First Aberdeen

[Volvodart]

King Coaches - Coach hire fit for a King, or Queen​

https://www.firstbus.co.uk/aberdeen...ews/king-coaches-coach-hire-fit-king-or-queen

A very Royal announcement from First Bus as new coaching brand for Aberdeen is set to launch.​

Once upon a time in a depot, far, far away (or King Street, to be precise) – something very majestic arrived in the parking bay. First Bus is delighted to decree a new reign of coaches will soon parade the streets of The Granite City.
A coach service fit for a King, or Queen – King Coaches is the new coaching arm of Aberdeen’s leading transport operator in the regal birthplace of First Bus.

No jesting involved, an investment of over £1.2million into the operators new coaching brand will see 16 vehicles coming soon. Suitable for a range of events from corporate, functions and private events, school contracts, sporting events and coach tours – customers can expect the royal treatment on board.
Commercial Director, Graeme MacFarlan hereby ruled: “We are delighted to announce this investment in our coaching fleet to serve the city of Aberdeen. It will ensure we have a really strong offering for hires and helps us to better serve new and existing customers in the marketplace. We hope to be able to get the new vehicles on the road over the coming months and are excited for the beginning of a new era for our coaching offering.”
The red carpet will soon be rolled out, welcoming the majestic King Coach fleet to their new home at the aptly named King Street Depot.
For more information, please visit www.FirstAberdeen.com/KingCoaches

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The new coach livery is very smart.

 

[GusB]

Please make sure you reduce the image sizes when quoting from external articles. If you cannot do this, remove them from the body of the text completely.

Any unnecessary text should also be edited out.

 

[Deltic1961]

I'd be pretty embarrassed if I'd built a major business but had to brand as something else to succeed. I guess First are the same as a lot of large companies where shareholder greed has tarnished the reputation.

 

[Volvodart]

They needed to change from a brand that was mostly running 15 to 17 year old coaches.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I doubt the E500s would be going anywhere.

Happy to be proven wrong but i find that unlikely given they've almost all just been repainted.

Five of them are indeed heading to the deepest reaches of Cornwall. 38201/2/6/8/25 - as confirmed on the First South West thread (with accompanying tweet).

 

[Jordan Adam]

Five of them are indeed heading to the deepest reaches of Cornwall. 38201/2/6/8/25 - as confirmed on the First South West thread (with accompanying tweet).

"Colour me surprised"... not sure why they wouldn't send 38207 or 38212 instead of 38225 since they're both still in Olympia. 38225 was repainted only just two months ago.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

"Colour me surprised"... not sure why they wouldn't send 38207 or 38212 instead of 38225 since they're both still in Olympia. 38225 was repainted only just two months ago.

Often, painting is less of a consideration. Suspect there'll be a logical maintenance or financial reason behind it.

 

[GALLANTON]

Is there a reason why there being transferred south and is anything being brought into the fleet to replace them?

 

[Dfatcontroller]

Is there a reason why there being transferred south and is anything being brought into the fleet to replace them?

There's a comment up thread of First Aberdeen losing a five vehicle school contract.

 

[GALLANTON]

It seems strange that they'd send 5 out of a batch of 25 of fairly unique vehicles to another subsidiary. It'd make more sense to keep them all together.

 

[Jordan Adam]

There's a comment up thread of First Aberdeen losing a five vehicle school contract.

Even so you'd have expected the Geminis to go not the E500s which are a unique type - the Geminis themselves being non-standard in Aberdeen. It'll be interesting to see how they get them down to Cornwall and how many drive axles fail in the process (if they're driven down...)

Often, painting is less of a consideration. Suspect there'll be a logical maintenance or financial reason behind it.

The E500 repaints cost about £1K per bus, that's £4K lost given 38201/2/8/25 have just been repainted. It may not be much in the bigger picture but it is significant when you consider that money could've went towards tidying up the interiors of the fleet, which is badly needed especially on the Ex-FSE/York vehicles.

 

[Jordan Adam]

In addition to the acquired second hand coaches there will also be two brand new Mercedes Tourismos joining the Kings Coaches fleet.

 

[GusB]

In addition to the acquired second hand coaches there will also be two brand new Mercedes Tourismos joining the Kings Coaches fleet.

What's the source of this information, please?

 

[Whiteway215]

Even so you'd have expected the Geminis to go not the E500s which are a unique type - the Geminis themselves being non-standard in Aberdeen. It'll be interesting to see how they get them down to Cornwall and how many drive axles fail in the process (if they're driven down...)

The E500 repaints cost about £1K per bus, that's £4K lost given 38201/2/8/25 have just been repainted. It may not be much in the bigger picture but it is significant when you consider that money could've went towards tidying up the interiors of the fleet, which is badly needed especially on the Ex-FSE/York vehicles.

The First South West thread has reported they will be towed down to Cornwall and the towing crew will return north with a load, possibly scrap buses?

 

[Jordan Adam]

What's the source of this information, please?

Management.

The First South West thread has reported they will be towed down to Cornwall and the towing crew will return north with a load, possibly scrap buses?

I'd imagine so. Towing makes sense.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The E500 repaints cost about £1K per bus, that's £4K lost given 38201/2/8/25 have just been repainted. It may not be much in the bigger picture but it is significant when you consider that money could've went towards tidying up the interiors of the fleet, which is badly needed especially on the Ex-FSE/York vehicles.

Whilst it might be beneficial to use those funds in that way, given that they have chosen a disparate and specific set of vehicles, there is doubtless a reason that is more important.

