Stagecoach North West Discussion

[Dallamlad]

Is that good or bad? What reg is 20898?

 

[mbonwick]

R

Neither here nor there I guess

 

[driver9000]

Is that good or bad? What reg is 20898?

R898 XVM

I think the 793-795 batch of R reg B10M were the among the best I ever drove, I know they were standard PS bodied buses but there was something about them that made them nice to drive. The best ones we had were H618ACK etc that we got from Glasgow (new to Burnley & Pendle) at the same time we got 20540 etc.

 

[Dallamlad]

Good lord id there's not difference then why are we swapping them lol. Well the fact 20898 has CCTV is a plus. I was thinking today how our MANS should have CCTV and how I'm surprised they don't. In fact every vehicle that has a certain future should have CCTV but the cost must be HUGE!

 

[mbonwick]

Reason we're swapping them I guess is exactly as driver9000 said - they're good buses, I think Chorley need them for contracts. In the summer, were were going to send them 20794/5 and then get some K regs from Lillyhall. That idea has gone up the spout though - Lillyhall's are simply to knackered to work

I personally don't like the idea of CCTV; yeah sure its a deterrent and if there is an incident then there is evidence. but I don't like the idea of me being on camera all that time each day.

 

[Dallamlad]

I think CCTV is important. As a passenger i would feel safer having CCTV on board. As you say there is proof when there's an accident and this is a major plus. I remember been involved in a small bump a few years ago on a school runner (Kendal) and the driver in an angry state "don't worry its on the camera". Also wouldn't drivers feel safer? You might have CCTV for the same reason you have a plastic screen on the cab door, protection.

Also CCTV on school routes is near on essential. My school have requested CCTV footage back from Stagecoach to investigate incidents on school runs. Also Stagecoach may use the footage to pin down vandals on school runs.

In my opinion speaking as a passenger only i think CCTV should be fitted to all Stagecoach buses.

 

[driver9000]

When Lancaster had its first CCTV bus fitted - 16663, Lancashire council paid for it. In regard to the MANs, a largley forgotten experiment involving 22827 in 2003/2004 saw it fitted with GPS equipment, aerial in the cab and a TFT monitor on the cab bulkhead intended to show realtime traffic info and local advertising. As I recall this was connected with the university and they monitored the bus on its travels. I dont think it was a success and the monitor was prone to crashing, and never got as far as showing travel information

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah the monitor is still there. Cant they play stagecoach adds on it or something. you k ow link it up to a DVD player (in cab like in a coach) and play adds like Dayriders and new services etc. Always wondered what it was for nice bit of info there thanks

I get the impression that Lillyhall aren't very good at looking after there vehicles compared to Lancaster.

 

[mbonwick]

LL are too busy fixing everyone elses buses to worry about their own
I suppose the fact that many of the routes in West Cumbria are long means that the buses get a good run out which keeps them running better.

I've always wondered about 22827 - it's out of series with all the other MANs round here.

 

[Dallamlad]

Bless Lillyhall keeping the rest of use going! lol

Yeah that MAN is odd not sure where its come from think soem of them came from Whitehaven

 

[driver9000]

The V reg MANs are former Carlisle waterbuses 22813/4 are ex-Whitehaven they used to be in a special Cumbrian Connection livery for the X50.

22827 is numbered in series with the rest of the original batch of Lancaster MANs (821-827) that were delivered for the 3/3A/4 I cant think of anything that makes it out of sequence. When locally numbered 820 was the odd one out and became 22721 (X721NSE) in the national sequence. This bus is ex Fife Scottish, and differs slightly because it has an uprated engine - if you listen it sounds different too. Not sure why 22721 ended up in Lancaster, it was seen running in its first few days with full Fife branding, even retaining its FifeScottish internal cab door stickers long after it was repainted. I was told once that there were 2 MANs given the same identity by mistake at the DVLA, although Im not sure if this involved an original No.820 or if 22721 was involved somehow....

20898 is having a day out on the 7 today (Vale-Marsh)

 

[Dallamlad]

Well we have quite a collection could do with some more really lol.

 

[mbonwick]

Sorry, I meant 22721 as you obviously guess driver9000!

Dallamlad - if you were on the D6 tonight, you walked past me at the bus station. i was wearing a black hat + blue coat.

