Volvo B7RLE

66304/5/7/8/11/16-8

In April/May 2002 Leicester Citybus took delivery of 23 Volvo B7 single deck buses with Wrights 41 seat Metro bodies for use on city services in Leicester. The vehicles took the fleet number 311 to 333. When the Firstgroup national numbering was introduced in 2005 a number of the vehicles were by this time running with other Firstgroup companies. This meant the vehicles were not renumbered in original fleet number order so 311 to 333 became  63316/7/20, 63318/9, 63307/8/13/11/14/21/2, 63309/23, 63310/2, 63306/15, 66301-5 respectively. A number of the vehicles have remained at Leicester. However with a need to comply with the requirement for vehicles with a Euro6 emission standard from 1st January 2020 they can no longer be operated in Leicester.  To comply with the Euro 6 standard vehicles have been moved from other group companies including the remaining Wrights Streetmax vehicles from Worcester. To fill the gap in vehicles at Worcester a number of these B7 vehicles have moved to Worcester .

Registration Number

Fleet Number

Body Make

Seating Capacity

Date into Service

Allocation

Livery

KV02VVF  66304 Wrights Eclipse B41F Sept 2020 Withdrawn 1/21 Sold for scrap First Urban
KV02VVG 66305 Wrights Eclipse B41F 23rd Aug 2017 Withdrawn October 2017 First Urban
KV02VVJ 66307 Wrights Eclipse B41F Jan 2021 Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 2/21 First Urban
KV02VVK 66308 Wrights Eclipse B41F Jan 2021 Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 2/21 First Urban
KV02VVN 66311 Wrights Eclipse B41F Sept 2020 Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 2/21 First Urban
KV02VVT 66316 Wrights Eclipse B41F   Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 4/21 First Urban
KV02VVU 63317 Wrights Eclipse B41F Jan 2021 Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 4/21 First Urban
KV02VVW 66318 Wrights Eclipse B41F Jan 2021 Withdrawn 1/21 sold for scrap 4/21 First Urban

66691-9 CN07HVG/H/J/K, CN57EFB/E/F/CN07HVL/M

In a very unusual move by Firstgroup, ten second hand Volvo B7L single deck vehicles were gradually acquired from August 2011 from the South East based dealer Ensign. The vehicles were new to Veolia Wales which with the contraction in their operations in South Wales many of the operators vehicles were placed with Ensign for disposal. The five vehicles were initially sent to the Adderley Green depot in the Potteries for repainting into First corporate livery and were then gradually delivered to Worcester for preparation for service. The preparation included the fitting of ticket machines, cash trays and security screens  for the drivers cab. The vehicles prime use is for the service 35 which following some rerouting is unsuitable for the larger Wright bodied single decks or the Enviro 300's. The garage also took over the operation of the 362 and 363 services from Diamond Bus in September and so a number of Enviro 300's were loaned from Redditch until all 5 vehicles were in service.  CN07HVL and  CN07HVM were the first 2 to arrive at Worcester on 13th September 2011 with  CN57EFB and CN57EFE arriving 2 days latter. A further 2 vehicles were acquired in October 2011 from Ensign bus. One of which is CN07HVJ which like the others was sent to Adderley Green depot for repainting.  During September and into October 2015 66694 became the first vehicle in the batch to be refurbished by Thornton's in the North East of England. This work involved painting the vehicle in the new First Urban livery but with a pink front. Also all the seats were re-trimmed in standard firstgroup style.  The second vehicle to be refurbished 66692 arrived back at Worcester on 20th November 2015 with red front instead of a pink one. This was an error on the part of the contractor Thorntons who soon corrected it not before the staff at Worcester  had christen it Rudolph. Whilst all ten were to be done the refurbishment work stopped after the third vehicle was done.

Registration Number

Fleet Number

Body Make

Seating Capacity

Date into Service

Allocation

Livery

CN07HVG 66691

Plaxton 0712TGA7325

B45F

December 2012

 Withdrawn 19th February 2024

First Urban with Pink front (8/18)

CN07HVH 66692

Plaxton 0712TGA7326

B45F

January 2012

 Worcester

First Urban with Pink front (11/15)

CN07HVK 66693

Plaxton 0712TGA7293

B45F

January 2012

 Worcester

First Urban with Pink front
CN07HVJ 66694

Plaxton 0712TGA7294

B45F

February 2012

 Withdrawn 2nd June 2023

First Urban with Pink front (9/15)

CN57EFB

66695

Plaxton 0712TGA7295

B45F

October 2011

 Withdrawn 24th Nov 2022

First Urban with Pink front (9/18)

CN57EFE

66696

Plaxton  0712TGA7325

B45F

27th Sept 2011

Withdrawn May 2021  Sold to Aircoach

First Urban with Pink front (8/18)

CN57EFF

66697

Plaxton  0712TGA7326

B45F

October 2011

 Withdrawn May 2021  Sold to Aircoach

First Urban with Pink front (8/18)

CN07HVL

66698

Plaxton  0712TGA7293

B45F

October 2011

 Withdrawn May 2021  Sold to Aircoach

First Urban with Pink front (8/18)