Over the years, there have been countless examples of vehicles being repainted and then moved, or are repainted more frequently whilst other, more deserving examples don't get treated. First 32683 is a point in question in that it was new in Barbie in 2006 and retained that livery until 2016 til repaint in Scotland East "two blues", then into Glasgow livery in 2019, and then Kernow green in 2021.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

It seems as though First don’t plan ahead. It’s the same with the E400MMCs which came from FSE. Most of the examples which came had been fully branded for the 23 and had to be rebranded for the 41.

That’s why with the new buses coming to Glasgow I wouldn’t be surprised if routes which currently have newer buses on it receive even more new stock as clearly rebranding means nothing.

 

[scosutsut]

I think it highlights why First had a uniform livery policy, so in theory stuff didn't need repaints upon transfer. It's meant to be cheaper, centrally controlled and give the end passenger a familiar experience.

But in the same period they pursued that policy also coincides (in my opinion) with their visually scruffiest period, not helped by the rarity of interior refreshes - vehicles tatty both inside and out.

Now they've switched it more to local identities it means more spent at point of transfer but the budgets to manage that I expect will be at individual opco level and whilst it will cost more to the group in the long run it will be accounted for differently so will be seen as a win on the group balance sheet.

 

[Jordan Adam]

It seems as though First don’t plan ahead. It’s the same with the E400MMCs which came from FSE. Most of the examples which came had been fully branded for the 23 and had to be rebranded for the 41.

It's pretty evident Aberdeen had no clue about these plans until very recently, the last Enviro500 to be repainted was 38205 and that was only just over a month ago.

The fleet overall once the next Streetdecks arrive will still have more deckers than it did a year ago so for now the loss of 5 E500s is not a huge issue as while RGU is returning in two weeks some classes are still being done online so there shouldn't be as large a volume of students. However once RGU is back to normal there will likely be a need for more higher capacity deckers or artics as the Streetdecks are too low capacity for the 1/2.

The usual vehicle requirement for the 1/1B/2/9U during the uni term is 23 buses however that doesn't include the short workings. With 19 E500s (38223 still seems a long way from being reinstated) and 9 very temperamental Citaros it does make you wonder how they'd cover that. Quite a contrast to 2016/17 when there was 25 E500s, 8 Tridents & 21 B7LAs, but it gives you an idea of just how much the 1/2 short workings were cut especially from 2016 to 2019 when the off peak extras were cut from a 7/8 minute frequency to a 30 minute frequency causing severe capacity issues, thus they lost lots of passengers as students just started walking to RGU instead.

 

[Volvodart]

We do not know what effect the free bus travel for under 22s will have on the numbers when it comes in January 2022.

 

[Jordan Adam]

It seems the drive axle issues with the Enviro500s may at long last finally be sorted. First have switched to a different contractor who is sourcing new drive axles from Hong Kong. In the last week four new axles have arrived from Hong Kong, 38205 has already had one fitted while 38212 is in the workshops today. Although the overall situation isn't ideal at least with there now being 29 axles whenever one fails there should always be a refurbished one ready to be swapped out rather than the bus having to sit off the road for weeks.

In the week since this post 38205 and 38219 have already returned to service with new axles, 38212 will be returning tomorrow with 38209 now being worked on. Additionally work will be starting to reinstate 38223 which has been off the road for nearly three years.

 

[PG]

We do not know what effect the free bus travel for under 22s will have on the numbers when it comes in January 2022.

I'll have a punt at :

• Increased loading time at stops
• Reduction in revenue

So, in the context of services to RGU, likely to increase the PVR always assuming that First deem it worth their while to serve that market?

 

[Jordan Adam]

Even with the Uni Closed timetable in place at the moment they still can't cover the 1/2 properly. There's three single deckers on it today!

I'll have a punt at :

• Increased loading time at stops
• Reduction in revenue

So, in the context of services to RGU, likely to increase the PVR always assuming that First deem it worth their while to serve that market?

The Uni Open timetable was drastically cut in 2018 and then again in 2019, in part due to a driver shortage but also to reduce the fleet size. For comparison pictured below are two screenshots showing the off peak level of service. The first is from 2016/17 while the second is from 2019/20 prior to covid. In that time span alone the number of short working extras was cut from 9 buses per hour to just 2. While the fleet allocation has been reduced by 12 Artics & 7 Deckers. As such since 2018 there's been severe capacity issues on the 1/2 with many students just restoring to walking from town to RGU instead, there was almost many complaints from local residents being refused on to buses because they were already full with students.

Pictured below is the 1/2 timetable in 2016/17 and then 2019/20.

*New post*

The first three of the "new" coaches have arrived, they do look rather smart it must be said.

Photo by Prisma Aberdeen:

The Kings Have Arrived (26003)

This photograph doesn’t do the new King livery justice. However, it does show how the new coach livery has been applied. The dark green wedge at the rear replicates the green wedge on the bus livery. The brighter green stripe in front of it has instead been used to cover the rest of the coach...

www.flickr.com

 

[JumpinTrainz]

I can’t help but feel like the coach livery is strong enough to be the main livery for First Aberdeen but I get their vision. It looks very smart.

Have the 5 E500s left for Kernow now?

 

[Jordan1296]

I can’t help but feel like the coach livery is strong enough to be the main livery for First Aberdeen but I get their vision. It looks very smart.

Have the 5 E500s left for Kernow now?

Indeed they have. 38225 was the last bus to depart on Monday morning (27th September).

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Deleted

 

[Deltic1961]

I saw one of the rebranded Kings Coaches at the Haudagain last week. Very smart looking vehicle and nice choice of colours.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Are Aberdeen’s next batch of Streetdecks due and have any more buses been branded?

 

[Deltic1961]

Seems First Aberdeen are having a huge amount of "operational issues". Following them on Twitter there are many services affected.

Asked them on Twitter why so many services cancelled lately but not suprisingly I never got a reply.#

Shambles comes to mind.