Many of you will be aware from the latest edition of our quarterly journal “Bustler” that our June road-run did not go to plan as our former Newport Transport Atlantean EDW68D experienced a transmission fault not long after setting out from Barry. It was decided not to risk the bus and our passengers by continuing and so we returned to Barry Depot as it was better to be safe rather than sorry. However two of our intrepid travelers, Nicky and Rob, did make it to Newport, their report and photos of the visit are below.
Where were you all? I know where you were. It was the night that “68” decided to throw a tantrum because it did not want to go back to the home to Newport. We, (Rob and Nicky), arrived early at Newport Transport and drove up to the gate, “can I help you”? the man said, “We hope you are expecting a group of bus enthusiasts” was our reply, with that we were invited in and parked near the office building. After waiting in the car for a few minutes we were invited in to the office staff rest room to await the arrival of the CTPG evening road-run party, this would prove to be a long wait!
Mac phoned from the group’s Atlantean former Newport 68, to say the bus was turning back due to the development of a transmission fault, luckily rather than turn us out, Gareth Jones, the Project Manager, at Newport Bus, our host for the evening, said he would show us around. After signing in our tour began. Gareth told us that Newport are now committed to having ADL (Alexander Dennis) buses and we were shown the ADL 400E bus, (numbered 400 on ward) that is now set as the standard for Newport Bus. From now on all Newport’s buses will be to the same specification which will include leather seat coverings, this became evident later when we saw bus 319 an ADL 200E, the latest addition to the fleet and solely used on the Chepstow services, which were until recently operated by Chepstow Classic Bus. The ADL 400E double decker’s will now start to be used on the Cardiff Express route X30 route via the M4, as the trees in the University Hospital of Wales grounds which prohibited their use have now been trimmed.
Newport Bus has now become ADL service agents for the area, the service staff have undergone a training course to bring them to the required ADL standard. They are also involved in servicing buses for other operators, Monmouthshire Transport and Creigiau coaches are now using their services.
As a part of raising the standards of Newport Bus, every bus is swept, mopped, washed and fuelled daily, the drivers have smart uniforms, a nice deep green. You may have noticed that the green livery has now returned to the lighter green of old. The reason given for this was that the darker green fades more quickly than the earlier used lighter green. Newport Bus is very keen on lowering their carbon foot print, in pursuance of this aim the offices have many fuel saving features to reduce power consumption and along with a driving standards programme aimed at fuel saving as well as safe driving with every driver also undergoing a one day first aid course.
The companies heritage Longwell Green bodied Leyland PD2/40 number 178 (PDW484) is now being promoted for use on wedding hires as it’s main function. This is part of a drive to find work in other areas, along with the main source of income, local bus services. VOSA now use the MoT area in the depot every Friday and during the week on the odd occasion for vehicle checks, as they did last Christmas when they checked eight stretched limo’s (the word limousine being too hard a word for most of the occupants) of which four were taken off the road immediately.
Lastly we were shown some of the archive material dating back to Newport’s tramway system.
I have just given you a brief glimpse into some of the things we were shown, it’s a pity the group missed such an interesting visit but maybe a visit could be re-arranged in the future.
Nicky Reason.