’s a case of why update the fleet when you don’t have any meaningful competition.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Firstly, Apologies if this is the wrong thread however I had a good chat with a nice driver chap whilst being sat on the clapped out 44632 today which broke down and was towed off to bus heaven. When commenting on the state of the clapped out Worcester fleet, he mentioned that there may be new buses on the way in December but it is all linked to the depot being moved from the Western division to a division based in Leicester.
Anyone know anymore as Worcester seems to be the dumping ground for so many second hand buses.
I guess it’s a case of why update the fleet when you don’t have any meaningful competition.

Worcester does suffer from being a bit of a bus backwater with no new vehicles for 10 years.

I doubt that there’s brand new vehicles (not being electrified) but perhaps cascades of marginally new fleet.

 

[Simon75]

Firstly, Apologies if this is the wrong thread however I had a good chat with a nice driver chap whilst being sat on the clapped out 44632 today which broke down and was towed off to bus heaven. When commenting on the state of the clapped out Worcester fleet, he mentioned that there may be new buses on the way in December but it is all linked to the depot being moved from the Western division to a division based in Leicester.
Anyone know anymore as Worcester seems to be the dumping ground for so many second hand buses.
I guess it’s a case of why update the fleet when you don’t have any meaningful competition.

Worcester was under First Midlands (Leicester) a few years back, which also included First Potteries (Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent) The Potteries still comes under Leicester

 

[nick291]

Noticed on the newer Yutong U11DD's(26 plates) that these have been fitted with bus stopping lights at the front of the upper deck on the right hand side.

 

[t rex]

65171 and 72 out on first day of service on 8s in bristol

 

[nick291]

Aother

65171 and 72 out on first day of service on 8s in bristol

Some more differences I've noticed on the 26 plate Yutongs is the redesigned wheelchair ramp and it has USB C charging ports instead of both USB A and C.

 

[jordan19989]

Firstly, Apologies if this is the wrong thread however I had a good chat with a nice driver chap whilst being sat on the clapped out 44632 today which broke down and was towed off to bus heaven. When commenting on the state of the clapped out Worcester fleet, he mentioned that there may be new buses on the way in December but it is all linked to the depot being moved from the Western division to a division based in Leicester.
Anyone know anymore as Worcester seems to be the dumping ground for so many second hand buses.
I guess it’s a case of why update the fleet when you don’t have any meaningful competition.

The buses in Worcester are such a state but with the bus wash being re fitted hopefully they will be cleaned soon
Also the E200s are just dust carts can bearly get up hills

 

[Harold Hill]

65171 and 72 out on first day of service on 8s in bristol

Thanks for posting . I'll look forward to riding on them

 

[jordan19989]

First Worcester buses are still dirty as hell the bus wash is now up and running but they are still deciding not to wash them
First Worcester clearly don't give a **** about the fleet they just want the money as per usual

 

[Benjwri]

Interesting range of buses that have suddenly appeared in Bath. Quite a few ex Bristol uni ones, a Kernow and even a fully liveried Badgerline running around!

 

[THarris123]

Anyone know exactly how many electric buses are due for First WoE? I read somewhere there's 160 due for Lawrence Hill and Bath, but that's on top of 74. Is that also on top of the ones that came last year or is the figure of 74 the batch that came to Hengrove last year?

Anyone know how many singles due and what they'll be used on? And how many due for the airport contracts?

 

[aswilliamsuk]

Anyone know exactly how many electric buses are due for First WoE? I read somewhere there's 160 due for Lawrence Hill and Bath, but that's on top of 74. Is that also on top of the ones that came last year or is the figure of 74 the batch that came to Hengrove last year?

Anyone know how many singles due and what they'll be used on? And how many due for the airport contracts?

The second round of funding awarded last year was for 160 more vehicles - which appears to be 3 Yutong E12s (65171-73), 113 Yutong U11DDs, 12 Alexander Dennis E200EV, 5 E100EV and 27 Wright StreetDeck NewPowers.

