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This is another instance of something which I have included in the 2025 round-up – in fact it’s this specific vehicle – LJ16 NMX seemingly being one of the better examples that I’d see around fairly often. In this view on 5.12.24 it is speeding up a damp Clifton Boulevard with the Medilink 1 journey that runs through from Queens Drive.
Back in the summer I did a summary of the BYDs which I tried to keep concise and readable, however now it’s time for the full-blown waffling version...
In 2016 the situation for battery electric buses looked nothing like it does today, as they were a considerably more niche product. Nottingham City Council were not desperately cash strapped like they currently are, and (quite rightly) liked to throw considerable sums of money at public transport projects. As a result, a large fleet of Optare Solo and Versa EVs ran on the Council’s extensive network of ‘Linkbus’ routes; Medilink; Locallink; Centrelink; Worklink etc.
That year saw a couple of major changes to the network. Centrelink was merged with the Citylink 1 Park & Ride route to create Centrelink P&R, and Citylink 2 was replaced by Ecolink P&R... not to be confused with the previous Ecolink branding from Nottingham City Transport route 30 and its ethanol powered buses. Larger battery electric single deckers were needed for the P&R routes and so the City Council purchased a batch of 13 BYD K9UR single deckers. IIRC they seated about 35.
This was a year or two before BYD partnered with Alexander Dennis to build electric Enviro 200s, so the Nottingham 13 were unusual examples of earlier BYD integrals. At that time they were a relatively unknown manufacturer in the UK and had little else than a few trial single deckers in London. The new electrics were launched at Showbus 2016 with an unregistered and unbranded example in base blue livery.
When the buses received their branding, there were three styles; Centrelink P&R, Ecolink P&R, and a few which simply said P&R Link for use on either route. All were the same two-tone blue as the Medilink, and for some unfathomable reason the branding for Ecolink and P&R Link contained the Medilink’s heart-monitor pulse line graphics, despite neither serving any hospitals. Unlike the striking red of old Centrelink, turquoise of Citylink 1 and yellow of Citylink 2, the livery introduced with the BYDs made a poor distinction between the new routes.
The buses were operated on the council’s behalf by CT4N – who were still called Nottingham Community transport at that time. For 2017’s Showbus, the P&R BYDs ran the event shuttle service to East Midlands Parkway and were still being touted as the exciting new investment in Nottingham’s sustainable transport. However the whole setup was to be remarkably short lived, with the Centrelink/Ecolink P&R routes ceasing at the end of August 2019 and replaced by new Nottingham City Transport routes 49, 50 and an amended 44.
In late 2019 two buses, 986 and 987, were repainted red and black for use on a shuttle at East Midlands Gateway, while the rest of the fleet were stored with occasional use and the branding removed. Six months later the Covid pandemic hit and the country ground to a halt for a while. When things started to pick back up in late 2020, the K9URs reappeared as replacements for the slightly smaller and older Solo EVs and Versa EVs on the Medilink, allowing more space for (anti)social distancing.
Perhaps it was the City Council’s intention to move the BYDs onto the Medilink anyway, pandemic notwithstanding? Of course the obvious course of action would be to take the BYDs, already in base Medilink blue, and apply branding identical to that of the Versa EVs. But ohh, that just makes TOO MUCH sense, so they did something completely different and utterly pathetic. I don’t know if it was the City Council or CT4N that was responsible for the idea, but a completely new livery was invented for the Medilink with lime/white/blue applied diagonally.
The livery itself wasn’t so bad, except for the fact it was a total waste of time because A) they never even got round to repainting all the buses and B) they didn’t bother with ANY BRANDING AT ALL. After a year or so, half hearted Medilink logos were slapped onto the otherwise bare livery. So from late 2020 onwards the Medilink was a mixture of K9URs in plain P&R Link blue, plain dishwasher tablet packet colour, dishwasher tablet with a Medilink logo, or whatever Optare diesel CT4N were fielding to plug a shortfall. Meanwhile the ex-Medilink Versa EVs were going around on Locallink routes in fully branded Medilink livery.
This is where things started to go downhill for the K9URs in terms of availability. They were built when ‘heavy duty’ battery powered electric buses were still in their infancy and had reached five years of age. Having been developed with early 2010s EV battery technology, they were effectively on the way out, and allegedly couldn’t last a full day on the Medilink on a single charge. Unfortunately the City Council never bothered to install live vehicle tracking which makes the Medilink’s previous PVR unknown, but even with an excess number of electric vehicles available there would always be at least one or two CT4N Commercial diesels covering.
Time went on and the ‘one or two’ diesels covering became three or four... or more. After getting rid of the Optare Tempos, CT4N bought five Versas from Go North East and used the pair of longer, 62 plate examples almost exclusively on the Medilink (and sometimes their Nottingham High School routes). Throw in one or two of their ex-Blackpool Solos and one of the smaller Versas, which was the typical diesel allocation on the ML around 2023/4, and there was an average of around 5-6 buses filling in for unavailable BYDs on a daily basis.
