Random questions and apologies if they’ve been asked before but have tried to look throughout and couldn’t find anything.
Does anyone know the best place to find which 900’s are run by Parks and which 900’s are run by Stagecoach? I know with the Stagecoach 900 ops moving to Kilmarnock it’s meant there’s a whole bunch of unusual stuff on it these days. I haven’t done the 900 since the Elites and Panther2’s were on it so I’m keen to get a proper 900 spec Panorama if I can.
Also see with the AIR is it basically just a branded route? Ie no different when it’s outside of Edinburgh Airport to the 900, but has the relevant increased fare for within the Airport. It shouldn’t matter to myself anyway as I have the NEC card, but just a thing I wanted to know for reference.
Finally what exactly is the issue that has led to Stagecoach’s chunk of the 900 move to Kilmarnock? I’ve heard maintenance related issues but it just feels a bit vague.
Cheers
When I worked there bout 6 months ago, I generally picked up from chatting to a few engineers that support wasn't there as an engineer but personally nor do I think they had the facilities or enough engineers to begin with not to mention the harsh treatment the Enviro 400s are getting on the x25s for the past 5 years, they have been a large pain for engineering, from Turbos leaking pressure or oil to gearboxes "slipping" because there getting hammered on the M80 but they aren't getting Transmission Oil changes when they should be, the way you indentify this problem, step on the accelerator and you'll get the engine revving but a delayed reaction from moving forward as if the gearbox is "slipping" into first gear, This is a sign that the Transmission Oil viscosity has deteriorated and therefore the Torque Convertor can't multiply engine torque swiftly.
The Enviro 400s & 300s they've got at Cumbernauld can be suitable for the type of express work there doing on the x19, x25 & x28, and I'm only saying this because First Glasgow have 65 plate 400s on many of there own motorway express services and don't have the same problems, however, the chosen models could be better regardless.
Cumbernauld depot had for example, Cummins, DAF & Volvo powered vehicles with either Voith, Volvo iShift or ZF AS-Tronic gearboxes, when you add many variables like that to a fleet, you create circumstances that means that no two fixes are the same even if the same type of part was to be faulty, hence when I said above that engineers had lack of support, you can be a qualified engineer, but usually its generic training, for example, somebody who directly is a Volvo engineer would most likely know the specialities regarding Volvo Engines that say a DAF or Cummins engineer would not know.
Budgets! Another big problem, in the time I spent at Cumbernauld I gained a good friend who I still speak to every day, I can't remember exactly the problem, but it was something to do with a part that was needed was apparently out of budget for the cost of the specific part, but the West Scotland director, Fiona Doherty, when questioning Cumbernauld engineering manager he was ordered to buy the parts that were needed, essentially she ment that the buses need to run regardless of the cost of the part, buy it, fit it and get it out on the road.
Let's not forget if Engineering Managers have a good financial year the benefit is a financial bonus for them.
Compare all that with Lothian who have had a mostly Volvo powered fleet, they chose Voith gearboxes for years, only just lately many of there newer buses have ZF gearboxes, it is massively beneficial when you standardise a fleet this way as well as continually supporting engineers with ongoing training, especially if you have a varied fleet.
At Cumbernauld specifically the problems have snowballed simply due to lack of enough engineers, I know an Ex-canavans engineer has moved from stagecoach Cumbernauld to McGills Coatbridge depot, as well as 2 other engineers who had left when I was there.
