Regular visitors to this site will know of my misgivings on First Eastern National's ability to focus on their customers. In particular, I had concerns about my local route (the 66) and the inordinate length of time it took to complete a relatively short journey.
I finally received a response from First Eastern National in which it was suggested that I was mistaken - buses did not wait 10 minutes at Colchester Bus Station and they always kept to the timetable. There was a suspicion that the driver of the evening journey may have been in too much of a hurry to get back to the relative safety of Colchester Town Centre from the wilds of West Bergholt but that's about it.
Back in the big smoke (where I still work), Golden Jubilee buses have started to hit the streets. Apart from Stagecoach's TA111 on the 30, I've only seen an Arriva RML (route 19) disappearing in the distance. I have to say that I'm not impressed with the overall effect - the Silver Jubilee RMs were far more attractive.
I've also noticed that there don't appear to be any provincial Jubilee buses, at least not in Colchester. Neither Arriva, First Eastern National or Hedingham have seen fit to slap the gold paint on. Lack of sponsorship I suppose. It's a shame though - even M&D had a Silver Jubilee bus (and I have a photo somewhere to prove it).
Moving clumsily on, I really do not like Arriva's livery. It is deeply unpleasant and looks particularly bad on Colchester's buses… and even worse on the depot gates. I'm sure some of this is down to the fact that I can't forgive Arriva for what they did to Maidstone & District.
Nigel Chatfield
What Arriva did to M&D - an Olympian at Maidstone Chequers Centre in 1999