By 2025 the Scania Omnidekkas, which were nominally school buses, were making regular appearances on the Medilink 2. At some stage I don’t remember the ML was split into the ML1 between City Hospital and QMC, and the ML2 between QMC and Queens Drive, because of unreliable running times on the whole joined up route. The ML1/ML2 reverted back to the conventional Medilink again in summer 2025 in readiness for Skills taking it over from the 1st of September.
Meanwhile, one of the Gateway Shuttle BYDs had returned and been painted into dishwasher tablet Medilink livery, but did little to help the numbers of serviceable EVs. Another randomly got sold off to Blackburn Private Hire, and I think at least one more just got dumped in one of the City Council’s compounds and was left to rot. On the 31st of August 2025 – exactly 6 years after the Centrelink/Ecolink had been withdrawn – the whole K9UR fleet was quietly stood down.
Since then the City Council listed them for sale on some obscure commercial fleet sales website... I’ll have to try and find it again. Most of them were for spares or repair and suggested the majority were not in working order. At least one more was bought by Blackburn Private Hire, but as far as I know nothing has happened to the rest and they’re stored in a yard up Ilkeston way somewhere. And that is, as far as I know, the story of Nottingham’s BYD K9UR battery electric buses.
I told you this was going to be a long one!
A long-serving member of the Linkbus fleet that continues to eke out its existence on the remains of the Locallink network is CT4N’s 923. Originally YJ58 PHA it was originally Medilink blue, then Locallink green and now looks decidedly drab in CT4N grey/blue. It brings an L4 up Hollington Road on 8.4.25
The remaining three-digit ‘linkbus’ Solos in CT4N’s fleet continue to eke out an existence on the Locallink routes; the L2/X2, L4 and L14 are all that remains of the Locallink network, unless I’m forgetting one? Locallink livery is well and truly dead, so only the ‘L’ prefix to the route number indicates back to what was once a large and well publicised system of local bus routes.
Given that the 9XX-numberd Solos almost never stray from Locallink anyway, I don’t particularly see why they needed to be painted into CT4N’s commercial grey and blue, as they could have quite easily stayed in the more familiar two-tone green so that the colour of the buses still matched the branding on the timetables. I wonder if it was more to do with Locallink being swept under the rug that the livery was eradicated than the Council/CT4N worrying about Locallink buses getting used on commercial routes... after all, they happily used the Medilink branded Optares on basically anything.
Here, 930 is seen turning onto Hucknall Road from the Valley Road roundabout with an L14 on 5.12.24. The road cambers here but the classic Solo body roll has made it so it’s bolt upright (check the angle of the front axle), and the wonky destination screen is actually leaning even further to the right! And this is CT4N so of course there is black tape holding part of it together.
YJ10 EZM
This came by rather unexpectedly, hence the rubbish shot of it. I didn't know there was an 'X2' variant of the L2, and it seems strange a council supported Linkbus has an express version!
Canning Circus, Nottingham, 7.10.21
In the last days of my involvement with Western National I started to spend a week to check other companies' records to see whether they owned First's the Buses Of Somerset and Taunton.
As far as I could tell, no one did, and after the split from Western National I decided to continue with the takeover as a lot of work had already gone into it.
I decided to keep the same identity and to keep it separate from our Linkbus brand, as I like the livery and I wanted to keep Linkbus local.
To try and update the fleet, our vehicles from the now closed Western National Dorset operations will be transerred here, and be joined by a number of second hand purchases.
The first of these purchases is of 18 ex Stagecoach London Scania Omnicities. Withdrawn for a while now, these vehicles were relatively cheap to buy and will be able to replace a large number of older double deckers, which ones are yet to be confirmed.
They are joined by 3 ex Stagecoach Omnicities transferred from the Dorset operations, and these are the first to be repainted.
The L2 is one of the final remnants of the Locallink network – there’s this and the L14 and I think that’s it? CT4N run them with diesel Solos these days, and I’ve noticed they always seem to use their ex-Linkbus examples (with three digit numbers) on these and tend to keep the Versas and ex-Blackpool Solos off the L routes. I wonder if there’s still some ongoing contract with the City Council about use of the vehicles previously for Locallink/Medilink? Maybe these three-digit Solos are still council owned.
With an L2 to Viccy Centre on 16.9.24, 930 is seen on its way up Wollaton Road.
YJ10 EZM
The final vehicles to be repainted into Linkbus Somerset livery are Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts WA09 RRA/B/C. These were once again included in the takeover. They have gained all of our fuel saving technologies and retain their Devon Express interior due to it being in good condition.
These were involved in an incident in 2011, therefore explaining why these carry the newer headlight style.
The interior is Copyright to me as well as the livery, the net to Andy Ward and Lee Willis. Many thanks to Silk Bus for providing the net.
