A new seafront service will be operating in the Yorkshire town, and its operator has plans to grow too, reports Nick Larkin
A 1956 Leyland PD2 open-top double-decker will be back in regular service on Scarborough seafront from Wednesday 27 March.
North Yorkshire-based Viscount Travel has registered new route 109 from Scarborough Spa to North Bay to run at weekends and bank holidays until 1 September. The service will also operate, subject to availability, from Tuesdays to Thursdays during school holidays. Frequency will be up to half hourly.
The Metro Cammell-bodied Leyland, LRV 992, was new to Portsmouth Corporation and latterly a member of the Stagecoach South heritage fleet before being sold in 2022.
Viscount Managing Director Nathan Merryweather said: “We did operate the bus on a tour covering the route from 1 August to 3 September last year. Now it’s a registered service and we applied for PSVAR exemption to operate the PD2. We’re sure it’ll once again be very popular.”
Nathan has previously driven on the 109 route with Shoreline Suncruisers, which competes with the other major player on the seafront service, Go-Ahead owned East Yorkshire.
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Viscount Travel was set up in May last year by Nathan and Xav Paine, now Executive Director, initially to operate the PD2 on private hire. The name pays tribute to the Viscount Bus & Coach Company Ltd, created when Cambus Holdings split off its Peterborough and Cambridgeshire operations to form a separate entity in 1989, before disappearing after the Stagecoach takeover in 1995.
Nathan explained: “We decided to revive Viscount. I grew up with it and we really liked the yellow and white livery, not that this will be used on the PD2,” he said. Nathan also owns F509 NJE, a preserved 1988 Northern Counties Leyland Olympian restored into Viscount colours, having run with the original operator. This vehicle is expected to eventually join the ‘new’ Viscount fleet as an active vehicle.
A recent acquisition for Viscount, and definitely in contrast to the Leyland PD2, is 2009 MAN 18.240 with ADL Enviro300 bodywork KX09 BHE, new to Stagecoach Midlands as fleet number 22838.
The MAN passed to City Transport Group last year and was resold to Viscount after repainting in its livery. Now decals have applied and the bus has been re-registered P1 OTL, originally on an East Lancs-bodied Volvo B10M new to Delaine Buses of Bourne. Viscount’s Executive Director Xav Paine owns sister vehicle P2 OTL.
Being prepared for MOT is G41 SAV, a Van Hool-bodied Volvo B10M new to Kenzie’s of Shepreth in 1990, and a restoration project is PHN 178L – a Bristol RE with Eastern Counties bodywork new to United Automobile services in 1973 and converted to open top in 1985 – for use in Scarborough.
Explained Nathan: “We chose the MAN over other makes and models of service bus as we needed something not older than 15 years and capable of long periods of sustained running. The bus was a fair price and up to the job in hand, meaning we can take on rail replacement work as well as local private and contract hires.”
Viscount has been operating some journeys on Yorkshire Buses’ service 29 in Leeds, under contract to that operator, though that is due to end on Friday 22 March. Nathan added: “Not only are we looking to gain more operator’s discs this year as well but eventually start our own routes and gain some school contracts and hires too. And we’ll look at the possibility of expanding the Scarborough seafront service.”