 

[cainebj]

CCTV is really useful on buses. most stagecoach buses i travel on these days have CCTV.
CCTV came in useful when 47617 was involved in an accident.
a lot of the buses at lillyhall are knackered! and they are still used quite a lot! K734 DAO (20734 i think) comes to mind! even the enviro 300's are starting to show signs of wear and tear! doors squeak and creak a bit! best buses at lillyhall are the darts! a little small for the 31 route they do, but they have a good turn of speed. unfortunately, doors on these can also be problematic. most of them don't close properly! just like the 709s! they only close as far as the mechanism lets them, so the sides end up being a little loose, so the doors blow in and out a little when closed. one of the darts were off service today, which meant a K reg B10m was used on the 31.
i wish stagecoach would sort out their destination displays! at lillyhall, information is shown in different ways, which annoys me! it isnt much, but its annoying! at one point, all buses shown for example "31 FRIZINGTON", this included the enviro 300's. at the start of october, the enviros, darts, and versa were changed to show "Frizington 31". the solo's now follow this, along with some of the B10m's, some 709's, and possibly the R reg olympians. The Jonckheere's for the X4 / X5 show it differently still. it has a flip dot, but the information changes. it shows "X4" or "X5" in the centre, then it will change to "Penrith" or "Workington" depending on which direction the bus is travelling, then it will show "X4 PENRITH via Cockermouth Keswick Rheged". they need to get them sorted so they all display information in the same way! i personally think all of the LED displays should use the scrolling feature. the darts used to use it, but since reprogramming, they havnt. only the solo's on the side displays scroll on the 08 reg ones, and the ex preston ones will just change.

 

[Dallamlad]

I wasn't on D6 today so i wouldn't have passed u but I'll look out for u in January!

Yes CCTV is good and displays screens are annoying at times! Lancaster quite good at using them properly but Kendal are useless. On the 555 they simply have KENDAL or LANCASTER. they don't do via Carnforth, Milnthorpe and Heversham. Bit if you put a Lancaster bus on the 555 (happened a few weeks ago when 18360 got a blow our and was replaced by Lancaster's 18324) then they have the via reel on. Anyway really don't matter but they should use everything they have really.

 

[driver9000]

The MANs went through a phase of the Penrith style display of showing a number on its own and then the destination on its own (with many mis-spellings). In Lancaster there are a couple of locations where buses on the same route going to opposite ends share the same side of the road and after numerous complaints from drivers and passengers they were altered to show both together again - although Combermere Rd on the 4 is still shown as 'Combermere'

I think it is dependant on who programmes the display as to how much information gets put into it, Ive never been a fan of the scrolling version and the destination in small lower case lettering isnt that clear from a distance Id prefer it if the destination was bigger and in capitals.

21003 working a No.3 this afternoon, while 22827 was on the 42 - barmy!

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah i sore 21003 on the 3/4 routes today. Its funny as the only routes I've seen it on sinse it got a revamp are low riding ones. I also sore 16665 on the 2A!

 

[mbonwick]

I have to disagree about the displays. I think that one of the iconic features of the LakesLink is the "Keswick 555", or as it's becoming now "556 Lancaster" Prefer the older style, the writing was bigger!

Scrolling I hate - at a distance, it's moving too fast for you to read it.


Saw 20898 on a depot run today, also noted was 47022 with a non operational display. Has this been reseated since transfer from Preston? - it had the new style bus seats, but I can't for the life of me remember if it did when it arrived!

 

[cainebj]

random, but i wish lillyhall would route brand their buses, then they can't keep swapping them around as much as they do! today, a mirehouse bus was on moorclose, a moorclose bus on seaton, and a seaton bus on moorclose! seaton (47) buses are usually 709s, moorclose (50 and 51) are usually ex preston solo's, and mirehouse (3 and 4) are the 08 reg solo's. K reg B10m on 31 Frizington / 31 Maryport today, replacing a 56reg dart. no idea what happened to the dart! a usual working day see's one dart running 31, the versa, and a few enviro 300's. 30 Thornhill / 30 Maryport, as far as i know, was all enviro 300's for once! normally has a B10m stuck in there somewhere!
L119 HHV was on Seaton 47 this morning! running the service popular with school pupils!
think the school specials at sixth form were the usuals (one of the H reg olympians and a K reg olympian), everything else seemed pretty much the usual.
checked today, all the R reg olympians say "Whitehaven 300" or "Carlisle 300" now. spent a bit of time looking at the displays, and it is only really a few K reg B10m's and most 709s that havnt been reprogrammed! and possibly the coaches (joncks for transcumbria, and RBZ 5459 and VRR 447). suppose the coaches don't need it really, they only say private hire or school special most of the time! or for transcumbria, X4 or X5 routes. i wonder if the lack of reprogramming on some K reg B10m's and 709s means something will happen to them shortly! 709s are going, but looks like some B10m's could be too! not sure when it happened, but seen P134 XCN today, with LED display. think it had flip dot last time i seen it! its had a retrim too! now has the blue trim. on that note, the buses that havn't had displays updated still have the old grey trim!!! some of the reprogrammed ones are due to be re-trimmed shortly :-P

 

[driver9000]

God no!! I hate route branding, why restrict your fleet to selected routes? when one appears on a different route it looks unprofessional and out of place.

The J reg Leyland Olympians used to show Keswick via Central Lakes 555. I think final destination only for the 555/556 is adequate as there are way too many places it serves on the way! I just wish that there was a difference in size between numbers & words, with the numbers being slightly larger.

