Thursday 25 July 2013

konectbus visit ~ 24th July

First day of konect's new expanded yard © Steven Royal
Sam and I ventured out to Dereham yesterday after being invited to be shown around the brand new premises. The company moved out of their old garage to the plot next door, where a garage and offices were built from scratch. The old plot was flattened and turned into extra space for konect to store their buses. Previously, they had been stored in the car park across the road.

We were shown the Operations room, where konect have a state of the art tracking program which track both theirs and anglian's buses down to a pinpoint, with details of journey, driver, and how late/early the bus is running. This was when we discovered that anglian's refreshed 229, X229WRA was in service in Great Yarmouth. Most likely on the 581, she has been out of service since she emerged from the paintshop two weeks ago. We believe yesterday was her first time in service. I am visiting Beccles today to try and photograph her.

I must say the most noticeable part of our visit was the working air conditioning! A welcome relief from the beating sun outside. We were then taken to the drivers room, where they pay in their cash, sit and relax and drink coffee during their breaks. This room features a window with a lovely view of inside the garage where the drivers can watch the mechanics working on the buses.

We were then treated to the arrival of 219, which will be konect's only Excel after the bus transfers with anglian are complete. We were allowed to have a little mess around with the screen and had it working the 8, 602, and the free bus to Tesco! We thought that the treats were over, but then we were offered a lift back into the town centre with David Smith, who was about to embark on a school run on the heritage Leyland National. We are very grateful to konectbus for their cooperation, with special mentions to Steven and David who helped us out on our visit.