Bus running costs

[fairysdad]

Just wondering how much the cost of purely running a single-decker bus over a double-decker bus is. I ask because of the university buses here run quite late into the night, and although one direction seems to be quite well used, the other seems to often be carrying only one or two passengers, if that. While catching one such empty bus the other day it got me thinking whether it'd be cheaper for the company to run their university-branded single-decker bus rather than one of the branded double-deckers, or whether the cost of running this late night service would be the same either way.

 

[142094]

On the simplest level you'd expect the single decker to weigh less and therefore consume less fuel. Of course it will depend greatly on age of the vehicle and driving style. Bus operators get the Bus Service Operators Grant, but I'm not sure if there is a differentiation between single and double deckers for this.

Out of interest, which uni is this? First in York run the number 4, which was normally an ftr single-decker bus during the day, then pater on it would change to a normal double-decker.

 

[mbonwick]

There is no difference in BSOG between vehicle types; it is simply a partial rebate on the cost of the fuel duty for the fuel used.

 

[fairysdad]

It's Bournemouth University - I get the U2 from Poole into the University which is always* a double decker (the BU branded ones are Scania Enviro 400s or so Wikipedia tells me). Wilts & Dorset have a single BU branded single-decker bus (a Scania Solar) which they use on the U3 route (aside from the bendy, the U1 and U4 routes are both doubles). I just wondered if it would make more sense to them to run the single-decker on the late evening U2 route.

(I say 'always' - the vast majority of the time W&D do use the BU branded buses on the Ux routes, but a couple of times other buses from their fleet are used, usually the same size as the normal ones but there has been at least one occasion where one of their 'More' buses was used on the U2.)

 

[BestWestern]

For a large operator like W&D the difference between a single and double decker is so slight it isn't worth the effort of swapping over vehicles for the evening service. Nice thought though!

 

[DaveHarries]

On the subject of running costs, I once looked at the tax disc of an SCD Enviro300 parked in the lower section of Exeter Bus Station and the tax was £330 per year. An Enviro400 parked nearby was taxing at £500.

Dave