First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[Marcus Fryer]

Are LH also running the 24 dupes now, in addition to the 75/76 ones? I've noticed the odd gas bus as well as 33795/6 have been showing up on the tracker over the last week.

36824 is yet another Urban Scania in Bath.

It would appear so. I saw 39408 on the 24 yesterday, confirming what the bus tracker shows. Unlike the 75/76 duplicates, (39411/12/18/39) which Steve White has confirmed are being operated out of HE, the tracker shows the duplicates for the 24 come off/go on to LH routes, which suggests that they are still operated out of LH.

 

[lx12ddo]

35112 on the 1 today in Bath

 

[lx12ddo]

69443 on the 5 too... seems a permanent allocation

 

[Private Baxter]

35112 on the 1 today in Bath

That one was working the 19 earlier in the week. Was good to see it back in familiar territory as I drove through Frenchay

 

[georgeloxton02]

I have just seen something strange on the fleet list, according to that SN58 CHJ is at Wells depot which is very odd.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I have just seen something strange on the fleet list, according to that SN58 CHJ is at Wells depot which is very odd.View attachment 77601

UK Buses rely on people telling them what is happening. Sometimes there are genuine mistakes by either reporters or UK Buses OR some people either make assumptions (e.g. if 33805, 33806, 33809 and 33810 are confirmed moves then 33807 and 33808 must be logically moving - well that doesn't always pan out) or simply make stuff up.

You should attach the same caution to UK Buses as you would with BusTimes tracker - it's 95% right generally but if something seems odd, it's usually wrong.

Casually scanning through.... Is 67604 still on strength? The e400Hs are allegedly still active? 35163 still in Mendip colours? 32240 still on hire from Dawsons?

I'm not wishing to denigrate what they do by going through and picking out the errors. On the whole, they do a great job but I'd just advise not to treat it (nor bus times) as gospel.

 

[lx12ddo]

I have just seen something strange on the fleet list, according to that SN58 CHJ is at Wells depot which is very odd.View attachment 77601

I mean half those SN58s would probably have been ex-Dagenham / Northumberland Park when First were in London, e.g. SN58CGV seen here on the 252. Although they're all labelled ex-Leicester 2015, they have history before that too

 

[Whiteway215]

I see ex Bristol 37351 has been reported as moving from Diamond Bolton over to FSY Doncaster along with ex Manchester 37384.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I mean half those SN58s would probably have been ex-Dagenham / Northumberland Park when First were in London, e.g. SN58CGV seen here on the 252. Although they're all labelled ex-Leicester 2015, they have history before that too

They were all new to First London at Northumberland Park and passed after refurbs to Leicester. Half came down to Bristol and the other half moved down later to Essex.

33569 actually is SORN at Bath FWIW; 33837 now in Mendip livery

 

[carlberry]

UK Buses rely on people telling them what is happening. Sometimes there are genuine mistakes by either reporters or UK Buses OR some people either make assumptions (e.g. if 33805, 33806, 33809 and 33810 are confirmed moves then 33807 and 33808 must be logically moving - well that doesn't always pan out) or simply make stuff up.

You should attach the same caution to UK Buses as you would with BusTimes tracker - it's 95% right generally but if something seems odd, it's usually wrong.

Casually scanning through.... Is 67604 still on strength? The e400Hs are allegedly still active? 35163 still in Mendip colours? 32240 still on hire from Dawsons?

I'm not wishing to denigrate what they do by going through and picking out the errors. On the whole, they do a great job but I'd just advise not to treat it (nor bus times) as gospel.

As TGW has said the uk buses site isn't completely accurate. For most companies it's as good as anything else on the Internet however for First Bristol/West of England Steve White's site is the gold standard, except that it'll (understandable) take him a few days to update things sometimes (even then it's usually best to wait for Steve to verify it!).
Steve White's site

 

[carlberry]

Some comments from James Freeman last week about how things might evolve over the next few months, but with the usual requirement that everything new must be called 'uber like' by journalists, dispite it not being like uber!

Bristol 247 article

 

[freetoview33]

Some comments from James Freeman last week about how things might evolve over the next few months, but with the usual requirement that everything new must be called 'uber like' by journalists, dispite it not being like uber!

Bristol 247 article

Im still not really sure that would work though, like me I am still getting the 4 to work, luckily my manager has agreed for me to slightly amend my hours based on the timetable, but It would be a pain if I had to try and "book" earlier on in the day and possibly get to work too early/too late (Even more at the moment as there is nowhere really to wait around if you are too early, due to social distancing). It is nice to have a set timetable you can plan around.

 

[swifty]

Im still not really sure that would work though, like me I am still getting the 4 to work, luckily my manager has agreed for me to slightly amend my hours based on the timetable, but It would be a pain if I had to try and "book" earlier on in the day and possibly get to work too early/too late (Even more at the moment as there is nowhere really to wait around if you are too early, due to social distancing). It is nice to have a set timetable you can plan around.

