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Nottingham 'Bus War'

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drunkendentist

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Hello everybody, occasional lurker, frequent bus traveler who comes in peace.

What's the deal with indigo and i4 buses? The engine cuts out when picking up and dropping off passengers and the driver has to (seemingly) start the ignition again?

Is this some 'feature' that I fail to see? Having the bus vibrate every couple of minutes is rather jarring.
 

ag51ruk

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Hello everybody, occasional lurker, frequent bus traveler who comes in peace.

What's the deal with indigo and i4 buses? The engine cuts out when picking up and dropping off passengers and the driver has to (seemingly) start the ignition again?

Is this some 'feature' that I fail to see? Having the bus vibrate every couple of minutes is rather jarring.

They are stop-start engines to save fuel and reduce emissions when stationary (i think when the parking brake is on) - many modern cars have had them for years
 

goldisgood

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Hello everybody, occasional lurker, frequent bus traveler who comes in peace.

What's the deal with indigo and i4 buses? The engine cuts out when picking up and dropping off passengers and the driver has to (seemingly) start the ignition again?

Is this some 'feature' that I fail to see? Having the bus vibrate every couple of minutes is rather jarring.
It's stop-start technology which cuts out the engine when the bus has stopped to cut emissions.
 

Pigalle

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The new order for the Villager has begun to arrive; a shiny 703 was parked at Derby bus station this afternoon.
 
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Nottingham City Transport have announced cuts/changes in Clifton from 27th January.
Route 3 withdrawn from Hartness Road, reduced to half hourly. Evening & Sunday service withdrawn.
Route 48 reduced evening & Sunday frequency.
Route 53 extended to Hartness Road, and daytime journeys become 54 running via Lark Hill, Summerwood Lane & Rivergreen.
City Council L64 withdrawn following introduction of 54 above.
 
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Nottingham City Transport have announced cuts/changes in Clifton from 27th January.
Route 3 withdrawn from Hartness Road, reduced to half hourly. Evening & Sunday service withdrawn.
Route 48 reduced evening & Sunday frequency.
Route 53 extended to Hartness Road, and daytime journeys become 54 running via Lark Hill, Summerwood Lane & Rivergreen.
City Council L64 withdrawn following introduction of 54 above.
This is the first time for some years that I can remember NCT making a substantive reduction in service
 
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This is the first time for some years that I can remember NCT making a substantive reduction in service
They are also withdrawing the early morning Bulwell 80 service from the same date and making changes to routes 49 & 79 according to the County Council. NCT hasn't announced these yet (that I can find on its new fangled website as I can't find the 'service changes' page!).
 

edwin_m

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This is the first time for some years that I can remember NCT making a substantive reduction in service
The last one I remember was the removal of the 13 and 14, three or four years ago I think. First time a major radial route (A6005) hasn't had NCT service. It was stated at the time to be partly down to tram competition, also the likely reason for the Clifton service cuts.
 

43055

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Trent Barton have timetable changes for the following routes at the end of January (27th):

the allestree - Sunday service increased to every 20 mins between 1000 and 1800, every 40 minuets each route
red arrow - Changes to Friday/Saturday nightbus departure times
Ilkeston flyer - Stop restriction changes from Spondon to Derby?
Calverton connection/the Calverton - Rebranded with Volvos from indigo, Suggests the villager Volvos will be in service by this date?
The Keyworth - Revised timetable
The threes - Revised route? and timetable

also interesting is TM travels Spira is also going to be withdrawn from the 24th February.
 

edwin_m

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NCT hasn't announced these yet (that I can find on its new fangled website as I can't find the 'service changes' page!).
All I can find is a "news" page in the menu at the top of the screen (if on a phone you have to click on "menu"). This includes the Clifton changes and I don't think there has been a separate page for service changes for a while.
 

ag51ruk

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Trent Barton have announced increased Mango caps (daily cap only) from 27th January, along with a reduction in the Adult discount from 15% to 10%
 

ChrisC

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Trent Barton have announced increased Mango caps (daily cap only) from 27th January, along with a reduction in the Adult discount from 15% to 10%

The rise in the price of the daily cap to £5.85 is perhaps to be expected as many bus operators daily tickets now are well above this price already. Very disappointing that the discount is falling again from 15% to 10%. It was a very generous 20% when I first got my Mango Card.
 

MCR247

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The rise in the price of the daily cap to £5.85 is perhaps to be expected as many bus operators daily tickets now are well above this price already. Very disappointing that the discount is falling again from 15% to 10%. It was a very generous 20% when I first got my Mango Card.

What is really annoying is the lack of a pre 9am cap. Means buying a cash ticket For £10 rather than using a mango otherwise pay more using mango! Why not just set it at the £10 zigzag plus fare!
 

ashworth

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What is really annoying is the lack of a pre 9am cap. Means buying a cash ticket For £10 rather than using a mango otherwise pay more using mango! Why not just set it at the £10 zigzag plus fare!

