Goldfish62
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If delivery is still on schedule (it was reported as being eight weeks as of the first week of November) they may be delivered this year - just!
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First South West (Kernow & Buses of Somerset)
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Most recent Staff newsletter says December.
Goldfish62
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Thanks. That tallies then.
KendalKing
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Makes sense, as the previous Mercedes Sprinters have also been number in 541xx series.
Busaholic
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That has to be good news - a discontented workforce is in no-one's interest, least of all the public's.
Goldfish62
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The Tin Coaster appears to have morphed into the Tinner because for the second day running both buses are Tinners.
Not inappropriate branding as it happens.
Not inappropriate branding as it happens.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
The issue of branding has obviously been mentioned. The Tinner obviously (IMHO) should be branded, and there should be improved discipline in allocating vehicles onto that corridor. The Mousehole is self-contained so fine with that.
The various Coasters - do you need all the sub-brands etc? Certainly, I think that those services do need highly visible promotional liveries. Perhaps it could be the case that you have a couple of open toppers that have some sort of universal Coaster livery or something totally neutral, or even a number that are in Kernow green?
Just not convinced that Lizard (though I like the livery) or Unique are really effective as buses are so intensively interworked through the network.
Goldfish62
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I agree the Tinners should be branded, and should also use high quality vehicles. The problem is that since four were reallocated to the U2 (The Copper) there are only 16 left which is the T1/T2 PVR so you're never going to get a full allocation. Any substitutes are usually going to be ancient Geminis. Add to that the current situation where the Tinner E400s are seemingly allocated to any route and the brand is effectively dissolved. A solution, apart from actually making sure the available buses go on the right route would be to transfer a handful of E400 MMCs from the East side and brand them. The current Tinners need a repaint so it would be the opportunity to have a relaunch.
The impact of deciding that every Coaster route should have its own individual brand was evident in the summer. Everything scattered at random across the routes. My idea would be for a single Coasters livery, but the individual sub-brands promoted on the livery (and followed through on destination displays and publicity). The Lizard L1 would be included.
In respect of the Lizard, the L3, L5 and U4 don't even serve the Lizard peninsula and as it is the Lizard branded buses are scattered all over West Cornwall.
Maybe the fact that the majority of repaints this year have not received any vinyls indicates that a rethink is in progress??
henryb
Member
Anyone know what’s going on with the Dartmoor explorer today? Both buses turned around at Moretonhampstead and returned to their depots.
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Goldfish62
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Seen on a Facebook post that there's no service for the rest of the day due to snow.
henryb
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Where on Facebook did you see this?
"A post on Facebook" is not very helpful. Please make sure that you post links to any online sources, along with a suitable text quote.
Goldfish62
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It was a post on a private group so I can't post the link. Sorry.
I was just trying to be helpful with answering the query, but appear to have infringed the rules!
Summers510
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Flange Squeal
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Hopefully this link works. It includes the original tweet by First's Adventures by Bus Twitter account at 1059 this morning saying "Saturday 10th December - Dartmoor Explorer. Service has now been suspended due to the icy weather conditions. We apologise for any inconvenience caused", which was retweeted by a driver showing a photo of Enviro 400MMC WK18 CHH on a snowy road accompanied by the text "That was interesting! Both buses and all passengers safely returned to their origins!".
As the driver of one of the buses, here is a photo taken on a gritted road near to Princetown. The roads were treated as far as Princetown for the jail and thereafter untreated.
Decision was taken by management to get all passengers safely back to a place they won’t be stuck. The weather significantly deteriorated and 100% the right decision was taken to suspend services.
All such reasons will always be posted on either the Twitter page for @bykernow or @adventuresbybus
Decision was taken by management to get all passengers safely back to a place they won’t be stuck. The weather significantly deteriorated and 100% the right decision was taken to suspend services.
Where did you find out they had turned around and returned to depots? The only places this info was shared gave the reason as being due to icy roads, so logic suggests you’d have already known why, if you knew they had turned round and returned to base.