With Crossways Separating from the Western National partnership with Devon Express, Linkbus Somerset has returned! The fleet remains unchanged and will be repainted in the coming weeks into their original liveries. I will only re upload this vehicle, as nothing has changed!
But for now, I leave you with my favourite from the Linkbus Fleet, a 64 plate Optare Solo SR.
We have recently purchased 10 2012 registered Volvo B7RLE/ Wright Eclipse Urban 2 from Devon Express, who in part exchange has taken the three enviro 200 darts in the old Linkbus Somerset fleet now rebranded as part of Western National. 8 of the B7RLE's purchased are being pressed into service at Western National after being fitted with our usual fuel saving technologies.
Funnily enough, the L14 was one of the services I photographed along here in July 2014, back when it was run by NCT using good old V reg Solos. Granted I didn’t get a good photo of it, but ten years on here’s the updated version, clinging on as one of the few Locallink routes still going and still using Solos! Here, though, it’s CT4N 932, which is fitting since it’s one of the ones originally used on the Medilink – then repainted into Locallink green – and now in CT4N grey and blue but still going strong on the Linkbus network.
YJ10 EZO heads along Hucknall Road with an inbound L14 to the city centre, on 31.7.24
sur la ligne I à destination d'Oulx – Gare, arrêt Gare Routière, route d’Italie, Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes (05), PACA, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, France, FR)
Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban 2 WA63 LON/ EXP/ PES/ ONX/ DEV have now been repainted into linkbus Somerset livery. These were new to Devon Express and were included as part of the takeover.
It’s the end of the year – or the start of another one – so time once again for a twelve month round-up of buses. As with last year’s, it’s a disjointed mix of Lincoln and Nottingham buses and seems to be less on overview of developments and more an overview of specifically what I’ve spotted, with roughly 2/3 of that being in Lincoln; a city where bus ‘developments’ aren’t exactly coordinated. Still, I came, I saw, I photographed and so here is the ‘story’ of 2021.
We begin up Lindum Road, Lincoln for January’s picture, on a Sunday with the once-a-week Skegness board on the 18. They had Enviro 400 MMC 10738 on loan, which I saw many times on its frequent visits to Lincoln on the 56, but was lucky enough to see this unusual working on the last day of January. Some unusual loans have been occurring throughout the year at Stagecoach in Lincolnshire, although I imagine an E400 MMC on Lincoln’s 18 can pretty much be counted as a one-off event!
Looking back at February, nothing much really happened beyond me ticking off a few Local repaints and buses from other Stagecoach depots. To break up a rather repetitive top row, here’s PC Coaches Solo PC05 PCC on 27.2.21 – my first sighting of that vehicle in two years! Until then I thought it had been withdrawn, but a miserable evening at the bus station was able to show me otherwise.
March was busier, but the stand-out moment was when, after over a month of waiting, the first Plaxton President to be painted in the new Stagecoach Local livery entered service. 18027 departing Lincoln’s bus station on the 26th, with a 100 to its home town of Gainsborough, ended up featuring in my most faved photo to date. The rise of Local livery can be seen in the background, and now even a Mansfield-based President has been given the same treatment.
On the subject of Local livery, it became very common as more and more buses were repainted. This shot from 26.4.21 shows an Enviro 400, 200 and 300s in the new style, with the only non-Local vehicle present being Lincoln’s specially-liveried poppy bus. There have, of course, been many interesting repaints into Local this year but I don’t have room to include them all here! Darts, Eclipses, Transbus E300 and even a Gemini are the most notable, as well as 18027 in March’s entry of course. The ALX400s treated also deserve a special mention since out of three based at Lincoln, two appear to have kicked the bucket just months after being painted... so they didn’t last long! The tale of 18122 alone is so stupid you couldn’t make it up.
Out of the blue came a Brylaine service 30 to Horncastle, as seen in May’s view of Solo YJ05 JXK departing Lincoln with one. Bizarrely, this route is now operated by Stagecoach, so I’ve no idea what that’s all about. Are Stagecoach running it while Brylaine have driver shortages?? Unless they ever claim it back, shots of the 30 worked by Brylaine now fall under “it only happened in 2021” and so is worthy of an inclusion.
Still in Lincoln and back to PC Coaches for June, with double decker FX13 ABN on diversion through the city on 9.6.21, climbing Brayford Way bridge with a 47 to Newark. From early June the biggest impact on pretty much all traffic through Lincoln was the closure of Pelham Bridge for around three months. Numerous routes were diverted and it suddenly took half an hour to drive from the east to the west side of the city, meaning any diverted buses were also perpetually late. On the positive side, it did mean there were more photo opportunities at different locations to usual.
Another thing that had been happening throughout 2021 were rail replacement services, which saw vehicles from several operators pitch up on St Marys Street outside the station, such as Slefordian coach SC67 SLE in July the 6th’s picture. Also encompassing more Pelham Bridge diversions, E200 MMC 37465 is stopped in the opposite direction with an X6. There’s a strong ADL theme to this year and these two 67 plates both count, even if the coach retains the historic Plaxton name.
