First Greater Glasgow

[Jordan Adam]

Lothian are trying to remove First from West Lothian with their Lothian Country routes leaving first with less passenger numbers and needing less deckers and more singles. I reckon First's West Lothian operations could be withdrawn anytime soon

Highly doubt First will pull out "anytime soon", they're just standardising the fleet to ease maintenance costs while adapting the fleet to better meet requirements.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The W regs had the same seats as the Tridents .Hard . Parkhead had them . When were they withdrawn?

Think they went to Somerset and Avon and some went to FSE. There were still a handful around when Simplicity was introduced so I’m thinking about 2013/2014. They were rock hard seats but were still nicer than the T reg ones....

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Noticed one of the Cymru B7RLEs has been repainted at Caledonia. Looks pretty good. The Eclipses suit the new livery.

Also noticed a few B9TLs on the 60 with blue fronts like the 61 but they haven’t actually been fully branded yet. I wonder if the next lot of refurbished buses will start to be introduced on the 60 perhaps?

 

[Scott mac]

Noticed one of the Cymru B7RLEs has been repainted at Caledonia. Looks pretty good. The Eclipses suit the new livery.

Also noticed a few B9TLs on the 60 with blue fronts like the 61 but they haven’t actually been fully branded yet. I wonder if the next lot of refurbished buses will start to be introduced on the 60 perhaps?

Is it the same blue as the 61?

 

[alangla]

Question about the SO68 E400s - are they just straight Diesel engine & auto gearbox, no battery or electric motor? They seem extremely quiet. Silent obviously when the engine shuts down at a bus stop. At least they seem to stay stopped as well, the 65 plates seemed to stop & almost immediately restart.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Question about the SO68 E400s - are they just straight Diesel engine & auto gearbox, no battery or electric motor? They seem extremely quiet. Silent obviously when the engine shuts down at a bus stop. At least they seem to stay stopped as well, the 65 plates seemed to stop & almost immediately restart.

Yep diesel and auto box, same as the SK68 and the YX68 batch.

 

[alangla]

Yep diesel and auto box, same as the SK68 and the YX68 batch.

Thanks, very, very quiet machines

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Question about the SO68 E400s - are they just straight Diesel engine & auto gearbox, no battery or electric motor? They seem extremely quiet. Silent obviously when the engine shuts down at a bus stop. At least they seem to stay stopped as well, the 65 plates seemed to stop & almost immediately restart.

Give it time, every bus, truck, car... are quieter when new.

However I do wonder if drivers have figured out some of the trick to the Stop/Start system, Cummins have purposely built in measures for safety, mainly when the hazard lights are switched on the system shouldn't work, there is also certain time limitations on how often the system will operate within each hour, I previously thought that the system also relied on the percentage of battery charge for the system to operate, but even running on an x85 Campsie bound along the motorway the system sometimes won't turn the engine off when it stops in lenzie, I always thought that a motorway jaunt would charge the battery plenty.

BUT, as mentioned before the stop/start system has caused problems on them, I have only experience the bus causing a problem once in Kirkintilloch, the system was continually start, turning off then on again.

What I though I was sure about was the system working only when the doors were opened, the hand brake being an Interlock for the doors to work, however I've heard them sat at traffic lights in glasgow turning of at traffic lights, not sure what happened here..

 

[alangla]

What’s the point of it not shutting down when the hazards are on, surely it’s got some sort of battery monitoring included and (you’d hope) it would be over-rideable from the mechanic panel under the bonnet (assuming they actually have one!)
Funnily enough, I walked past an older E400 hybrid waiting out time a couple of weeks ago & it struck me as strange that it was actually running, would have expected it to have stopped in that situation

 

[Gingerbus1991]

What’s the point of it not shutting down when the hazards are on, surely it’s got some sort of battery monitoring included and (you’d hope) it would be over-rideable from the mechanic panel under the bonnet (assuming they actually have one!)
Funnily enough, I walked past an older E400 hybrid waiting out time a couple of weeks ago & it struck me as strange that it was actually running, would have expected it to have stopped in that situation

The uploaded screenshot is an excerpt description of the Stop/Start Cummins system.

The 400h Classic has a series-Hybrid system which has been a headache for other operators around the country, Lothians springs to mind and I'm sure an operator in England was having issues as they got older hence why many of them have been converted to diesel only, I'm pretty sure the batteries in them haven't been all that reliable nevermind there lifespan, it's likely that the batteries aren't holding enough charge anymore and this is why it's not working most of the time or at all.

I think the much newer 400h MMC/CITY should be more reliable, the latest versions use Large Capacitors for electrical storage instead of a battery and of course a capacitors electrical capacity shouldnt change either, dispelling any need for midlife replacement.

 

[Jordan Adam]

This excerpt is what I read.

The 400h Classic has a series-Hybrid system which has been a headache for other operators around the country, Lothians springs to mind and I'm sure an operator in England was having the issues hence why many of them have been converted to diesel only, I'm pretty sure the batteries in them haven't been all that reliable nevermind there lifespan, it's likely that the batteries aren't holding enough charge anymore and this is why it's not working most of the time or at all.