Im not too keen on the current fashion on Prestons fleet having MegaRider/RouteRider advertising scrolling along the bottom - totally unnecessary. At least the days of the Brite-Tech screen are nearly over, RIP randomly placed bricks and illegible destinations

 

[mbonwick]

God no!! I hate route branding, why restrict your fleet to selected routes? when one appears on a different route it looks unprofessional and out of place.

Totally agree, it's fine with small dedicated fleets (eg. Lancaster's Versas), but on a larger scale, it's pointless. I can't say that I believe that Lillyhall's buses are supposedly allocated for any particular route. A few, yeah, eg. DDs, but not the majority of the fleet.

The J reg Leyland Olympians used to show Keswick via Central Lakes 555. I think final destination only for the 555/556 is adequate as there are way too many places it serves on the way! I just wish that there was a difference in size between numbers & words, with the numbers being slightly larger.

That's sort of what they're changing to with the new format - smaller font overall, but the numbers are now slightly larger than the text.

Im not too keen on the current fashion on Prestons fleet having MegaRider/RouteRider advertising scrolling along the bottom - totally unnecessary. At least the days of the Brite-Tech screen are nearly over, RIP randomly placed bricks and illegible destinations

Scrolling ticket advertising? That really is too far. no need to be so in-your-face about the options for travel. I thought the whole point of the destination display was to show the destination (Though I've never found "Sorry Not In Service" )

It'll be a long time before the Brite-tech disappears completely. IMHO, 14204 should have an LED fitted, and 208 if it hasn't already, to replace the blinds. The S reg Tridents should also be fairly high on the list of priorities.

 

[cainebj]

i personally feel that some of lillyhall's need branded. especialy the solo's. the 08 reg ones were purchased specifically for mirehouse circular's, and the ex preston ones were transferred specifically for moorclose circular's. the branding still needs took off the versa! it hasnt ran the 2 service in ages! 3 month i think! still carries branding for it! i like the branding on the enviro 300s! if you havnt seen it, click here for a better pic than the last ones i linked. that is PX08CTO (22607) at the Red Lonning stop on Frizington 31.

 

[mbonwick]

I think it is fairer to say that the 08 Solos were intended for use on Mirehouse Circulars. Saying that they are specifically for them is like saying that Lancaster's ex-Manchester Tridents are for 2/2A only, but they do venture elsewhere.

Personally, I would brand the Enviros and leave the Solos in a common pool - because apart from age, what difference is there in the Solos?

 

[cainebj]

with the solo's, it is mostly mechanical. the 08 reg ones are more suited to the mirehouse circular routes (which had to be changed due to the size of solo's compared to 709's). its hard to explain why the 08 reg ones are better on mirehouse circulars unless you have seen them drive the route. the ex preston ones sometimes look like they will tip over or fail to stop! that could just be the drivers though. it looks odd when you get an 08 solo and a 51 reg solo on moorclose circulars, like today. would be better if it was both of the 08's or both 51's
has anyone got any idea why the R reg olympians at lillyhall had branding removed? it was removed a long time ago, but they havnt moved off their route. they have occasionally done school specials, but that was when N733 LTN had just transferred to lillyhall really.

click here to see route branding on the TransCumbria jonkheere's
click here to see route branding on the versa (25225), branding for 2, but running 31.
all these pictures i am linking are my own. i don't have many of stagecoach, mostly local coach hire companies. other pictures can be seen on Flickr.

 

[Dallamlad]

Are Lancaster's Leyland Olys really getin LED's? Can't wait for that. thwey still have the old style blinds atm but good stuff!!

 

[driver9000]

14204 & 14208 still have roller blinds on the front and the Vultron route indicators on the side, the rear one removed around 6 years ago. I really hope electronic screens aren fitted to these buses, especially to 14204 that would lessen the effect of its heritage livery. I am not aware of any plans to fit LED screens to them.

 

[Dallamlad]

I must agree about 14204 as it will ruin the look of the heritage livery. Bit i can't see them putting one in 14208 either. We shall just have to wait and see.

 

[mbonwick]

I agree that putting in LEDs would spoil 14204s Heritage livery. However, I find that there is a difficulty in displaying the correct destination - for example, they only have "Carnforth Windermere Rd" for when they're on the 55A, not "The Kellets"

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes this is true but they may update the blinds rather then replacing them. Their going have a lot of old style ones lying around when the Trident 2's are updated.

Apparently 20898 is not staying in Lancaster. She has replaced 20451 which has been loaned to Chorley for use on Private Hire routes.

Also I think Kendal have taken possession of a new B10M (20661 i think) so look forward to seeing that around. I walked past the Kendal depot last night and noticed they have at least 2 new Dennis darts parked outside. They have had a group of Marshall bodied darts for a while but not Dennis ones so thats good to see. I assume they have replaced any Mercs that had left.

 

[driver9000]

Thats a minor problem that can be overcome with either updating the blind or using window boards. I think the blinds need updating, there are some long forgotten destinations on them (which service went to Winmarleigh?) The blinds in the Tridents wont fit the Olympians.

Not sure what the Marshall bodied buses will be, but if they aint Darts, they wont be Dennis