As far as i know - 1 person Whitchurch to Street each day. By the time the peak buses get into Whitchurch from Street the bus is 3/4 full. There are a lot of people that go Street, Glastonbury, Wells to Bristol and just as many going Whitchurch to Bristol at peak times.
This morning if the 2 was in front there probably won't have been anyone standing.
All the 376s I saw in the Street/Wells area between 1100-1400 were late by up to 20 minutes.
66171 on 161 today no problem getting through Dinder.
377s 66108/60/61. Saw 66173 on 375. Didnt see any 126s. 69444/47 spare at depot.
I don't think it was some groupwide plan and just a bit more pragmatic (?)
FWoE needed to increase capacity and had 11 Streetlites destined for WS (20 min frequency???)
FEE had 8 Streetdecks due for Norwich
Instead, a bit of a swap allows 376 capacity to be increased (saves driver costs) whilst Norwich get 11 not 8 new vehicles.
The X78 Sheffield to Doncaster was destined for Streetdecks so if anywhere was a test bed, it was probably
That was my thought too; if the 2 is late or missing in action, then the 376 will suddenly fill up through Knowle etc. As you know, the 376 can often have 30+ passengers on it by on that southern section.
I got one the other Saturday (hardly a peak working - 1015 ex Bristol) and got on at Broadwalk. had 30-35 passengers south of Whitchurch as I was interested to see what loadings it would have with the deckers coming.
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If people park considerately, it shouldn't be an issue through Dinder. However, as I saw the other week, some people are selfish!
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60911 looks smart after repaint on Steve White's page. Photo in the LH Annex and can't see the depot speech bubble but assume it's an LH vehicle?
35160 has developed a pretty serious engine fault, and is apparently being sent back to Wrightbus. Could be out of service until at least after Christmas!
Yes 60911 is at LH.
37328 now has its yellow front with 37329 taking is place today for the frontal treatment.
BioBus times for Friday:
42 1025 Lawrence Hill Bridge to Broad Quay
Dead to Broadmead
3 1050 Broadmead to Avonmouth
For fuelling
Dead to Broad Quay
44 1240 Broad Quay to Cadbury Heath
44 1336 Cadbury Heath to Broad Quay
Dead to Bus Station for break
45 1530 Broad Quay to Cadbury Heath
45 1634 Cadbury Heath to Broad Quay
43 1730 Broad Quay to Bitton
42 1845 Bitton to Broad Quay
Dead 1933 Broad Quay to LH Depot
Hope this helps
John
First West of England Announces Bid for 110 Double Decker Bio Buses for Bristol
Bristols largest bus operator, First West of England, has today announced a joint bid to OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) for 110 double decker bio-buses for Bristol.
Presumably these would be ADL vehicles. Where would the tanks go on a double decker?
There was a piece about this on Points West (local BBC news program) this evening. Or at least I assumed it was about this as it refered to bio buses and showed the one that First have been using, and then the explanation was that Wessex Bus have put in a bid for 20!!! So are there two bids and are they joint or competing? And is the one for 20 buses more news worthy than one for 110?
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/plans-more-poo-powered-buses-bristol-bathDozens of number two buses powered entirely by gas generated from sewage could be picking up passengers in Bristol next year.
Wessex Bus is hoping to run a 20-strong fleet in Bristol, while a rival operator, First West of England, is looking to bring 110 poo-powered doubledeckers to the city.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/plans-more-poo-powered-buses-bristol-bath
But will the Rotala buses actually see service in Bristol, or end up in Preston, like the buses they put in for in the green bus fund.
35160 has developed a pretty serious engine fault, and is apparently being sent back to Wrightbus. Could be out of service until at least after Christmas!
Surely 60911 will head to Bath to join the others?
.
What's happening with the new Enviro 400 MMC's going onto the 1 & 2? Seen a few driving around with Not In Service on the display. Would be good to see some of these actually in service.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/plans-more-poo-powered-buses-bristol-bath
But will the Rotala buses actually see service in Bristol, or end up in Preston, like the buses they put in for in the green bus fund.
