Metrobus Crawley

[MotCO]

I noticed today that the Fastway Volvo Eclipses are now 6 years old; wasn't there a requirement for them to be 5 years old or less? Are they being replaced anytime soon? Where will the Volvos go?

 

[jammy36]

I noticed today that the Fastway Volvo Eclipses are now 6 years old; wasn't there a requirement for them to be 5 years old or less? Are they being replaced anytime soon? Where will the Volvos go?

Didn't Metrobus win grant funding to help fund the purchase of hydrogen fuel cell buses to replace the Volvos? IIRC the new buses were due Summer 2020 and existing fleet cascaded to allow remaining Euro 3 vehicles to be withdrawn.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Yeah, apparently they were supposed to get Wrightbus hydrogen to replace the Volvos 6001-6022 in order to allow the latter to be used on the 1 and 23 replacing Scanias 6513-6559. They will be more than enough to replace the old Scanias. I wonder what other routes they'll be used on. If I were the MD at Metrobus I'd do the following:

6001-6008 Route 1
6019-6014 Route 23
6015-6016 Route 3
6017-6018 Spares
6019-6022 Route 270

And the following then could be replaced by the following

6001 - 6552
6002 - 6553
6003 - 6554
6004 - 6555
6005 - 6556
6006 - 6557
6007 - 6558
6008 - 6763 - 6320
6009 - 6513
6010 - 6550
6011 - 6551
6012 - 6559
6013 - 6764 - 6321
6014 - 6765 - 6287
6015 - 6615
6016 - 6622
6017 - 6766 - 6288
6018 - 6767 - 6289
6019 - 6779 - 6725
6020 - 6780 - 6726
6021 - 6781 - 6727
6022 - 6782 - 6728

The ex 465 07 reg E200s are starting to get unreliable, and since there would be only 4 buses available to replace all 6 of them, I'd replace the most unreliable ones such as 6728 (in my opinion), and keep the two most reliable ones in service.

This way, all Euro 3 vehicles at Metrobus can be withdrawn.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Also Metrobus should get new buses for the 100 in my opinion. I love the 2008 Scanias (very comfortable to ride!) but they're starting to get a bit too old now. DDs in my opinion would be appropriate as the route does get really busy in peak hours.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Following RATP Quality Line deregistering five Surrey routes, Metrobus have won two of the five. Assuming the timetables remain similar and the two interworked, their gain of these contracts sees a PVR of two:

xx25 E9 arrives back in Epsom xx55, then working the xx56 E10 arriving back in Epsom xx15, ready to go back out on the xx25 E9.

xx55 E9 arrives back in Epsom xx25, then working the xx26 E10 arriving back in Epsom xx45, ready to go back out on the xx55 E9.

 

[Robertj21a]

Following RATP Quality Line deregistering five Surrey routes, Metrobus have won two of the five. Assuming the timetables remain similar and the two interworked, their gain of these contracts sees a PVR of two:

xx25 E9 arrives back in Epsom xx55, then working the xx56 E10 arriving back in Epsom xx15, ready to go back out on the xx25 E9.

xx55 E9 arrives back in Epsom xx25, then working the xx26 E10 arriving back in Epsom xx45, ready to go back out on the xx55 E9.

Is this red Metrobus or blue (Brighton & Hove) Metrobus from....?(Crawley?)

 

[Flange Squeal]

I’d assume blue as per their other Surrey County Council contracted routes.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

I remember when Metrobus got the 318 from Buses Excetera... currently the 318 uses the short MPD Pointer Darts 6287-6289 just like the 21/22/84, so I suppose Metrobus could also interwork the 318 with the E9/E10.