It took until the last day of August for me to get a relevant Nottingham picture for this year, with 630 having been ejected from the 35 and enjoying its new life as a spare. Rise of the Planet of the Spare Buses appears to be underway since NCT have been painting pretty much everything they can into silver spare, in readiness for a batch of much-rumoured biogas buses arriving in 2022. The things I’ve heard about them range from the sensible to the absurd, while the debacle with the 48s going single deck and then suddenly not was also an interesting one.
September 19th saw old and new meet with E400 City 500 – newly fitted with a digital mirror system – visit Hucknall to be seen alongside Nottingham buses from the past. South Notts G129 NRC (and at one time 699 with NCT) joins it in this view. Another new thing for 2021 was 500s actual livery, which it gained at the very start of the year. Once again referencing this upcoming batch of biogas buses, it is assumed (by most people, I expect) that they will feature the digital mirrors and that is why the system has already been applied to a couple of the existing fleet. It does seem that most of NCT’s changes this year are in fact preparations for next year’s intake of buses.
October’s photo combines both the Nottingham and Lincoln themes into one, as Lincoln Enviro 200 MMC 37458 brings a B4 works service into Nottingham on the 11th of the month. This route is another new thing to occur this year, and with Gainsborough also doing one of the Sherwood Arrow boards at the moment there’s suddenly a surprising amount of typically Lincoln-area vehicles that can be found around Nottingham! (Two on a regular basis is definitely a high number when compared to none at all!) If only those damn InterConnect MMCs would come on the SA at times when I could actually go and see them.
The dominance of ADL vehicles continues into November with an Enviro 200. I actually caught up with NCT so much during the autumn months that I don’t have enough room to put it all on here, so seeing as I’ve already touched on the double deckers, here’s a 389 on November the 29th, with a blue line 41. Another round of repaints this year saw long E200s 388/89/90 go into spare livery, continuing sparemageddon but also greatly improving their appearance. From 2023, the entire NCT single deck fleet is meant to be replaced by almost 80 new battery electric buses, so it seems the days of the E200s, Solo SRs and even the MMCs are numbered. High-numbered, I might add, but numbered nonetheless. The SRs may well even go before then, but we shall see. Whatever happens in the meantime, I think some of these repaints are the beginning of the ‘butterfly effect’ that will see the whole NCT single deck fleet replaced. I could go on, but there’s another month left.
December now, and more single deck hype, anyone? CT4N ex-Medilink Optare Versa EV 946 is seen on 13.12.21, working a Locallink service after being ousted from its old route by the bigger BYDs. The misallocation of Versas in full Medilink livery to Locallink services has gone on for so long now it barely counts as a ‘wrong’ working, with these now being more common than the correctly branded Solo SR electrics. As I mentioned above, NCT are meant to be getting a large number of new electric buses, and so are the City Council/CT4N for the Linkbus network. Until then, I guess the Medilink branding farce will continue, with barely branded BYDs on ML and fully branded ML Versas (and classic Solos) on LL. In the mean time, what’s going to happen to the currently out-of-favour Locallink Electric Solo SRs?
2021 has certainly been another weird year in terms of everything, not just buses. Of course, one thing I completely neglected to mention was the sale of Stagecoach bus operations to National Express, so I’ll have to see how that affects Lincoln in the coming months. Didn't even manage to get any TrentBarton in, either! With both NCT and Stagecoach, the latter part of this year really does seem like the build up to bigger events that will occur over 2022 and beyond, so hopefully there will be some fun to be had. New vehicles for one and a new owner for the other, on top of increasing driver shortages and potentially more/less pandemic-related restrictions... I have no idea whether things are about to take an upward or a downward turn, so let’s just see what the new year brings, I guess!
Happy New Year everyone.
After the bizarre occurrence of seeing 1002 on the Medilink outside QMC twice in the exact same circumstances, the next time I was there I kept an eye out for any Tempo action... and got some! The photo is meh, but at least I saw it.
This time heading into the QMC grounds with a journey towards Queens Drive P&R is lesser-spotted 1014, which Bustimes data suggested was off the road for a period of time. However, I expect that deviates from the truth somewhat since it's probably been out and just not tracking. The 'linkbus' routes do not track for some weird reason anyway, but it could be the ticket machine on 1014 itself not working properly.
15.2.22
Karosa B952E.1718
10686
New to DP Ostrava 6561
To LinkBus, Praha 3 - Žižkov
Then to Ondřej Kašpárek, Praha
A Tempo wasn't what I was expecting to see come lurching out of the hospital grounds on the Medilink, but that's what happened on 31.1.22, and bizarrely it's happened again since! Unfortunately the crappy winter sunlight and some weird reflections managed to screw the photo up a little, taken from the 36, but it's unusual enough to include.
It's a shame the Linkbus routes don't track on Bustimes actually, as if I've seen it twice then it's probable that 1002 is regularly on this but flying under the radar. All I have to do now is somehow find it again, but not from the top deck of a 36.
