Speedbird96
Member
- Joined
- 12 Nov 2016
- Messages
- 62
Ah, those things really were rubbish weren't they - our route was supposed to have the rattly Versas (they made the Cross Country Turbostars sound like they were well put together in comparison) but more often than not something else was subbing...
That rattling was so bad I ended up switching to cycling to work - IIRC it was during the Versa times that the route dropped out the Go2 brand and went from every 10 to every 12 minutes (the Versa predecessors always used to be rammed, as did the Versa's on introduction, but passenger usage did noticeably decline over those five years and IME hasn't recovered)
The Solo's they replaced them with were less modern looking but didn't sound like they were falling to bits.
Their major competitor is still majority publicly owned by the City Council and was the first operator in the UK to support contactless (note here I'm not talking the debit card variant) - so to keep up with them while operating buses exclusively on longer distance journeys you need to do something to keep up. Coupled with that you have the city with the fastest growing bus passenger usage outside of London and a city council that actually bothers investing in the bus infrastructure (Real time displays for around 15 years, a huge expansion of bus lanes and pus priority across the city and removing general motor traffic from the city centre). The DFT and City Council have paid to roll out proper-Contactless payments across the city transport network this year too.
As for WiFi and USB - ISTR NCT saying on their social feeds this was funded by advertising when you use the onboard WiFi so is effectivly a freebie
Often than not, much older Optare Solos and later full-size OmniCities and OmniLinks were frequently replacing the Versas. They were not comfortable either as they had the worst suspension I have ever come across.
I'm assuming you are talking about the 11 when that did have Versas? 314-318 (319 was a GO2 spare) were dedicated to the 11 from 2008 and at the time, all of the Versas were based at Trent Bridge before 2011 when NCT announced a large order for Optare Solo SRs and major network changes.
All of the Versas after 2011 transferred over to Parliament Street, and came around the time the 11 received 5 new Optare Solo SRs (330-334) and at the time retained an Every 10 Minute service (went to Every 12 Minutes due to BSOG cuts in 2012 with 330 transferred to the 5/7/8/9, which saw the 6 and 10 also affected with reduced frequencies.) Lilac Line 21 became the Blue Line 39 which saw the OmniCities replaced by Versas from the 11. Pretty much the rest is history...
The Optare Solo SRs were definitely a step-up and did not have the same issues as they went with Cummins engines, but deliveries from Optare were seriously behind schedule which delayed the withdrawal of the Dennis Tridents and saw the OmniCities from the 21 prematurely re-entering service before they were refurbished.
Think we definitely had it lucky in Nottingham as we have two bus operators that are innovative with a City Council encouraging the use of public transport by investing heavily on infrastructure.
The Omnidekka & Omnicity DD were appalling products. Especially in terms of seating layout with that stupid extra row crammed in downstairs at the back.
The OmniDekka wasn't entirely awful (the N230UD/N270UD I can agree are awful as we had 5 from East Lancs before they went bust which were riddled with problems, 16 during the Darwen Group era which solved some of the production issues and the rest from Optare); what they lacked in quality (East Lancs & Optare don't equal quality!) it made up for with performance and reliability. NCT have just withdrawn their last N94UD with one now in preservation and outlasted the Dennis Tridents, probably helped that Keltruck was just down the road! The earliest batch were spartan but were a step-up from the East Lancs Lolynes they replaced.
Can agree with the OmniCity DD, they are truly awful buses... Cheap looking interior and full of rattles.