PART of the pleasure of a bus ride is looking out of the windows - but for at least one passenger on the Plymouth Citybus service 315, that was very much obscured, resulting in a complaint to Citybus.

He told Citybus they had travelled on the new 315 service from Crediton to Bideford on November 10 and back and were impressed by the punctuality of the service, disappointed that it was no longer served by the double deckers as Stagecoach had until recently, but pleased that Citybus had taken this on at the same frequency.

However, he said their enjoyment of the journey was really spoilt by the “filthy” windows outside, “almost impossible to see out of”.

He accepted that the weather had been bad but wondered whether there were adequate cleaning facilities for the buses.

He received a reply next day to tell him that outstation sites such as at Winkleigh have to pass stringent inspections and quality checks.

On Tuesday, November 15, the “Courier” was given this statement from Mark Collins, Head of Commercial and Marketing at Go South West: “Driving through Devon country roads in the winter is inevitably going to mean that buses do get dirty on the outside.

“We have recently taken on routes 315 and 345 at very short notice to ensure the services could continue, including depot facilities at a brand new site.

“Three weeks in, we are looking at backfilling any gaps, including more accessible bus washing facilities.

“The 347 is part of Dartline, which we are just starting with and understand the systems will be in place soon.”

So things should improve pretty quickly in visibility on these routes.