Dennis Dart

On Thursday 31st August 2006 R312GHS (40805) arrived at First Wyvern at Worcester from Glasgow. This is the first of eight vehicles due for transfer. Two more did not make the long journey and broke down on the M6 on route. 40805 is part of a large batch of 60 vehicles delivered new in 1997. During the first week of September 2006 R674DUS arrived at Worcester and after it was prepared for service it entered service at Worcester on Monday 18th September 2006. A third Dart 40838 (R675DUS) arrived from Glasgow on Tuesday 19th September and was initially put into store is store at Worcester depot. A fourth Dart 40833 (R670DUS) arrived from First Glasgow on Wednesday 25th October 2006. Like the rest it was initially put into store at Worcester.

Livery Key :  Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was repainted) 

42180  R610YCR

This low-floor Dennis Dart is part of a batch of fifteen (R609-623YCR) that were new to First in Hampshire and Dorset in February 1998. When the vehicle received the national fleet numbers 42109-42123 R610YCR became the odd vehicle out and was renumbered 42180. P710HPU took the 42110 fleet number that should have been allocated R610YCR. 42180 arrived with First Midland Red in April 2009. The vehicle had entered service at Kidderminster by 13th June 2009

42217/9/20  R217/9/20RSA

These three low-floor Dennis Darts are part of a batch of sixteen (R207-22MSA) that were new to First Aberdeen in April 1997. They carried the fleet numbers 207-22 and were the first Low floor buses to be operated by the group in Aberdeen . During 2001 all sixteen moved to First Cymru and were allocated to their Ravenhill depot. In early 2002 it was decided to replace the vehicles with larger Volvo B10L single deck buses cascaded from within Firstgroup. In the event only three such vehicles were moved to South Wales making R217/9/20MSA surplus. The first of the vehicles to move to First Wyvern was R220MSA, which arrived in March 2002. Before it entered service it in service it loaned to First Northampton between 9th and 30th April 2002. All three vehicles were eventually allocated to Redditch depot and were used on the routes 57 and 58. The plan was to move at least 12 of the Dennis Darts from South Wales to Redditch to allow the whole of the 57/8 service to be operated using low floor vehicles. This didn’t happen though the last two members of the batch R221MSA and R222MSA have since moved to First Avon and Somerset and are running from their Weston super Mare depot. In January 2003 following service changes in Worcester all three vehicles together with 341 were moved to Worcester Garage. However, from 4th September 2003 327/9 and 330 were transferred to Kidderminster Garage for use on the X33, 300 and 303 services that were taken over from Pete's Travel. With the introduction of the national vehicle numbering scheme the vehicle were put into the 42xxx series of numbers. On 20th February 2005 all three vehicles had yellow line route branding added for the service 35 in Worcester.

Livery Key :  Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was repainted) 

42351-4/6  Y351- 4/6AUY

Following a tendering exercise by Worcestershire County Council First Wyvern was successful in winning the first permanent park and ride service for Worcester. The new so called Worcester North Park & Ride started operation on 17 April 2001. For the contract First Wyvern leased five new Low Floor B34F Caetano Nimbus Dennis Darts (351-4/6 Y351-4/6AUY), which were delivered to Worcester Garage on the 11 and 12 April 2001 in a Purple and Orange "Worcester North Park+Ride" livery. To meet the contract requirement fifteen volunteer drivers were sent on a three day training coarse on customer care and disability awareness and these drivers now work on a special rota which includes all of the Park and Ride operation. The only other First Group Caetano bodied Dennis Dart at the time W809VMA which was used during March and April 2001 for driver and engineering training. Four out of the five vehicles are required at any one time to operate the service between Perdiswell to the north of the City Centre and the Bus Station on a 10-minute headway. With the introduction of the national vehicle numbering scheme the vehicles were put into the 42xxx series of numbers. During November 2006 the vehicles were fitted with electronic destination displays. With end of the operation of the Worcester North Park and Ride by First these vehicles were repainted into standard Barbie livery

Livery Key : Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was repainted) 

42401/2/3/4/5/6   P401/2/3/4/5/6MLA

P401/3/4//5/6MLA were new to Centrewest in London in August 1996 and were part of a batch of 7 vehicles P401-7MLA which took the fleet numbers L1-7. These vehicles were renumbered during the mass adoption of the national fleet numbering to 42401-7.42401-5 arrived with First Wyvern from Centrewest in London in June 2008. 43406 arrived via First Beeline in the same month. This vehicle had been on loan to this operator. As are of the preparation for service the vehicles acquired fare promotion material for routes 1, 2 and 3 in Kidderminster. After months of storage 42401/3/4/6 have entered service at Worcester to replace withdrawn Optare Solo's that were transfered to First Northampton.

