Stagecoach North West Discussion

[Dallamlad]

Yes most of the time they try to keep low riding routes low riding.

No not harsh at all. I had a lot of correspondence with him last year concerning D buses and although he enjoyed sparing with me and was polite as he had to be I told by his staff that he could be better and that his routes and organisation of these routes was poor. However after having my consistent nagging he has altered the D bus routes and I must say I'm impressed with what hes done. I don't have anything personally against him, although his staff do, but i just question how much thought he puts into or did put into his route planning. Wrote a dam good letter though and was quite witty which was entertaining.

 

[mbonwick]

Are you like bus monitor or something Dallamlad?!

I wouldn't mind seeing a copy of those letters, not that I expect you to share them

 

[Dallamlad]

Ha ha well yes i suppose i am, not officially but i got sick of the route i was traveling on been so daft so i wrote to him. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. D2 runs from Lancaster bus station, through Halton and the Kellets and on through Crag Bank, Carnforth and finally Milnthorpe. The service starts at the bus station but, in all Stagecoach wisdom it would see that nobody from Lancaster has a pass for D2. they all get on D6 which leaves a the same time. So every morning you have a Leyland Oly loaded with about 8-10 kids and a Volvo B10 school runner loaded with a totel of one person, the driver. It would make more sense for the D2 to come straight off the motorway and make its way to Skerton where its first stop is.

I can send those letter but only from my side 1) because I cant scan Trevs letters and 2) because i don't think publishing his side would be very professional.

 

[cainebj]

buses here are shocking! i'm in carlisle at the minute, and the 75, which is the only bus that goes past where i am, has really big time gaps between each one! 0833 into carlisle city centre, then the next is 0943, then it is every hour until 1843, when it changes to 1903, 2103 and finally 2303. there are a few earlier ones, again, an hour difference!
might try to find my old school bus tomorrow (20107), which runs alongside 20109 on one of the services somewhere in carlisle lol. 20107 needed a bit of work done to it when i was on it, would be nice to see if anything has been done with it!

 

[mbonwick]

Dallamlad, can I just ask which problem you wrote to Trev about?
That brings me on to another point, drivers. You probably know which ones I don't like - that blond haired one that always seems to be sneering at you. And the red faced one that looks at your pass for ages over his glasses.
And recollection Dallamlad?

You can hardly say that an hourly service is bad cainebj, in fact that's pretty good. Most of the routes in Lancaster apart from the city services are only, at best, half hourly!

 

[Dallamlad]

I wrote to him about D2 going round Crag Bank mainly which has now changed

Erm I generally get on with most drivers. i think the red faced one now works back at Lancaster and the blonde one does give u funny looks lol.

 

[mbonwick]

If he's at Lancaster, then good riddance!
That blone one always sets of as soon as you set foot on the bus! It's like, get on and 2 secs later you're at the back of the lower eck.

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah well kids can be a pain in the arse some times so u cant blaim em lol

 

[mbonwick]

You can when it's a regular service bus I get (the 0705 556 service to Lancaster). I'm always polite & say good morning;I;m nearly always the first passenger on the bus!
There's no need for the drivers to be rude, or to set off ASAP, the blond one has done that to my grandma who's nearly 80 and can hardly see.


Let's face i, in bus drivers don't like people then they should have become HGV drivers instead!

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes well some are just bad tempered lol but some have good days and bad days.

So far i think the Northwest has got 9 Darts from Merseyside so we may see some more soon if they carry on moving up

This what Kendal's old Volvo Olys look like inside these days:

http://www.paulsbuses.fpic.co.uk/p42141860.html

 

[mbonwick]

You've got to admit, very smart! They've obviously got an awful lot of life left in them.

 

[cainebj]

an hourly service on 75 in carlisle is pretty bad! it is one of the carlisle citi routes too. the rest of the citi routes are like, upto every 8 minutes. it would be better if 75 was upto every 30 minutes, would provide a much smoother service! then they might decide to use smaller buses! it was a carlisle citi dart that i was on earlier, and it struggled getting out of cummersdale! had to almost mount the pavement head on, reverse, and swing it round, narrowly missing cars on the car park!
the services in carlisle are totally different than lillyhall! lillyhall usually run a few minutes behind timetable, whereas every bus i have seen today in carlisle has been early!
seen a 685 route branded coach before on the 79, which i found a little weird.