I think the much newer 400h MMC/CITY should be more reliable, the latest versions use Large Capacitors for electrical storage instead of a battery and of course a capacitors electrical capacity shouldnt change either, dispelling any need for midlife replacement.

Stagecoach up here have 13 E350H's (9 more due to move from Perth soon), awful vehicles and nothing but trouble. They vibrate harshly, are not that economical and spend long periods VOR due to "elusive" defects. 29006 for example was off the road for most of 2016 as it kept randomly cutting out and no one could work out why!

 

[Gingerbus1991]

If operators absolutely want hybrids I'd stick with a Volvo 7900h or a B5LH Gemini.

In all them I drove at Lothian they were always reliable or at least for me anyways plus the stop start system worked flawlessly, however once you set off the engine is actually started in them by effectively bump starting the engine when the bus is rolling, taking strain of the starter motor, the starter-motor is only used when the vehicle is sat still.

 

[69036]

61705 still going on the caley side of things, tax up next week so can't have long at all

 

[route101]

61705 still going on the caley side of things, tax up next week so can't have long at all

What bus is that?

 

[route101]

Still a few B10BLEs out and about on 263,255, 46 ,19 and 64 today.
Still ALX 400s on 60 and 46.
Still Tridents on 38 .
Seen ex U1 red fronted gemini on 18 followed by another gemini on 18 .
31 still sees mostly Tridents , last trident route perhaps?
Barbie Gemini on 5 , ex fse? May of spotted another too .

 

[route101]

First time i was on a bus with Stop/start i was like WTF its broke down ha

 

[route101]

How are the E4OO hybrids on the 6 ? Still breaking down

 

[route101]

Think they went to Somerset and Avon and some went to FSE. There were still a handful around when Simplicity was introduced so I’m thinking about 2013/2014. They were rock hard seats but were still nicer than the T reg ones....

Dont remember T reg ones in Glasgow.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Dont remember T reg ones in Glasgow.

Buses of Somerset did get some T reg Presidents. 32842-4/66 were some - 32843 still had Scottish adverts in it about 3 years later!

BoS and Bristol also got V/W regs from Glasgow, both Presidents and ALXs.

 

[alangla]

Saw some two tone green 07 plate Geminis in Caledonia earlier-any idea what they’re for?

 

[Jordan Adam]

Saw some two tone green 07 plate Geminis in Caledonia earlier-any idea what they’re for?

37178 & 37179 for First Kernow

 

[route101]

Buses of Somerset did get some T reg Presidents. 32842-4/66 were some - 32843 still had Scottish adverts in it about 3 years later!

BoS and Bristol also got V/W regs from Glasgow, both Presidents and ALXs.

Ah T reg presidents? One lasted on the 31 till 2016. The w reg tridents had comfy seats

 

[Jordan Adam]

Dont remember T reg ones in Glasgow.

Glasgow had quite a number of T reg Presidents. 32816, 32845 & 32865 for example were cascaded from Glasgow to Aberdeen.

 

[Scott mac]

Still a few B10BLEs out and about on 263,255, 46 ,19 and 64 today.
Still ALX 400s on 60 and 46.
Still Tridents on 38 .
Seen ex U1 red fronted gemini on 18 followed by another gemini on 18 .
31 still sees mostly Tridents , last trident route perhaps?
Barbie Gemini on 5 , ex fse? May of spotted another too .

A think glasgow now has at least 5 off the sn57 plates from Edinburgh and more on the way

 

[Scott mac]

Dont remember T reg ones in Glasgow.

These first started on the 11 route

 

[route101]

These first started on the 11 route

The 11 a route gone just about . I recall them on routes from Buchanan Bus Station

 

[69036]

What bus is that?

Y301 RTD, a B10 ble, was on the 46 today.

Saw an ALX400 trident on the 7 today! Don't know the last time that happened but in fair nick this one so definitely not complaining nice to see them getting about in they're final days

 

[GLC]

Question about the SO68 E400s - are they just straight Diesel engine & auto gearbox, no battery or electric motor? They seem extremely quiet. Silent obviously when the engine shuts down at a bus stop. At least they seem to stay stopped as well, the 65 plates seemed to stop & almost immediately restart.

I too have a question about these E400s: I was walking past one on the 38 today, and the little legal sign declaring its unladen weight said it was about 10 tons. That seems very light for a double decker? I’m sure a lot of other double deckers I see are around the 11-13 mark?

 

[alangla]

Thought Alexanders traditionally tended to use more aluminium in their designs vs other bus builders?

 

[Gingerbus1991]

I too have a question about these E400s: I was walking past one on the 38 today, and the little legal sign declaring its unladen weight said it was about 10 tons. That seems very light for a double decker? I’m sure a lot of other double deckers I see are around the 11-13 mark?

An optare metrodecker is also sub-10t.

The 400 MMC's at 10.9 and 11.5m long are heavier however.

First use 10.3m Dinky toys these days, but that does bring an exceptional turning circle with it.

Older B7 and B9 deckers are around the mid-12t mark