London Buses Passing Leicester

[whhistle]

Hello

The past two or three times I have been heading from the south passing Leicester, I have seen three, sometimes four London Buses travelling south. I think they show the number 398 but I'm not sure. Just single deckers.

Anyone know what they are doing?

 

[Statto]

Could be on delivery from the manufacturer, an alternative to using the M6 through the West Midlands, is using the A500/A50 from Stoke On Trent to the junction with the M1 then the M1, plus there's a couple of manufacturers based in Yorkshire.

 

[starrymarkb]

Optare are in Leeds for Singles (Blackburn for Doubles)
If they are Enviro 200s those are built in Scarborough

If on delivery you should see red trade plates front and rear. These are a form of transferable tax disc and registration number to allow unregistered/untaxed vehicles to be moved/delivered

 

[whhistle]

Hmm, I will try and get a picture next time.
Didn't notice any trade plates but I wasn't looking too closely.

 

[bus man]

I would put money on them been on delviery, they dont always use trade plates , there is a dealers in sheffield - cant remember whcih chasis - but they often have London stuff in for checking after its been bodied.

 

[bb21]

Volvo bus dealership is in Loughborough. Not sure if they do London ones though.

 

[ChrisCooper]

Volvo bus dealership is in Loughborough. Not sure if they do London ones though.

Not any more, and they only did coaches.

 

[317 forever]

Hello

The past two or three times I have been heading from the south passing Leicester, I have seen three, sometimes four London Buses travelling south. I think they show the number 398 but I'm not sure. Just single deckers.

Anyone know what they are doing?

I think these are Enviro 200s ordered by London Sovereign for routes serving Harrow. The garage in question also operates route 398, but this already uses Enviro 200s. London Sovereign are about to take up route 251 with new E200s, from Edgware to Arnos Grove, on September 3rd.

Talking of London buses passing Leicester, some ex-Arriva London DAF-ALX400s are refurbished at Arriva Derby prior to service elsewhere such as the North West and North East.

 

[robertclark125]

Unusual to see a route number shown on a delivery run. I know that when Stagecoach Fife gets new or transfered buses, the vehicles show not in service on the front, and 999 on the side and rear.

 

[bb21]

Talking of London buses passing Leicester, some ex-Arriva London DAF-ALX400s are refurbished at Arriva Derby prior to service elsewhere such as the North West and North East.

We already have some cascaded to Leicester and they are allocated to Wigston.

Amongst them are 4778 (S251JUA, Arriva London DLA51), 4779 (S252JUA, DLA52) and 4782 (T295FGN, DLA95).

 

[BuhSnarf]

We already have some cascaded to Leicester and they are allocated to Wigston.

Amongst them are 4778 (S251JUA, Arriva London DLA51), 4779 (S252JUA, DLA52) and 4782 (T295FGN, DLA95).

Yes and they are very weird to ride with the rear stair well. Could have replaced the seating upstairs and also no route indicators - not that many drivers actually turn that on now that star trak has gone :-/

 

[ChrisCooper]

Should be some more for Thurmaston too. Apparently the drivers hate them though. The original plan was to use 3 on the X3 to Market Harborough, but they were too slow so DAFs are used instead. Odd since DAFs were taken off the 126/127 because the long and quite fast run up to Coalville via Loughborough was wrecking them.

 

[whhistle]

Sorry to bump this up but here's a picture I took. This was around Leicester, although I only saw the one this time round.
The number was maybe 395? I can't remember :/ I think it was a 60 plate, although I can't be sure. Sorry for the rubbish picture.

 

[mbonwick]

Looks to me like a new E200 on delivery.

I won't comment on the legality of taking photos whilst driving...

 

[BuhSnarf]

Speaking of buses in Leicester is there any reason why.on 90% of them they never turn on the route display I.e. the bit where it says "Route 48 to City Centre" and then lists the stop names as you go by them? Very useful to have if you don't usually use that.route and in stark contrast to Nottingham where everytime without fail I've been on board they are working?

I'm guessing purely down to lazy drivers - as arriva has a high proportion of them from my experience of 4 buses a day commuting!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[ChrisCooper]

Speaking of buses in Leicester is there any reason why.on 90% of them they never turn on the route display I.e. the bit where it says "Route 48 to City Centre" and then lists the stop names as you go by them? Very useful to have if you don't usually use that.route and in stark contrast to Nottingham where everytime without fail I've been on board they are working?

I'm guessing purely down to lazy drivers - as arriva has a high proportion of them from my experience of 4 buses a day commuting!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

It's nothing to do with the drivers or the bus companies. Leicester City Council who owned the infrastructure that the system ran off decided to shut the system down.

 

[BuhSnarf]

It's nothing to do with the drivers or the bus companies. Leicester City Council who owned the infrastructure that the system ran off decided to shut the system down.

I thought this as star trak was closed in January of this year. However I've been on numerous buss where it's working. The 6 to Thurmaston on a few occasions, the 5 to Melton and 126 to Loughborough.

So must be a driver selectable option? I've worked out which.box it is that seems to control it and sometimes it's full of info when.I'm near the front as I.wait to get off. Other times the screen is just showing a number.

Guess I just spend too much time on the bus!

 

[bb21]

The drivers can still turn them on, however the whole Star Trek system is now officially turned off awaiting a complete overhaul. Trentbarton was not a happy bunny when it was informed of this decision.

Due to spending cuts, the upgrade is now on hold.