4 of lillyhall's R reg olympians have the same seats as that one :P

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes by god I think ur right! I think they only did this with the Preston bound ones as they were going to be doing long hall trips to Stockport. I think but not sure. I'm sure Carlisle's didn't get this treatment. With they would do this with Lancaster Vol Olys lol.

I also hope they re do all the seats in the old Tridents.

 

[mbonwick]

Lancaster's olympians and older tridents won't get done with new seats as it would mean a reduction in capacity.

The seats shown fitted to 16334 are Dual Purpose seats, those fitted to Lancasters Olys are Bus seats.

 

[cainebj]

just uploaded my picture of the 685 branded bus running the 79 onto flickr. Click here for a direct link to the picture. it is P109 DCW (52409), a 51 seat Volvo B10m Plaxton Interurban. i'm not sure what ran the 685 instead for stagecoach. the arriva 685 was a premiere 320 (not sure if it was interurban or not).
i assume most of the N reg oly's were re-seated. lillyhal's N358MPN (16358 ) has been reseated with the same seats, it has LED now, like most of them.

 

[Dallamlad]

No no i didn't mean completely re do the seats but do them like 17022. Just revamp them with new material. I think they plan 2 re-trim them when they get LED's but not sure.

 

[mbonwick]

All the seats, throughout Lancaster's fleet are being retrimmed when possible, usually when the buses are in for extended maintainence.

 

[cainebj]

you can't trust what stagecoach staff tell you!
i seen N358MPN in Workington about half an hour ago, still had grey dual purpose seats!
K reg B10m on moorclose circular (step entrance on route advertised as low floor again!). the rest seemed to be the usual from what i saw.

 

[mbonwick]

I didn't say buses had been done, just that the work is ongoing. As you can imagine, it's not top of the list.

 

[cainebj]

N358MPN was supposed to get re-trim when LED was fitted, but as usual lillyhall didnt do it! they are useless! can't wait to move to carlisle! their Citi darts are a bit worn down all ready! (all 05 reg) they could do with CCTV being fitted! lillyhall's organisation is pretty bad! carlisle's must be good if they are early all the time!

 

[mbonwick]

It's doubtful whether seats were to be retrimmed at the same time as LED fitment, more likely part of a program of works to these particular vehicles.

I don't think LL is all that badly organised - Carlisle's routes may not suffer from traffic, hence why they are always early. Or, they have plenty of slack built into the TT
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
33168, T606 JBA was at Lillyhall this evening. It's one of at least 3 coming from Kendal. Another is at Carlisle for repaint, but my source said it was rubbed down, no fleet numbers visible.

 

[Dallamlad]

Are those the Marshalls ur talking about? Yeah seats get done when they get done lol i think LL are under a lot of pressure coz they get sent so much crap lol.

 

[cainebj]

they get sent crap, and don't properly manage their own services! it can get pretty annoying when 3 buses turn up to go to the same place! last saturday, Thornhill 30 was in the bus station, then Whitehaven 300 came in when 30 was still loading, then not long after 300 got to the stand and its passengers off, Frizington 31 came in. i have no idea how 30 was late, 300 on time, and 31 early as they had all come from Maryport. the 31 bus couldnt get to the stand to let passengers off, so it just sat there, with passengers standing near the doors, until 300 left so 31 could move to the stand.

for some reason, a lillyhall bus was running 600 today, which is usually done by carlisle buses. when i got to carlisle bus station this morning, the R reg northern counties B10m was sitting there with 600 on rear display, but later on (around 11-ish) K759DAO (20759) was sitting there, with illegible side and rear displays, and all the information for 600 on the front.

will be good when these few darts enter service at lillyhall! I seen T606 JBA yesterday with a lillyhall driver, in a layby heading out of Workington (well passed lillyhall). they can finally get rid of some 709 wrecks! there is only one decentish 709 and it is N128YRM (40028 ), which has dual purpose seats and is slightly less bumpy. engine still sounds like it is going to blow up, but it is in the best condition!

lillyhall should hopefully improve a little once these tridents are converted (work still going on!) and all the buses re-trimmed and displays sorted out (might actually be able to read what they say!), but with their staff, it could take a long time! by the time it happens, the only lillyhall buses i'll see will be on pictures or when i'm visiting family and friends!

