Non-Sapphire Sapphires
The arrival of new Enviro400s to Sapphire route 101 (Gillingham - Maidstone) saw the displacement of older, 58-reg examples.
Some have stayed at Gillingham, operating very regularly on the express 700/701 (now just 700) route(s) from the Medway Towns to Bluewater. 6451 (GN58 BSU) demonstrates that here.
Others have gone to Northfleet, operating amongst StreetLites on the Sapphire 480/490 to boost capacity on those routes.
A seeming consequence of this is Sapphire 'spare' Pulsar, 3762 (YJ08 DZN), in turn, appearing on other routes. This is one of the batch of buses previously used on the 480/490, which was retained and refurbished to Sapphire standard for continued use (because Arriva don't seem to like actually buying enough new buses for Sapphire conversions), but is now unloved.
It was on 499s on this day.
Bluewater bus station, Bluewater shopping centre, Kent.
Non-Sapphire Sapphires
The arrival of new Enviro400s to Sapphire route 101 (Gillingham - Maidstone) saw the displacement of older, 58-reg examples.
Some have stayed at Gillingham, operating very regularly on the express 700/701 (now just 700) route(s) from the Medway Towns to Bluewater. 6451 (GN58 BSU) demonstrates that here.
Others have gone to Northfleet, operating amongst StreetLites on the Sapphire 480/490 to boost capacity on those routes.
A seeming consequence of this is Sapphire 'spare' Pulsar, 3762 (YJ08 DZN), in turn, appearing on other routes. This is one of the batch of buses previously used on the 480/490, which was retained and refurbished to Sapphire standard for continued use (because Arriva don't seem to like actually buying enough new buses for Sapphire conversions), but is now unloved.
It was on 499s on this day.
Bluewater bus station, Bluewater shopping centre, Kent.