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First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

CD

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From Monday 11th January Webberbus start new routes T1 and T2 in Taunton in competition to BoS 1 and 2.
Four 65 plate Solo SRs acquired for this latest assault on First.
 
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swifty

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The NIMBYs of Willsbridge are up in arms about the bus services again. Not content with having been a contribution to the curtailment of the 42 at Cherry Gardens, they're now moaning that having both the 42/3 terminating there is a danger because of the layover.

I'm not sure where else would be suitable for the services to terminate/layover, and it never seemed to be a problem when the 40/1/2 all ran down there! Maybe the NIMBYs would be happier if First curtail the services at Oldand :lol:
 

freetoview33

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The NIMBYs of Willsbridge are up in arms about the bus services again. Not content with having been a contribution to the curtailment of the 42 at Cherry Gardens, they're now moaning that having both the 42/3 terminating there is a danger because of the layover.

I'm not sure where else would be suitable for the services to terminate/layover, and it never seemed to be a problem when the 40/1/2 all ran down there! Maybe the NIMBYs would be happier if First curtail the services at Oldand :lol:

If it was down to me I'd send more buses there way!
 

TheGrandWazoo

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We know you would :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Is there a dart at the side of that photo too?

Yep - the resolution isn't great. Wonder if it's 42704 (or is that in MR).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The NIMBYs of Willsbridge are up in arms about the bus services again. Not content with having been a contribution to the curtailment of the 42 at Cherry Gardens, they're now moaning that having both the 42/3 terminating there is a danger because of the layover.

I'm not sure where else would be suitable for the services to terminate/layover, and it never seemed to be a problem when the 40/1/2 all ran down there! Maybe the NIMBYs would be happier if First curtail the services at Oldand :lol:

Thing is that it where it lays over isn't outside anyone's house. I really can't see the issue
 

1905 Group

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Yep - the resolution isn't great. Wonder if it's 42704 (or is that in MR).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Thing is that it where it lays over isn't outside anyone's house. I really can't see the issue

That's 42721 S721 AFB on the right. 42704 is there but further to the right.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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In Clifton this morning.... on 8/9, 47449/60 and 47570 all at work so think the Streetlites are a bit fluid. In terms of the 72, 42955/8 was working on that; 42956 on the 36 too

Saw 32006 working as well (on the 3?)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
From Monday 11th January Webberbus start new routes T1 and T2 in Taunton in competition to BoS 1 and 2.
Four 65 plate Solo SRs acquired for this latest assault on First.

Got to wonder when this will end - barely seems like there's trade for one company let alone two.

Appreciate there's been some change on BoS 28 (changing times to keep ahead) and the 21 (dropping Weston to hourly to enhance Taunton to Burnham to 15 mins) but BoS have been fairly quiet in responding to these incursions.

Are they hoping that WB will simply overreach themselves? Be interesting to see the next financials
 
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Private Baxter

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Interesting is that Solars 65724-6 from Weymouth have apparently appeared at Bath on loan as they're short of vehicles - taken from FHD forum.

Saw 65725 not in service at Bath bus station yesterday. Not too impressed with some of BH's recent and I've already decided that I don't like these. ;) Still, at least slight improvement for 231 perhaps.

Yeah, you'll find the odd one will snake off onto something different. There does generally seem to be a pattern though (most of the time anyway!)

As for Bath, don't even get me started on their allocations! The only routes which I can say have a somewhat standard allocation is the 14 and the X39, and even they can be a little bit off! When I got the 319 from Kingswood the other day (which turned out to be 32937), I had no idea what would appear! :lol: we all know about that though.

Edit: Saying that, 47463 and 47568 are both on the 8/9 today :lol:

I don't know the pvr of the 8/9 or 24, but I suspect there is a slight surplus of these streetlites anyway, so will often support other services. And again, I don't think certain streetlites are allocated to the 8/9 and 24, just whichever ones are available. Bit like the 173 doesn't have set B7RLEs, but rather any three out of the thirteen which are there. Bath's 13 is a fairly fixed allocation, consisting of the 62 reg e200s, supported by 44915.