I don’t think that I would want Trent Barton to be taken over by one of the large companies but I do think that we get a raw deal on the price of day tickets. Stagecoach Dayriders and Explorers, First Day and Arriva Day Savers all seem to have all day validity. The lack of a cap before 9.00 am with Mango and a £10 price of a Zigzag Plus makes Trent Barton travel before 9.00 am very expensive in comparison. I know that there are some very expensive tickets in tourist areas like First Kernow in Cornwall but most of these Dayriders Tickets are often priced very cheap at little more than the new £5.85 Mango after 9.00 am cap.
 

MCR247

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Presumably the same one NCT had last week for evaluation (didn't enter service)
 

Pigalle

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712 in shiney mango livery was on the Swift tonight. I don’t know how long it has been at Derby but I have not seen it out and about in its new livery before.
 

43055

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712 in shiney mango livery was on the Swift tonight. I don’t know how long it has been at Derby but I have not seen it out and about in its new livery before.
Think it has been completed in the last week. The info below is from East Midlands Transport updates facebook page regarding the rest of the ex indigo Volvo's. Also on the page it says the 737 is off getting painted in a new swift livery which I believe is the last route remaining in the old trentbarton style.

Ex indigo update, as of Saturday 19th January:
701-5: All branded for the villager
706-9: Done for the calverton including branding
710: For the calverton: status unknown
711: Repainted for the calverton: awaiting branding
712: In service in mango livery at Derby
713: Unbranded in mango livery parked at LM
714: In branded mango livery also parked at LM
715: Unknown; presumably mango livery
716: In mango livery at Derby
 

WillPS

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Any idea which routes will be next for a biogas upgrade? I note there are pink E400s depicted on the new NCT website, and the pink Omnidekkas are amongst the oldest in the fleet now (06-plate), so these must be a dead cert.

Pathfinder 100 has the next oldest group, but I believe this only has a PVR of 4 - could this route perhaps benefit from a cascade rather than a new fleet?

I think the next oldest route branded ones after that are on the 34 (08-reg) and 49 (59-reg) but these have only recently been repainted and refurbished internally, so I expect these are staying where they are for the time being.

And after that you get to the 2010/11 arrivals, which relate to the period NCT was buying them like mad to displace Tridents before Optare finally discontinued the body; Brown 17, Yellow 68/69, Lilac 27 and Purple 89.
 

goldisgood

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Any idea which routes will be next for a biogas upgrade? I note there are pink E400s depicted on the new NCT website, and the pink Omnidekkas are amongst the oldest in the fleet now (06-plate), so these must be a dead cert.

Pathfinder 100 has the next oldest group, but I believe this only has a PVR of 4 - could this route perhaps benefit from a cascade rather than a new fleet?

I think the next oldest route branded ones after that are on the 34 (08-reg) and 49 (59-reg) but these have only recently been repainted and refurbished internally, so I expect these are staying where they are for the time being.

And after that you get to the 2010/11 arrivals, which relate to the period NCT was buying them like mad to displace Tridents before Optare finally discontinued the body; Brown 17, Yellow 68/69, Lilac 27 and Purple 89.
There have been hints that the pink 28 will be next, but no confirmation.
 

Antman

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There have been hints that the pink 28 will be next, but no confirmation.

Also rumours about the yellow routes getting new buses, and 906 has been repainted into spare livery, but no confirmation as far as I'm aware.
 

edwin_m

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https://www.nctx.co.uk/gasbus
Working in partnership with Nottingham City Council, Scania, Alexander Dennis and Roadgas, with part funding from OLEV (Office of Low Emission vehicles), we’re running the largest fleet of bio-gas double deck buses in the world!
I think this means the gas buses aren't viable without some external funding. All the publicity talked about a fleet of 53 vehicles and the last (453) was registered in April 2018, so this must also mean that the funding has been spent. Unless the economics of gas buses have improved significantly they will have to seek extra funding to order some more, and if this is not forthcoming will be ordering diesels instead. This may explain uncertainty on replacement of the Pink fleet - does anyone have knowledge of a further funding application in progress?

https://www.nctx.co.uk/ourfleet
Many of the earlier models [of OmniDekka] will be withdrawn from the fleet by the end of 2019.
 

goldisgood

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Taking another look at the website, there are some yellow and pink E400 Cities depicted in the graphic at the bottom suggesting that the 28 and 68/69 could be next to get gas buses?
There are 18 'earlier models' of Omnidekka by my count (the N94UD/N94UBs), 39 N270UDs and 50 N230UDs. I'd assume that the 18 N94s will be withdrawn by the end of 2019, and then the N270s will be replaced next.
New buses for the 28 and 68/69 could see all of the N94s withdrawn alongside the 5 oldest N270s from 2007. (8 branded 28, 11 branded 68/69 plus 4 spares?)
 
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