Arriva's newest buses on the 127

 Last autumn, Arriva announced that they were purchasing 36 new buses for Leicester - eight single-decker Alexander-Dennis Enviro200MMCs (3145-52) and twenty-eight double-decker Enviro400MMCs (4552-79). The eight new single-deckers replaced some Optare Versas while the double-deckers, though initially expected to replace the thirteen remaining 2008 Volvo B9TL Darwen Olympuses* (4100-5,7-10,13-15) and the ten 2014 ADL Enviro400s, have ended up displacing most of the younger 2016 Enviro400MMCs (4501-35) instead; most of them have been transferred to the Southeast, although 4529-35 seem to be remaining in Leicester and a few other 16-plates are also hanging on there.

The Loughborough routes (the 16 and 127) are infrequently visited by the new double-decker buses; at most pop out onto the 127 in ones and twos on weekdays; the only time they come out in force is on Sundays, when the older buses are not used. I also reckon to date that no 72-plate has seen service on the 16. The single-deckers are almost exclusively used on the 58 and 58A within Leicester.

Here are some of the new double-deckers I've spotted around Loughborough.

January 2023

4553 (YX72 ODU) is seen on a snowy afternoon on Alan Moss Road; it was the first of the 72-plates that I spotted and photographed.

4559 (YX72 OEB) was next, seen further down Alan Moss Road at the Epinal Way roundabout.

What are the differences between the new buses and the outgoing ones, given that they're the same type? Well, the new buses have cameras for mirrors; they also do not have seats on the front wheel arch, opposite the staircase. The CCTV screen upstairs has been moved from in the middle of the upstairs windshield to between the front row of seats and the top of the staircase. Also, the section between the upstairs and downstairs rear windows is black, whereas  on older buses that section was the same colour as the rest of the bodywork (although the old ones repainted in the Southeast have had this section repainted black). The rear destination blind, in common with the 67- and 17-plate Sapphire E400MMCS (4545-9,51) is wider than those of the old ones, which only fitted the route number. Lastly, these are the first E400MMCs to be delivered to Leicester in the standard Journey Mark livery; all the 16-plates came in the Interurban livery, and the Sapphire buses - well, those came in the Journey Mark Sapphire livery. Up until lately, only one of the 16-plates (4533) had been repainted into the standard Journey Mark livery, although since the delivery of the 72-plates, the repainting of 4529-35 has been occurring swiftly.

March 2023

4552 (YX72 ODT), Ashby Road.

4554 (YX72 ODV), Epinal Way.

4573 (YX72 OES), Garendon Road.

4577 (YX72 OEW), Alan Moss Road.

4579 (YX72 OEZ), seen on Alan Moss Road on a snowy day on its second day in service.

* 4106, 4111 and 4112 were transferred to Oswestry after the closure of Wigston depot in Leicester to replace a pair of ageing DAF DB250 Alexander ALX400s (4803 and 4806); the impending closure of Oswestry depot may see the return of the three Olympuses. 4111 was repainted into a heritage livery for Crosville, but is being repainted into the standard livery at Derby.