In Conjunction with Devon Express we have decided to start up a new company called Western National. As part of our involvement in the company, we have decided to drop the Linkbus Somerset name in favour of the Western National brand. This part of the company is still owned by us, and so for admin purposes the linkbus name will remain 'behind the scenes'.
SOR CN12
TK9N2XX478LSL5624
New to Veolia Transport Morava 5T7 7102
Then to ARRIVA MORAVA
To ARRIVA VÝCHODNÍ ČECHY 6E1 7493
To ARRIVA autobusy
Ex Vladimír Růžička, Hlinsko
A small number of the 2013/14 Locallink electric Solos continue to hang on in service, coming up to their 9th and 10th years serving the city. By "a small number" I pretty much mean "at least two" because they don't track on Bustimes and the only two I ever see around are 956 and 975. Mind you, with all the cuts to Linkbus services going on, there soon won't be any services left for them to run on!
What I believe to be the oldest electric left running for CT4N/Nottingham City Council, YD63 VBJ 956, descends South Sherwood with an L14 on 29.12.23. They've done a good job keeping it looking decent and still with all the branding intact after ten years.
With the original Devon Express retiring tonight for the new owner to take over the company thought it would be fitting to show the latest repaints into linkbus Somerset livery which are 5 ex Devon Express Citaro's. One, MX09 PLE, carries a small message for the founder of the company.
Crossways has today taken over GO Bus - Link Somerset, a subisdary of fellow fictional bus company Devon Express. Due to a lack of interest we purchased the company for a much lower price than was first valued.
We have rebranded the company as Linkbus Somerset, feeling that the name was originally too long and wordy. The company operates 5 bus services in the county of Somerset, these are:
152 Taunton , Norton Fitzwarren, Burnham-on-Sea
70 Taunton - Tiverton
88 Somerton - Tiverton
91 Bridgwater Town Service
102 - Burham on Sea - Weston Super Mare
The fleet acquired from Devon Express consists of 6 Optare Solo's, DV54 OKR, RE54 YTN and 4 other unregistered Solo's. All are seated B24F. The two 54 registered solo's were sold to Devon express around 6 months ago along with a service that operated within the Devon area, and were new to our company in 2004/5. The 4 2003 unregistred solo's have immediately been replaced by 4 dealer stock Euro5 Solo SR's, seated B27F. The solo's are therefore withdrawn for sale. Also acquired are 5 Dennis Tridents new to Stagecoach in 2005, 5 2009 Mercedes Citaro's, 5 Volvo B7RLE/ Wright Eclipse Urban and 3 2009 Enviro 200 darts, all were new to Devon Express.
A new livery has been introduced, trying to keep it simple, over the coming weeks buses will be repainted and also retrofitted with our fuel saving technologies.
Since most of my Robertson Buses photos focus solely on the fleet, I thought it might be worth shining the spotlight on the RB routes, since I’ve gone to the trouble of writing up timetables and other information but never really used them. I aim for them to be fairly accurate, although some inaccuracies might slip in where I’ve underestimated peak time traffic levels or other factors. I do quite like coming up with the routes, although devising detailed timetables can be a bit arduous sometimes – however it is incredibly useful for knowing how many buses need to be allocated to a route to provide X frequency.
205 General Overview
The 205 began in 2017 as the Townlink; a joint venture between Robertson Buses and Nottingham City Council to connect numerous towns on the west side of the city. It was branded to match other Council ‘link’ buses with the intention that three council-funded electric buses would run the route. Ultimately, things fell short and only one electric bus was supplied, although the City Council still provided part-funding for the service for two years. In 2019, the council pulled out, leaving RB to continue the service commercially and with one random electric bus in the fleet. The ‘link’ branding was discontinued and instead became the 205, numbered in line with the other RB routes.
Route
The 205 runs on an hourly basis Monday to Saturday. As both Townlink and 205, the route, frequency and days of operation have remained the same. Beginning in Ruddington at The Green, the route exits the village to the north up High Street and Clifton Lane, making the short hop over to Clifton and passing through the middle of town on Southchurch Drive. After travelling up Farnborough Road and Remembrance Way the 205 uses the ring road for the one and only time between the A453 turnoff and Dunkirk Island, upon which the 202 into Beeston is mimicked by using University Boulevard, Queens Road East and Station Road. After calling at Beeston interchange, Wollaton Road takes the route towards Derby Road and Priory Island, where it turns onto Wollaton Vale and continues along the full length of the road. Upon reaching the large junction at Balloon Wood, Bilborough Road is followed all the way past the college to Strelley Road, then Broxtowe Lane and Bells Lane to the Cinderhill roundabout. The road into Bulwell is followed and the route calls at Bulwell bus station, before departing up Bulwell High Road and Hucknall Lane. Hucknall Lane/Nottingham Road is followed all the way to Hucknall itself, where Ashgate Road takes buses near the station. After terminating at the Watnall Road bus stops, Ruddington-bound journeys commence straight down Hucknall High Street and Portland Road back onto Nottingham Road.
