Stagecoach North West Discussion

[Dallamlad]

Yeah damned annoying lol seeing as most Dallam buses go through their including mine so its just as late as the 555. Had the 18354 this morning on the 555 and the all over body paint irritates me when sitting next to a window lol.

 

[driver9000]

It seems to be the case that no matter where road works are in the Lancaster city area they manage to cause mayhem to the traffic! the 555 being 40mins late is still quite good going really I remember taking a 55 to Warton once and not coming back for 3hrs thanks to roadworks in Bolton Le Sands!

In this weeks Lancaster Guardian there is a report into the court case that followed the accident that 17020 was involved in last September.

http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/lancasternews/Lorry-driver-who-crashed-into.5198086.jp

 

[KendalKing]

It seems to be the case that no matter where road works are in the Lancaster city area they manage to cause mayhem to the traffic! the 555 being 40mins late is still quite good going really I remember taking a 55 to Warton once and not coming back for 3hrs thanks to roadworks in Bolton Le Sands!

In this weeks Lancaster Guardian there is a report into the court case that followed the accident that 17020 was involved in last September.

If that much damage, can be done at only 20mph.
Good job, he was not going any faster!!!

 

[cainebj]

25225 and 35247 out on 31;s with 4 enviro 300's.
16733 on 31A with a 56 reg dart. the LED on 16733 was seen as "1A WHITEHAVEN" from a distance, but on an angle, you seen "31A WHITEHAVEN". that is a problem that needs sorted! even though it is an odd allocation!
20759 on the morning X5 as usual.
40001 ran the busy morning Seaton 47. 33167 was also on the 46 / 46A / 47 routes.
47024 on Moorclose Circular 51, but it was showing 50 on displays!!!
16654 on school work both morning and after school.
16447 out on 300.

 

[Dallamlad]

The roadworks in Carnforth have now gone.

14235 has had a repaint and now finely shows Stagecoach in Cumbria on the side rather then SC in Lancaster.

Spotted 47062 (04 plate with villager branding) riding dead through Lancaster center this morning with "Stagecoach" on the blinds as well as the company logo. Guessing it was heading for Morecambe.

Also one of the branded Tridents on the X35 and the usual darts on the town services in Kendal as well as 30342 which is still around.

16665 on the 2 this afternoon but all else seemed normal. Quite a few Leylands Olys from Kendal are getting repaints so I'm guessing their not going any ware fast.

 

[K768 DAO]

......

 

[cainebj]

32917 has at last been withdrawn, good riddance! Its replacement 34079 enters service tomorrow.

woohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[themaster985]

Solo 47055 has been reported as being seen in Carlisle today today, still with Fylde Villager logos. For repaint???

 

[Dallamlad]

One would assume its for repaint yes and I think Lancaster are removing the branding of a couple of other villager solos as well.

 

[cainebj]

20768 on Moorclose Circular 50.
52627 was on annexe at 1155, and is still there now!
20765 on X4. 20759 is on either X4 or X5. 52626 and 52628 are also on one of the 2.
40028 and 33167 on Seaton & Harrington routes.
40013 on Northside 48.
a 51 reg solo on Moorclose Circular 51 with destination boards stuck in windscreen.

20896 on 600.
52408 on 554. this is usually operated by a Leyland Olympian!
42531 on 73 / 73A.
42672 on 77 / 77A.
Osprey bus was out as usual.

now for the good stuff. driver pulled up at Keswick Bus Station at 1320 on 10728 to start his break. let passengers on at 1420. went to start it at 1425 to set off, wouldnt start. after minutes of trying, he gave up, phoned Carlisle depot, someone there gave him guidance on varioous methods to start it. nothing worked. at 1530, i was the only person left on it, cos everyone else either got a taxi or the 77A, and it had no air left in it for the door to close. the replacement vehicle with a fitter on board turned up at 1615 and it was 16338, which is part way through CCTV fitment and had no ticket machine, so the ticket machine had to be transferred from 10728 to 16338.

 

[mbonwick]

Gez has said that it's unlikely that LCC will require newer Solos. In his own words "they've never been particularly bothered" and obviously, as he pointed out, Kirkby Lonsdale would have to do some significant upgrading if they were to enforce it.
Can't believe we overlooked that

 

