The important question is....are there any freebies?
There is! I came away with Skylink branded Sunglasses, a beachball, a luggage tag and model aeroplane. I was hoping for a pen but beggars can't be choosers.
I wish I could get 650 and start building a Skylink collection, but it's unfortunately just a fantasy. As it is, I'm surprised that 650 and 651 are still parked up at the depot's entrance for over a year now.
I had a chat with the Skylink team leader and he mentioned both of those vehicles are pretty much bare inside.
Yes, when people think about which routes will get the new buses, it is easy to forget the mileage the Kinchbus Skylink Enviros clock up. I looked at the last mileage of Skylink bus 146 and Rainbow One route 158 as they were new about the same time. Significant difference in mileage, with Skylink being 24/7. Strangely one shows mileage in km. But the difference in mileage is significantly higher.
And the Skylink is the big moneymaker. I would have thought that the Sprint was too, but perhaps it isn't given that it's had the same buses ever since it was named the Sprint!
Well thank you for telling me what Arriva charge. I did wonder. A while ago it went up from £1 to £1.10, and I actually wondered if they had increased it to £2 (after all, maybe people think it will be). I've tended to use the U1/114 with my £2 and got nearer to where I wanted to go.
I remember when those slimline Solos were new (2007?) and entered service with Trentbarton on the Allestree routes. Very colourful.
That batch of Slimlines (1-7) have always been on the sprint
Sorry, they haven't. They worked for Trentbarton on the Allestree route in Kinchbus livery before they went to Kinchbus. They were covering for Allestree Solos that were being overhauled all at the same time. 460-465 batch. Circa July 2007. I travelled on them on that route
Ah, thanks for the clarification. That's me doing 3.5 minutes of flickr research; apologies!
I did have a look on Flickr for one, but could not find any pictures to link. I used to get on them and think they seemed narrow. Had a bell ring that sounded like the Avon Lady calling. Ding dong
In effect, this will mean the entire Kinchbus fleet is replaced soon - the rest of the Kinch allocation will be replaced by the ZEBRA-funded electric fleet that is doubtless to be ordered in due course.
Might that not see the entire fleet needing replacement again at the same time, some years into the future?
Not really - a good many will still need to be allocated to 2, 5, 9, 11, 12 etc with others on Sprint and Skylink. All very different mileages.
I understand that 21 vehicles that are being ordered for Kinchbus to electrify every route except Skylink Derby.
Very true. I guess in a couple of years, something will replace the current Skylink Enviros 200MMCs
That is correct. I spoke to the Skylink team leader and he essentially said exactly what you have. Their mileage is just ridiculous at their age, they’ll need cascading onto less intensive routes
That must be where I got the info from then, your original comment.
Perhaps they should order more drivers too, so that they can return to operating all these other routes.
I was told a while ago, they had plenty of drivers, but not enough buses.
I'd imagine they'd have seen how important it was with Download Festival taking place
It included a Solo though, I saw one working into Derby yesterday (Wed) at about 1730 but couldn't see the number.
Would be 501. 498 and 502 were in use on the 9 yesterday. Only 501 carries Kinchbus livery, the others are Mangoes.
