Coach Services Special

Today I went to foreign climes and unknown territories. My day went Halesworth - Bungay - Diss - Bury - Thetford - Watton - Norwich - Halesworth. Everything ran on time, and I can't remember travelling so much and not getting one double decker - not even on the 3 between Watton and Norwich! However for this post I'll concentrate on a company whose vehicles I travelled on for the first time today - Coach Services of Thetford.

In the last three years Coach Services have developed from, well, a coach operator into having a virtual monopoly on bus services in Thetford, including 3 different routes to Bury St Edmunds, and routes to Mildenhall, Kings Lynn and Watton in addition to local Thetford town routes. All their bus services are operated by low floor vehicles, mainly single deckers, including some brand new E200's. They have a very informative website, including a comprehensice fleet list. You can access the website here.

Today I travelled from Bury to Thetford on the 84, which was operated by a Volvo B7rle with Wright Eclipse body and the great registration CS12 BUS. A decent route and decent ride, altough as usual with new buses a bit too rattly for its age. Btw Coach Services don't have fleet numbers.

Coach Services Volvo B7rle CS12 BUS at Thetford Bus Station

After spending a rather good 40 mins at Thetford Bus Station which is very picturesque in the direction behind the camera I then caught one of the new E200's to Watton. Again a really nice route and it was one of the better E200's I have been on although the usual ridiculous rattling for a brand new bus was evident. One day bus companies will take a stand and say enough is enough and a brand new bus shouldn't be that noisy. I won't hold my breath.

Coach Services AD E200 YX14 RXK at Thetford Bus Station

However it is not the fault of Coach Services that I have an issue with all things Alexander Dennis, and I was impressed with their routes, the friendliness of the drivers and the cleanliness of the buses. I will definitely return to sample their other routes. Here are a few more of their vehicles. I'll be updating Flickr in the next couple of days where many more pics from today will be going up.

Finally thanks to Beestons who became the first operating company to follow me on Twitter. Thanks guys, I hope to do a big feature on you in the near future.

Coach Services Scania Omnicity YN03 UWK at Thetford Bus Station (ex Anglian?)

Coach Services Volvo B7 President X509 EGK at Thetford Bus Station

Coach Services E200 SN63 NBB at Thetford Bus Station