Stagecoach North West Discussion

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

i seen 33167 today, on 51, and its nice to see another bus with a working side bright tech!!! 33168 doesnt even have a side display. 33167 sounded better than 33168 when it went past me and when i walked past bus station this morning, it also seemed to drive a lot smoother and gear changes seemed a little smoother. it seemed to be loud from outside when it went into 2nd though.

L119HHV (32917) was back on its morning seaton service.
N125YHH (40025) was on Harrington 46 this morning, however not many people could tell that!!! the display was made up of random bricks, and it had no destination boards!
25225, 20759 and 20734 joined E300's on 31.

there has been a bit of trouble on the St Benedicts to Frizington bus!!! stagecoach!!! all students who travel on that were removed from period 6 for a very important assembly!!! i have no idea what went on, but police have been involved somewhere!!!!!!! i'm not sure which service it is to Frizington, but its usually an oly, today it was 16733 i think. its usually one of the longer ones lol. this morning H118SAO ran it.

 

[Dallamlad]

What school was the 80x for? O h I see about the Tridents for some reason I thought they arrived earlier

 

[driver9000]

the 80X was for Bentham Grammar School - it closed in 2002 I think. It was located near to the Punch bowl pub on the 80A route between Hornby & Low Bentham.

 

[Dallamlad]

Oh I see cool. Do drivers get given phones?

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

its nice to see that lillyhall will get a little bit of space back. hopefully they don't send up the lynx's!!!!!
but with saying that, 709d's will probably soon fill up that space!!!!

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

is that £1200, plus all the repair bills lol.
pickthall could do with buying one for his 218 service (friday only), which he could then use on co-op free bus or whatever lol. he probably won't though, doesnt seem to like merc's!
looks like Mr Reay will have to lower his prices if he wants to sell his 709d's! he was apparently trying to get £5000 for them last year!!! he's since gave B12CWR a total refurb, but engine hasnt been touched lol. unbelievably, he used to have Y reg varios! they had roller blinds! i had a link to a pic on fotopic of one but can't find it.

going back to yesterday, 40028 went past my house quite late on (9pm ish i think), which was extremely odd as it isnt a bus route :? the only services that come anywhere near my house are 30 / 31 / 48 / 50 / 51 / 300, but even then they are on the main road, not in the residential area's lol. only buses that ever go past are Routledge, doing a school pick up in a morning / after school!

 

[Dallamlad]

20131 on the 4 today with 16668 on the 2. I think the Our ladies school buses after doing the school run then go on to do the X3. Spotted 2 X3's together this morning both Vol Olys.

Also are they repainting the MANS? Im sure one of them looked very shiny indeed today and its front and rear blinds have been cleared up. Most of the rear blind son the MANS are so cloudy you can barely see the number lol.

 

[cainebj]

bit of a weird day here today!
20734 on Seaton 47.
40025 on Moorclose Circular 51, and was running late!!!! very late! seen it leave at 0750 ish, and it returned at 0805ish (usually leaves 0730ish and returns 0750). i think it replaced 33168.
33168 was seen heading towards Lillyhall depot from Workington.
33167 was on Harrington 46 and later Moorclose Circular 50.
25225, 35247 and a b10m joined E300's on 31.
40028 on Harrington 46A when i seen it.
20757 on X4 / X5's.

not sure how many services could be affected, but a poor old man collapsed outside back of bus station, part way in the bus entrance! when i went past, loads of people were crowding around him, and he was in recovery position with a bright blue face. about a minute later a police car and paramedic car went flying past me and went to back of bus station. doesn't look good!!!!!!!

 

[westcoaster]

i see stagecoach manchester has given united counties (kettering depot) 10 enviro 400's 08 reg, didn't stay long in manchester, these have displaced the tridents on the long x4 service from peterborough to milton keynes, i wondered why i kept seeing tridents on the 46 route from wellingborough instead of the old k reg olympians

 

[mbonwick]

From a new member here;

Hi,
I was reading your Stagecoach Northwest thread, and have a couple of things to add which might interest you and the other contributors, but I can't seem to add them, so I thought it best to tell you.
Your speculation that 2009 will be an investment year for Barrow may prove to be correct. I live there and in the local paper on 30th Jan there was an article concerning the buses in which it was stated that low-floor buses would be introduced on the services 6 and 6A (Walney to Ulverston). It did not state, however, that these would be new buses - hopefully they will be. I suppose at the smallest they would have to be darts, more probably Alx 300s or Enviro 300s. I would think some B10s will remain - they put K780 DAO in a Stan Laurel vinyl wrap only a few months ago - in any case I like them and they'll need them for other services and schools.
I agree with K768 DAO that some of Barrow's vehicles are shockers. The F reg olympians smell terribly of damp and diesel fumes. The J reg ones seem ok and provide cover for the East Lancs tridents on the X35. Could do with another trident I think but won't get one as that route is run by CCC and the buses are owned by them as far as I know.
As far as mini buses go, there are 18 solos, this is nearly enough but not quite. The 709ds provide cover for town services - not good since they are all supposed to be low floor. This seems to be a common failing with stagecoach. The 709ds also do the poorly used rural route in the Furness hinterland between Barrow and Ulverston. These routes are CCC subsidised and therefore I think Stagecoach will keep 709s on them for as long as possible - certainly using Solos on them would be a waste when they are needed elsewhere on better used routes.
Last point - a couple of weeks back an ex route 84 solo was in Barrow (PO51 WLJ I think), and it came on the same weekend as K768 DAO put up his pictures showing the 709ds in the dead lanes at Lillyhall and they had begun to get the branding off. I think it might have been supposed to be here permanently, but got sent back to Preston whilst things are being sorted out there.
I hope Barrow does get some investment, it sure needs it. By the way, I have nothing to do with the bus company, and am only basing what I write on what I've seen when out and about.
Hope this is helpful - Andrew

 

[Dallamlad]

Well well a good year for Barrow! I hope they do begin to get rid of those old F reg Olys. Kendal have one and its awful. The Barrow one sounds even worse so will be glad to see them go.

