What will happen to these school routes, will Vision Bus eventually have all the school routes in Greater Manchester or will the likes of First, Metroline, Stagecoach etc. have some school routes but keep them in the normal livery?
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Interesting, none of the ex-oxfords at Queens Road have a next stop indicator like that!
That red panelling is pre-coloured plastic/grp. It would require some expense to coat that with something durable that wouldn't wear off in time.
One person's interesting variety is another's illogical mess. As a matter of fact, I quite like the clean, uncluttered look of a fleet of Bee Network buses all lined up in a bus station. The yellow is quite bright - not sure I'd really describe it as "dull and dreary".
Stotts's depot is on Lees Road
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The E200’s are leased off Mistral so will simply be returned to them at the end of the year.
Hasn’t Go North West got 52 brand new E200MMCs?
Stagecoach Manchester's got about 50 24 reg Enviro400 MMCs running around as well as 73 and 23 reg vehicles. Stand around Stockport town centre and it won't be long before you see one of the 24 reg vehicles in their Bee Network livery.
Stotts E200s are of the shortest wheel base which are perfect for the routes they operate. Now diamond have the 151 and 159 they use medium and long wheel base E200s which are a bit too big for some of those tight streets they operate on.
I understand in some cases there is a max age limit (eg 7 years) but for others there is just a size requirement.
They were a diverted order not meant for Manchester- of the three big operating companies Go North West have invested the least in new vehicles. Stagecoach have a lot more new Vehicles on order yet to arrive.
First I’ve heard they were not meant for Manchester, where were they meant for?
But they won’t be part of the Bee network long term.
The issue with operators buying brand new vehicles is TFGM are unwilling to pay the true deprecation value, hence why they want all the 24 plate ‘loan’ vehicles at Tranche 2 out by September.
the EVs on order will be. I will be surprised if all the 24 Plate Enviro 400MMCs are gone by September. There aren’t 50 odd vehicles waiting around to replace them
That makes no sense! The operator decides what fleet it wants and what it costs. If it hasn’t priced in enough depreciation then that’s its fault not TfGMs!
From what I saw there was a fleet of EVs allocated to a contract for specific routes. I initially understood TfGM were buying these but have since read a Bee Network Commitee report which suggests the capital has come from the bidders, so I think TfGM have preordered the buses due to the lead time with the successful bidder obliged to take them on.
I was thinking exactly the same!
Not only is the reference to Oxford Bus Company odd (even though we know where it came from), but also the red panels and grey seats are an odd combo of colours.