Vehicles
The initial proposal for Townlink was that Nottingham City Council would fund the purchase of three new BYD K9 electric buses for use on the route, similar to what was already running on the Centrelink and Ecolink P&R services. Before any electrics were delivered, Dart 18 carried ‘temporary’ branding and ran alongside a loaned-in Dart for a short period of time, but not long after the first BYD arrived at the depot for training purposes the City Council made cutbacks and the final two electrics never came. Although the route only required two vehicles, three electrics would have been needed due to buses being swapped for charging at different points throughout the day. As it happened, using one diesel bus alongside the electric meant there was no need for a third bus to be swapped on later in the day. After the service went fully commercial in 2019, the Townlink Dart was upgraded to E-Dart spec and repainted into a dedicated route 205 livery, while the sole BYD K9 sat disused in its old red livery for some time. This resulted in it suffering electrical damage due to it being stored, but in 2021 it was repaired, repainted and put back into use, almost exclusively on the 205 alongside the Dart. If either 18 or 20 are off the road, an Enviro-Dart is borrowed off the 202 to fill its place.
Viability, competition and other notes
The 205 doesn’t really require anything special if it were to exist IRL, and with the Linkbus network shrinking it would probably be quite useful for people who no longer have an ‘L’ route… or just want to go to another town around Nottingham without having to go into the city centre to change buses. It does have competition from the tram for passengers travelling between Clifton, Beeston and Bulwell/Hucknall, but also serves a lot of other places besides those. It’s a bit like NCT’s 53/54 but with a greater reach.
I really haven't photographed many Medilink BYDs in this livery, partly because I haven't been in good places to get them on camera and partly because they do look kind of rubbish and not worth the effort. 978, however, was an exception here as it came around the roundabout and provided the perfect photo opportunity.
The decision to paint the new Medilink fleet in this way makes absolutely no sense to me. When withdrawn from the Eco/Centrelink P&R routes the whole fleet was already in the EXACT SAME livery as Medilink, with only a change of graphics required to complete the change. Hell, the Ecolink ones even had the Medilink-inspired heart rate monitor style 'pulse line' already on them (though what a pulse has to do with Racecourse P&R I have no idea).
The Linkbus liveries have varied a bit over time, but generally all retained a family look with bold colours; the main two being Medilink blue and Locallink green. This latest iteration, however, doesn't care for the recognisable brand of blue ML buses that has been built up over time and gone for the Stagecoach approach of making the livery look like the packet for a cleaning product. Meanwhile, those old, recognisably branded, blue Medilink buses are happily running around on Locallink routes in full ML branding, pretty much confirming that the whoever is in charge of the branding (the City Council or CT4N) really don't give a damn anymore.
Speaking of branding, umm, where is it? After a while of being completely unbranded, some Medilink logos were slapped onto the new livery, but then they forgot to add the rest of it. There's no City Hospital > Wilkinson Street P&R > QMC > Queens Drive P&R, no frequency, no mention of it being an environmentally friendly bus or anything besides Medilink and the tiny CT4N logo on each side. Even the Medilink logos themselves aren't right, as the "i" of Link is meant to incorporate the green, six-pointed Big Wheel logo that has been a feature of every previous Linkbus livery.
Funnily enough, the bus stops still have the old-style Medilink branding, so they no longer match the buses either. I know none of this makes a difference to a long-time Medilink user who doesn't care what colour the bus is, but for any new users of the service who are trying to familiarise themselves with it, the inconsistencies could be quite a hinderance. CT4N and/or the City Council have made a beautiful masterclass in how to take a good brand and let it go down the drain.
Hucknall Road, Nottingham, 21.3.22
Above is the newest member of Valley Metro's fleet, a set of 2011 New Flyer D41LFA-BRT coaches which are for use on the existing Main Street LINK BRT and the new Arizona Avenue LINK BRT routes.
These buses are nearly identical to the D60LFA-BRTs which have been in service since 2008 and will co-exist with those larger artics, The general idea is to have these D41LFAs in use during off-peak hours, and then to begin using the D60LFAs as service demand and ridership increases during the on-peak hours, however D60LFAs and D41LFAs may be seen during both on and off peak.
These also feature a new extension of the on-board automation system, which automatically changes the headsigns to the competition of a run in one direction (or "Not In Service" if the vehicle is scheduled to return to the garage), controls the new upgraded annunciator software (which was also upgraded on the D60LFAs) as well as various other vehicle functions including power, lighting, GPS, interior and exterior cameras as well as fare collection and verification, it now also interfaces with the (now functioning) traffic control priority system along both Main Street and Arizona Avenue, cutting down on red light wait times along both corridors.