All such reasons will always be posted on either the Twitter page for @bykernow or @adventuresbybus
Attachments
Paperyostrich
Member
With the good news that late night buses are coming back to Buses of Somerset in January (thanks to the BSIP money) I noticed in a message yesterday that the three late night 21 services at 9, 10 and 11pm will only travel between Taunton and Bridgwater, with the last bus for Burnham still leaving Bridgwater bus station at 19.01. Same with the 30, later services only going as far as Chard from what I could make out. Looks like the late 21s will also interwork with the 22s as well (or that's the plan)
Along with the late night buses on the 21, 22, 28, 30 and 1 service, there is a small shakeup planned in January for the 29, 75, 54 and 77 route as well
1) The 29/75 will interwork still, but without help from Yeovil Depot
2) To help with the interworking, Bridgwater will gain an extra bus
3) Timetable and Route change to 54 and 77 timetable change (possible, hazy on details)
Along with the late night buses on the 21, 22, 28, 30 and 1 service, there is a small shakeup planned in January for the 29, 75, 54 and 77 route as well
1) The 29/75 will interwork still, but without help from Yeovil Depot
2) To help with the interworking, Bridgwater will gain an extra bus
3) Timetable and Route change to 54 and 77 timetable change (possible, hazy on details)
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henryb
Member
I saw the turn around on bustimes.org. I was curious because similar things have happened in the past
Ok,
Look on Twitter as any such things will be tweeted on the adventure by bus account.
Decisions were made to put safety first and get the buses and passengers off the moor.
henryb
Member
It was of course the right decision, no questioning that. Well done on getting everyone off the more safely
heathrowrail
Member
Is there any news on the "Green" Enviro 400s yet? Marc Huws said they were due into service shortly and doesn't to have happened? Rumour is the new branding is a directive from the council as they've been given greater powers under the "bus back better" scheme, seems a bit short sighted to me when BoS has become a known brand.
Some (4?) have entered service but all sorts on there at the moment with Gemini’s, ex Excel E400s and usually a saloon E200 for good measure.
Goldfish62
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At least one is in service because I've seen photos of it on Facebook on the 21. Do we know if any more than one have received vinyls yet?
Marc Huws stated on Twitter a while back that the brand was one element of the council's BSIP implementation so it's not a rumour. The "Green" brand is for Euro VI buses.
Paperyostrich
Member
4 or 5 are out now. All have vinyls and the rest are awaiting the instillation of Drivegreen, CCTV and screens. They should all be out shortly 
As part of the BSIP(Bus Service Improvement Plan, the idea was to have the deckers all upgraded to Euro 6 standard and this branding is part of that. I believe the idea is for all deckers (or euro 6 vehicles to get it)
Honestly though, people see a green bus in Somerset and they know what it is and who it is from, plus it does still sah Buses of Somerset on the vinyls so I wouldn't worry about the branding
The current mess of orange, blue and white deckers is what really needs sorting!
The buses have been in service for approx a month now. Plenty of pictures of them in service and I have seen them with my own eyes when working at Taunton and Bridgwater!
As part of the BSIP(Bus Service Improvement Plan, the idea was to have the deckers all upgraded to Euro 6 standard and this branding is part of that. I believe the idea is for all deckers (or euro 6 vehicles to get it)
Honestly though, people see a green bus in Somerset and they know what it is and who it is from, plus it does still sah Buses of Somerset on the vinyls so I wouldn't worry about the branding
The current mess of orange, blue and white deckers is what really needs sorting!
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Yes, just seen it go through Carbis Bay on the anticlockwise Land's End Coaster. It's alive!
Not in use today!
henryb
Member
Is bustimes.org just inaccurate or is the Dartmoor explorer as unreliable as is suggested with only 1 bus running on some days. (No communication on adventures by bus Twitter/Facebook)
Yes Inaccurate.unless you’re looking at last week when we had bad ice and snow on Dartmoor, in which case just one vehicle went and attempted based on unknown conditions, with a senior driver at the helm
Yesterday 33315 ran both ways but seems to have only tracked one direction for example on bustimes yet clicking on the ‘map’ link it has a trace both directions with arrows going both way. Click on the arrows and you can see the time it was at the locations