I see the mystery of 42557 has been solved, it is now with First Essex.

Ah was wondering about that. Thought it might just have been spared and remained in this region. Oh well, that's the lot gone now.

A few things from the Bath Customer Pannal meeting last night

Plans for the 174 to serve norton seem to be looking likely but its proving a issue as they would really like it to serve the same stop of the other busses that run Bath - Norton and not the town hall stop.

the 37 and 319 should be fully deckers before the end of the month

the Fast track scania's will go to westbury as there are less drivers to type train

possible plans for route consultation in the future ahead of changes

it sounds like we can expect to see some changes in April as well to other routes

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. Can see the problems with 174, really hope it can be solved. I liked the suggestion on here not too long ago about sending it straight down East Somerset Way via Morrisons and bypass Dulcote, but appreciate the tight time frame available.

Surprised that they want to convert the 37 to full decker working, considering darts were the allocation till not very long ago. Did see some of the older deckers on the route yesterday, so it seems to be happening. Had also noticed over the last week that deckers are increasingly common on 319, besides the usual two boards. This might even mean that the route will now get a semi permanent allocation, even if the newest buses to appear are thirteen years old.
 

CD

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Saw 65725 not in service at Bath bus station yesterday. Not too impressed with some of BH's recent and I've already decided that I don't like these. ;) Still, at least slight improvement for 231 perhaps.

The three Solars are very good vehicles, on the climb up to Portland Heights on the 1 in Weymouth they are at least as good as a B7RLE and far better than a Streetlite.
Pity they did not send the E200s back to Bath rather than these.
 

THarris123

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The three Solars are very good vehicles, on the climb up to Portland Heights on the 1 in Weymouth they are at least as good as a B7RLE and far better than a Streetlite.
Pity they did not send the E200s back to Bath rather than these.

Pity - I have no pity on that at all. It's nice to see a bit more variation in Bath - when was the last time First had a Scania in Bath?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Saw 65725 not in service at Bath bus station yesterday. Not too impressed with some of BH's recent and I've already decided that I don't like these. ;) Still, at least slight improvement for 231 perhaps.



I don't know the pvr of the 8/9 or 24, but I suspect there is a slight surplus of these streetlites anyway, so will often support other services. And again, I don't think certain streetlites are allocated to the 8/9 and 24, just whichever ones are available. Bit like the 173 doesn't have set B7RLEs, but rather any three out of the thirteen which are there. Bath's 13 is a fairly fixed allocation, consisting of the 62 reg e200s, supported by 44915.



Ah was wondering about that. Thought it might just have been spared and remained in this region. Oh well, that's the lot gone now.



Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. Can see the problems with 174, really hope it can be solved. I liked the suggestion on here not too long ago about sending it straight down East Somerset Way via Morrisons and bypass Dulcote, but appreciate the tight time frame available.

Surprised that they want to convert the 37 to full decker working, considering darts were the allocation till not very long ago. Did see some of the older deckers on the route yesterday, so it seems to be happening. Had also noticed over the last week that deckers are increasingly common on 319, besides the usual two boards. This might even mean that the route will now get a semi permanent allocation, even if the newest buses to appear are thirteen years old.

Thinking about Baths deckers - if 32940/1 move over there should be more than enough deckers in Bath to cover 319, 37, 15, X39 and 38.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Pity - I have no pity on that at all. It's nice to see a bit more variation in Bath - when was the last time First had a Scania in Bath?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Thinking about Baths deckers - if 32940/1 move over there should be more than enough deckers in Bath to cover 319, 37, 15, X39 and 38.

The X4-X6 had Scania L94/Wright Floline (ex Leicester) until 2005. To be honest, most folk wouldn't notice the difference with a B7RLE. Not been on these examples but been on Solars with Go Ahead and they do go well.

Not certain what's going on with Bath's deckers - 32002 is also working from LH!
 
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In Clifton this morning.... on 8/9, 47449/60 and 47570 all at work so think the Streetlites are a bit fluid. In terms of the 72, 42955/8 was working on that; 42956 on the 36 too

Saw 32006 working as well (on the 3?)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Got to wonder when this will end - barely seems like there's trade for one company let alone two.

