25 years operating little buses

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of my first 'proper' bus fleet, Blue Bus. 

It ran under my control from 15/11/1997 until July of 2008 when I sold it to Pilgrim Travel and entered the thrilling world of 'retirement'. This lasted less than 12 months as my present fleet was established in May 2009, initially operating in Kent and East Sussex (where I worked at the time) before moving to the non existent county of Wessex. Later in 2010, operations settled on Bridgwater in Somerset, where we continue to this day.

Blue Bus began life under an odd set of circumstances. During my childhood I attended no fewer than five schools thanks to the losing of my special needs statement file by Somerset County Council. This meant I was denied the support I should have had through school and consequently my memories of that time are best left behind a firmly bolted door. I went to two primary schools and was probably happiest at the second. I was sad to leave people who I assumed were 'friends' when I went to my first 11-16 school. So when a month into being there we moved around the corner from my second school where I knew my 'friends' were I moved to that school. 

This proved to be a mistake. After a number of bullying incidents and a tone deaf response from the school (none of what I went through would be considered acceptable in a workplace, and I've only ever experienced similar mental abuse whilst working for Arriva) it culminated in a brick being thrown through the living room window one Thursday evening after school. I reasoned that if that was what these people wanted to do to a pane of glass, then I wasn't going to find out what they'd physically do to me the morning after. Whilst the school took the view that 'I was imagining' the treatment I was going through I was referred by my GP and the process of getting a diagnosis started. 

So I announced I wasn't going back to school, after this. Mother was of the view I was going and I was not. Now, someone in their early to mid teens generally isn't going to be told to do things they don't want to do, and to hell with the consequences. My late father was in the final year of his HND in Practical Archaeology and he returned from his day's lectures not long after this window incident. The conversation was a brief one with Mother losing what remained of her patience and Dad announcing 'well if he says he's not going, then I guess he isn't going and I shall have to ring the county council'. 

This he did, once a day, advising them that his eldest son wasn't at school and why haven't you found him another one. This went on for three weeks before I went to see the headteacher of Stanchester School and a place was found. As Dad was on a student grant, this meant he was unemployed so the council had to pay for my school bus travel. So 18 months of travelling to/from school on the fleet of Miss Gunn of South Petherton awaited. I lost interest in school a few months later (there were still the same stupid people making life impossible because they didn't want to go to school) and got to college on the strength of 4 'D' grades at GCSE to study a GNVQ in Leisure & Tourism at Yeovil College.  

6 weeks prior to finishing school I finally got my Asperger's diagnosis. Just in time for it to be helpful in college. Throughout my educational life I remained completely unable to relate to my fellow humans, much less school subjects. But if you wanted to ask about a bus, bus operator, bus route from 1992, fire away as I remain encyclopaedic about those things.

So, with a 5/6 week period of school to fill in 1997 Blue Bus was born. I've always had an interest in bus timetables and have created my own for many years. This culminated in it being a job with the sadly departed Yellow Buses in Bournemouth where I spent 4 years in two stints. 

The 14 year old me was flush with finance at the time I set up Blue Bus and so I was able to invest in the very latest cutting edge technology. A 1986 (on paper) Mercedes 608D minibus.  I suppose the only cutting edges might have been from the structure of the bus dissolving before your very eyes?....

Cutting edge technology for 1997 - an 11 year old Corgi Juniors 'Mercedes minibus' modified with the help of paper and sellotape. The original fleetnames were written on in biro, but in 2008 I returned to the original bus and got it into the condition it probably would have been, had I the resources and skills. The bus was a light metallic blue.

This expensive piece of equipment was the first of many Blue Buses based in my home town of Yeovil. I didn't have the finance to get Best Impressions to design a wonderful bus timetable so instead did my own on a sheet of plain A4 paper and the assistance of a blue biro. 

Somewhere, among my possessions I still have this, I just can't locate it to share with you all. Around three years ago I drew up a nice professional looking timetable which I share below. 

Timetable no.1

The basic premise of this 'network' of services was that on a market day in a surrounding town or city a shopping bus would arrive. So this single bus would fan out to Sturminster Newton on a Monday, Salisbury on a Tuesday, Bridport on a Wednesday, Taunton on a Thursday and back out to Sturminster to come into Yeovil on a Friday and a Saturday. The original timetable assumed that a non existent town north of Yeovil was the prime focus whereas the nice version is centred on my home town of Yeovil. 

These routes were operated around a works contract to Westlands and a school bus run. So the bus and driver had a full days work with some extended breaks. 

Blue Bus didn't have the benefit of lots of cheap dumped EFE/OOC diecasts for expanding with and we made do with matchbox and Corgi toys. Our very first Mercedes we assumed to be a 608D, and it was joined by a later generation Mercedes 307 TV truck, which I assumed to be an Alexander Sprint bodied Mercedes 709D 25 seat minibus. 

Double decks came in the form of a few red Matchbox Leyland Titans and 'coaches' were Bova Futuras (which in reality were heavily modified Matchbox Ikarus coaches). There were even a pair of East Lancs EL2000 rebodied Leyland Tigers which cribbed the Ikarus coach. Amazing what can be done with paper, pens and sellotape. 

The fleet expanded, thanks to the Blair Government's investment into rural buses and by 2000 I had 'proper' buses and coaches in the form of cheaply sourced EFE/OOC models. The first Dennis Dart and Mercedes 709 came late in 1998 and early 1999 and still reside with me in use with Southwestbus. I had a few Van Hool Alizee coaches and some EFE Mercedes 709/Plaxton Beavers. Around 2001 I finally developed some kind of bus network, centred on Shaftesbury which expanded outwards. Most of the links never existed in reality and certainly not at the frequencies we provided them at. 

Later iterations of Blue Bus timetables created three years ago saw an expansion of the Salisbury corridor and it was this that formed the hub of the resulting network. 

Vehicle hardware was easier to come by and I built up a series of EFE Mercedes 709 and Leyland National buses to work a series of school/college contracts and daily bus services. Route 'B' was my local bus route and it was left uncovered in the November 1997 Southern National Yeovil service changes. This was partly reversed in Spring 1998. 

Bus Number one, in this reimagined setup was a Reeve Burgess Beaver bodied Renault S56. It came from my late Father's collection in 2018 and using it in this way seemed a fitting tribute. In the very early days, I didn't bother with destination blinds for the vehicles and instead made use of boards in the windscreen. Later vehicles did have little tiny destination blinds which could be changed as needed. The wonders of paper, biro and blu tack...

Bus no 1 - in proper model form. No destination blind, just a board in the window.

I've owned this RM since November 1997 - it's seen sporadic use in both fleets but currently sits 'back in time' 

Assorted ragbag of contract Nationals with hedge your bets liveries!

From the one bus in 1997, Blue Bus expanded over a 10 year period into an operation that had 270 vehicles at it's peak. In it's later years this expansion brought problems which led to the sale of the fleet. Those things would probably have not been problems with the benefit of hindsight with what I know, which I didn't know at the time. But then life is all about learning - it is just that I learn the hard way. 

Throughout my time running two fleets my prime interest has always been in the 'coach' side rather than the bus. So, Southwestbus is primarily a coach operation running a few buses rather than a bus operation with a few coaches. There are more uses with a coach, it can do more things than a bus, which ultimately is a bus which runs from one place to another on a timetable.  

So, here's to another 25 years messing around with toys.