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Wrightbus enter administration

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Jordan Adam

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It was initially reported that the doors were the wrong size to go back into the bus when closing, but it was incorrect and this was merely a symptom of another issue.

Was a batch of vehicles for Dublin Bus, Go Ahead Ireland and Bus Eireann, the ceiling was sagging under weight to the point where the doors could not close so they all had to be modified.

Seeing the companies financial problems, makes you wonder if they used lighter and cheaper materials to save on costs in the knowledge that funds were low so corners were cut.

Thanks for clarifying, makes sense. All the Gemini 3s i've been on (granted only Lothian examples) have suffered from badly sagging ceilings.
 
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winston270twm

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Wouldn't surprise me if instead of buying brand new for the next batch of returns, they end up getting stuff from the London market that can be converted to Euro 6 standards.

Doubt it, Rotala don't like London spec buses, neither do they like upgrading buses to Euro 6.

Current policy is buy new Euro 6 only.
 

mbonwick

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Rotala buy very little new stuff, most is on lease...hence the reason Preston's B5LHs have moved on.
I'm sure I've heard have a shareholder who's also a Wrightbus agent which explains the preference.
 

F Great Eastern

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Thanks for clarifying, makes sense. All the Gemini 3s i've been on (granted only Lothian examples) have suffered from badly sagging ceilings.
Approx 700 in Dublin and none of them had sagging as bad as this one batch that had to be sent back because the doors wouldn't close. Something was different about those although they should have been identical to others in same order without it being so bad.

Smaller operators have had trouble getting Wright to build Eclipses in Irelandinstead of streetlites too. There's three operators now running around with MCV based Volvos and the last full sized heavy single decker order went to Mercedes for Bus Eireann after a decade and half of dominance by wright and Volvo as Wright wouldn't partner with Volvo for a sensible price.
 

Jordan Adam

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Approx 700 in Dublin and none of them had sagging as bad as this one batch that had to be sent back because the doors wouldn't close. Something was different about those although they should have been identical to others in same order without it being so bad.

Smaller operators have had trouble getting Wright to build Eclipses. There's three operators now running around with

The older Gemini 3s were fine, it's just the 2017/18 built ones.

In terms of of the "Frogs" (Face-lifted Eclipse 3s) there's only two operators with them as far as i'm aware, East Coast Buses and the sole Delaine example.
 

winston270twm

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Rotala buy very little new stuff, most is on lease...hence the reason Preston's B5LHs have moved on.
I'm sure I've heard have a shareholder who's also a Wrightbus agent which explains the preference.

It makes no difference to passengers if they buy them outright or take them on operating leases, more & more operators are switching to taking new vehicles on operating leases, less risk / outlay. Either way Rotala are now only taking brand new Euro 6 buses in to its fleet going forward, no upgrades to Euro 6 of existing buses.

Preston B5LH's are all still there, none have left!

It's Close Brothers Asset Management Limited that own 13.46% stake in Rotala Plc.
https://www.closebrothersam.com/

Close Brothers also have an asset finance subsidiary within the group which finances pretty much everything & anything across numerous industries, certainly not just Wrightbus products.
https://www.closeassetfinance.co.uk/asset-finance
 

Cesarcollie

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It wasn't part of the deal. It is coincidence.

However, it does pose another challenge for First. They were supposed to receive back 10 e400 off lease from Bolton in December, freed up by more new Streetdecks.

I guess it depends what the lease agreement with Rotala says! Might be a challenge for Rotala instead!
 

ClydeCoaster

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In terms of of the "Frogs" (Face-lifted Eclipse 3s) there's only two operators with them as far as i'm aware, East Coast Buses and the sole Delaine example.
Delaine had a further 2 on order, which they've now confirmed won't be delivered (their choice of words, so I don't know if they've been built). They're looking at alternatives; they'll probably end up with Evoras.
 

F Great Eastern

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Delaine had a further 2 on order, which they've now confirmed won't be delivered (their choice of words, so I don't know if they've been built). They're looking at alternatives; they'll probably end up with Evoras.