Appreciate there's been some change on BoS 28 (changing times to keep ahead) and the 21 (dropping Weston to hourly to enhance Taunton to Burnham to 15 mins) but BoS have been fairly quiet in responding to these incursions.

Are they hoping that WB will simply overreach themselves? Be interesting to see the next financials

BoS has recently doubled the frequency between Bridgwater and Burnham, introduced a half price day ticket, and carries accompanied children free at weekends.
 

THarris123

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The X4-X6 had Scania L94/Wright Floline (ex Leicester) until 2005. To be honest, most folk wouldn't notice the difference with a B7RLE. Not been on these examples but been on Solars with Go Ahead and they do go well.

Not certain what's going on with Bath's deckers - 32002 is also working from LH!

Are LH doing some maintenance work or MOT type thing and then as they're in Bristol, they get chucked into doing some spare work - got to remember that the W regs are only in use at peak, so maybe they're covering Bristol work during that time?
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Saw 65725 not in service at Bath bus station yesterday. Not too impressed with some of BH's recent and I've already decided that I don't like these. ;) Still, at least slight improvement for 231 perhaps.



I don't know the pvr of the 8/9 or 24, but I suspect there is a slight surplus of these streetlites anyway, so will often support other services. And again, I don't think certain streetlites are allocated to the 8/9 and 24, just whichever ones are available. Bit like the 173 doesn't have set B7RLEs, but rather any three out of the thirteen which are there. Bath's 13 is a fairly fixed allocation, consisting of the 62 reg e200s, supported by 44915.



Ah was wondering about that. Thought it might just have been spared and remained in this region. Oh well, that's the lot gone now.



Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. Can see the problems with 174, really hope it can be solved. I liked the suggestion on here not too long ago about sending it straight down East Somerset Way via Morrisons and bypass Dulcote, but appreciate the tight time frame available.

Surprised that they want to convert the 37 to full decker working, considering darts were the allocation till not very long ago. Did see some of the older deckers on the route yesterday, so it seems to be happening. Had also noticed over the last week that deckers are increasingly common on 319, besides the usual two boards. This might even mean that the route will now get a semi permanent allocation, even if the newest buses to appear are thirteen years old.

Whilst the 8/9 and 24 allocations may have been planned to be distinct, my observations this morning with the 8/9 was that it seems to just be a large pool of Streetlites that can be allocated across a range of routes. 2 of the 4 72 boards were Darts.

319 seems to be increasingly DD but again, this doesn't seem confined to a type with Tridents and B7TLs working together.

As for the 174, it currently takes 13 mins to run from Radstock to Stratton. The 173 takes 18 mins to go from Radstock to Chili, so add on another 3 mins to Stratton so it's an extra 8 minutes. A revised route in Wells might save a few minutes but you can understand their concern on timings
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
BoS has recently doubled the frequency between Bridgwater and Burnham, introduced a half price day ticket, and carries accompanied children free at weekends.

I did mention the enhancement to Burnham to every 15 mins and, whilst welcome, the weekend child fare is not really a WB specific measure but one of the four January sales.

Just saying that they're not going being overt in their strategy in WB and being patient
 

freetoview33

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Just saw 32006 on the 1 and it says in the window. On hire to First Bristol. So I'm guessing that they are covering. Although 32007 is damaged after its accident
 

baza585

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The three Solars are very good vehicles, on the climb up to Portland Heights on the 1 in Weymouth they are at least as good as a B7RLE and far better than a Streetlite.
Pity they did not send the E200s back to Bath rather than these.

They are decent enough buses; pretty generous of FHD to lend these rather than sending back the short E200s. I just hope they are still in a decent state if/when they are returned to FHD in time for the spring, though past experience suggests that this may not be the case!!

I can only assume Bath are lending deckers to Bristol and these are back-filling. Not clear what is now being used in Bath on the uni services though........
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Saw 65725 not in service at Bath bus station yesterday. Not too impressed with some of BH's recent and I've already decided that I don't like these. ;)

What is there not to like about these? Solid reliable enough buses, plenty of power. I'm told they are not cheap to fix but then neither are Volvos........