33956 is out on the 1 {currently on a short to Centre}
Orange front, yellow between decks on the rear.
Branded "the best route along Whiteladies Road". With a little route diagram for the Cribbs - Temple Meads section saying every 5 min. No mention of Southmead or Westbury! Couldn't see a route number on the branding...
Seems to me like a very Wessex persuaded article. Notice how First is Wessex's rival as if First are just butting into Bristol and Wessex are saviors of public transport in Bristol with their inconsistent timetables and horrible drivers.
So i'm assuming that if the funding comes, we'll end up with 130 new vehicles in Bristol next year?
Doubt it, the Wessex bid is based on 10 gas buses next year with remaining 10 by 2019.
Can you really see First putting 110 new DD's in to Bristol all in the same year?? As I can't, that is nearly 30% of the entire UK bus fleet replacement programme for 2015/16 (385 new buses). Especially when Bristol are still drafting in 51 plate B7TL's from Leicester & repainting/re-branding W-reg BTL's for Bath
It purely depends on the specification of the bid (which could be reduced or could be extended over more years like the Wessex one). If it goes through then the buses will have to go to Bristol as that's where the infrastructure will be. Theres nothing to stop them replacing the most recent vehicles to move on elsewhere in the group and its always possible that it could be retrofitted to existing vehicles (however I would have thought that was highly unlikely).
It purely depends on the specification of the bid (which could be reduced or could be extended over more years like the Wessex one). If it goes through then the buses will have to go to Bristol as that's where the infrastructure will be. Theres nothing to stop them replacing the most recent vehicles to move on elsewhere in the group and its always possible that it could be retrofitted to existing vehicles (however I would have thought that was highly unlikely).
33956 is out on the 1 {currently on a short to Centre}
Orange front, yellow between decks on the rear.
Branded "the best route along Whiteladies Road". With a little route diagram for the Cribbs - Temple Meads section saying every 5 min. No mention of Southmead or Westbury! Couldn't see a route number on the branding...
Interesting to see it is a joint bid with all four West of England local authorities so we may see them across the whole region. I do wonder if Bio is the way forwards though. To my mind the future is hybrid, plug in hybrid and ultimately full electric. But who knows what will happen in 20 years!
Lawrence Hill would include operation on any of the Marlborough Street decker routes.
Reading have quite a large (single deck) gas bus fleet now and they appear to operate full days, not the couple of journeys that the Bristol example has usually managed.
Hybrid definitely is not the way forward. It is merely a bridge between full diesel and full electric. The latter is now well on the way.
Regarding the gas 'deckers, they will (if First gets the money) be Scania-based E400 MMCs. It is only Scania which is pursuing the gas-powered double-decker at the moment and hence there are no other possibilities as to who will build them. The position of the gas tanks is being kept quiet for now - but the diesel Scania DD chassis has a large amount of unused space above the engine, so...
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The Reading fuelling station (and no doubt those with Arriva, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead) are purpose-built and so can achieve the pressure required to fill the bus tanks to a sufficient level to do a full day's work. I suspect that the fuelling place at Avonmouth is not able to generate such a pressure, which is where the modest range comes from.
Certainly in the past, where gas buses have been introduced before the fuelling station was provided and gas was stored in portable HGV trailer-mounted equipmentt, the problem was generating sufficient pressure to fill them 'to the brim', as it were.
Thanks for the info. I didn't explain myself too well: by hybrid being the way forwards I meant in the short term with full-electric in the medium-long term.
It'll be interesting to have Scania buses in the West (assuming the bid is successful), they are generally pretty comfortable.
I've been thinking more about how this is a joint bid with BANES and North Somerset involved. Maybe the Bristol-Bath corridor could go biobus, although this would be a pain logistically if the only filling station is at Lawrence Hill. Likewise for North Somerset maybe the Bristol-Weston corridor.
I also saw a single-decker on the 4 today: think it was 66337.At least two seen running out of service via the M32 this morning. Theres no logos or text on the orange front yet.
Also 42712 on the 90 and one of the 663xxs on the 1/2.