Unless I’m misunderstood, it wouldn’t work anything like Uber. More of a Vamooz style service where you book a seat on the timetabled bus to guarantee one of the few spaces, making it easier to plan around the timetable.

 

[freetoview33]

Unless I’m misunderstood, it wouldn’t work anything like Uber. More of a Vamooz style service where you book a seat on the timetabled bus to guarantee one of the few spaces, making it easier to plan around the timetable.

Still not much use if It is short notice work, but yeah.

 

[swifty]

Still not much use if It is short notice work, but yeah.

In which case you could possibly end up on a duplicate, as First would be able to respond to a known amount of pre booked passengers on any given service.

 

[freetoview33]

Yeah I see how it could work. Just nit sure how it would in practice

 

[ValleyLines142]

UK Buses rely on people telling them what is happening. Sometimes there are genuine mistakes by either reporters or UK Buses OR some people either make assumptions (e.g. if 33805, 33806, 33809 and 33810 are confirmed moves then 33807 and 33808 must be logically moving - well that doesn't always pan out) or simply make stuff up.

You should attach the same caution to UK Buses as you would with BusTimes tracker - it's 95% right generally but if something seems odd, it's usually wrong.

Casually scanning through.... Is 67604 still on strength? The e400Hs are allegedly still active? 35163 still in Mendip colours? 32240 still on hire from Dawsons?

I'm not wishing to denigrate what they do by going through and picking out the errors. On the whole, they do a great job but I'd just advise not to treat it (nor bus times) as gospel.

It's a tricky one because buses are constantly being moved from depot to depot for operational purposes. I've lost track of the number of times the ex-London Geminis have been back and forth Hengrove/Lawrence Hill.

 

[pompeyfan]

Not seen it discussed here yet, but Solent are expecting a number of 12 plate E400s from Manchester, this will enable Weymouths scania deckers to be retired and for Hoeford’s B7s to end up down Cornwall.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Not seen it discussed here yet, but Solent are expecting a number of 12 plate E400s from Manchester, this will enable Weymouths scania deckers to be retired and for Hoeford’s B7s to end up down Cornwall.

Those coming from Oldham?? Thought most of the ones at Diamond had gone to FSY.

It’ll be sad to see the Omnidekkas go but they’re getting on a bit and showing their age. Take it the ex Green Line B9s will stay on the JCs but 37585 etc are replacing 37161?

 

[mic]

Not seen it discussed here yet, but Solent are expecting a number of 12 plate E400s from Manchester, this will enable Weymouths scania deckers to be retired and for Hoeford’s B7s to end up down Cornwall.

think they will be the rest of the ones at Diamond on loan quite a few still there

 

[Private Baxter]

Meanwhile Steve tells us 69443-6 finally moving to Bath, leaving just 69447/57-8 still in Wells, though no doubt shortly to follow suit.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Meanwhile Steve tells us 69443-6 finally moving to Bath, leaving just 69447/57-8 still in Wells, though no doubt shortly to follow suit.

And 69437?

69443 has lost its Mendip fleetnames already.

 

[lx12ddo]

And 69437?

69443 has lost its Mendip fleetnames already.

a functioning rear display and any first logos have both gone along with it.... although not sure if the rear display has worked for a long time anyway

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

a functioning rear display and any first logos have both gone along with it.... although not sure if the rear display has worked for a long time anyway

Still had First logo and fleetname above the entrance on Saturday but with "Mendip" surgically removed.

 

[Private Baxter]

And 69437?

69443 has lost its Mendip fleetnames already.

Oh yes of course, 69437 is still allocated to Wells, though not been sighted for some time apparently. Last reports were supposedly working rail replacement from Salisbury.

 

[lx12ddo]

Still had First logo and fleetname above the entrance on Saturday but with "Mendip" surgically removed.

Oh! I based that off the First logo and First name seeming to have been removed from the rear window my mistake!

 

[Tommy Walters]

Oh yes of course, 69437 is still allocated to Wells, though not been sighted for some time apparently. Last reports were supposedly working rail replacement from Salisbury.

That RR from Salisbury was being worked from Bath depot I believe, so it may be that 437's already there?

 

[CD]

Oh yes of course, 69437 is still allocated to Wells, though not been sighted for some time apparently. Last reports were supposedly working rail replacement from Salisbury.

I noticed that report of 69437 on Salisbury R/R, but think it may have been 69457 as 69437 has been in Bath depot for months awaiting a replacement engine.

 

[spw24]

36814 is still in Bristol saw it parked in Lawrence Hill this afternoon.

 

[83G/84D]

Reported on Facebook that B7TL's 32547, 37005 & 37006 have moved to Colchester. 37004 was due to move but went unserviceable.