Dennis Basford's Rails, Roads and Runways: ‘Scene’ in Bournemouth, ‘Yellow Buses’ (YB)

Sunday 24 January 2016

‘Scene’ in Bournemouth, ‘Yellow Buses’ (YB)

My wife (Barbara) and I have been holidaying in Bournemouth for over 30 years. During that time I have watched with much interest the comings and goings in the bus fleets locally.

The major operator in Bournemouth (although not by much) is ‘Yellow Buses’ (YB).

‘YB’ has its roots in ‘Bournemouth Corporation Transport’ dating back to the tramways days in the early 1900’s.

Buses came to be used as feeders to the trams which in turn were replaced by trolleybuses.

By the time I discovered Bournemouth, the trolleys had followed the trams into history.

Sold by Bournemouth Borough Council in 2005 to ‘Transdev’, ‘YB’ became part of the French ‘RATP’ group in 2011.

Variety has always been the attraction to me in Bournemouth and I can say that I have never seen the degree of variety present in the ‘YB’ fleet as there is today.

The first three images all show Wright Gemini bodied buses but look at the detail.

HF03 ODW

Is built on a Volvo B7TL chassis and displays the deep windows on both decks together with the simple head and sidelight combination.

HF11 HCX

This time built on Volvo’s 9TL chassis. This Wright Gemini 2 bodied bus has unpainted window frames and a revised front panel to present the ‘smiley face’ beloved of current bus designers which I think Irizar introduced on their ‘Century’ series coaches.

BF15 KFE

Is A Volvo B5L with Wright Gemini 3 bodywork.

The upper deck windows are markedly shallower whilst the front panel although still keeping the ‘smiley face’ is revised again.

HJ02 HFF

A Volvo B7TL with East Lancs Vyking bodywork.

HF04 JWK

A Volvo B7TL with East Lancs Myllennium bodywork. Similar to the Vyking but different. (the upper deck front windows, the front bumper and the drivers offside window).