UPDATED ~ Moving On

Monday saw the first day of operation for Ipswich Buses on the Park & Ride. First operated a number of pink liveried Wright Eclipse-Urbans on the route which have been steadily repainted within the last couple of months; 69424 AU58FFL set to be the latest one to be sent off. Ex-Lowestoft 32652 AU05MUP only stayed a few weeks and has already been transferred to Colchester to join her other sisters from Lowestoft.

This is likely to be replaced by 32655 AU05MUY and 32656 AU05MVA which will allow 30887 W742DWX to move on to Braintree in Essex. This is likely to happen once the remaining ex-X1 Geminis have arrived at Lowestoft.

69424 having her Park & Ride vinyls removed.

Anyway, the main reason I was in Ipswich was to photgraph as many of the new Park & Ride buses as I could. They operate eight '08 reg light blue Optare Versas on the route. My best image from the day is displayed below; unfortunately the low sun was making photographing buses without shadows across them was rather difficult so I moved to a shadier location.

149 working from London Road to Martlesham on Monday

It didn't always go to plan however with serious timing issues in places.

two Versas turn up at once outside the Old Cattle Market Bus Station

The Versas weren't the only vehicle to operate the Park & Ride on Monday, with one of their new 'hybrid' liveried Enviro200s employed.

82 YX63LGF with her smart Park & Ride blue and town green livery

Back to First, 65628 V828FSC has been withdrawn and sits in the yard in a sorry state on Star Lane whilst Park & Ride liveried bus 69428 AU58FFP was operating normal town routes which enabled a rare opportunity to have old and new in one photo.