Buses of 2021

 Here are some photos of the more unusual buses that I spotted and photographed during last year.

The first picture is of none other than Arriva Midlands' 4752 (FJ06 ZSX), seen on the 127 on its way to Leicester in December last year. It was the first good photo I had taken of this vehicle since I saw it on Alan Moss Road in the summer of 2020!
Its type, the Wright Pulsar Gemini-bodied VDL DB250, is beginning to show its age, and lately sisters 4757 and 4774 have both been withdrawn. The fact that these are now the oldest double-decker buses in Arriva's Leicester operations isn't helped by the fact that in the next couple of years, nearly two dozen electric buses will be arriving at Leicester, replacing half of the once-32-strong DB250 fleet.

This photo was taken in May, and shows National Express's 289 (BV19 XOU) heading up Schofield Road while not in service.
After being passed by an older coach while waiting at the junction of Ashby Road and Schofield Road, this coach then went up here. Why it went his way I have no clue.

The third-generation Caetano Levante is not commonly seen on the 440, now National Express's only coach service in Loughborough. BV69 KTE turns out of Ashby Square into Greenclose Lane bound for London in May 2021.

Kinchbus is the main operator of the Optare Solo within Loughborough; however, other companies also use the popular midibus that was launched in the late 1990s. Arriva's 2529 (YJ09 OUA) makes an unusual appearance on the 16 to Loughborough, seen here at Ashby Road in January. Also note the LED headlamps at the rear, which stick out of the bodywork. Wellglade stuck with square tail-lamps.

Another Solo, Kinchbus's number 458 (FE02 KFF), is seen parked in a lay-by on Warwick Way in July. New to Kinchbus in April 2002, it is now the oldest bus in Kinchbus's fleet, and has outlasted many of their newer buses. It still seems to be going strong, even if it's only a spare, and will hit the 20-year milestone that not many vehicles make this April!

Another unusual bus that I spotted in July was Arriva Midlands' number 3580 (YN04 AHA), which was transferred to Arriva's Thurmaston depot, becoming the sole Scania Omnicity in Leicester. It spent a few days on the 16 between Loughborough and Coalville, before being withdrawn and subsequently scrapped. I did take a picture of it... I've no clue as to how I lost it!

A recent arrival at Kinchbus was this Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban, number 733 (FJ09 BXN). The feature that distinguishes this bus the most from the Scania Wright Solars is the large air con pod on its roof. So far, this is the only picture I've taken of it to date. It's almost invariably deployed on the Skylink.

I put up a post about when the Arriva Sapphire service 158 buses were mostly being used on the 127 instead in August to September last year. However, nowadays, the sight of a Wright Pulsar 2 in Sapphire livery is no more, as these are all now kept at Arriva's Hinckley depot permanently, following the closure of Arriva's Wigston depot. 3803 (TUI 7934) is seen on Swan Street heading for Leicester in late September.
That the Sapphire Pulsar 2s have left Thurmaston, however, didn't mean an end to Sapphires appearing on the 127. No way.

Several more Sapphires, mainly Alexander-Dennis Enviro400s, moved to Wigston from Thurmaston at the end of October. 4549 (YX17 NEJ) is seen on a 127 to Pitsford Drive in December. Before arriving at Wigston, it operated with Arriva Kent and Surrey as their 6519 at Chatham, before moving to the Midlands at Wigston, in order to replace older buses as part of an emissions reduction mandate by Leicester City Council... which never came into force!

Three Sapphire-liveried Enviro200MMCs, also originally from further south, also moved to Thurmaston. I haven't been able to get a picture of them... yet.

I did, however, get a picture of this one, another of the ex-airport shuttle buses, this time 3104 (YX17 NLE), seen here on the 16 from Coalville on a foggy December day. This one previously had a stint at Thurmaston before briefly returning to the airport, later moving to Derby and then Thurmaston for the second time. Note that it still bears East Midland Airport logos - these seem to have been reinstated when it returned to the airport, as when it had left the airport the first time, it had been de-branded.
I always wondered if they used the middle door on these buses on regular bus services. Well, the bus turned into Frederick Street and stopped outside the Old Arts College (yes, the 16 stops there). I crossed the road just in time to see several elderly woman alighting the bus... using the front door. So the answer was no.
As for 3103, which I previously photographed in February, it seems to have gone the way of 3101, being repainted into standard Arriva livery and having the centre door removed.

This bus looks quite similar to a Pulsar Gemini, but it's a Wright Eclipse Gemini,  on a Volvo chassis instead of a VDL one. Only three remain at Leicester (the others were transferred to the Southeast and replaced by the aforementioned E400 MMCs and also East Lancs Olympuses, which we shall see shortly); there are all of the facelifted type, with the Volvo B9TL chassis instead of the previous B7TL as well as a revised rear end (which would later be carried over to the Gemini 2 and Eclipse Gemini 2). The three Eclipse Geminis, 4201-3, were all transferred from Wigston; however, some of the Eclipse Geminis were previously used at Thurmaston, like this one. 4201 (FJ08 LVM) is seen on Garendon Road on the 127 bound for Leicester.

I must comment about the advert on the rear end of 4201; it is, firstly, generally quite to the people who are going to be seeing it. Ex-Wigston and Thurmaston bus routes are near to neither Castle Donington or Sutton-in-Ashfield, the latter of which is well outside Arriva territory. Also, it's an advert for used cars! Buses compete with cars, and they went to put an advert promoting cars on the back of a bus?!

This is an East Lancs Olympus. They are a batch of sixteen buses with Volvo B97L chassis new to Arriva Yorkshire. They were transferred to Wigston depot in 2020 to replace Eclipse Geminis due to the aforementioned scrapped emissions reduction mandate. They were then moved to Thurmaston at the end of October 2021 when Wigston closed, apart from three which went to Oswestry instead. 4104 (YJ08 EEB) is seen on the 127 on Ashby Road on its way to Shepshed.

I still have yet to get a good photo of an older Enviro 400, the fourth type of double-decker bus to move to Thurmaston. 4423 (YX64 VPD) is seen on High Street on its way to Shepshed on a December evening.

Last but not least... personally, I think Kinchbus' 501 (YD63 VDL) is the smartest looking bus in their fleet! The sole Optare Solo SR in their fleet, it originally arrived at Loughborough in late 2019 in a green and blue de-branded Spondon Flyer livery. It had last been used on that service but was made redundant due to a frequency cut, and moved to Kinchbus to replace 465, which crashed into a house - which the police then found cannabis plants in - on the corner of Derby Road and Alan Moss Road whilst on the number 5. It was then repainted in 2020. 501 is seen on the Campus Shuttle in May 2021.