 

[cainebj]

20768 has been working 31's today :-P

barrow badly needs new buses, brand new ones!

 

[Dallamlad]

It seems that if you get past Lancaster most of the depots are under privileged. Barrow seems to be desperate, Kendal is improving as is Lillyhall but all the Millions are going into Preston and Manchester atm. Of course us up North get the throw backs but still. If Barrow get a massive investment it will be a great Victory for Cumbria lol.

 

[cainebj]

Barrow badly need a big investment!
i still find it unfair that Preston / Manchester etc get millions spent each year!
looking at Lillyhall's buses bought brand new for Lillyhall (stuff still in service):
1990 - 3 leyland oly's
1992 - 2 leyland oly's
1993 - B10m's
1996 - 709d's
1998 - 4 Jonckheere Coaches
2006 (december) - 4 ADL Darts (B38F)
2008 - 11 E300's, Versa and 2 Solo's.

as you can see, quite a big gap there! seems to happen a lot in SCNW!

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah well hopefully Manchester will be getting rid off all their Tridents eventually as new Enviros arrive. In fact do they have any left? Lancaster is fine for deckers but could do with some new low floor singles to replace some old B10's. however saying that we don't have any really bad or old single deckers so we are pretty good all rounders lol.

Also where are Chorleys 04 Tridents going? Do we reckon LL?

 

[cainebj]

would be nice if they were sent up here lol. R reg oly's on 300 aren't bad, but its usually older people who use that service these days with their free passes, most other people generally use the train where possible. as for X5, its still mainly old people, but the jonck coaches are terrible these days, and high steps make it hard for old people lol.
after the deckers, lillyhall only really needs 2 solo's and a replacement for L119HHV lol.

as far as i can see, Carlisle depot is fine for buses at the minute. the coaches for 685 could do with being replaced, but they can't really replace them with wheelchair accessible vehicles, as its a joint service with Arriva i think.

not totally stagecoach related, but there are 4 marshall darts for sale on Southdown PSV, all 28 seats and T reg. they're not that badly priced. would be nice if stagecoach got them, but no chance really lol. here is the link.

 

[Dallamlad]

Oh that Dart looks like its in really good condition!!!

Should send the link to SCNW lol

 

[mbonwick]

Well with the influx of new vehicles to Manchester, there's Chorely's 04 Tridents as well as an assortment of "old" reg Tridents as well - eg. Wxxx xxx. I'd guess they're all up for replacement.

My guess is:- 04s to LL for the X4
Older vehicles to Kendal/ Barrow to see off the F/ G reg olys.
Anything left will either be going elsewhere in the empire or may help see off more Olys from any of the depots - Lancaster, Preston, Lillyhall, Carlisle or Barrow

 

[K768 DAO]

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[Dallamlad]

That seems about right. I think getting rid of the F/G reg Olys is a priority. I think some new Tridents in Lanc would be nice to replace the Volvo Olys great as they are.

Really from Manchester! So where the hell are the Chorley ones going? PB replacements I bet. And wow LL getting more new buses sheesh lol

 

[mbonwick]

Seems really daft to me having half the X5 fleet as 04 reg and half as 59 reg. Trident designs have changed a lot in that time so will make maintainence harder.

Chorley's Tridents are 04 reg and the only ones left at Manchester are an odd lot, mainly from the takeovers of Bullocks and Maynes.

Given the numbers of brand new E400s on delivery to Manchester, I'd suggest that DD wise, anything before 06 reg is going.

 

[K768 DAO]

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[mbonwick]

Oh right, I though they would all be running the same route, although I imageine they'll be interchangeable.

There is reasoning behind the 08 movements - but I've forgotton what it is! Quite obscure, but logical.

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

i can see it being a last minute sort of thing again, just like 709d replacements for harrington and seaton routes! originally going to be solo's, then they turned around and said marshall darts lol.
3/4 years old from Manchester would take it to 06 / 56 reg E400's. Manchester currently have 38 56 reg ones, and 22 06 reg ones as far as i know. the next oldest low floor deckers at SCMA are the 2 03 reg Plaxton Presidents, followed by 2 52 reg East Lancs Lolynes. the rest are mainly V and W reg's, with a few T's and X's.

i'm suprised brand new ones have been mentioned for 300! its been a long time since anything new has been on that! (H reg oly's were the last brand new ones i think!!!)

 

[K768 DAO]

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[mbonwick]

Lets consider this.
4 years makes it 05 reg. MCR have none of those left - they've all gone. Chorely has some 04 regs.....

Replacement's aren't a last minute thing - it's what becomes available. At the time 709Ds needed going, some Solos were being freed up by Versas at Fleetwood. However it was seen that Lancaster needed 2 to get rid of their last 709D and Vario (good sense really, pointless operating only 1 example of each) That left 2 to go to LL, which they did.
Darts became available from Merseyside, and there must be some reason for them going to Kendal, if only beause of size.
I mean, given the choice between utilising existing assets, or having to buy new, it's obviopus what SC will do. I'd do it. Pointless having buses sat around costing money while you spend more on new vehicles! may as well have the buses earning money and not spend any!!