From what I've heard Volvo are actively offering Evoras to customers who had ordered small numbers of Wright bodied products through them, if the worst should happen to Wright. They're concious about people going to ADL.
 

LOL The Irony

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From what I've heard Volvo are actively offering Evoras to customers who had ordered small numbers of Wright bodied products through them, if the worst should happen to Wright. They're concious about people going to ADL.
But there's that ADL B8RLE supposedly in the works. I wonder if Wright going into administration will expidite it's development?
 

F Great Eastern

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But there's that ADL B8RLE supposedly in the works. I wonder if Wright going into administration will expidite it's development?

If you were Volvo, you'd rather push your customers to a Volvo based MCV product than an ADL as MCV is simply partner and ADL is a competitior as well.
 

Journeyman

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  • They're slow.
  • Unreliable.
  • Have jerky gearboxes.
  • Harsh brakes.
  • Poor top speed.
  • Poor turning circle.
  • Heating is often stuck on full.
  • Front/rear destination access panels do not shut properly meaning they rattle like mad.
  • Design of the windscreen means a full size blind cannot fit in the front.
  • Steering is very heavy.
  • It's difficult to tell if the hand brake is or isn't applied.
  • Front platform and loading area is narrow making it difficult for wheelchair users to get on.
  • Cab door rattles very badly.
  • Panel to the main door motor is flimsy.
  • Heat vents are on the roof (heat rises), so are useless in the winter.
  • Material used on the cab back feels and looks like polystyrene.
  • Centre positioned lights mean you get lots of glare and can't turn one side off to reduce glare.
  • Design of the emergency exit is lousy, and it rattles very badly,
  • Poorly positioned grab rails around the front with far too many bell pushes.
  • Poor leg room at most seats.
  • Very steep steps to the rear.
  • Air Compressor is far too loud and makes the whole rear of the vehicle shake.
  • Certain Max examples already suffer chassis corrosion.
  • Engine bay protrudes in to the passenger saloon compromising leg room at the rear even more. Additionally it's easy to burn your legs if you're not careful.
  • Glazing at the rear of the bus is very shallow and doesn't go right up to the rear, meaning the rear rows of seats can be rather claustrophobic as the design doesn't let in might light.
  • Suspension is rubbish and seems to create bumps in the road that don't exist.
  • They sit too low to the ground so sometimes ground out causing damage to the underside of the bus.
  • Cab has too many overhead buttons.
  • LED interior lights are far too bright.
  • Interior light housing doesn't fit properly.
  • The automated interior lights system is unreliable and will often turn the lights off randomly at night.
  • Not enough opening hopper windows and they often slam shut over bumps.
  • They have a tendency to gulp and run out of coolant.
  • Coolant pipes often burst.
  • Wheels are too small causing poor ride and a poor turning circle.
  • Rear window is far too high and pretty useless.
  • Water leaks in where the fibreglass front/rear moulds meet with the roof. Some operators have got around this by fitting tape over the join.
  • Luggage rack is far too small with more space lost due to the position of the fire extinguisher.
  • Items do not stay in the luggage racks as the bars are too low.
  • Ticket bin is hinged from the bottom and often falls off over bumps emptying the contents.
  • Poor MPG.
  • Lack of padding in the seats behind the cab and on the last row.
  • Seats behind the cab fall off their mountings quite easily so have to be 'bodged' back in place.
  • Grab rails rattle on idle.
  • Bell pushes often don't work first time.
  • External engine noise is extreme and when Streetlites are on my route they often vibrate the house. I don't get this with any other bus type.
  • The rubber seal around the emergency exit door leaks.
  • At low speeds the gearbox jumps between neutral and drive.
  • When drive is engaged the bus lurches forward.
  • If you're cruising at around 20 MPH and apply the brakes you often have to apply them harshly to get the vehicle to stop as it wants to continue moving forward.
  • When changing gear the whole bus vibrates.
  • It's near impossible to stop a Streetlite without giving all the passengers whiplash, often drivers will put the vehicle in to neutral when slowing down in order to stop the retarder kicking in.
  • The side destination is bodged in.
  • They make a very loud air release sound when slowing down, this wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the fact it's soo loud and regular.
  • Air tanks seems to loose pressure easily.
  • In colder weather the electronics like to freeze.
  • Offside mirror arm is far too long.
  • The seat moulding behind the cab is only attached at the bottom so rattles badly, there is also a really nasty blackout sticker behind the seat that collects dirt.
  • Prone to wheel spinning due to harsh gear changes.
  • Internal advert frames are at an odd angle and mean that adverts easily fall out.
  • Lack of a glass screen next to the door means that when the doors are opened in the winter you get a bad draft around the front half of the bus.
  • Air vents are only up once side of the bus.
  • No roof air ventilation, this is something all previous Wright products had.
  • Door buttons and flimsy and Wright are prone to fitting them the wrong way round.
  • No grab rail over the window in the WC bay makes it unsafe for standees.
  • General construction and use of materials on the interior is poor.
  • Cab back doesn't fully extend to the roof.
  • A wheelchair cannot board if a full size adult is sitting in the seats behind the cab.
  • When going over cobbles you can see the body of the bus bending and flexing.
  • Windscreen leaks.
  • I could go on...
:lol::lol::lol:

Sorry, that's just a bunch of extremely biased enthusiast wibble. They can't possibly be that bad.
 

deanmachine

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If you were Volvo, you'd rather push your customers to a Volvo based MCV product than an ADL as MCV is simply partner and ADL is a competitior as well.

When it comes to single deckers I'm not sure they are competitors, an E200 and a B8RLE are quite different in terms of how they'd be used these days. Besides they might attract more companies that would prefer ADL bodywork to MCV, like Lothian for example.
 

Journeyman

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In all honesty it's pretty evident here that the main demise for Wrightbus has been poor management decisions when it comes to finances. That being said (and this is nothing against people of religion) saying that "we made god a shareholder" is quite worrying, with the greatest of respects Jeff Wright doesn't seem mentally or morally sane. Surely employees should come first, at the end of the day they're the ones who give you a pay check - not personal "charity" projects!

Absolutely - the whole thing seems at best very foolish and naïve, and at worst, downright corrupt. Hardcore evangelical Christians using a big business as a means to finance pet projects looks extremely dodgy and it's led to a horrific situation where loads of people are out of a job.
 

Jordan Adam

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Sorry, that's just a bunch of extremely biased enthusiast wibble. They can't possibly be that bad.

Not really, It's called an opinion and you don't have to agree. Someone asked a question and I gave my reasons. Imo yes they are that bad!
 
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Journeyman

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Not really, It's called an opinion and you domt have to agree. Someone asked a question and I gave my reasons. Imo yes they are that bad!

Fair enough, I don't agree! From a passenger perspective, I find them perfectly acceptable.
 

Tetchytyke

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Streetlites aren't that bad. As a passenger, they're not even in my top five of bad buses. But I digress.

Hardcore evangelical Christians using a big business as a means to finance pet projects looks extremely dodgy

Not as dodgy as the Church sitting on £20m assets and having a wage bill of £1.5m a year, not to mention all the transactions to other companies owned by the Church that they don't have to declare.
 

edwin_m

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It will only survive if a Chinese company wants to body its electric vehicles here. Are there any who don't have a European assembly agreement yet?
And anyone who wants to do that will prefer somewhere that's not probably about to isolate itself from the main market. I think even the resourceful Irish would have difficulty smuggling buses over the border!
 

daveshah

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And anyone who wants to do that will prefer somewhere that's not probably about to isolate itself from the main market. I think even the resourceful Irish would have difficulty smuggling buses over the border!

Just fill them with bags of sand, like the old joke about smuggling bicycles!
 

Volvodart

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What are the chances Wrightbus will be saved?

Latest news is that there are still two entities interested (somehow), one from the US and one from England. It was pointed out that not all the people laid off would have jobs in these scenarios.
 
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