First South West (Kernow & Buses of Somerset)

[TheGrandWazoo]

Marcs twitter shows Ensight bus have now started the London e400 convertion to opentop for cornwall
View attachment 78919

Good to see them still cracking on with these conversions. Also, whilst not in the first flush, at least they're not end of life machines being tarted up (though there are a couple of old ladies in the ex Lothian ones) so will be good for a while.

 

[Goldfish62]

I see the Eden Project is reopening its outside areas from Saturday. Will this see a return of the shuttles?

 

[richw]

I see the Eden Project is reopening its outside areas from Saturday. Will this see a return of the shuttles?

Not yet very limited numbers won’t require the further car parks

 

[cnjb8]

According to the Kernow Behind the Scenes Facebook page, the newly purchased Environs from Metroline are undergoing open-top conversion at Ensign.

 

[Yarp1]

Updates have Been made to The first bus app to show available capacity.
iOS released the update overnight. Android doesn’t appear to have updated yet but the update was submitted to them yesterday.
Click the buses tab at the bottom Choose your route it shows where the bus is and how many spare seats.

It is a usefull app for the driver aswell as the passenger numbers is always displayed even when moving.
Even if this virus and distancing comes to an end I think it would be useful to keep it going.
I dont think it will be so easy to use on buses with center doors as its upto the driver to press the button for the amount of passengers getting off. It counts passengers boarding automatically . but it will give any passengers intending to board an inclination of how busy the bus is

 

[Yarp1]

It is a usefull app for the driver aswell as the passenger numbers is always displayed even when moving.
Even if this virus and distancing comes to an end I think it would be useful to keep it going.
I dont think it will be so easy to use on buses with center doors as its upto the driver to press the button for the amount of passengers getting off. It counts passengers boarding automatically . but it will give any passengers intending to board an inclination of how busy the bus is

I dont mean the driver uses the app but the machine display is usefull

 

[MB162435]

It is a usefull app for the driver aswell as the passenger numbers is always displayed even when moving.
Even if this virus and distancing comes to an end I think it would be useful to keep it going.
I dont think it will be so easy to use on buses with center doors as its upto the driver to press the button for the amount of passengers getting off. It counts passengers boarding automatically . but it will give any passengers intending to board an inclination of how busy the bus is

I hope as well that First keep it going post Covid, would be handy in areas with multiple routes, so you know if to get on the first bus that comes along or get on one of the ones behind, in particular in peak or other busy times

 

[MB162435]

Face coverings set to become compulsory on buses, trains, ferries and planes from the 15th June, travel will be refused and fines possibly imposed for those who don't, although young children, people with disabilities and/or breathing difficulties will be exempt from this

 

[83G/84D]

Neither of the ‘Discover’ branded Scsnia’s have been in use today. Several Solos and Darts being worked on prior to being returned to service.

 

[Accelerator59]

Neither of the ‘Discover’ branded Scsnia’s have been in use today. Several Solos and Darts being worked on prior to being returned to service.

I did see one of them on the road earlier but whether it was in service, I’m not sure.

 

[Lizard1324]

After Tfc spell of breakdown due to no fuel I was thinking, what first kernow depot/outstanding have refueling ability, as have only ever been one fk bus broken down due to no fuel which was a lizard trident that spend the morning on a college route and then the rest of the day on the l1 till it ran out.

 

[Yarp1]

All FK depotsl.eden,bodmin,truro,falmouth, camborne,helston, summercourt and penzance have fuel tanks with the exception of padstow. But those are fueled everyday at either truro or sumnercourt and its printed on duty.board when and where to fuel.

 

[GBM]

Time was when the old Tridents had to be refuelled during the day as well if they were to work late into the night. It wasn't uncommon for them to run out of fuel, generally on the last run.
Been on one that sat down at Praa Sands one Sunday night, heading for Penzance; also another one sat down at Lelant heading towards St Ives on a Saturday evening.

 

[83G/84D]

37175 seen passing Mithian School on service 87 today, a friendly wave from the driver

 

[richw]

Lunchtime today at padstow.
Whilst I appreciate THat TfC may not have been able to repaint everything yet, I strongly believe they shouldn’t be using a First Kernow liveried bus on a competing corridor. This one ran 10 mins in front of me. Here they are at padstow. This is in my opinion far too confusing for passengers, they see a Kernow livery bus, that isn’t Kernow.

 

[Yarp1]

Time was when the old Tridents had to be refuelled during the day as well if they were to work late into the night. It wasn't uncommon for them to run out of fuel, generally on the last run.
Been on one that sat down at Praa Sands one Sunday night, heading for Penzance; also another one sat down at Lelant heading towards St Ives on a Saturday evening.

