Dennis Enviro 300

67600 SN53KKY  

In November  2003 Firstgroup took delivery of a Transbus Enviro as a group demonstrator vehicle. The vehicle is a 46-seater and has high back dual purpose seats. is 12.7 metres in length which has proved to be problematic as it was initially allocated to the Bath deport of First Avon and Somerset as the company had plans to take delivery of a batch of the vehicles. However the length of the vehicle proved a problem and to keep it out of harms way it was soon moved to First Manchester. Other than the four vehicles for Herefordshire services (see below 67601-4) Firstgroup did not place any vehicle orders with Transbus due more to the fact that the company went into receivership in the Summer of 2004. As part of a rescue package the bus manufacturing and the Dennis chassis building interests passed to a new company called Alexander Dennis which has it's head office at the former Alexander factory in Scotland. The new company has now started producing the Enviro buses once again and Firstgroup has now placed an order for a number of the vehicles for their First Wyvern subsidiary. In readiness for these vehicles 67600 was transferred to Worcester from First Rouchdale in November 2004 for use mainly as a driver type trainer.  As a number of the new vehicles are to be allocated to Redditch 67600 moved to Redditch from 15th December 2004  for use as a driver type trainer. Whilst the vehicle was reallocated to Redditch as a driver type trainer it has been used in service though the digital destination blind equipment has not been recoded for Redditch destinations. During the last week of March 2005 67600 moved back to Worcester Garage in exchange for 67601. In September 2005 67600 moved back to Redditch for use on the service 51 route. This is one of few routes it can be used on in Redditch that don't involve negotiating speed bumps which because of length of the vehicle it grounds on them thus damaging the bus. Redditch garage had at time on where enough low floor vehicle to run the town network which has caused complaints from residents on the Batchley estate (route 51) and so 67600 is kept on this route thus ensuring at least 50% of journeys on the route are operated by a low floor vehicle. 67600 now has a working digital destination blind. Route branding for service 51 orange line was added to this vehicle on 25th June 2006. With the sale of Redditch and Kidderminster garages to Rotala in March 2013 67600 was placed in store at Hereford Garage. The vehicle stayed there until Wednesday 12th March 2014 when it was transferred to First Bristol for preparation to re=enter service.  The vehicles is now in the First Taunton fleet painted in their green and cream livery and has been re-registered 260ERY. The vehicle was withdrawn in May 2020 and was sold to Greenslades, Exeter who have re-registered the vehicle L27 BUS.

Livery Key :  Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted).

67601- 4  VX53VJV/Z,VX53VKA/B

In partnership with Hereford Council First Wyvern has continued the investment in new vehicles for their Hereford Garage by the purchase of a number of Transbus Enviro 300 vehicles. They are primarily for use on the services 419/420 between Hereford and Worcester. The first two vehicles VX53VKA/B were delivered to Worcester Garage on 24th January 2004 for preparation for service at Hereford Garage. These vehicles are short wheelbase versions of the Enviro which are normally 46-seaters. However, in line with Firstgroup policy a number of seats have been sacrificed to give passengers more leg room. VX53VKA has taken the fleet number 422 now 67603) and has been prepared for service at Worcester with the fitting of a ticket machine mount, cash trays and various stickers such as legal lettering and fleet numbers. By Thursday 29th January 2004 422 (now 67603) had move to Hereford Garage for driver and engineering  training. A third vehicle VX53VJZ (which is to be initially 421 and now 67602) arrived at Worcester Garage on Friday 30th January 2004 for preparation for service at Hereford Garage. The last of this quartet of new vehicles for Hereford arrived on Tuesday 3rd February 2004 at Worcester Garage. This vehicle carries the rather appropriate fleet number 420 (now 67601) as it will spend much of its time together with sister vehicles operating the service 420 between Hereford and Worcester. All four vehicles entered service at Hereford Garage on Friday 6th February 2004. Following the reduction in frequency of the services 419 and 420 in September 2004 67601 was reallocated to Worcester for use on the service 363. During the last week of March 2005 67601 moved  to Redditch Garage in exchange for 67600. With the service changes in Worcester in September 2005 67601 moved back to Worcester Garage. With the introduction of the new double deckers in November 2015 67601-4 were withdrawn and sold to First PMT. 67601 went during November 2015 to allow for driver and engineering training to take place.

Livery Key :  Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted).