Western Greyhound Fire and subsequent WG general discussion.

[Goldfish62]

At the time it was mentioned the funding was ceased for the remainder of the tax year on the Cornwall Council website.
Despite this the Council managed to subsidise small independent companies taking on many of the routes. These independents most surprisingly were able to make the service better value for money, one would think that a large operator should be able to provide better value as they can operate in bulk as such.

The two companies taking on routes in Penzance and Hayle are registered charities who use either volunteers or drivers paid minimum wage. Plus they have not publicised the services at all. Hardly surprising their cost base is lower.

 

[83G/84D]

KN52 NPR & YT51 DZZ are both in use.

I saw these two Dart's in use at Newquay today, I was told there are currently three in use.A fourth in the Western Greyhound green colours should be out and about next week.

Neither have working destination blinds/displays yet.

 

[83G/84D]

KN52 NPR & YT51 DZZ are both in use.

Here is the other one seen, not sure if I can post more than one picture per posting or how to do it!

 

[ECML180]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...618.1073741828.488468821219947&type=1&theater

They posted a photo on the facebook page yesterday, it looks good!

 

[SWTH]

I saw these two Dart's in use at Newquay today, I was told there are currently three in use.A fourth in the Western Greyhound green colours should be out and about next week.

Neither have working destination blinds/displays yet.

Since my last post KN52 NFU has also been in use.

 

[winston270twm]

Ensignbus in the latest RouteOne are currently advertising a number of Western Greyhound Optare Solo's for sale dating 2002-2011 (all Mercedes Engined)

http://www.route-one.net/issues/525/index.html#/60/

 

[DaveHarries]

Sounds like they might have lost a lot of work in Cornwall CC's retendering then? Also I wonder why they are disposing of the newer, rather than older, vehicles, including the remainder of the SRs? If this keeps up there will be no WGL.

Dave

 

[winston270twm]

Sounds like they might have lost a lot of work in Cornwall CC's retendering then? Also I wonder why they are disposing of the newer, rather than older, vehicles, including the remainder of the SRs? If this keeps up there will be no WGL.

Dave

Depends?

They've either lost a large chunk of work or are replacing the Solo's with older MPD's to raise some funds, similar to JPT in Manchester

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sounds like they might have lost a lot of work in Cornwall CC's retendering then? Also I wonder why they are disposing of the newer, rather than older, vehicles, including the remainder of the SRs? If this keeps up there will be no WGL.

Dave

Let's not draw conclusions.....It might be that they have lost some work.

Alternatively, and slightly different to Winston (though premise is the same), it might be a way to cash in on some of their newer kit to obtain more DDA compliant fleet (e.g. send up two Solo SRs and receive back 5 MPDs, for instance). They do have a lot of Varios that do need replacing asap so might be the way to sort in the short term

 

[SWTH]

The SR's have Cummins ISB engines. OM904 engined Solos are 701-708, 810/17, 911/14/5, 921/2/3/33. Of those, the newest are 705-8, on 59-plates.

Not heard if we have lost anything yet, tender results aren't even announced until March if I remember correctly.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The SR's have Cummins ISB engines. OM904 engined Solos are 701-708, 810/17, 911/14/5, 921/2/3/33. Of those, the newest are 705-8, on 59-plates.

Not heard if we have lost anything yet, tender results aren't even announced until March if I remember correctly.

Advert is a bit confusing then. Says 2011 vintage AND Merc engines.

Like I say, bit soon to draw conclusions and given that MPDs have been arriving, might be part of fleet replacement policy.

Dare I suggest it but given that the 524/5 have now been amended (not serving Gorran Haven, or into the centre of Mevagissey etc), then larger vehicles like MPDs can now be used rather than the 7** Solos?

 

[SWTH]

Possibly.

921/2/3/33 are all older than 2002 (2000/01) too. I suspect the age range might be what Ensign has or will have in stock, rather than just what had come from WGL.

 

[DaveHarries]

I messaged WGL on Facebook this morning with this:

"After following a link from an Enthusiast foruum, I think it a shame to see a "selection of 2002 - 2011 Optare Solos" from WGL being advertised by Ensign in the latest edition of Route One magazine. As an enthusiast I would be interested to know what is going on that has made WGL sell off newer, rather than older, buses....."

and I had a reply which was this:

"certain routes are bursting at the seams and we need to replace small vehicles with larger ones."

I wonder if all the vehicles that come in will be MPDs? Could be interesting.

Dave

 

[SWTH]

Bear in mind only a handful of Varios need replacing by 31/12/14. The majority are D/P no standing so are useable until 2020. On certain routes the Varios are the best tools for the job.

 

[Volvo142]

Ensignbus in the latest RouteOne are currently advertising a number of Western Greyhound Optare Solo's for sale dating 2002-2011 (all Mercedes Engined)

http://www.route-one.net/issues/525/index.html#/60/

It's all a little strange, as if you go to Ensign's Bus Sales page on their website, there are no Solos currently listed and the stock list says it was updated on 13th February.

However, the response received by Dave (see below) does make sense, since when the 524/5/6 were changed in November, the announcement on Western Greyhound's website included the comment:

"Buses will only operate to Trevarth in Mevagissey (not via School Hill), so that we can use larger vehicles on the route due to overloading. "

"certain routes are bursting at the seams and we need to replace small vehicles with larger ones."Dave

 

[SWTH]

Bear in mind also that none of the Solos have yet left WGL.

 

[winston270twm]

I messaged WGL on Facebook this morning with this:

"After following a link from an Enthusiast foruum, I think it a shame to see a "selection of 2002 - 2011 Optare Solos" from WGL being advertised by Ensign in the latest edition of Route One magazine. As an enthusiast I would be interested to know what is going on that has made WGL sell off newer, rather than older, buses....."

and I had a reply which was this:

"certain routes are bursting at the seams and we need to replace small vehicles with larger ones."

I wonder if all the vehicles that come in will be MPDs? Could be interesting.

Dave

Other than the Slimline Solo's 701-708, all the other Mercedes engined Solo's potentially earmarked for sale seat more than the 29 seats the used MPD's have, most of the Solo's seat 33

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Other than the Slimline Solo's 701-708, all the other Mercedes engined Solo's potentially earmarked for sale seat more than the 29 seats the used MPD's have, most of the Solo's seat 33

Yes but looks likely that the 524/5 is the route where (since First came off) they are struggling to cope and that's where the 701-8 live! After truncating it so it no longer serves Gorran, and doesn't serve School Hill and the centre of Mevagissey, it can now use MPDs.

 

[83G/84D]

A report on a Yahoo Groups forum reports that the following Dart's are sold to Western Greyhound through Ensign Bus:-

NA52 AWF, NA52 AWM, NA52 AWW, KW02 CVS, KN52 NFT, YT51 EAK & YT51 EAJ.

Probably spells the end for some more Vario's.

NA52 AWV was also mentioned but I think this was one of the batch that are already in Cornwall.

(Some of the registration changes in bold)

 

[overthewater]

Any news on who has won any of the tenders yet?

 

[SWTH]

708, 915 and 962 left for Ensign on Tuesday when three of the MPDs turned up.

 

[overthewater]

Do we have any details yet about the tenders?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Do we have any details yet about the tenders?

Give 'em a chance..... the submission was less than 4 weeks ago. They won't announce yet and probably not til the end of March.

 

[83G/84D]

At least 3 Dart's now in Western Greyhound green, all seen out and about on Friday.

 

[richw]

At least 3 Dart's now in Western Greyhound green, all seen out and about on Friday.

One of them appears to have a very high front ride height compared to the rest.

 

[sonic2009]

At least 3 Dart's now in Western Greyhound green, all seen out and about on Friday.

Any Photos?

 

[83G/84D]

Any Photos?

I've not managed any yet but there are some photo's around. Look earlier in this thread I think there is a link to one. See post #394.

 

[richw]

From Flickr this chap (not my photos) has several photos of the Darts in both Green and White

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56793172@N05/13171676823/

 

[SWTH]

Solos 940 & 950 were collected by their new owners yesterday. Nine Varios have been withdrawn recently, including 500, 540, 557, 559, & 578. Can't remember the others off the top of my head.

VR 258 has been for MoT, I should imagine it will be appearing at the Penzance VR running day.

Trident 445 was withdrawn in February due to severe damage sustained when it was blown off the road in gale force winds. It is now being used as a parts donor.

The ex-Go North East Darts are now all repainted in green, the remaining dealer white painted Darts (211/13/14/15/16/17) will be dealt with over the next couple of months.

I'm told tenders were announced late yesterday to the companies concerned, obviously no public announcement until the cooling off period has passed.

 

[richw]

Solos 940 & 950 were collected by their new owners yesterday. Nine Varios have been withdrawn recently, including 500, 540, 557, 559, & 578. Can't remember the others off the top of my head.

VR 258 has been for MoT, I should imagine it will be appearing at the Penzance VR running day.

Trident 445 was withdrawn in February due to severe damage sustained when it was blown off the road in gale force winds. It is now being used as a parts donor.

The ex-Go North East Darts are now all repainted in green, the remaining dealer white painted Darts (211/13/14/15/16/17) will be dealt with over the next couple of months.

I'm told tenders were announced late yesterday to the companies concerned, obviously no public announcement until the cooling off period has passed.

I took photos of 445 in mid March operating round Truro as did some other Flickr contacts of mine. The most recent picture it was operating the 586 on 17th march.


The Dart which was in Treliske at about 0750-0800 this morning looks very smart. I didn't catch any I.D for it.