Have you actually travelled on one of them?
 
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Private Baxter

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Just saw 32006 on the 1 and it says in the window. On hire to First Bristol. So I'm guessing that they are covering. Although 32007 is damaged after its accident

Been at Cribbs Causeway this afternoon and this one was parked in one of the bays for a while, with as you say On hire to FB in the window. Wonder what exactly is going on....

Other observations include 66723 on the X5 - first time in years I've seen this. Odd for it venture out of Weston. Its route branding does look quite dated now, compared to some of the more recent examples! Also saw a couple of former BH B7RLEs (66941/2) on 78/9. Well suited to these routes in my opinion, hope it becomes the norm. Only thing about their move to MH is that it now seems quite unlikely that any of the remaining barbie ones will be painted any time soon. Of course the same could be true had they stayed at BH!

They are decent enough buses; pretty generous of FHD to lend these rather than sending back the short E200s. I just hope they are still in a decent state if/when they are returned to FHD in time for the spring, though past experience suggests that this may not be the case!!

I can only assume Bath are lending deckers to Bristol and these are back-filling. Not clear what is now being used in Bath on the uni services though........
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


What is there not to like about these? Solid reliable enough buses, plenty of power. I'm told they are not cheap to fix but then neither are Volvos........

Have you actually travelled on one of them?

Actually I have not traveled on one, I merely saw it in the bus station yesterday and decided to form an opinion based on nothing other than the way it looked, kind of like judging a book by its cover. I'm terrible! Sorry 'bout that. ;) Will have to give one a go when I am back in Bath and let you know!
 

CD

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The X4-X6 had Scania L94/Wright Floline (ex Leicester) until 2005. To be honest, most folk wouldn't notice the difference with a B7RLE. Not been on these examples but been on Solars with Go Ahead and they do go well.

Not certain what's going on with Bath's deckers - 32002 is also working from LH!

Inside they have rear facing seats over the rear wheels rather like a B10ble/Renown.
 

THarris123

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66942 on 78/9
66351 on X39
69439 on 376 - first B7 I've seen on 376 (and ridden on) within the last 4 weeks
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
First details of the First WoE bus order at the launch of the VE Deckers?

'A further 50 low emission buses (39 double deck and 11 single deck) are expected to be added to the company's West of England fleet in the coming months too (39 of which are expected to be used in Bristol).'

Read more: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Latest...tory-28485799-detail/story.html#ixzz3wfrs4PMI

I wonder who's getting the 11 single decks then? Weston?

Wonder where we'll see these 39 deckers - 75/76 or maybe X74/73/48/49/48A/X48?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
32941 on 36
 
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I did mention the enhancement to Burnham to every 15 mins and, whilst welcome, the weekend child fare is not really a WB specific measure but one of the four January sales.

Just saying that they're not going being overt in their strategy in WB and being patient

Kids go free does nevertheless attract customers who may otherwise travel with WB. It was a December offer at BoS that was extended through January as one of the UK bus offers.

Overt to who? There are posters up advertising a whole host of fare offers.
 

Class 33

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Just seen a report about the new hybrid electric double deckers with service 72 branding on ITV News Westcountry. They look great! Got to try and get a ride on one of these soon! Seen a couple of 72's today but they were the usual darts and Streetlite single deckers.
 

THarris123

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Few B7s on 178/379 - just saw 66734 on 379 and another on 178. Nice to see them on there like I originally wanted to see when 379 started to interwork with 178.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Kids go free does nevertheless attract customers who may otherwise travel with WB. It was a December offer at BoS that was extended through January as one of the UK bus offers.

Overt to who? There are posters up advertising a whole host of fare offers.

Are you BoS's commercial manager???

Perhaps I should say that they've not responded with upping frequencies on those town routes affected by WBs latest moves and I'm not saying they should either. Perhaps a more nuanced approach than some as overt as that?

And targeted offers that increase ridership and revenue whilst not affecting the cost base unduly is obviously a good thing especially with direct competition (WB) and other modes.
 

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