They feature the same interiors as their D60LFA counterparts, with seats covers using fabric made of recycled water bottles, LED lighting throughout and 3 wheel chair positions but feature their air conditioning and heating units on the roof, as opposed to on the back above the engine as found on the D60LFAs.
I had sort of forgot about the two Tridents that had been in Medilink livery until I found the photos I had of them, but with my memory jogged I decided to recreate the livery in OMSI (after all I did it on the crappy ALX400 that was out a few years ago).
Unfortunately I can't figure out what font the council use for 'linkbus' so I've traced the medilink text from a photo and found a reasonably similar font for the other branding. Even after tracing 'medilink' it still doesn't look right. If anyone knows the linkbus font could you let me know as if anyone ever releases a Solo or Solo SR I'll probably want to do Locallink. Plus of course there were all the other 'links' such as Citylink, Shoplink, Eventlink and so-on so it would be helpful if I didn't have to trace out the text every time.
I also couldn't find any way of repainting the ALX400's windows so I couldn't do the 10 on the rearmost nearside window to make it say 'every 10 mins' or where the big wheel logo goes slightly over the windows.
The rear is different as the two real buses had a photo and it said 'going to the hospital?' but I did this before I found those photos. Even so I got it right where it had 'medilink' written higher up and 'every 10 mins' on the engine cover.
Halifax Transit 2005 New Flyer D40LF MetroLink Bus #610 is seen at Portland Hills Bus Terminal on the 159 MetroLink. I will miss these MetroLink buses when they go, they sound nice, they have awesome looking livery, they ride smoothly and have air conditioning, they have carpeted walls and most importantly they have comfortable coach style seating!
I will really miss them (600-619) series. Only 10 remain at this current time, June 20th 2019. But if your reading this in the future there could be more. At this point in time the retired links sadly are 600, 601, 603, 604, 606, 608, 609, 617, 618, 619.
The remains are 602, 605, 607, (610 in this photo) 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616.
I need to ride them and photo them as much as possible while they are still here so expect to see lots of posts of them in the near future! :)
I had sort of forgot about the two Tridents that had been in Medilink livery until I found the photos I had of them, but with my memory jogged I decided to recreate the livery in OMSI (after all I did it on the crappy ALX400 that was out a few years ago).
Unfortunately I can't figure out what font the council use for 'linkbus' so I've traced the medilink text from a photo and found a reasonably similar font for the other branding. Even after tracing 'medilink' it still doesn't look right. If anyone knows the linkbus font could you let me know as if anyone ever releases a Solo or Solo SR I'll probably want to do Locallink. Plus of course there were all the other 'links' such as Citylink, Shoplink, Eventlink and so-on so it would be helpful if I didn't have to trace out the text every time.
I also couldn't find any way of repainting the ALX400's windows so I couldn't do the 10 on the rearmost nearside window to make it say 'every 10 mins' or where the big wheel logo goes slightly over the windows.
The rear is different as the two real buses had a photo and it said 'going to the hospital?' but I did this before I found those photos. Even so I got it right where it had 'medilink' written higher up and 'every 10 mins' on the engine cover.
Townlink is now becoming route 205, so Dennis Dart 18 has lost its Townlink branding. Instead, it has been repainted into a livery similar to the one carried by 19, except it's for the 205 not the 201, and the locations of the frequency branding and via points has swapped over.
18's partner on Townlink was almost always 20 - the BYD K9 electric bus which was supplied with money from the city council. The original plan was to have three of the BYD buses all bought with with funding from the council, but what with the council always having to make cutbacks it meant the other two electric buses never arrived.
One stipulation of the funding for the electric bus(es) was that the route be semi-incorporated into the council-run linkbus network, with a 'link' name (as per locallink, medilink, citylink etc) and a small percentage of the money generated from fares go to the council, to make back some of the costs of the bus(es) and charging equipment installed at the Robertson Buses depot.
Bus 20 has a red livery in a similar style to the other link buses. Now that Townlink is more-or-less over, I've got to actually come up with something to do with the anomalous electric vehicle. Had its two sisters ever arrived they'd probably have made their way into the P&R fleet, but as it's just one bus I'm wondering what to use it for!
Townlink is now becoming route 205, so Dennis Dart 18 has lost its Townlink branding. Instead, it has been repainted into a livery similar to the one carried by 19, except it's for the 205 not the 201, and the locations of the frequency branding and via points has swapped over.
18's partner on Townlink was almost always 20 - the BYD K9 electric bus which was supplied with money from the city council. The original plan was to have three of the BYD buses all bought with with funding from the council, but what with the council always having to make cutbacks it meant the other two electric buses never arrived.
One stipulation of the funding for the electric bus(es) was that the route be semi-incorporated into the council-run linkbus network, with a 'link' name (as per locallink, medilink, citylink etc) and a small percentage of the money generated from fares go to the council, to make back some of the costs of the bus(es) and charging equipment installed at the Robertson Buses depot.