CN07HVM

66699

Plaxton  0712TGA7294

B45F

6th Oct 2011

Withdrawn 2nd June 2023

First Urban with Pink front (9/18)

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

66963/4/5/7/9/75-87 

Firstgroup placed a repeat order in 2005 for over 300 Wrights bodied Volvo B7RLE single deck vehicles. Over half of these 43 seat low floor vehicles were for their First Manchester operation to head off criticism from Greater Manchester PTE that the group is not investing in new vehicles for their Manchester operations. The remainder of the batch of vehicles are being delivered to other urban group operations. This included First Leicester. Interestingly the original vehicle order for Redditch garage was to be this type of vehicle but the order was altered to Enviro based buses because the unit cost was cheaper and the company could more vehicles for its money. With changes to the bus network in Worcester from 4th September 2005 six of the vehicles delivered new to First Leicester in April 2005 were transferred to First Midland Red. All six of the vehicles had to have minor modifications to their driver cabs to install standard First Midland Red driver cash trays. Union agreements mean all vehicles have to six individual cash holders usually in to two groups of three one above the other on the cab door. 66987 entered service ahead of the rest of the other vehicles during the first week of September 2005 with the remainder entering service in the second week of September 2005. All five of the vehicles were withdrawn during April 2006 and returned to Leicester. To cover for short term vehicle shortages First Leicester and First Northampton both loaned First Midland Red a single Volvo B7R during in Autumn 2005. 66969 arrived in October 2005 and returned to First Northampton in December 2005. 66976 arrived in September 2005 and returned to First Leicester in November 2005. During April 2006 66982-5 moved back to First Leicester as the vehicles were fitted with Real Time Information equipment for use in Leicester. The vehicles have been used to allow the frequency of service 74 in Leicester which runs to Ansley to be increased from every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes. To replace them 66964/5/7 from First Northampton these were at the very least on paper replaced with a number of L-reg Dennis Lances from First Midland Red. During July 2009 66979-66987 were acquired by First Midland Red from Leicester following service reductions for use mainly on the service 144. The first nine vehicles were joined by 3 more in October 2009. With the transfer of the Enviro 300 vehicles from Redditch following the sale of the garage to Rotala the all the Wrights Bodied Volvo B7R at Worcester were transferred to First East Anglia. 

Registration Number

Fleet Number

Body Make

Seating Capacity

Date into Service

Allocation

Livery

KX05MJD

66963

Wrights H796

B43F

Apr-06

Was at Worcester from 4/06 - 8/07 - Withdrawn moved back to First Leicester 8/07

Barbie

KX05MJE

66964

Wrights H797

B43F

Apr-06

Was at Worcester from 4/06 - 8/07 - Withdrawn moved back to First Leicester 8/07

Barbie

KX05MJF

66965

Wrights H798

B43F

Apr-06

Was at Worcester from 4/06 - 8/07 - Withdrawn moved back to First Leicester 8/07

Barbie

KX05MJK

66967

Wrights H800

B43F

Apr-06

Was at Worcester from 4/06 - 8/07 - Withdrawn moved back to First Leicester 8/07

Barbie

KX05MJU

66969

Wrights H802

B43F

Oct-05

Was at Worcester from 10-12/05 - withdrawn 12/05

Barbie

KX05MGY

66975

Wrights H810

B43F

Nov 09

Acquired by FMR on 25th November 2009  - withdrawn 20/9/11 and exchanged for a double decker from Leicester

Barbie

KX05MGZ

66976

Wrights H811

B43F

Oct 09

Was at Worcester from 10-12/05 - Re-acquired by FMR on 8th October 2009  - Worcester - Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie 3 (6/10)

KX05MHA

66977

Wrights H812

B43F

Oct 09

Acquired by FMR on 7th October 2009  - Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

KX05MHE

66978

Wrights H813

B43F

Oct 09

Acquired by FMR on 7th October 2009  - Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

KX05MHH

66979

Wrights H814

B43F

July 09

Acquired by FMR on 25th July 2009  - Withdrawn and transferred to First Northampton 10/11

Barbie

KX05MHJ

66980

Wrights H815

B43F

July 09

Acquired by FMR on 22nd July 2009 - Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie 3 (6/10)

KX05MHK

66981

Wrights H816

B43F

July 09

Acquired by FMR on 23rd July 2009 - Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie 3 (6/10)

KX05MHL

66982

Wrights H817

B43F

28th July 09

Was at Worcester from 09/05 until 04/06. Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 16th July 2009- Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

KX05MHM

66983

Wrights H818

B43F

July 09

Was at Worcester from 09/05 until 07/07 - Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 22nd July 2009- Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

KX05MHN

66984

Wrights H819

B43F

28th July 09

Was at Worcester from 9/05 until 04/06 - Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 17th July 2009- Worcester - Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie 3 (6/10)

KX05MHO

66985

Wrights H820

B43F

July 09

Was at Worcester from 09/05 until 07/07 - Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 23rd July 2009- Worcester

Barbie

KX05MHU

66986

Wrights H821

B43F

28th July 09

Was at Worcester from 9/05 until 04/06 -  Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 17th July 2009- Worcester - Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