There was a time when FK realised after some buses ran out of fuel.that they were doing more Miles than expected. The car workings had buses running from 06.00 until 00.30. Tridents didnt have big enough tanks and so FK realised the buses needed fueling during the day but unfortunately some times this was missed for various reasons. One reason for running out on a sunday was due to buses being transferred at night after the fueler had gone home and so in morning the controller would allocate it because it was at the front and easy to get out and not realise it hadn't been fueled

 

[83G/84D]

The dark green Solo used at St Erth railway station last summer is in Camborne. It has been re-registered and appeared to be T14 GWR.

 

[Goldfish62]

The dark green Solo used at St Erth railway station last summer is in Camborne. It has been re-registered and appeared to be T14 GWR. I will confirm tomorrow.

After the summer it was used regularly on the 5 and 16/A. Wouldn't be much use on services now as it hardly has any seats. I reckon its Covid capacity would be about 4 if you're lucky!

 

[Yarp1]

The dark green Solo used at St Erth railway station last summer is in Camborne. It has been re-registered and appeared to be T14 GWR. I will confirm tomorrow.

Do you mean solo or dart ? The dark green dart was and still is a bike bus but had new livery and was used for driving around all gwr stations giving info to staff and various managers were on hand to answer staff questions. For a while it has been stored in truro yard

 

[fgwrich]

Do you mean solo or dart ? The dark green dart was and still is a bike bus but had new livery and was used for driving around all gwr stations giving info to staff and various managers were on hand to answer staff questions. For a while it has been stored in truro yard

This is the Solo which was painted in the dark green First GWR Green for use on the St Erth station car park shuttle.

YJ06YSK First Kernow 53503 in St Ives

Optare Solo M710SE 192388 B23F new August 2006 to Regal Busways, Shoeburyness and acquired from them in December 2014. It was painted in Buses of Somerset green livery for use at Taunton , but moved to Kernow in April 2015. It has recently been repainted in this plain dark blue-green scheme...

www.flickr.com

 

[fgwrich]

Lunchtime today at padstow.
Whilst I appreciate THat TfC may not have been able to repaint everything yet, I strongly believe they shouldn’t be using a First Kernow liveried bus on a competing corridor. This one ran 10 mins in front of me. Here they are at padstow. This is in my opinion far too confusing for passengers, they see a Kernow livery bus, that isn’t Kernow.

I Agree, I thought there was a condition applied to these that they could only return back to Cornwall once they had been repainted, as to avoid confusion like this?

 

[83G/84D]

Do you mean solo or dart ? The dark green dart was and still is a bike bus but had new livery and was used for driving around all gwr stations giving info to staff and various managers were on hand to answer staff questions. For a while it has been stored in truro yard

I am referring to the Solo not the bike bus which is T12 GWR. A Scania / Solar in Discover c/s is on a T2 working this evening.

 

[Blackpudding]

The dark green Solo used at St Erth railway station last summer is in Camborne. It has been re-registered and appeared to be T14 GWR. I will confirm tomorrow.

Thanks 83G/84D. And, as per a previous message, if anyone knows the new registration number for 20561 that would be appreciated.

 

[richw]

Thanks 83G/84D. And, as per a previous message, if anyone knows the new registration number for 20561 that would be appreciated.

Pretty sure it was still wearing its TT07TRU last Sunday when I was doing a vehicle swap into Truro.
Saying that the Remaining Tridents are still wearing hig plates but I believed they are back to original played.
All off the road VOR so not an issue having wrong plates in the yard

 

[richw]

The timetable post at watergate bay I’m led to believe is an original western national timetable post. Wonder how many others still exist?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I Agree, I thought there was a condition applied to these that they could only return back to Cornwall once they had been repainted, as to avoid confusion like this?

Perhaps not? Certainly, it confusing and even some red vinyls would have been an improvement.

 

[Blackpudding]

Pretty sure it was still wearing its TT07TRU last Sunday when I was doing a vehicle swap into Truro.
Saying that the Remaining Tridents are still wearing hig plates but I believed they are back to original played.
All off the road VOR so not an issue having wrong plates in the yard

Thanks for that Richard. I'm sure it will be revealed in time.

 

[Accelerator59]

The dark green Solo used at St Erth railway station last summer is in Camborne. It has been re-registered and appeared to be T14 GWR.

It was mentioned in the last fleet update by Cornwall by Kernow - Behind the Scenes I think, as are all the other latest number plate changes

 

[Yarp1]

I am referring to the Solo not the bike bus which is T12 GWR. A Scania / Solar in Discover c/s is on a T2 working this evening.

Sorry my mistake I didnt realise there was a dark green solo aswell

 

[83G/84D]

It was mentioned in the last fleet update by Cornwall by Kernow - Behind the Scenes I think, as are all the other latest number plate changes

In February it was still on it's old registration when I saw it being used as a staff shuttle at Penzance so it's been done since then.