I live in Leeds and so hadn't really seen any of the new York electric buses 'in the flesh', but as I was walking down the hill from home to Bramley station earlier (funnily enough, on my way to York) I saw one that happened to be in Leeds. Initial thought was, "What the heck is that?" because they are so bulky looking and it took a moment to register! Sadly was only able to get a photo of its back end: it was 63664 / ML73 DZA. I much prefer the colour to the LeedsCity greens.
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First West Yorkshire & York discussion
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I think the Leeds City green looks great, pink on the other hand shouldn’t be seen anywhere on any bus. Opinions divided as usual
Apologies, I thought they were pink after seeing the photo in post #1088, which did say York Electric on the side.
Bantamzen
Established Member
I was in York on Saturday (along with the rest of Yorkshire so it seemed), and the Wrightbus Electroliners are blumming quiet. Nearly got caught out a couple of times with them sneaking up behind me!
I recommend not visiting Halifax. Pink certainly makes the 502 stand out in Keighley.I think the Leeds City green looks great, pink on the other hand shouldn’t be seen anywhere on any bus. Opinions divided as usual
dodecahedron67
Member
Changes to 2/2A and 59 confirmed from 28th January internally - this will also be the last date the bendy buses will run in York unless anything changes. However 2/2A will be double running up/down Bootham with new stops at Clifton Green, Bootham Park, and Theatre Royal rather than going over Water End to Boroughbridge Road as originally planned.
59s will be serving Leeman Road stopping only outside the Railway Museum.
I hold my criticism over the use of Bootham at peak times rather than the Boroughbridge Road option…
59s will be serving Leeman Road stopping only outside the Railway Museum.
I hold my criticism over the use of Bootham at peak times rather than the Boroughbridge Road option…
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I wonder if it might be time to try and reduce/ban general traffic from Lendal Bridge again in York
I know there was outrage last time but I would have thought as the years have gone on the environmental voice might have got louder and more likely to be accepted in a left wing liberal place like York. Maybe implement it after the next local election.
Where will the 2/2A turn?
Will the 59 make any other stops between the railway museum and the current one close to the roundabout near Poppleton Bar? There has been a suggestion for it to stop near the Ainsty.
Yes, Bootham is a very congested area - even in the evenings.
Will the 59 make any other stops between the railway museum and the current one close to the roundabout near Poppleton Bar? There has been a suggestion for it to stop near the Ainsty.
Yes, Bootham is a very congested area - even in the evenings.
dodecahedron67
Member
2/2A turns using Station Ave gyratory
59s will not stop anywhere between Poppy Roundabout and Railway Museum
Lendal bridge isn’t really the problem with this route - it’s Bootham itself and Gillygate that are just carparks from 3pm onwards in school term time.
I haven’t seen the proposed timetables yet, but will detail them out when I have
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The 59 really should make one additional stop. It usually only has a handful of people on it and would strengthen the public transport offering in the Boroughbridge Road area. The revised 2 route seems to have a lot of intermediate stops.
Is there any news when the 10 route is to be revised so that Kites can operate it?
Is there any news when the 10 route is to be revised so that Kites can operate it?
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dodecahedron67
Member
Route 2 just mirrors the stops on the “outbound” route, replacing the “old” inbound stops.
Clifton Green (Bootham) replaces Clifton Green (Water End)
Bootham Park (opposite current Ingram House stop) replaces NRM
Theatre Royal gives a drop off for the Minster without having to go over Lendal Bridge and come back across
Still nothing on 10s, and 59s only stopping at the NRM makes me think that they’re going to (yet again) try and get the versas to be able to do a full day on 10s (spoiler: they still won’t) to be able to keep them down Leeman Road.
MasterSpenny
Member
Adding on to these two, buslistsontheweb.co.uk has reported 36571 to be ML73DZU.
dodecahedron67
Member
Another 3 kites, 63660/63665/63666, are in James St yard on final checks before entry to service
Kieran1990
Member
Saw one of the Leeds’ new single decker electrics on staff bus duties tonight on Boar lane
I’ve a few questions
How many are heading for Bramley?
Likely routes? Assume the 4/4F/16/16A for the deckers?
I’ve a few questions
How many are heading for Bramley?
Likely routes? Assume the 4/4F/16/16A for the deckers?
MasterSpenny
Member
New listings on buslistsontheweb.co.uk for these Kites consist of:
63572 - ML73DZV
63573 - ML73DZW
63574 - ML73DZX
63575 - ML73DZY
63576 - ML73DZZ
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I take it you mean 63572-63576
MasterSpenny
Member
Yep, just a mistake. I need to get out of the habit of thinking that they are StreetDeck Electroliners!
York: I believe there are only about five electric buses still to enter service. Yet 4 “Bendys” and 13 Eclipse diesel buses are still in service. Will they have enough Electrics to cover current service levels or are we facing some cuts or is York going to retain some of the diesel buses? Thanks
If it is anything like Aberdeen they retained several diesels until the reliability of the electric was sufficient.
superkev
Established Member
Yes I wondered that as before the delivery of the Electrics the fleet was according to bus times around 92 buses (currently 107 with 1 decker and 5 single electrics still in store). Also of note is that a few electrics mainly Optares deckers seem to be missing each day.
Perhaps with electrics more buses are needed to cope with charging.
I will be interesting to see what effect the current cold snap has on performance.
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I don't know about performance, but I was on one of the new single deckers and it was absolutely freezing.
dodecahedron67
Member
Hopefully this post will clear a few things up about York’s operations. Happy to try and answer any questions as well!