KX05MHV

66987

Wrights H822

B43F

28th July 09

Was at Worcester from 9/05 until 04/06 -  Vehicle re-acquired by FMR on 16th July 2009- Worcester- Withdrawn 2012 transferred to First East Anglia

Barbie

69370

69370 YJ08XYK was new in August 2008 and was part of a batch of 17 vehicles (69363-79) that were new to First York for use on their park and ride services. They were delivered in a special silver livery and branded for the park and ride services. In March 2020 the vehicle was painted into the current First Urban livery as the vehicle like the sister vehicles were no longer used on the park and ride services as newer vehicles had arrived. During the early part of 2022 the vehicle moved to Doncaster to join that fleet.  By now the 16 vehicles had been dispersed amongst several First group depots. In May 2023 with the withdrawal of the 66694 and 66699 vehicles at Worcester 69370 joined the Worcester fleet. The local Doncaster branding was soon removed but the vehicle has retained a bus rear advert for drivers at First South Yorkshire. The contact details have been removed so as to not cause confusion in the Worcester area.

Registration Number Fleet Number Body Make Seating Capacity Date into Service Allocation Livery
YJ08XYK 69370 Wright Eclipse  AC036 B43F 25th May 2023  Worcester  Urban 3/20)

69435/6/49/50-6/59/60

In 2009 First West of England took delivery of a batch of 26 new dual purpose Volvo B7R single decker buses, each with 43 dual purpose seats. The vehicles took the national fleet numbers 69435-69460. 12 of the vehicles 69435/6/49/50-6/59/60 were subsequently transferred to First Leicester when new vehicles were introduced in the West of England. The Leicester based vehicles have been used on general city services and their dual purpose seating is not really suitable for city routes. A plan was devised to transfer these 12 vehicles to Worcester garage. To replace the 12 vehicles at Leicester there would be a 2 way swop with  First Potteries. 12 Enviro 300s would  (67650-61) move to Stoke on Trent from Worcester and then transfer 12 Volvo single deck buses would move from the Potteries to Leicester. Making the 3 way move creates more balanced and standardised  fleets. The 12 new Worcester vehicles are being refurbished at Thornton’s in the North East who are specialist vehicle refurbishers. In the past they overhauled Volvo 66692/3/4 that are branded for the X50 service. Around £25,000 is being spent on each vehicle with a complete internal refurbishment, a repaint in a special livery for the 144 and an upgrade to the engine emission standards to meet Euro VI requirements. The last vehicle in the batch took far longer to refurbished as Thorntons were waiting for parts. It was repainted in around March 2018 into the green livery but did not enter service at Worcester until September 2018. After the vehicles entered service all 12 were named after relevant Roman  themes and are listed below. With the withdrawal of the Catshill to Birmingham City Centre section of the route fro 24th April 2022 the vehicle requirement on the 144 so a number of the vehicles have been de-branded and or repainted into standard fleet livery.

Registration Number Fleet Number Body Make Seating Capacity Date into Service Allocation Livery
WX59BYM 69435 Wright Eclipse  AD574 B44F 30th Oct 2017  Worcester Green Urban (10/17)
WX59BYN 69436 Wright Eclipse  AD575 B44F 1st Nov 2017 Worcester Green Urban (10/17)
WX59BZC 69449 Wright Eclipse  AD588 B44F 20th Nov 2017 Worcester Green Urban (11/17)
WX59BZD 69450 Wright Eclipse  AD589 B44F 7th Dec 2017 Worcester Green Urban (12/17)
WX59BZE 69451 Wright Eclipse  AD590 B44F 15th Dec 2017 Worcester Green Urban (12/17)
WX59BZF 69452 Wright Eclipse  AD591 B44F 8th Jan 2018 Worcester Green Urban (1/18)
WX59BZG 69453 Wright Eclipse  AD592 B44F 22nd Jan 2018 (was loaned to Worcester from 31/8/17 to 5/9/17 before refurbishment)  Worcester First Urban with Pink front (1/23)
WX59BZH 69454 Wright Eclipse  AD593 B44F 13th February 2018 Worcester First Urban with Pink front (6/22)
WX59BZJ 69455 Wright Eclipse  AD594 B44F 22nd February 2018 Worcester First Urban with Pink front (7/22)
WX59BZK 69456 Wright Eclipse  AD595 B44F 9th March 2018  Worcester First Urban with Pink front (8/22)
WX59BZN 69459 Wright Eclipse  AD598 B44F 9th March 2018  Worcester First Urban with Pink front (10/22)
WX59BZO 69460 Wright Eclipse  AD599 B44F 29th September 2018  Worcester First Urban with Pink front (10/22)

Livery Key :  Green Urban - is a special version of the First Urban livery in shades of green  (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted).  

Vehicle Names: 69435 - Juno,  69436 -Victoria,  69449 -Ceres,  69450 -Venus, 69451 -Sollus,  69452 -Vesta,  69453 -Mineriva, 69454 -Epania,  69455 -Auroco,  69456 -Tellus,  69459 -Diana and 69460 -Proserpina