Buses in Luton 30/12/2021

Buses in Luton, at the rail station interchange and the start of the Luton - Dunstable guided busway, on 30th December 2021. Arriva have recently introduced 14 new B8RLEs on busway services but are also still operating a few older Mini Pointer Darts and Tridents on Luton town routes.
Operators and routes:
Arriva Midlands & Shires: 1, 4, 27 - 29, 31, 321, A, F70, F77, Z and Green Line 757
Arriva Southern Counties: 100 (bus already displaying 101 for its return to Stevenage)
Centrebus: 10, B, E
Grant Palmer: C, CX
Stagecoach East: 81, 99
Bus and coach types:
Alexander Dennis Enviro200, Enviro200 MMC and Enviro400
Dennis Dart SLF / Plaxton Pointer 2 MPD
Dennis Trident / Alexander ALX400
Mercedes Tourismo
Scania CN94UB OmniCity
VDL Bus SB200 / Wrightbus Pulsar 2
Volvo B7RLE / Wrightbus Eclipse 2
Volvo B8RLE / MCV Evolution 2 and EvoRa
Volvo B9TL / East Lancs Olympus and Wrightbus Gemini
Wrightbus StreetLite WF and Max
/ astock5000

[@S_T_A_R_S_]

Very nice! One of my favourite places for the buses. Glad the ALX400 Tridents are still there, they are my favourites and the only double deckers there for Arriva. There is only 5 left now from the 27 made in 2000.

[@astock5000]

Thanks! I've always liked ALX400s so it was good to see one of the remaining vehicles from this batch.

[@HertsLondonBusVideosOfficial]

Fast forward to 2024, there are only 2 ALX400 Tridents left. GN04 UFV & UFU

[@ukscr2665]

@@HertsLondonBusVideosOfficial they are B7TLs not Tridents

[@GEORGEonbuses2023]

1:26 that woman flipping u off lol

[@lisanne6809]

🤣

[@YxsufPlayz]

I’m in Luton I just take the 29 BUSS and the A BUSS

[@randomtransportguyx4397]

Streetlight more like streetshite ALX400 is king

[@elnoraakhmetova69]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ I live in Luton

[@bus3s]

did the 70 get scrapped? havent been in luton fora couple of years now

[@astock5000]

Wasn't sure so just looked this up, apparently route 70 was withdrawn back in March 2018 and partially replaced by the F77 (the F70 already existing at this point).

[@judeferguson6760]

These are still in service? Wow!

[@astock5000]

If you're referring to the Tridents there are five still in use at Luton, mainly for school routes however they turn up on town services too, in particular the 27. Others have gradually been withdrawn with some replaced by East Lancs-bodied DAFs transferred in, but one reason some have lasted so long is the need for low height double deckers when many of Arriva's older examples are ex-London and therefore full height.

[@bus3s]

new evoras, solars being scrapped, but still no new sapphire busses for the 321 🙄

[@bus3s]

and no new double deckers for luton yet

[@bus3s]

surprised there wasnt any solars in this video

[@astock5000]

In practice the 321 hasn't been a sapphire route since around 2018 when the StreetLites and MMCs were first swapped. The StreetLites have since been repainted in standard livery and the route is now using a mix of those and B7RLEs. The MMCs were not too far off Sapphire spec in any case but Arriva perhaps should have removed the brand from the route on their site and any other publicity. I assume new double deckers wouldn't be cost effective for use mostly on school services, while ex-London ones are too tall, so will have to see what eventually replaces the Tridents. Many of the Solars were withdrawn by this date, a few were still active but either were not in use on this day or I just didn't happen to see them. This was all filmed within an hour and a round trip on the 321 takes the best part of four.

[@bus3s]

@@astock5000 I was informed that the streetlites were only repainted and mostly withdrawn from the 321 is because they were simply unsuitable for the route

[@astock5000]

They were, but after the MMCs proved to have issues on the route too the StreetLites returned from last summer, operating around half the duties alongside the Scanias and now the B7RLEs.

[@londontransport2320]

nice

[@astock5000]

Thanks!