There is also, it seems, 21 more Yutongs for Airport services - 65174-77 are four more E12s, and the remainder seem to be more U11DDs, one of which is 30155 so numbered in the middle of the sequence.

 

[THarris123]

The second round of funding awarded last year was for 160 more vehicles - which appears to be 3 Yutong E12s (65171-73), 113 Yutong U11DDs, 12 Alexander Dennis E200EV, 5 E100EV and 27 Wright StreetDeck NewPowers.

There is also, it seems, 21 more Yutongs for Airport services - 65174-77 are four more E12s, and the remainder seem to be more U11DDs, one of which is 30155 so numbered in the middle of the sequence.

Thanks. Anyone know what the breakdown is for the depots and what routes the 160 will be on?
Obviously 5 E100s for Bath for 6/7/8 and 12 E200s presumably for 1 and 5
I'm guessing the 3 E12s are extras for 8 and partly for 36?

 

[aswilliamsuk]

Thanks. Anyone know what the breakdown is for the depots and what routes the 160 will be on?
Obviously 5 E100s for Bath for 6/7/8 and 12 E200s presumably for 1 and 5
I'm guessing the 3 E12s are extras for 8 and partly for 36?

Not honestly sure on the allocations, but the ADLs for Bath looks logical. The first of the U11DDs, 30127-35, have entered service at Hengrove alongside their older sisters. 65171-73 are mostly on the 8 and 36 - apparently there might be an improvement coming to the 8?

 

[Snow1964]

Interesting range of buses that have suddenly appeared in Bath. Quite a few ex Bristol uni ones, a Kernow and even a fully liveried Badgerline running around!

Bath seem to struggle to maintain consistent colours, have seen upto 5 different colour buses working D1 and D1X on some days over last few months.

The best one was couple of years back when some ex Wales buses turned up and liveried Cymru Clipper, with a big C starting both lines, carelessly removed Cymru leaving the branding as lipper which means slightly rough, (like small waves on the sea). Advertising service as rough was classic.

 

[Benjwri]

Bath seem to struggle to maintain consistent colours, have seen upto 5 different colour buses working D1 and D1X on some days over last few months.

The best one was couple of years back when some ex Wales buses turned up and liveried Cymru Clipper, with a big C starting both lines, carelessly removed Cymru leaving the branding as lipper which means slightly rough, (like small waves on the sea). Advertising service as rough was classic.

Oh the branding went out the window years ago in Bath. When I first moved here it was consistent but I would say dropped to around 50% in the last few years. In the last few weeks seems to have dropped even lower.

On a side note the job they’ve done removing the stickers on the exBristol uni buses is horrific. There are stickers all over where they’ve only peeled half off, and the ones they have are just as legible from where the paint faded. Would looked better if they just left the stickers on in my opinion. It’s not like Bath is a stranger to Bristol branded buses anyways.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In respect of Bath, the fleet was looking reasonably coherent in 2021/2 but then James Freeman left and it all went sideways. Not helped by the moratorium on repaints whilst First looked at a corporate scheme, and the mass moving around of vehicles as they sought to standardise vehicles at certain depots so hence the red e200mmc (though in fairness, they tend to be on the 5 most of the time but they can escape).

Also not helped when they decided that Wells wouldn't have its own allocation so debranded Mendip vehicles appear all over. It would help if they decided to repaint the ex Bristol P&R machines in green (and grey) as they look like they're staying local so can go into West green.

I suspect that they are just making do with much of the fleet until the electrics come in.

 

[Fletcj10]

I assume this next order of buses being 160 will see off the last 2 (6) series streetlights & also a bulk of B9s? wonder if they will redeploy the Scania's on Airport work to replace the Airdecker buses making that more standard and maybe moving them were such as coach opco that has doubles

 

[Metal Mickey]

First Worcester clearly don't give a **** about the fleet they just want the money as per usual

I doubt any of the management at First Worcester will have any autonomy whatsoever as they’ll probably be reporting to someone in Sheffield or Bristol.