42455  R445CCV

42455 arrived with First Wyvern in early November 2008 from First Devon and Cornwall. The vehicle is part of batch of 18 vehicles which were new to Western National during 1997/8 and being registered R447-64CCV. A number of the batch are now also with First Eastern Counties at Great Yarmouth. 42455 had been in service at Camborne on services in Cornwall

42641   N341EUY

As part of the order for Plaxton bodied Dennis Darts in 1995 Midland Red West ordered a 14th vehicle which was an early low floor vehicle. 341 (E341EUY) entered service at Kidderminster Garage towards the end of April 1996 with Shropshire County Council funding the difference in cost between a standard vehicle and the low floor bus. As an early low floor Dart the vehicle is virtually unique in that it is plated to carry two wheelchairs whereas more recent low floor vehicles can normally only carry one. The vehicle was used on a number of Council sponsored routes, which were the 712 (Mondays to Saturdays), 538 (Tuesdays only), 141/2 (Wednesdays only), 491/2 (Thursdays only), 713 (Saturdays only) and some journeys on the 297. These contracts continued until the Summer of 1999 after which the vehicle was used on general Kidderminster Garage work until September 2000. It then found a niche as the back up vehicle for the two low floor Dennis Darts (X371/1CUY) being used on the contracted service 303 plus use on the new service X33 running between Redditch and Kidderminster. First Wyvern lost the service contracts to Pete’s Travel from 8th April 2002 and 341 went back to operating more general services running from Kidderminster Garage. In January 2003 as part of service changes at Worcester the vehicle moved to Worcester Garage in company with 327/9/30 from Redditch. The vehicle has been painted in the low floor Barbie livery to match 327/9/30 even though it does not qualify for the livery as it lacks a corporate internal seats and fittings. However, from 4th September 2003 341 together with 327/9 and 330 were transferred to Kidderminster Garage for use on the X33, 300 and 303 services that were taken over from Pete's Travel. With the introduction of the national vehicle numbering scheme the vehicle were put into the 426xx series of numbers.

42889/90-4 VX54MUC/O/P/UV & VX05JWW

In November 2004 Firstgroup announced a major vehicle order for a total of 125 new low floor buses from Alexander Dennis at a total cost of £15M. As part of the order First Wyvern are to receive a total of 46 new vehicles which include six 10.7-metre Pointer Darts. Firstgroup has ordered a total of 80 vehicles across the whole group. On Friday 26th November 2004 First Wyvern took delivery of a number of new single and double deck vehicles from the new company Alexander Dennis which made up much of the bus manufacturing side of Transbus which stop trading earlier in the year.  Two Darts arrived with three double deck vehicles and were initially put into store at Worcester. The first were joined by three more vehicles of the same type over the next couple of days. The first of the vehicles entered service at Kidderminster on 17th December 2004. From the same date 42217/9/20 moved back to Worcester Garage for use on Worcester city services. The sixth vehicle in the batch VX54MUW (42894) arrived at Worcester during February 2005. As this sixth vehicle had not been registered by 1st March 2005 when the 05 plates were introduced a new registration mark has been issued of VX05JWW. The vehicle entered service at Kidderminster during the second week of March 2005.

315 SN03LGA

Over the weekend of the 29th and 30th May 2004 First Wyvern took delivery of what was to be their fourth short wheel-base low floor Dennis Dart SN03LGA. The vehicle is a Transbus (now following the recent problems with Transbus known as Alexander Dennis) demonstrator (first registered in May 2003) and has been loaned to First Wyvern for use on the new Worcestershire County Council subsidised Flexi-Link services 914 and 915 that link Kidderminster with Stourport. SN03LGA carries no external markings to show it is being operated by First Wyvern.  The vehicle entered service with First Wyvern on Tuesday 1st June 2004 and is fitted with a radio telephone for use by drivers to communicate with the Worcestershire County Council control centre so that they know when and where passengers require picking up from. This vehicle is on loan from Alexander Dennis and was replaced in March 2005 by 2 new Optare Solo vehicles (See Optare section and vehicles 1720-3). The vehicle was returned to Worcestershire County Council in March 2005.