This week Arriva launched another high profile Sapphire service, the Aylesbury - Oxford 280. The Enviro400s used on the route for the last four years have been refurbished, reliveried and reintroduced, having been temporarily replaced by ex London ALX400 bodied DAFs. Enviro 5453 (SN58ENY) is seen in Tiddington Village on Wednesday morning. How successful Arriva's operational staff will be at matching the aspirations of the marketing department remain to be seen, the Enviro400s, always route branded for the 280, have appeared in Wycombe and Watford at least. Indeed Aylesbury's Wycombe 300 service branded Citaros were seen on Aylesbury town service 2, Milton Keynes service 150 and Amersham service 55 on the same day. Wycombe's operational staff are by far the worst, the new Chesham Route 1 branded MAN buses having ventured to Reading and Slough with one on Wycombe town service last Sunday when surely other buses were available. Luckily Arriva has taken route branding off most of Wycombe's buses to reduce the confusion when a bus to Slough turns up with Penn on the side. Notwithstanding a Thames Valley Line branded Reading Volvo ALX300 was happily trundling around on Wycombe Town Services this week. In contrast Carousel's operations in the town with Airlink Mercedes branded buses, Route 1 Tempos and appropriately coloured MANs for purple and orange routes never seem to miss a beat. The 280 service used to be a City of Oxford operation and passed to Arriva after their takeover of Mott's Yellow Bus operation and Go-Ahead's Wycombe Bus division. |