[pickles]

~~~~~

 

[cainebj]

forgot to mention in my earlier post. was talking to a stagecoach driver earlier, and he said that there are no plans for any new buses in Cumbria this year (new being anything outside the NW fleet), which annoys him cos in his words "we get all the sh*te here. Manchester just been fleeted, Newcastle just been fleeted, Liverpool recently been fleeted, and here we just get all the sh*te that no one else wants, then we run them until they're beyond un-usable".

 

[mbonwick]

As I try to keep saying, as SC regions go the NW is fairly up to date. Just look at Scotland - still with D10 Citybuses, Titans etc. Or Kent - using Bristol Lowdekkas (1966) on OT routes. Or just generally, at the amount of Step entrace Darts still about.

 

[K768 DAO]

.........

 

[Dallamlad]

To be honest we could debate all day about whats coming what we think is coming what should be coming and indeed we do but seeing as SC make these decision last minute we can only wait and see and try and separate truth from fantasy lol.

 

[KendalKing]

With regards to the Stagecoach empire in general.

Oxford depot is the first depot to be 100% low floor, Cambridge depot will be later this year.

With the large number of brand new buses being pump into Manchester recently, Manchester can't be that far of being 100% low floor. Stockport still a number of them horrible split level step entrance darts left.

As K768 DAO, says the B10M's were good buses when new. But unfortunately, some them are now 17 years old.

Here in Cumbria both Stagecoach, and Princess Coaches have recently increased low floor operation.

 

[cainebj]

Manchester can't be that far of being 100% low floor. Stockport still a number of them horrible split level step entrance darts left.

there is only 1 step entrance dart left in the Stagecoach Manchester fleet. the others have recently been removed from service. 32408 is the only one left, and it is at the Charles Street depot.
32351, 32352, 32354, 32355, 32358, 32359, 32360, 32361, 32362, 32365, 32366, and 32368 are all now part of the Stagecoach Manchester reserve fleet, and will eventually go for disposal.

in Cumbria we don't really need brand new buses, just something more reliable.
there were 2 break downs in Keswick yesterday. one being 10728 that I was on, and the other being the Vario on service 77. the fact that there were 2 Alexander PS Volvo B10Ms on the X4 and X5 services rather than the 4 Jonckheere Modulo Volvo B10M's also shows poor reliability. the R reg Volvo Olympian's for the 300 also prove to be pretty unreliable.

to put it into perspective, there has been 15 breakdowns on "Seatoller 78" since the new timetable was introduced on 5th April!!! one of the breakdowns was lack of fuel (a really big problem when it ran out pretty much in the middle of no-where, where there is no mobile phone signal at all!)

 

[K768 DAO]

.........

 

[robertclark125]

Oxford will be the first fleet to go over to low floor oepration in the Stagecoach empire. The first depot to do so was Inverness, in the Stagecoach in Inverness (now stagecoach in the highlands) fleet.

 

[darrenw29]

Seen this and its twin coming off the M6 at jct40 at Penrith the other day, presumably for a break, I wondered where they were going!!

http://walterringlis.fotopic.net/p57776479.html

Sold to MacEwans of Dumfries via Ensign I think

 

[KendalKing]

Oxford will be the first fleet to go over to low floor oepration in the Stagecoach empire. The first depot to do so was Inverness, in the Stagecoach in Inverness (now stagecoach in the highlands) fleet.

Please note that it was reported in a trade only magazine, that Oxford was the first Stagecoach depot to go 100% low floor, and that Cambridge is to go 100% low floor later this year (Possibly when the Cambridgeshire Busway opens).

Also under The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000, all local bus services had to converted to low floor operation by 2012, this as since been delayed until 2017.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

there is only 1 step entrance dart left in the Stagecoach Manchester fleet. the others have recently been removed from service. 32408 is the only one left, and it is at the Charles Street depot.
32351, 32352, 32354, 32355, 32358, 32359, 32360, 32361, 32362, 32365, 32366, and 32368 are all now part of the Stagecoach Manchester reserve fleet, and will eventually go for disposal.

Thank you very much for the up-date regarding the Manchester step entrance darts.

 

[cainebj]

20768 on BNG.
20757 on 31.
47024 was on 51 this morning, display is still dead, no boards in windscreen.
40445 on Harrington & Seaton with a working bright tech and destination boards in windscreen.
42562 in bus station this morning with blank display. i'd guess it was on layover from BNG.
40013 on the busy morning Seaton 47.
20763 was on annexe but i only seen back end so no idea what route it was on.

 

[driver9000]

All seems to be quiet on the Lancaster allocations board today nothing unusual noted to day on my travels - shame really

Noted on Saturday heading along Lea Road in Preston was former Preston Bus Leyland Olympian/ECW 14560 in national colours working on route 68 heading for Blackpool so I presume interworking of the two fleets has begun or was this a one off

 

[Dallamlad]

yeah Lancaster seem to be doing well in terms of keeping things where they should be. Noted 18362 on the 755 early this afternoon leaving Kendal at around 11. Other then that haven't seen much today. Dallam School services running normally with 14199 on D6.

 

[mbonwick]

driver9000, several ex-PB vehicles moved to Deepdale with the route rationalisation, this is probably one of them.

Lancaster's low floors seem to be back to normal, no doubt the poor availability was down to the repaints/CCTV fitting.

40395 added to retrim list, yet another 709D has been done, it doesn't bode well!

 

[driver9000]

thanks mbonwick, Id forgotten about the fleet moves - I really must check the fleetcards more haha!!

 

[Dallamlad]

I don't see why they put money into redoing 709d's. Have they given it completely new seats or just tarted up the old ones?

I would assume more MANS will be disappearing for repaints/CCTV but if they do them one at a time its doesn't make that much difference.

 

[cainebj]

I don't see why they put money into redoing 709d's. Have they given it completely new seats or just tarted up the old ones?

just retrimmed.
it was done a while ago, but we've only just found out about it now, even though i've seen it a few times in the past few years haha

 

[mbonwick]

thanks mbonwick, Id forgotten about the fleet moves - I really must check the fleetcards more haha!!

Problem being, we still don't have our usual fleetcard. I doubt we'll see P12 (or whatever it was)...hopefully P13 though!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
OH, by the look of things, 30342 was on seasonal reserve, so is now back in service for the 505 as it's fitted with bike racks.