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Hertsway Christopher Hatley - Hertfordshire
This is the first report within these pages from Hertsway for a while; the following is a summary of the principal news within the intervening period.
All of Hertsways' step-entrance, non-DDA compliant vehicles were withdrawn to meet the various deadlines for small single deckers, large single deckers and, from January 2017, double deckers. The last non-DDA compliant vehicles were the Alexander bodied Volvo Citybuses and Volvo Olympians used on scholl services 811, 812, 861 and 896. These were replaced by former City Transport Alexander ALX400 bodied DAF DB250RSLFs during the summer of 2016. Hertsway was sad to see the older vehicles depart from service, but restricting them to closed contract school services would have severely restricted their usefulness as they would have been unable to operate off peak shoppers services or act as spare vehicles.
Hertsways' current fleet is predominantly double deck (with schools requiring six such vehicles). The minority single deck fleet consists of a small number of Plaxton Pointer Dennis Darts - some 8.8m MPD examples along with some larger 10.6m/10.7m examples - including early, low floor Pointer 1s which have been modified to meet DDA requirements. There are also six Mercedes Benz Citaro full size single deckers which were acquired new. These are for services 301, 400 and, more recently, the 852 school bus.
Double deckers, virtually all sourced from City Transport, are a mixture of Dennis Tridents, Volvo B7TLs and (fairly rare elsewhere) DAF DB250RSLFs. These come with a mixture of Alexander ALX400, Plaxton President and East Lancs Myllennium bodywork. Attractive Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs are also now being sourced from City Transport. Unusually, all of these double deckers are dual door. As most of Hertsways' routes are commercial, there isn't a County Council requirement for single door vehicles and fortunately Hertfordshire County Council does not insist on the use the use of single door vehicles on contracts either, which contrasts with the policies of a lot of other local authorities.
Some of the most recent double deck acquisitions (all ex City Transport) are for the low floor conversion of the 800 series school routes. These are DAF DB250RSLF/ ALX400 H64D DD241-6 (SN02HDC/D, SH03PLP/SPU-W). More recently, Dennis Tridents with both ALX400 and Plaxton President bodywork
(on the longer 10.5 chassis) and Volvo B7TLs with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodywork (10.1m) have been acquired from CT and are currently in the process of being prepared for service.
The principal route changes since the last report have been to route 421 (Watford - Bricket Wood - St Albans) which underwent a significant improvement in early January 2015. It was altered from a simple half-hourly off-peak Monday to Friday service to a proper Monday to Saturday daytime service running every 20 minutes Mon-Fri and every 30 minutes on Saturday. A maximum of five double deckers are required.
It was decided to split the 421 from the school workings as fully DDA-compliant vehicles would be required from January 2017 and it was envisaged that the 800 series school routes would be re- registered as 'closed contracts' and thus be exempt from DDA requirements. In view of the age of the step entrance double deckers, it was decided to procure additional DDA-compliant vehicles and the school routes continued as 800-series stage carriage services.
The other main route change was the assumption of route 84 (New Barnet - Potters Bar - St Albans) from Countrybus in late January 2016. The basic 20 minute Mon-Sat service was altered to a 15 minute interval with alternate journeys operating as 84A (the difference being a minor divergence in St Albans). The Sunday daytime hourly service was doubled to half hourly, again with alternate journeys operating as 84A as does the entire hourly evening service. A maximum of eleven double deckers are required, the most intensely worked service here.
The current Hertsway operation (as at March 2017) is as follows: 41 (Hemel Hempstead - Borehamwood) (Mon-Sat), 84/A (New Barnet - St Albans) (daily), 200 (Hemel Hempstead - St Albans) (daily), 301 (Hemel Hempstead - Aylesbury) (daily, jointly operated with Red Rover Buses), 346/7 (Hemel Hempstead - Cherry Tree Road) (Mon-Fri), 400 (Hemel Hempstead - Watford) (Mon-Sat), 420 (Hemel Hempstead - Harpenden) (Mon-Sat), 421 (Watford - St Albans) (Mon-Sat), 460 (Hemel Hempstead - Luton) (Mon-Sat) and school day only services 811 (Elstree - Watford), 812 (Elstree - Watford Girls Grammar School), 851 (Bovingdon - St Clement Danes School via Chipperfield), 852 (Abbots Langley - St Clement Danes School), 853 (Bovingdon - St Clement Danes School via Flaunden), 861 (Elstree - New Greens Townsends School) and 896 (Borehamwood - Queen's School).
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