Coastliner 36's New Ride!

Coastliner 36's New Ride! - Trips: Tuesday 13th & Thursday 22nd April 2021, Published: Sunday 6th June 2021

Coastal Red Limited, known by many as Lynx, of King's Lynn are an independent that sprung up at the start of 2015 - 6th January to be precise - and have being growing ever since. The past six years they have operated a fully second hand fleet comprising of Optare Tempos and Wright Gemini Pulsars - previously also using Optare Spectras and Leyland Olympians - and have really progressed as a result of Stagecoach pulling out of the area in 2018. Stagecoach's withdrawal allowed Lynx to operate a number of the former's previous routes including what was known as the Coasthopper Service. Currently, the former Coasthopper service is now split into three: Route 36 between King's Lynn and Wells (Now extended to Fakenham) operated by Lynx, Route CH1 between Wells and Cromer as well as Route CH2 between Cromer and North Walsham both run by Sanders Coaches - however my main focus will be Lynx and Route 36. Six years on from their inception, Lynx have purchased their first two new buses in Two Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC buses for their Coastliner service fitted with USB plugs and "hybrid" E-Leather/Moquette seats. Perfect for the full two and a half hour trek from Fakenham to King's Lynn. This review will look at the 36 from experiences on the Tempos and my journey on one of the MMCs.

Out on the old - Tuesday 13th April 2021

Since their formation, Lynx's fleet, as previously mentioned, has been predominantly Optare Tempo based. Following on from the introduction of the 36, the scenic route was allocated Tempos. Perfect for the scenic route being all that was available minus one thing - being a single decker means unfortunately your views are very restricted. After spending the morning travelling up to Norwich from Essex, on a Greater Anglia advance fare, and then navigating up to Wells-Next-The-Sea using Sanders Coaches with the £10 coast day ticket, we start our Lynx review with a 36 down to Fakenham. The journey inland to Fakenham is very handy for connecting onto First Norwich's X29 service as well as Lynx's Route 49 over to King's Lynn "direct", well in contrast to Coastliner anyway, and takes in the scenery of the Norfolk countryside. Between Wells and Fakenham there is only really one place worth visiting - Little Walsingham. With its historic streets and charming little abbey, it is somewhere the History student in me would love to have a little nose around if I get the time in the future. Tempo 19 had the honour of getting us to Fakenham in which it did the job just fine. I would suggest however that if you were after the views, this isn't the section of the route I would personally go out of my way for. After connecting across to King's Lynn via Route 49, we pick up the report as we venture to the Western End of the Coastliner network. King's Lynn's Transport Interchange, as it is known, is an adequate example of how integration of buses and trains should be done. The Bus Station itself is, from my experiences, practical with its eight bays and sufficient number of layover bays and is in a handy location being on the Town Centre's doorstep with the train station just around the corner. Anyway, enough about King's Lynn. I decided that to maximise as much time as possible, and to ensure a reasonable connection onto the last Sanders CH1 of the day, that a ride up the West Norfolk Coast along Route 34 as well as Coastliner 36 was in order. Route 34 connects King's Lynn to the seaside town of Hunstanton however in a more indirect manner than Coastliner 36 (although is still quicker than companion Route 35 which is diverted via the very scenic Sandringham Estate). We were given DAF Gemini 57, which had also had previous life with Reading Buses and Arriva London, for the trip up to Hunstanton which proved much more scenic than the eastern end of the 36 had. Sadly, I was unable to pop upstairs and nab some photos due to it being fairly busy however this is not necessarily a bad thing. The government campaign for "Buses Back Better" is one that ALL companies should be promoting and is great to see Lynx as one of these - especially with passenger numbers on this day being fairly steady. Next stop: Hunstanton. This "detour" allowed a half hour in the seaside town of Hunstanton - plenty of time to decanter the shiraz and grab myself an ice cream prior to my 36 back to Wells-Next-The-Sea. The section between Hunstanton and Wells was described to me as "the most scenic part of the route" and I have to say I agree! The run out of Hunstanton along the seafront and the run into Wells along the East Fleet are truly gorgeous. I don't have any bad word to say about any of the scenery or the route it takes. However, and it saddens me to say this, it just isn't the same on a single decker as it is in a double. Sadly with singles you're restricted to your close surroundings which means there is much one can miss on a trip. However, despite this small negative, I have to say I was very impressed with Lynx's product that day and was looking forward to returning for a ride on one of the new MMCs the following week.

In with the new - Thursday 22nd April 2021

This portion of the review will be about the MMC journey only as I don't need to go round in circles. A week on from my visit evaluating Lynx before the new buses arrived, I returned with a friend who had joined me the week before to see if we could get a ride on one of their two new buses. Fortunately we were in luck. After using Sanders to get to Wells as we had the previous week, we timed it perfectly to end up on bus 61, with its coastliner vinyl's applied and all on a run to King's Lynn - along the section previously discussed as the "most scenic". We were lucky to be in the hands of driver Sam Larke, a familiar face to many who follow the page, who is a driver you can tell is certainly proud of his job. Returning to the bus itself, Lynx really have gone big with their first two new buses since establishment six years ago and are definitely an upgrade from the Tempos they partially replace. A combination of E-Leather/Moquette seats, USB charging ports and air conditioning - something that will definitely benefit passengers on hot summer days. Similarly to my journey on route 34 the previous week, the upper deck was fairly busy and with it being a fairly warm day, space was prioritised. However, from what I have been informed the top deck offers amazing views, that would not have been accessible before, and was something I could almost tell from the happy expressions from customers boarding and alighting. It is definitely an upgrade from the Tempos and I look forward to eventually getting round to an upper deck ride! Lynx are definitely worth your time enthusiasts or general members of the public. The only advice I will give to the drivers or company staff who read this is be prepared to pay unless you work for operators in the local area: This has caught friends of mine out before and they've had to pay! Isn't advertised anywhere on Lynx's website so I'm doing you a favour here! ^WL