 

[Volvodart]

I doubt any of the management at First Worcester will have any autonomy whatsoever as they’ll probably be reporting to someone in Sheffield or Bristol.

It has recently been moved to East and Midlands so it is probably Norwich or something like that they report to.

 

[Metal Mickey]

It has recently been moved to East and Midlands so it is probably Norwich or something like that they report to.

Absolute bonkers

 

[ukiki323]

Bath seem to struggle to maintain consistent colours, have seen upto 5 different colour buses working D1 and D1X on some days over last few months.

The best one was couple of years back when some ex Wales buses turned up and liveried Cymru Clipper, with a big C starting both lines, carelessly removed Cymru leaving the branding as lipper which means slightly rough, (like small waves on the sea). Advertising service as rough was classic.

Bristol has been a free for all with branding too. The 70 moved depots and its like a rainbow of buses on there all of a sudden, although I do prefer that fun mix over the Yutongs it was using before.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Bristol has been a free for all with branding too. The 70 moved depots and its like a rainbow of buses on there all of a sudden, although I do prefer that fun mix over the Yutongs it was using before.

That explains why I suddenly have much louder, dirtier and less comfortable buses passing my house then. Very much liked the electrics. Any idea if they'll eventually return to the 70? When they were introduced they specifically said the 70 was going to be one of the routes to benefit asso quite disappointing if that has changed.

 

[-Colly405-]

I'm sure that there has been discussion on here before, amounting to the fact that there is basically now no branding. What we see now are simply the remnants of the former branding...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Apr 2026 ==

That explains why I suddenly have much louder, dirtier and less comfortable buses passing my house then. Very much liked the electrics. Any idea if they'll eventually return to the 70? When they were introduced they specifically said the 70 was going to be one of the routes to benefit asso quite disappointing if that has changed.

Presumably the 70 will revert to being electric when LH is electrified.
They originally also said that the 73 would be electric, and look at that now!

 

[ukiki323]

That explains why I suddenly have much louder, dirtier and less comfortable buses passing my house then. Very much liked the electrics. Any idea if they'll eventually return to the 70? When they were introduced they specifically said the 70 was going to be one of the routes to benefit asso quite disappointing if that has changed.

Im not sure exactly but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets new ones in the near future with so many coming. I'm guessing it left Hengrove and its electrics in relation to the route changes earlier this month

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Bristol has been a free for all with branding too. The 70 moved depots and its like a rainbow of buses on there all of a sudden, although I do prefer that fun mix over the Yutongs it was using before.

That explains why I suddenly have much louder, dirtier and less comfortable buses passing my house then. Very much liked the electrics. Any idea if they'll eventually return to the 70? When they were introduced they specifically said the 70 was going to be one of the routes to benefit also disappointing if that has changed.

There are many, many B9s that are on their last legs but there are a large number of new vehicles and cascades due. Those won't be repainted so you'll see examples in Mendip blue, Bath blue plus all the Citylines variants for a while.

So as @THarris123 was asking, the 113 Yutongs U11DD, and provided from a source who is usually pretty accurate, new Yutong deckers will be numbered 30127-239. The first batch are 30127-67 and should be at Hengrove (and indeed, some are now in service). The remainder are 30168-239 and were slated for Lawrence Hill. It is expected that some of the Hengrove will be for the Airport Flyer routes, and some of the new ones may be dual door for metrobus services.

Of course, some of these new vehicles are only allowing Streetdecks to be withdrawn for conversion to NewPower spec, whilst others reflect changes to service requirements. I suspect that the green Leeds Streetdecks might be down for cascade elsewhere in due course. Where the current A1 fleet will go (?) though fairly certain that 33108-110 are just visiting and will head elsewhere.

Where the various dual door vehicles will go...well, suggest they'll not head outside of FWoE (as some ex Unibus ones have been repainted in West green) though who's to say that they won't be converted to single door? Seems like the ADL ones are now all at Bath and used on the Uni routes (good) and A4 - have the AirDeckers been withdrawn pending a move elsewhere?