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Mixture of single and double decker operated routes

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Statto

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Stagecoach Wirral 38/38A West Kirby-Croft Retail Park/Mill Park/Eastham Ferry has a mix of E300s & E400s, gold standard introduced last winter, E400s ex Kettering, although some are in a dreadful state & have yet to reenter service.
 
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Simon75

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Arriva North West 38 Crewe - Macclesfield:
Sapphire Pulsar 2's (from the 130)
Sapphire Pulsar Gemini 2's (Normal allocation)
Sapphire Enviro 400's

The last 4 buses Crewe-Macclesfield and Macclesfield - Crewe , use Mellor Stratas (joint funding with Cheshire East)
 

delt1c

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Remember back in 2012 when I was living in Edinburgh, storm winds were forecast one day and the routes to out lying areas 15 etc which were normally double deckers on week days were switched for single deckers and city routes switched for doubles
 

Kuyoyo

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Although it's wearing a unique livery. Not the joint 'Cross Pennine' livery, but a sort of 'Stagecoach livery with added green and Cross Pennine logos', IIRC.

Arriva NE has branded single-deckers for the 52/54, but the 52 (possibly because of interworking with other routes) regularly sees Sapphire-branded and standard double-deck turns. (They seem particularly poor at keeping route-branded buses on their specific routes.)

52/53/54 should be Streetlite operated during the day Monday-Saturday. Evening and Sunday, they interwork with the 43 and 46 (46 Saturday evening and Sunday only) using a mixture of vehicles.
 

MotCO

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In Orpington, Metrobus should operate R9 with single deckers, but it is often a mixture. I suspect is either because it is one of the few routes suitable for either, and if there is mis-match of single and double deck workings to available buses elsewhere on their portfolio of routes, then the R9 is chosen.

Alternatively, it is close to their garage, so may be suitable for those buses due a routine service after the rush hour.
 

richw

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First Kernow have several. The Lizard routes, 21 Newquay to St austell is normally 2 deckers 1 single. The A17. Probably others too.
 

dazzler

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The number 4 in York (First operated) is normally a mix of single and double deck. There may be other routes in York which have a similar mix, but I do not head to those areas regularly enough to say whether or not that is regular or a one-off.
 
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Also in Birmingham, route 6 from Solihull Station to Birmingham reguarly gets double deckers I believe, unless things have changed since I last viewed it! Route 45 on the other hand is like one of many that are strictly double decked, but a mini Enviro 200 appeared today ! In the past there has been Volvo B7RLEs on the 45/47 frequently, though not many remain as stated above
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128470593@N05/48056377341/in/dateposted-public/
 

Tetchytyke

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52/53/54 should be Streetlite operated during the day Monday-Saturday.

They're often not though. Seen everything on them, from the knackered old ALX300s to Solos to the 685-branded Omnicity to any variation of decker you could mention.

Number of times I see a 306-branded Pulsar on the 53 and a 52-branded Streetlite on the 306...
 

LiviCrazy

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In West Lothian with First it does seem anything goes. On the 23/24/25 we get Enviro 400 MMCs, Streetlites Max (occasionally the smaller underpowered ones which are awful), Old Gemini’s, Old Eclipses. The only buses that don’t seem to end up elsewhere is the Dennis Darts which seem to stick mainly to the 27 and occasionally the 26.

Most frustrating IMO is when we get a route branded 600 on another route while the 600 has a unbranded or worse 23 branded bus.
 

johnnychips

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In Doncaster, First, Arriva and Powells buses could be either single or double decker on almost all routes; though First do make sure that busy school buses are double deckers.
 

NewcastleOne

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They're often not though. Seen everything on them, from the knackered old ALX300s to Solos to the 685-branded Omnicity to any variation of decker you could mention.

Number of times I see a 306-branded Pulsar on the 53 and a 52-branded Streetlite on the 306...
Arriva usually has branded vehicles on different routes at its Northumbria Division
 

Mag_seven

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Swindons Buses have a small fleet of double deckers that seem to appear at random on any route that is normally only operated by single deckers.
 

Yorks185

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Arriva Yorkshire has a fair few:

Heckmondwike Depot: 200/1/1A & 229 all use a Mix of Wright Eclipses,Wright Gemini 2s & the odd East Lancs Lowland
Wakefield Depot: 117/195/196/174/481 all use a mix of DDs & SDs,with evening & sunday services mainly using the smaller Enviro 200s. 148/149 also use a mix of route branded East Lancs Olympus,Wright Pulsars & Wright Commanders
Selby Depot: Route 403 can see anything operate it off-peak,with East Lancs Olympus,ADL Darts,Wright Commanders or even sometimes a Wright Gemini 2 being used.


