Yes it's been parked on Wells depot recently and it's had a few spells out of action in it's time at Wells.
44914 still around and on 126 again today with 63073 on 174 etc.
Cheers, Mike R
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First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)
- Thread starter Ivo
- Start date
44914 still around and on 126 again today with 63073 on 174 etc.
Cheers, Mike R
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TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
There have been plenty of ropey B7TLs at Wells over several months such as 32008 and various ex London ones like 32343/4!
Might the 5 Darts stay at Lawrence Hill and use the StreetLites there (seemingly used on the 71) on the 178 but move most of the WM ones - perhaps leave a pink one behind to cover the A3 and the Excel SD boards?
I’d have expected the older Eclipses to move on but might these stay?
Whiteway215
Established Member
Talking of ropey Barbies, for some reason 66728/9/31 seem to have been regular performers on Bath's 4 and 5 this week. Also today 66725 was on Discover and 66938 on a 19A.
Does anyone wish to nominate the bus with the most awful Barbie paintwork with FWE? I will say 66729.
I wonder what has happened to 53818 as I've not seen it in service since October.
Does anyone wish to nominate the bus with the most awful Barbie paintwork with FWE? I will say 66729.
I wonder what has happened to 53818 as I've not seen it in service since October.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Saw 32283 in Longwell Green yesterday and that’s looking very very shabby
I think with Wells and the deckers, B9s are preferred and are Wells allocated vehicles as they cope better with the hills. Where a B7 has been sent, this is to provide cover and was what was available. The ex Severn Express B7s are knackered where they were thrashed down the motorway all day.
I heard Weston will only retain the 3 Excel Streetlites, so either a couple of Darts will be repainted in Urban to cover them or a short 335** E400 will be used. As far as I am aware, there are no plans to change any of the E400s, just what they are allocated to as there are some major changes coming up on the Excel network.
With regard to the A3 cover, a B7RLE would be suitable as they are a similar size to the E200MMCs. They will just need to make sure there is a respectable Urban liveried one which has had the seats retrimmed.
Who knows any surplus Streetlites may be used to replace the 5 Darts and more may become available once the Hybrid E400s in Bath are reengined and the Streetdecks are returned to Lawrence Hill. Though when it looked like Darts where on there way out, it seems this has been backtracked upon as the Weston ones have been Badgered.
Tommy Walters
Member
Returned to Bath for the first time in a while this week, and was able to make some observations of the new U1/2 service pattern.
The U1/U1X are now almost completely separate from each other in terms of PVR. Currently the PVR of the standard U1 is 11 (8 e400s & 3 bendis). These work Green Park - Uni shuttles during the morning & afternoon peak periods, only doing the full route during the day & in the evenings. The U1X has a PVR of 9 (all bendis), which normally are only used in the peaks, being returned to the depot during the day.
The U2 now has a PVR of 7 (In theory 4 purple B7s, plus the 3 from Dawson's, although Geminis are common place if either of the former venture onto the U1). Note that virtually all the vehicles are used all day long, often taking larger layovers at the uni, allowing another board to work the next trip, thus improving reliability for services starting at the uni.
The one interesting observation is that nearly all the drivers stay with the same vehicle all day, returning it to the depot/bus station or parking up at the uni for meal breaks. Although this reduces the risk of delays and traffic through changeovers at the station, it does often lead to bunching up of vehicles, particularly if a bus is late back from a meal break at the depot. It is this I believe that causes long queues and large gaps in the service on occasions. However I would say that the operation has improved since the start of the year, particularly in the afternoon peak, where if anything there were too many vehicles!!
The U1/U1X are now almost completely separate from each other in terms of PVR. Currently the PVR of the standard U1 is 11 (8 e400s & 3 bendis). These work Green Park - Uni shuttles during the morning & afternoon peak periods, only doing the full route during the day & in the evenings. The U1X has a PVR of 9 (all bendis), which normally are only used in the peaks, being returned to the depot during the day.
The U2 now has a PVR of 7 (In theory 4 purple B7s, plus the 3 from Dawson's, although Geminis are common place if either of the former venture onto the U1). Note that virtually all the vehicles are used all day long, often taking larger layovers at the uni, allowing another board to work the next trip, thus improving reliability for services starting at the uni.
