JERSEY BUSES WEB SITE

About Jersey Buses Web Site

The independent friendly web pages for Channel Island transport enthusiasts. Check out the links on the right for operator information, photographs, fleet lists and lots more.

Jersey Buses Web Site is approved by Buzzez!

Latest update 22/01/2001

As ever, all the information you want and more at Jersey Buses Web Site. Some updates to our popular Photographs pages. Look out for more updates and additions coming soon.

22/01/2001 - Updates to our fleet lists gives all the information on the six ex-Isle of Man Transport Dennis Darts with Jersey Bus. Many thanks to Michael Skehan from Man who has kindly confirmed the former IoM registrations of these buses. Also, news on the first of the ex-Pioneer Coaches vehicles absorbed into the Tantivy Blue Coach Tours fleet. Most of the former Pioneer fleet was parked up at the Living Legend attraction, St Peter, over Christmas, including the two Toyota/Caetano midicoaches, most of the Leyland Swifts, the ex-Ribble MetroRider and the unique Bedford SB/Wadham Stringer Vanguard II. Two of Pioneer's more recently-acquired Swifts are on the road as TBCT's 70 and 71 in fleet blue livery but retaining bus seats and presumably for use on school services. Also reports that Cannon 5 and Swift 18 have been seen in use by TBCT, and Pioneer's Renault Masters and Toyota minibuses have been allocated TBCT fleetnumbers but not repainted out of their white livery yet.

Waverley Tours' former Gloucester Street depot and the nearby taxi depot where the coaches were reportedly latterly stored have both been demolished, the whole site due for re-development in the near future.
Reports required please on: the whereabouts of Waverley's fleet, and latest news on former Pioneer vehicles - including rumours a coach not included in the sale to TBCT is to become a mobile home???

11/11/2000 - Breaking news is that Pioneer Coaches have sold out to Tantivy Blue Coach Tours. The proprietor Mr M. Eden was reported in the Jersey Evening Post of Friday 10 November as saying that it was the only option after constantly finding the odds stacked against the company with regards to its desire to operate local buses. Early indications are that TBCT will use the acquisition as an opportunity for further consolidation and should accelerate the disposal of the elderly Bedford coaches still in use. This leaves only Waverley Tours which has not yet been swallowed up by the blue fleet monopoly.

28/10/2000 - It turns out that Pioneer Coaches transferred the registration J 491 from their second Cannon Hiline/LCB Islander coach to their third one, purchased this year, so no. 3 became J 12050 after only about 18 months. Swift 5 was renumbered 7 to make way for the third Cannon. The two new Toyota Hiace "Power Bus" minis received registrations J 14661/3 previously on two 1989 VW Transporters; strangely these have PSV plates in the normal coach series as opposed to the minibus series. The ex-Harrogate Swift has been reported in service as 30, J 91574 and was the former F173 SMT, the other two having been parked up partially cannibalised.

01/10/2000 - The ex-Isle of Man Darts are entering service, repainted into Jersey Bus blue and white livery and fitting in well with the existing fleet of 20 similar buses. The chassis numbers suggest they were built very slightly before the first five Jersey vehicles in 1994, while their Plaxton body numbers indicate they were finished just after the Jersey buses. However they differ in that they have grey soft trim in place of the JMT standard white laminate, and red moquette-covered seats as opposed to blue vinyl. First two were 14 and 28 (J 90172/241); their respective former IoM registrations are awaited, our fleet lists will be updated when this is known. No. 28 had covered only about 180,000 miles in six years and appeared to be in good order throughout, it seems these buses did not have a great reputation on Man. These take the place of the last Ford/Willowbrook and one of the 1989 Metroriders, the latter believed to have been withdrawn, cannibalised and scrapped.

Pioneer Coaches have a short MCW Metrorider, E978 DGS, in a cream livery lettered for Harris Coaches. Its purpose appeared to be as a mechanical parts donor to convert L803 HJO, the only former Oxford electric Metrorider not to have seen service on last year's Town Hoppa service run by JMT, to diesel power. This would seem to make sense as 803 has covered little mileage and is in excellent condition, and the other three buses currently out of use do not appear to have been a success for one reason or another. Pioneer have also pensioned off 23 and 24, their Sherpa and Dodge minis which seem to have been very seldom used.

08/08/2000 - Minor update. JMT drivers went on strike for three days from the end of July over an award to Pioneer Coaches to run a subsidised, but enhanced version of the town Hoppa service. This contract was quickly cancelled to encourage the drivers to resume services; they were concerned about the future of the company and their jobs if a subsidised service took away passengers from competing routes.

01/03/2000 - Tantivy Blue Coach Tours have placed their recently-acquired Leyland Swift (F66 SMC) in service, re-registered to J 32069 with fleet no. 62. The previous number 62 and several other of the older coaches have been withdrawn for disposal. The former 57 (J 20051) has been sold to a private owner for conversion. A quantity of middle-aged Befords have received new registrations, the reasons for which are not confirmed. See the TBCT Fleet List for details.

27/12/99 - Noted outside the premises of Pioneer Coaches were further Leyland Swifts with Wadham Stringer Vanguard II bus bodies, F172/3 SMT and G113 VMM, in the colours of Harrogate & District. They re-join other similar vehicles.

13/12/99 - News is the appearance at the Coach & Bus 99 industry exhibition of an interesting new low-floor bus chassis called the LowLine from Cannon Coaches of Northern Island. The specification is: 9.5m, 4 or 6 cylinder Cummins B-series engine and Allison auto transmission so seems fairly similar to the Dennis Dart. No details yet of bodybuilders or width of complete vehicle, but judging by the co-operation with Leicester Carriage Builders on the two Hiline coaches so far delivered to Pioneer, it is possible that this could be tailor-made to Channel Island size requirements.

Pages of interest

News Archive: monthly news items and observations from 1999 on one page

Fleet lists: details of the vehicles owned by the operators

Photographs: a selection of pictures with links to more on other web sites

C.I.B.S.: Information about this enthusiast society.

Notice Board: a facility for visitors to leave messages and place wanted / for sale ads

Links: other web sites of interest

Can you help?

Jersey Buses Web Site would like to increase its picture library. We wish to obtain copies of older photographs of buses in Jersey, covering the period 1961 to the present day, particularly views of: