Gas No More

my first photograph of a gas bus! God only knows why
I even thought of trying to go bus spotting at night...

And so it ended. Almost four years ago, Andrew Pursey and Anglianbus introduced the first of their thirteen gas powered MAN EcoCitys into service. They begun their lives operating the 146, which ran from Norwich to Lowestoft via Loddon and Beccles, competing against First's X2 service. The first batch of six were officially launched on the third of December 2012 at Lowestoft Bus Station, with a further four entering service on the 601 route in January 2013. The batch was finalised in March that year with three more examples.

Two years later, the thirteen became twelve when in March last year, 104 WX62HGG was involved in an RTC with a coach (click here to read a news report) on the Acle Straight. The damage was significant enough to warrant having the vehicle withdrawn and written off. And now, a year and a half after that, the remaining twelve have been stepped down from service in East Anglia and are heading to Plymouth Citybus tomorrow for a new life in Devon. I will leave you with a selection of images, which would've included some taken today however the three buses I did see when spotting on route 88 today ended up being double deckers.

two of the brand new vehicles from the March 2013 batch pictured pre-registration in February

numbered 608 at the time, AU62DWL is on St Stephens' Street in Norwich arriving from Halesworth on a 588

609 AU62DWG in Gorleston on the 601 service to Great Yarmouth

101 WX62HGU on St Stephen's Street displaying 146

104 before it's demise on the 140 service on Hall Road Industrial Estate

more recently here is 106 in Ditchingham back in the Summer on the 88

and 102 WX62HHF approaching the Postwick Interchange on the last day that Anglian operated the 7 service 

they certainly travelled far and wide! Here is 108 spotted in Hempnall on the 84

111 leads 100 approaching Market Gates in Great Yarmouth

110 on a field in Woodton, being used to launch the company's sponsorship of the local football team