 

[Dallamlad]

God are those Tridents still there lol. Apparently they have been delayed for some reason dont know why. Kendals got at least one. I want our old Tridents from Chorley back lol.

 

[cainebj]

S813 BCW is apparently almost done. one, as you said, is ready and at kendal. not sure what stage the other ones are at. i think there are another 2. as far as i know, S812 BCW, S813 BCW, S815 BCW and S816 BCW are the open top tridents, which will join R294 HCD (open top olympian) on the open top services. B81 WUV and B91 WUV are apparently staying at kendal for service. not sure if that is accurate or not.
most of the open top titans have made or are making their way to lillyhall for storage

 

[mbonwick]

33168 is a Marshall bodied Dart, yes.
The only ex-Lancaster Trident at Preston is 17014 which is covering for the non-availability of 16635 after a fatal accident.
I doubt any titans will see in the new season; there's 2 Olympians from elsewhere in the group at LL for OTing after they hit low bridges.
There's also the NC bodied ex-Bullock Olympian, formerly L10 BUL which ison its way.

 

[cainebj]

i knew there were 2 oly's at lillyhall, but nothing has been mentioned about getting them ready for 2009, well, i havnt heard anything. both of them will need a bit of work done to them before re-entering service! they normally just take away parts of the roof, but on those 2, they need to add the front part of the roof (one hasnt got one, and the other has the nearside smashed in quite badly)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
this isnt definately decided yet, so don't take my word for it!
B81 WUV and B91 WUV will remain in service until N393LPN and N329 MPN (both alexander bodied olympians) are ready for service. no idea when they could be ready, or if this definately will happen. we'll just have to see what happens!

 

[Dallamlad]

According to a fleetlist dated 27th Nov both 17013 and 17014 are in Preston. They may be working between Chorley and Preston and they may be sharing them. Both have been fitted with LED's.

I think everything will probably come together in the new year in terms of vehicles and conversions and stuff. On the other hand it may stay the same and take months to get anything done lol. Who knows about open tops and whats going on there. I thought 16294, Kendal's open top Oly had been put in reserve. It would seem that nobodies sure what the hell is going on lol.

 

[mbonwick]

The fleetlist for week ending 7th Dec shows 17013 at Kendal in store and 17014 at Preston.

Cainbj, what you said about the B reg Titans makes sense - if the Olys aren't ready then quite possibly they'll stay.


16294 has been put in reserve because it is for delicenced seasonal operation so cannot be use all year round. Additionally, as it is OT, it is not much use in winter!

 

[driver9000]

The Operations Manager is in charge of day to day operating of the garage, inlcuding meetings with the regional directors. The Engineering manager is in charge of the workshops, and is the engineering equivelant of the operations manager.

Each bus has its own tag with the fleet number engraved onto it, so in theory there will never be a shortage of tags - there may be a shortage of buses though. Each day there will be the requirement for the service (say for example 80 needed for service) there will also be buses booked as VOR (Vehicle Off Road) which will go in the VOR section of the board. Buses can be reallocated throughout the day, especially diagrams that return to the garage during the day. The split diagrams (schools etc) may have one bus on it in the morning and a different one in the afternoon due to maintenance or operational requirments. Buses booked for MoT wont be sent out into service unitl they have returned from the testing station. Diagrams dont always follow each other DL1 ran empty to Galgate to be the first No.40 from Galgate to Lancaster whereas DL2 went empty to Morecambe Battery to be the first No.2 to the University.