Arriva Buses in Rye

[JFO]

For me the most unexpected operator on the 11th's Ashford-Rye RR was Arriva, who supplied MMC 4117 SN66WUE and Wright 2949 MX09LXU which I'm told came all the way from Arriva the Shires at Luton and Hemel Hemstead!, and I captured them at Rye Station and passing Rye's Town Gate.

[Chris]

This seems the perfect moment for me to add something that the Club received from one of our industry contacts a couple of months ago, and which I have only just remembered at a convenient moment. 

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Southeastern and GTR (Southern, Thameslink, etc.) source their rail replacement through different lead operators - Southeastern are still sourced by Go-Ahead London, whilst Transport UK (Formerly Abellio) are the equivalent for GTR. Operators need to 'sign up' with the contract holder, and ensure they meet the relevant contractual requirements. As Club members with a particular interest in this will know, PSVAR (Accessibility) and PSVAIR (Audio-visual announcements) are of growing importance. 

Go-Ahead were offering buses for sale from their London fleet as ideal for use on rail replacement earlier in the summer. 

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It may be noted that the sub-contractors can be quite different: GTR seems to be using operators from much further afield, and even locally, Arriva have only appeared on work for GTR (generally Tunbridge Wells or Northfleet, not necessarily using drivers from the same depot as the vehicles). 

Chris