good to see! looks like we might actually see all of 701-750 in service before the 2 year anniversary of them being initially ordered. and then hopefully the rumoured 751-798 will be delivered in a shorter timeframe.
Indeed. Hopefully that is the case.
If my maths adds up then I would think the second batch should be split almost equally between Central and Marine.
I would expect 751-770 to be allocated to Central to convert the last obvious routes in the 23 and 27. Adding in 701-750 will have converted at least the 7, 8, 9, 10, 14 and 24 to electric. After that I can’t see another Central route that would suit the BZL’s and can realistically get them. Including 291-294 that would give Central an electric allocation of 75 (291-294, 700-770) against an off peak requirement of 56. Peak requirement likely adds up to 10 or so on to that leaving about 10 so spare per day/maintenance.
If the 5 is converted which needs just 8 vehicles, then clearly with 28 BZL’s for Marine would allow at least one more route to switch to electric, possibly two. There is the 4 which needs 9 buses.
There is the option as I said before to move 291-294 to Marine and allocate 771-775 to Central vice Marine to backfill them. That would still leave Marine with 23 BZL’s for presumably 4 and 5 against a requirement of 17 with 291-294 for Uni Shuttle.
Of course if frequency increases are planned, then that changes everything. The 7 and 14 have looked particularly busy of late while the 8 may also benefit from one. The other Central electric routes I think are holding themselves pretty well.