The one interesting observation is that nearly all the drivers stay with the same vehicle all day, returning it to the depot/bus station or parking up at the uni for meal breaks. Although this reduces the risk of delays and traffic through changeovers at the station, it does often lead to bunching up of vehicles, particularly if a bus is late back from a meal break at the depot. It is this I believe that causes long queues and large gaps in the service on occasions. However I would say that the operation has improved since the start of the year, particularly in the afternoon peak, where if anything there were too many vehicles!!
freetoview33
Established Member
I wonder if Bath might get some more Solos this year?
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Dunno - you'd think they're more concerned with getting new deckers in for the various AQMAs. They have repainted (refurbished??) one of the older Solos and you wonder if the 42 and 179 will survive the year anyway.
53806 is also now in Bath blue joining 53820. Saw it whilst in Bath last Saturday afternoon, Mike R
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Whiteway215
Established Member
Bath Chronicle reporting incident involving 33945 and a bendi. Apparently the bendi was turning left at the end of North Parade but 33945 had to mount the pavement to avoid the other bus. The decker then promptly caused a BT manhole cover to collapse.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Two of the three Tridents that Cymru have
Dont know who won on that one! Cymru get two knackered Solos that need repainting and FSW get two Tridents ex Schools, ex South Yorkshire that were originally knackered by and chucked out of London many moons ago!
At least back in NBC days it was much more predictable, all the crap went to an airfield in Lincolnshire and the manager of the local company could wonder round it whenever he wanted and put something back on the road if it was better than what he had already!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
To be fair, Andrew Sherrington (now at Cymru) knew those vehicles when he ran Bath and they may be better than the ex Worcester examples (of which one needs repainting too) whilst WoE need deckers to replace/augment the hired fleet. Can only hope they're a stop gap until some new deckers arrive and can allow the 18/19 year old fleet to be culled.
Whiteway215
Established Member
53818 in Bath this morning (I hadn't seen it around since last October) Probably needed as two of its mates have gone to Cymru. No sign of any Tridents but then I guess it's too early for them to be in service yet.
freetoview33
Established Member
There must be some as 19 years is very old but they are still going. How many 53 geminis are still about in WoE
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
The slight oddity is that they withdrew and sold a number of the W regs, bringing them up to PSVAR compliance to maximise resale value but they have now got more courtesy of Kernow.
All the 53 plate Geminis are still going - 32 of them. There are also a good number of older vehicles with the ALX400s 51-53 plates, both native and ex Leicester or London/Soton. Mind you, if they're repainting a Trident for Weston, you'd assume limited numbers of older deckers will leave during the year even with a decent batch of new deckers. Guess that reflects the continued deckerisation of the FWoE fleet with Wells depot needing more B9s though wouldn't be surprised to see new vehicles arrive to allow cascades to other OpCos as well.
freetoview33
Established Member
I wasn't sure how many were left about. But that is still a lot of 16year+ buses. So hopefully we should get quite a few gas buses soon.
Was this the one that was involved in the collision on Allison Road?
freetoview33
Established Member
From 31st March (Moved forward from 13th April)
Weston 1 - going back to every 30 mins (Until November)
Weston 20 - going back to every 30 mins (Until November) (Except 5 odd trips that will operate only over June, July and August)
Weston 126 - 4 Sunday services are back (Until November)
Weston 1 - going back to every 30 mins (Until November)
Weston 20 - going back to every 30 mins (Until November) (Except 5 odd trips that will operate only over June, July and August)
Weston 126 - 4 Sunday services are back (Until November)
Whiteway215
Established Member
So if it's the same arrangement as the last few years I presume WM will want the Bath uni services purple 32xxx B7TLs back a bit earlier this year?
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
They have 5 x open toppers and a Trident so less of an issue than previously
There is also 32006 a purple B7TL allready in Weston, plus 30872 a Urban B7TL. This means with the 5 open top B7TLs and the Trident, this gives 8 busses for the Coaster. 2 open tops on the 1 and 3 open tops plus 2 others on the 20.
Just need 1 more vehicle to be Coastered then there will be enough Coaster vehicles for the whole allocation of the 1 and 20.
Whiteway215
Established Member
Thanks for explaining that D2007wsm and GW
Has anyone seen 32008 recently? I haven't it for a long time and one of us on here said it was in a bad state inside.
Well with the open tops, the purple one and the Trident that leaves 7, which should be enough for the boards provided nothing is off of the road. In which case one of the 2 Urban E400s or one of the remaining urban B7s off of the 7 would need to be used.