Bus 20 has a red livery in a similar style to the other link buses. Now that Townlink is more-or-less over, I've got to actually come up with something to do with the anomalous electric vehicle. Had its two sisters ever arrived they'd probably have made their way into the P&R fleet, but as it's just one bus I'm wondering what to use it for!
I had sort of forgot about the two Tridents that had been in Medilink livery until I found the photos I had of them, but with my memory jogged I decided to recreate the livery in OMSI (after all I did it on the crappy ALX400 that was out a few years ago).
Unfortunately I can't figure out what font the council use for 'linkbus' so I've traced the medilink text from a photo and found a reasonably similar font for the other branding. Even after tracing 'medilink' it still doesn't look right. If anyone knows the linkbus font could you let me know as if anyone ever releases a Solo or Solo SR I'll probably want to do Locallink. Plus of course there were all the other 'links' such as Citylink, Shoplink, Eventlink and so-on so it would be helpful if I didn't have to trace out the text every time.
I also couldn't find any way of repainting the ALX400's windows so I couldn't do the 10 on the rearmost nearside window to make it say 'every 10 mins' or where the big wheel logo goes slightly over the windows.
The rear is different as the two real buses had a photo and it said 'going to the hospital?' but I did this before I found those photos. Even so I got it right where it had 'medilink' written higher up and 'every 10 mins' on the engine cover.
I had sort of forgot about the two Tridents that had been in Medilink livery until I found the photos I had of them, but with my memory jogged I decided to recreate the livery in OMSI (after all I did it on the crappy ALX400 that was out a few years ago).
Unfortunately I can't figure out what font the council use for 'linkbus' so I've traced the medilink text from a photo and found a reasonably similar font for the other branding. Even after tracing 'medilink' it still doesn't look right. If anyone knows the linkbus font could you let me know as if anyone ever releases a Solo or Solo SR I'll probably want to do Locallink. Plus of course there were all the other 'links' such as Citylink, Shoplink, Eventlink and so-on so it would be helpful if I didn't have to trace out the text every time.
I also couldn't find any way of repainting the ALX400's windows so I couldn't do the 10 on the rearmost nearside window to make it say 'every 10 mins' or where the big wheel logo goes slightly over the windows.
The rear is different as the two real buses had a photo and it said 'going to the hospital?' but I did this before I found those photos. Even so I got it right where it had 'medilink' written higher up and 'every 10 mins' on the engine cover.
Re-Opened!
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Date Taken: Thursday May 11th 2017
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Transit Agency: Halifax Transit
Fleet Number: #615
Make: New Flyer
Model: D40LF
Year: 2005
Engine: Cummins ISL
Transmission: Allison B400R5
Garage: Burnside Transit Centre (BTC)
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ #metrolink #hfxtransit #halifaxtransit #hfxtransitmetrolink #linkbus #nfi #newflyerindustries #newflyer #d40lf #scotiasqaure #reopened #publictransit #cumminsisl #cummins #burnsidetransitcentre
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Notes: This stop was closed off on Barington street for several months. The link buses were moved to Duke street until today back on Barrington!
Our MetroLink buses have comfy reclining seats and have carpeted walls and ceilings to reduce as much noise as possible.
Re-Opened!
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Date Taken: Thursday May 11th 2017
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Transit Agency: Halifax Transit
Fleet Number: #601
Make: New Flyer
Model: D40LF
Year: 2005
Engine: Cummins ISL
Transmission: Allison B400R5
Garage: Burnside Transit Centre (BTC)
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ #metrolink #hfxtransit #halifaxtransit #hfxtransitmetrolink #linkbus #nfi #newflyerindustries #newflyer #d40lf #sackvilleterminal #publictransit #cumminsisl #cummins #burnsidetransitcentre
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Our MetroLink buses have comfy reclining seats and have carpeted walls and ceilings to reduce as much noise as possible.
Having just gone on about the old indigo going to the airport etc, parts of that were of course replaced by the blue Skylink once the operation of that route passed to TrentBarton. Here is 121 on University Boulevard on 22.8.23
The Skylink has always puzzled me about how it exists, seeing as I'm pretty sure it is a contracted route, because it was passed from NCT to Trent with the same name, but is it contracted out by the airport or by Nottingham City Council? The old NCT Skylink was quite clearly another 'Linkbus' route similar to Citylink, Locallink etc, which are City Council routes contracted out to NCT, Trent, CT4N etc. However why did the route change when it went from NCT to Trent and why is Skylink Derby also a Linkbus even though it doesn't go anywhere near Nottingham?
YX67 VEW
While the station for the Pearson Union Express is under construction at Toronto's L.B. Pearson International Airport, the "Link" trains have been replaced by buses from March until October, 2013. Number 5258 pictured here is a 1995 New Flyer D40LF, one of 19 former Orange County Transit (Anaheim, California) units operating during the construction period.
Halifax Transit 2005 New Flyer D40LF MetroLink #611 doing route 159. Tiny front numbers like ant size.
Engine: Cummins ISL
Transmission: Allison B400R5