Operator Updates for Eastern Counties by Coronation
Update: From April 13th, we're proud to announce that we have won the tenders to run the Suffolk ONE and Bernard Matthews contract services from First Eastern Counties, and route 997 from Ipswich Buses. There'll be no changes to the times of these services, however to better fit in with the numbering scheme, route 997 will be renumbered to O10. The college time journey on route 97 will be renumbered to O9 from this date.
Update: From the 8th of March, changes will be made to the Blue and Orange Lines, as well as the N31, in the Norwich area. A summary of the changes are: -Blue Line - Buses on routes 25 and 26 will extend from Norwich Railway Station to the Riverside Retail Park between 9am and 4.30pm daily, as well as between 7.30pm and 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Buses on routes 25, 26, N25 and N26 will extend within Norwich Station to serve the Station Forecourt between 10.30pm and 5am daily. Route 26A will be withdrawn due to low usage, and will be replaced by Orange Line 22 on all days of the week, Blue Line X25 during UEA term times and Blue Line 25 during UEA vacations. New Blue Line X25 will run non-stop between the City Centre and the UEA during term times only, to help provide additional capacity between the City and UEA. -Orange Line - The frequency on Orange Line 21 will be reduced to run every 20 minutes, however new Orange Line 22 will run every 20 minutes between the UEA and Old Catton, providing an enhanced frequency of a bus every 10 minutes between Bowthorpe and Old Catton. -BuzzyBees - Due to extremely low usage (an average of one passenger per month), the N31 will sadly be withdrawn. Passengers can use the Night Owls network to continue most of their journeys, and a replacement daytime service is being investigated to replace the N31 between the City Centre and Vulcan Way where there is currently no replacement.
Update: From the 28th March, the following changes will be made to the Excel and Excellink network. - X91: The times of evening and Sunday journeys will change to better co-ordinate with changes to the X93 (see below). - X93/93: Evening and Sunday journeys on this service will be renumbered to 93 to better match the N93 service. All stops along the line of route will be served. Minor timetable changes at these times to accomadate the increased number of stops. - X94/N94: This service will be extended to serve Gorleston and the James Paget Hospital, with X94 journeys additionally serving Caister at peak times. Passengers will be able to connect at JPH with services 1/1A to Lowestoft. In King's Lynn, the journeys which require a change of vehicle to run a through service, will now serve Vancouver Avenue Bus Depot. Buses towards Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Caister on route X94 will serve Vancouver Avenue before serving King's Lynn Interchange, and buses towards Wisbech and Peterborough on route X94 and all buses on route N94 will serve Vancouver Avenue after serving King's Lynn Interchange. Connections between vehicles will now become guaranteed, with passengers transferring between buses at the Bus Depot, an interesting trip for enthusiasts! Minor changes to the times of the N94 to accomodate the extension to route X94. - 95/95A/95C: Two journeys in each direction will divert between Swaffham and King's Lynn via Gayton and the QE Hospital as service 95A. On College Days, one journey in each direction will further divert to the College of East Anglia instead of King's Lynn Interchange, and will be numbered as service 95C. Minor timetable changes will occur to help improve reliability of this service - X97: Thanks to additional funding from Norfolk and Lincolnshire County Council, the frequency of this service will increase from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes Monday - Saturday daytimes and every 30 minutes during evenings and Sundays. - 505A/697: The school day only journey of the X97 that serves Terrington High School, currently numbered 505A will be renumbered to service 697 to better fit in with our other school day only services. This change will take effect from April 14th, the first day of the new school term. - X99/99: Additional journeys will run between Norwich and Thetford via Wymondham and Attleborough as Excellink 99. This will provide a half hourly service between Norwich, Attleborough and Thetford, and combined with improvements to Turquoise Line 13 services, six buses an hour between Norwich, Wymondham and Attleborough. Minor timetable changes will be made to Superoute X99 to co-ordinate with new Excellink 99.