These vehicles were acquired with the Lincolnshire RoadCar business, a subsidiary of the Traction Group, which Stagecoach acquired in December 2005. LEYTR Chairman and Managing Director of RoadCar, Paul Hill, has said on numberous occasions to us that the vehicles were purchased from Travel West Midlands between 2001-4 with a view to operating for around the 12 year mark.
Of those remaining in service with Stagecoach now, six are being retained to operate seasonal services along the Lincolnshire Coasts (Skegness and Cleethorpes) and are painted in a special "Coastal Cruiser" livery; the others will see final operation during June.
A farewell day is planned for Saturday 12 April, which will be centred around the Newark depot - the main area for current Metrobus operation. Stagecoach will operate all journeys on Service 602 (Newark-Grantham) with Metrobuses and many "shorts" on Service 29 (Newark-Southwell): 1030 and hourly to 1430 ex Newark and 1002 and hourly to 1402 ex Southwell. One vehicle will also operate on Service 1 (local Newark town service).
