To add to the Wazoo, I also believe that B9s are fine for interurban work however many of them are now pretty knackered. The good ones on the X39 go up Brislington Hill as well as anything else. The poor ones max out at between 30-40mph on the Keynsham Bypass and are generally gutless. I seem to remember reading that engine upgrades were coming to the Bath-Wells corridor, as well as to the X39. That may be wishful thinking however? I'll see if I can find the original press release!
To add to experience of Streetdecks on the 376. I took a trip to Wells last week and the Streetdeck that I was on (didn't record the number sorry) faield at North Lodge, seemingly because the clutch would not engage properly to pull away from standstill. The driver switched the engine off to let it cool down and after a few minutes we were able to continue, albeit with a pleasant burning smell!
I have to say that the way in which the gearboxes are programmed on the Streetdecks is all wrong, seemingly with the aim of maximum fuel economy at the expense of all else. Going up hills, in which one would expect the gearbox to hold second, they more often than not attempt to change up from second to third, then struggle in third, then change back down to second, by which point the bus has lost momentum such that it struggles in the lower end of second without enough revs for the turbo to kick in, leading to a tediously slow climb. Has anyone had any experience of a Streetdeck going up to the Lansdown Park & Ride? They seem to be on it most days so must be coping on that.
Coming back from Wells, I had a (59-plate) B7 single decker, which was rather knackered. The gearchange was very jerky and the retarder was making a right racket and seemingly hindering progress when accelerating. Still better on the hills than the Streetdeck though!
Edit:
The full list of routes to have environmental upgrades is:
• 73: Bristol Temple Meads – Cribbs Causeway via Filton
• 78/79: Bristol – Thornbury via Filton & Cribbs Causeway
• 2: Cribbs Causeway – Stockwood via City Centre
• 505: Long Ashton – Southmead Hospital (Park & Ride)
• 506: Bristol – Southmead Hospital
• X46: Bristol – Yate via Winterbourne
• 47: Bristol – Chipping Sodbury via Downend
• 17: Keynsham – Southmead Hospital via Kingswood
• X39: Bath – Bristol
• 3: Foxhill – Bathford via Bath City Centre
Many of these are B9-operated so I would imagine First is doing minimal maintenance to the B9s in the meantime because they are having new engines anyway so it would be wasted expenditure to keep them in peak condition.
To add to experience of Streetdecks on the 376. I took a trip to Wells last week and the Streetdeck that I was on (didn't record the number sorry) faield at North Lodge, seemingly because the clutch would not engage properly to pull away from standstill. The driver switched the engine off to let it cool down and after a few minutes we were able to continue, albeit with a pleasant burning smell!
I have to say that the way in which the gearboxes are programmed on the Streetdecks is all wrong, seemingly with the aim of maximum fuel economy at the expense of all else. Going up hills, in which one would expect the gearbox to hold second, they more often than not attempt to change up from second to third, then struggle in third, then change back down to second, by which point the bus has lost momentum such that it struggles in the lower end of second without enough revs for the turbo to kick in, leading to a tediously slow climb. Has anyone had any experience of a Streetdeck going up to the Lansdown Park & Ride? They seem to be on it most days so must be coping on that.
Coming back from Wells, I had a (59-plate) B7 single decker, which was rather knackered. The gearchange was very jerky and the retarder was making a right racket and seemingly hindering progress when accelerating. Still better on the hills than the Streetdeck though!
Edit:
The full list of routes to have environmental upgrades is:
• 73: Bristol Temple Meads – Cribbs Causeway via Filton
• 78/79: Bristol – Thornbury via Filton & Cribbs Causeway
• 2: Cribbs Causeway – Stockwood via City Centre
• 505: Long Ashton – Southmead Hospital (Park & Ride)
• 506: Bristol – Southmead Hospital
• X46: Bristol – Yate via Winterbourne
• 47: Bristol – Chipping Sodbury via Downend
• 17: Keynsham – Southmead Hospital via Kingswood
• X39: Bath – Bristol
• 3: Foxhill – Bathford via Bath City Centre
Many of these are B9-operated so I would imagine First is doing minimal maintenance to the B9s in the meantime because they are having new engines anyway so it would be wasted expenditure to keep them in peak condition.
How very dare you? I've not been out on the B9s since they began appearing at Wells and so I've not had chance to ride on them and see what they are like, and so can't argue with what you say in terms of performance.
37606 was parked up in Bristol next to 69439 coincidentally today!