The York fleet will be total 86 all-electric buses when complete as of now.
None of these buses will have saloon heating or cooling, only driver heating/air con.
All bar 3 buses (2 kites, 1 electroliner) are delivered to York now as far as I know.
The fleet will comprise:
19 “York Electrics” Electroliner DD
10 “Uni of York Electric” Electroliner DD
24 “York Electrics” Kite Electroliner
11 “Park and Ride Electric” Versa EV
1 “York Electrics” Versa EV
(for use on 10/59 due to Leeman Road)
15 “Park and Ride Electric” Metrodecker EV
5 “York Blue” Metrodecker EV
1 “York Knights RLFC” Metrodecker EV
The Wright Electrics will happily manage a 0500-2359 day now.
The upgrades to the grid connection to allow all buses to be charged at once is now expected to be completed late March rather than end of this month as originally planned.
Metrodecker EVs are not allowed to be left unattended on charge overnight due to the fire risks seen in London, which means they need to be carefully managed.
There is a group of drivers who have been seconded to the yard to make sure that all buses have enough charge each day, through the use of changeovers and optimising each bus’ position in the yard/annexe and time on charge.
All 13 B7RLEs are accounted for use at other depots, either in service or as training buses, as all are Euro VI converted.
The 4 remaining bendys are going for scrap when done with York, unless anyone decides to purchase one for preservation.
Higher ups are rapidly realising that a fleet of 86 is not enough to run York’s operations, and there are rumblings of a further order for ~30 more Electroliners to replace all 21 metrodeckers, which are still unreliable, and expand the fleet. These would be mainly dual-door “london style” variants to conform to the Park and Ride contract which requires dual-door buses for full-size routes (not 59s), with a small amount being single doored standard FirstGroup Electric spec.
As such, until some form of order arises, it is most likely but not for certain that the 4 bendy buses will have some sort of stay of execution and used on P&R to allow electrics to be used elsewhere, being outstabled at Park and Ride site(s) overnight due to the ban on diesel buses in James St depot once the last few electric buses have arrived.
The York fleet will be total 86 all-electric buses when complete as of now.
None of these buses will have saloon heating or cooling, only driver heating/air con.
All bar 3 buses (2 kites, 1 electroliner) are delivered to York now as far as I know.
The fleet will comprise:
19 “York Electrics” Electroliner DD
10 “Uni of York Electric” Electroliner DD
24 “York Electrics” Kite Electroliner
11 “Park and Ride Electric” Versa EV
1 “York Electrics” Versa EV
(for use on 10/59 due to Leeman Road)
15 “Park and Ride Electric” Metrodecker EV
5 “York Blue” Metrodecker EV
1 “York Knights RLFC” Metrodecker EV
The Wright Electrics will happily manage a 0500-2359 day now.
The upgrades to the grid connection to allow all buses to be charged at once is now expected to be completed late March rather than end of this month as originally planned.
Metrodecker EVs are not allowed to be left unattended on charge overnight due to the fire risks seen in London, which means they need to be carefully managed.
There is a group of drivers who have been seconded to the yard to make sure that all buses have enough charge each day, through the use of changeovers and optimising each bus’ position in the yard/annexe and time on charge.
All 13 B7RLEs are accounted for use at other depots, either in service or as training buses, as all are Euro VI converted.
The 4 remaining bendys are going for scrap when done with York, unless anyone decides to purchase one for preservation.
Higher ups are rapidly realising that a fleet of 86 is not enough to run York’s operations, and there are rumblings of a further order for ~30 more Electroliners to replace all 21 metrodeckers, which are still unreliable, and expand the fleet. These would be mainly dual-door “london style” variants to conform to the Park and Ride contract which requires dual-door buses for full-size routes (not 59s), with a small amount being single doored standard FirstGroup Electric spec.
As such, until some form of order arises, it is most likely but not for certain that the 4 bendy buses will have some sort of stay of execution and used on P&R to allow electrics to be used elsewhere, being outstabled at Park and Ride site(s) overnight due to the ban on diesel buses in James St depot once the last few electric buses have arrived.
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cnjb8
Established Member
When diesel buses are banned from James Street, where will the YK54 driver training vehicles be based?
dodecahedron67
Member
Off as they're not Euro VI. Chatter about Hunslet being used as training in future, or replacement Euro VI training buses parked in the area outside the annexe so they can get away with saying "no diesels in the depot" on a technicality
Edit: I suspect they may actually be the last "diesel" buses in the FY operation funnily enough...
cnjb8
Established Member
Thank you for the info!
So to sum are we saying there are no heaters in the saloons of the new EVs?
I cannot believe they are considering outstanding the Bendys at a P&R site Surely there would have to be security to protect them. If they are not allowed back at James Street how do they get fuelled?
I see there are changes to the 2 and 59 routes in less than 2 weeks to get around the Leeman road bridge problem.
Thank you for all the info
I cannot believe they are considering outstanding the Bendys at a P&R site Surely there would have to be security to protect them. If they are not allowed back at James Street how do they get fuelled?
I see there are changes to the 2 and 59 routes in less than 2 weeks to get around the Leeman road bridge problem.
Thank you for all the info
dodecahedron67
Member
Correct on the heating.
Outstationing the bendys (with security/staff present) is just one idea, I've no idea what the final plan is at the moment, nobody does.
Fuelling would presumably be either commercial or by agreement with someone like Pullman/Transdev/Connexions
superkev
Established Member
Most interesting. Thankyou.
I find it difficult to believe buses have no saloon heating. Perhaps its switched off to extend range.
Kev