Review of 2013 - part 1: Arriva
Derek Jones
The creation of Arriva Kent & Surrey from 7th April resulted in the absorption of Arriva Kent & Sussex, Arriva Medway Towns, New Enterprise and Arriva Guildford & West Surrey into a single fleet, albeit retaining the New Enterprise fleetname and livery for some vehicles. Transfers between different parts of the group had become increasingly common, and continue under the merged O-licence, one of the effects being the use of Arriva-liveried buses at New Enterprise and the frequent transfers both within and to and from the area we cover.
New vehicle deliveries included Wrightbus Streetlite Max 4224 http://goo.gl/sI4cFH , Optare Versa 4225-43 for the 166 http://goo.gl/S5fX2z , 176 http://goo.gl/XGKHwH , and 333 http://goo.gl/4SZCWd , http://goo.gl/Mktqq4 , Optare Solo 1520 for the 349 at Sittingbourne http://goo.gl/s2MC6r , and Volvo B5LH/Wrightbus Gemini hybrid deckers 7001-11 for the 71 at Maidstone, http://goo.gl/uKZK6a. The latter were delivered with 62 series registrations on the plates http://goo.gl/Glof2r , but only 7001/2 entered service as such before 1st March and the others were registered with new 13 plates before entering service.
More widely, the cascading of vehicles across the south-east, to and from Arriva London North/South and the TGM Group in particular, has been increasingly evident this year. From the Arriva London North & South fleets have come Mini Pointer Darts 1556/7 http://goo.gl/tqpbzV, SLF Darts numbered in the range 3327-43 (with either Plaxton or Alexander bodies) http://goo.gl/CHNPj4 , http://goo.gl/3ztBZs , DAF SB120/Wrightbus Cadet B34F in the range 3526-39 http://goo.gl/FpUcNB (some of these are in use as driver trainers), Volvo B7TL/Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini deckers 6123-9 http://goo.gl/uDfGZA , http://goo.gl/fkc2fH and most recently DAF DB250/Alexander Belfast ALX400 6248-52 (which are yet to be photographed).
TGM Group have supplied Dennis Trident/East Lancs 5442/3 http://goo.gl/syzX87 , and Alexander ALX400-bodied Tridents 5444/5, with 5444 at least running from Northfleet in Network Colchester livery before repaint and transfer to Gillingham http://goo.gl/a1fkkp . In addition MAN 14.220/MCV Evolution 3601/2 arrived from TGM (at Gillingham and Tunbridge Wells respectively) early in the year (this photo http://goo.gl/sClejn shows 3602 on the 219 at Tonbridge on 16th February, and http://goo.gl/bhi5tg on route 77 at Southborough on 27th February) but these were quickly transferred to Arriva The Shires. The similarity of registration of 3602 to the Eastbourne-based examples recently withdrawn by Stagecoach is because they were all registered by the same dealer. Wright Streetlite DF demonstrator MX62 ARU appeared in Medway http://goo.gl/8eZjIk to cover for warranty work on 1650-4.
As a separate acquisition, Trident/Alexander open-top 8001 arrived from Abellio.for use on the Medway Tour during the summer. http://goo.gl/tmrnwE
Withdrawal of older vehicles has taken its toll of older SLF Darts and Volvo Olympians, though examples of both still survive. Group photographers have documented these well, including 1996 East Lancs-bodied SLF Dart 3037 http://goo.gl/vnUCqQ . Other less routine casualties during the year were SLF Dart 3273, burnt out at West Kingsdown on 22nd April http://goo.gl/lx5fWI , and Transbus ALX400 decker 6413 which was de-roofed at Milton Road, Sittingbourne on 24th August http://goo.gl/HnLf6R .
Derek J
