Trent Barton said that passengers got used to something new after about 5 years, and they based the refresh of their routes around that sort of cycle (on their premium routes, that meant new vehicles and branding every 5 years or so, on less important routes often just a re-branding of the existing vehicles).
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Premium buses - who ripped off whom?
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johnnychips
Established Member
How much does wifi cost to install on a bus? I noticed in Bristol, First had it on many routes. In S Yorkshire First have introduced new liveried buses with leather seats and phone chargers onto the X78 - and jolly nice they are too - but no wifi!
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Yes, that one looks absolutely excellent.
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A Mifi device costs less than 50 quid, then you've got the mobile data contract bill on top I guess. Not a fat lot in the scheme of things, though to be honest I think it's a short-term thing a bit like Rabbit phones etc - every device will probably have a SIM card before too long.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
A lot of people use the wifi on devices which already contain a SIM to save their data allowance for places which don't have wifi, to prevent them from being charged extra or because their operator doesn't have a good signal.
On trains and Airport buses and trains they'll be a lot of people with phones on foreign networks where using the wifi is the only option for accessing the internet and while some people will get local PAYG SIMs the internet on them won't be cheap and a local SIM isn't much use if you're going to enter another country a couple of days later.
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I think Gold Rider was the Private Hire and Coaching Arm of Yorkshire Rider rather than a premium product.
Wasn't it Flagship routes that were their first foray into that, slightly after Trent's Rainbow routes? I seem to think the L-PWR Olympians were new for them?
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Bristol and the area won funding via the Better Bus Area scheme that paid for the wifi.
Why the X78 hasn't got it, I really wonder?
It may only apply to the ones around the drivers cab; at Stagecoach Manchester it was so that any disputes over fares or rude drivers/abusive passengers could easily be solved. The main saloon ones were images only and in most cases probably wouldn't have picked up anything worthwhile due to the many noises at the same time.
Yes on both points.
The L reg Olympians and the Alexander Striders launched Flagship Services.
Back then though the buses had no special features, they were standard spec, the only selling point being that they were the newest in the fleet.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
This isn't unreasonable provided it isn't possible to pick up voice from behind the cab, i.e. the microphones are very directional.
Possibly not, but I still object in principle that a mobile phone call or conversation in the saloon could be recorded.
Complaint: "Driver told me to f off"
Driver: "No I didn't"
Manager: OK - off you go back onto the road to do it again.
Far, far more damaging than having 2+2 seating upstairs.
As Shrimper says, the sound is to record drivers speaking to passengers and be definitive about what exactly happened.
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I can understand Arriva's thinking behind the "Sapphire" branding, and the double-deckers on the 12 route from Llandudno to Rhyl are a big improvement on what went before.
And "Sapphire-lite" is a good description of the "Max" services, but why "Max?"
Where does this fit-in with the Silver, Gold, Sapphire theme?
When I first saw one on the service 51 Rhyl to Denbigh, I wondered if it was the name of the driver!
X06!! I do remember the Gold Riders, they used to do Town away games at times, remember going to Oldham on one in about 1987, we lost 2-0.
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