First West Yorkshire:
Leeds Routes 74/75 & 11 are mostly operated by SDs,with the odd DD thrown in (Evening & Sundays 11/11E are normally run by Enviro 400s),Route 40 also normally has some SDs mixed in with the older 04-plate Wright Geminis

Halifax routes 560 & 579 see a mix of DDs & SDs (think some boards interwork with Schools,so that could be why) Huddersfield routes 323/327 also normally see a mix of the older ALX400s & Wright Eclipses

Transdev:
Certain trips on 60 are booked to be worked with DDs,with the others using branded Optare Versas. I Think a peak time board of 662 also used to be booked a decker,but not 100% if its still the case. Route 7 can sometimes see the older Plaxton Presidents used alongside the Wright Eclipse 2s also.
 

scotrail158713

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East Coast Buses has the X5 and 140, although I think the X5 is just decker for peak services. A single appears on the 113 every so often, but 95%+ of services are deckers. In Edinburgh I believe Lothian’s 21 is a mixture, although it’s probably changing with the timetable changes mid-July. The 63 seems to be a decker more often now as well.
 

Tempest3K

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The number 4 in York (First operated) is normally a mix of single and double deck. There may be other routes in York which have a similar mix, but I do not head to those areas regularly enough to say whether or not that is regular or a one-off.

Anything in York is like that - I believe they use a version of Northern's random unit generator to ensure the most inappropriate vehicles are allocated.
 

duncanp

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In Birmingham, the 12, 12A, 13, 13A and 13B are regularly operated with a mixture of single and double deck vehicles.
 

chiltern trev

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They're often not though. Seen everything on them, from the knackered old ALX300s to Solos to the 685-branded Omnicity to any variation of decker you could mention.

Number of times I see a 306-branded Pulsar on the 53 and a 52-branded Streetlite on the 306...
You get the 685 branded Omnicity as a swap so an E400 can do an early afternoon 685 round trip for capacity reasons at schools out time.

Stagecoach Cumbria have 1 x E400MMC and 1 x E300 on the 685 full route all day.
 

Darklord8899

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East Coast Buses has the X5 and 140, although I think the X5 is just decker for peak services. A single appears on the 113 every so often, but 95%+ of services are deckers. In Edinburgh I believe Lothian’s 21 is a mixture, although it’s probably changing with the timetable changes mid-July. The 63 seems to be a decker more often now as well.

Lothian City:
1, 2, 20, 63 are predominantly singles, but all see doubles at certain times. 21 is a mix of both

East Coast:
X5/124 Are mixed
 

JL1

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Arriva Southend's 1, 6 & 29 services are operated by a mixture of both single and double deckers.
 

Dai Corner

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One company which definitely doesn't operator routes with both single and double deckers is Stagecoach Cymru. They don't have any of the latter, which must be unusual for a large company in an urban area.
 

Hophead

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I had cause to reflect on just this subject very recently, having observed Stagecoach 1 between Preston & Longridge. Most vehicles were E400s, but I did spot a standard single-decker (looked like an E300, but I'm no expert). Subsequently, I also encountered an Optare Solo. No idea if either of the latter would be scheduled or just what was available on the day, but that was quite a small bus to show up on a 10-minute interval double-deck route.
 

Strathclyder

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As already alluded to by @route101, most routes that penetrate Glasgow City Centre see a mixed allocation of singles and deckers, with only a handful of routes sticking to either type exclusively. First Glasgow's M3 (Cowcaddens - Milton via Stobhill Hospital), Stagecoach Western's 4 (Buchanan Bus Station - Ayr via Kilmarnock) & West Coast Motors' 17 (Central Station - Duntocher via Maryhill & Bearsden) are 3 routes that, in normal circumstances, are exclusively operated by single deckers.
 

richw

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One company which definitely doesn't operator routes with both single and double deckers is Stagecoach Cymru. They don't have any of the latter, which must be unusual for a large company in an urban area.

Recently in Cornwall I had a passenger on holiday from somewhere in Wales. He commented he was surprised to see the majority of buses in Cornwall were double decker, and that they are rare sights where he lived so I can believe it.
 

goldisgood

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Arriva service 280 from Aylesbury to Oxford seems to be increasingly operated by single deckers. I don't travel that way often enough to be sure if it is a straight mix or if they are converting the route.
There is a mix, as there aren't enough double deckers to cover the full PVR following the changes made earlier this year. I think on paper it should be Pulsars and Enviro 400s, but there seem to be at least a couple of Citaros on the route every day.
 

jh1989

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East Yorkshire service 66 requires 6 vehicles - 2 branded Volvo Gemini deckers and 4 branded E400 saloons. The 2 decker workings are timed to collect the many, many school kids from Sirius Academy morning and afternoon
 

Dr_Paul

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In the Richmond (Surrey) area, the 371 windy route to Kingston is occasionally a double-decker; at first I thought this was just in the rush hours, but I've seen one or two, with about three people on board, on a late Sunday evening run, so it might be because the usual single-decker isn't available. I've also seen the odd double-decker on the 190 and 391 routes to Hammersmith and beyond, also at various times of the day, including late evenings.
 

Eyersey468

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Eyms used to have a service x4 (Hull to York via North Ferriby, Brough, South Cave, Newbald and Market Weighton) that had a single deck and double deck bus allocated, also the old x55/x56/x57 routes before the route changed a couple of years ago.

Edited to add the 45 (Bridlington to York) and 46 (Holme on Spalding Moor/Market Weighton to York) are a mix of single and double deck
 
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