205 Dewsbury-Morley-Pudsey
Starting the 1990's on a high, Black Prince were awarded the Metro contract to operate the Sunday service over route 205 between Dewsbury Bus Station, Morley Town Hall, Gildersome & Pudsey Bus Station.
The contract commenced on Sunday 29th April 1990 and the immaculately turned out Leyland PD3, HNW366D worked the first journey, marking the start of Black Prince operation.
The passengers on the first day of service were treated to the delights of Volvo Ailsa, LWB380P for the remainder of the days duty on route 205!.
The 205 is a curious, rambling route which to this day meanders between Mirfield & Pudsey (albeit drastically cut back from the days of old)
The timetable operates only Monday to Saturday now and has not seen a Sunday service for several years, other than those days where heritage buses operate the occasional journey for historical purposes.
The Mirfield to Dewsbury section of the route is effectively a stand alone operation, traditionally provided by Longstaff of Mirfield but in 2019 Lyles are the operator-as a nod to the past, using Longstaff liveried buses.
The Dewsbury Bus Station to Morley section runs via the back roads, taking in Hanging Heaton, Owl Lane, West Ardsley, Tingley, Westerton and is quite a meandering trek!.
On leaving Morley, you'll take a winding road to Pudsey, via Gildersome, New Farnley, the Bar House and Roker Lane.
The 205 is a genuinely interesting route, operated today by Arriva Yorkshire, the successor to Yorkshire Woollen District (Yorkshire Buses)
The rolling stock on the 205 service has been incredibly interesting over the years, Yorkshire Buses could provide Leyland Lynx MK1 or MK2 as seen below, Leyland National MK1 & MK2, Bristol VR, Mercedes-Benz Minibuses and in to Arriva days, Dennis Darts were the staple followed by ADL 200s.
Black Prince, naturally, provided a superb variety of vehicles and as previously mentioned, passengers on the first day of operation were treated to a Leyland PD3 followed by a Volvo Ailsa!.
The service would normally see operation by Leyland National, Greenway or Volvo single deckers, but anything could be allocated.
Latterly, the brand new Optare Vecta/MAN fleet could be found on the 205, shortly after they had been delivered new to Black Prince in 1995.
In the photograph gallery below, enjoy the cross-section of red and yellow (most of the time) Black Prince offerings allocated to the 205 route during the period operated by the company.
