Hetton is signed as 14ft 0in i dont know if Keighley Bus Co double deckers will fit.
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Transdev Blazefield
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Solent&Wessex
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Deckers won't but I can't see reasons why a normal single decker bus won't.
dodecahedron67
Member
Depot rumour, so take it with a pinch of salt, but word is that all of Blazefield is up for sale due to some “financial mismanagement” (read: losing a ton of money) under the previous regime
Dallamlad
Established Member
Wouldn’t be surprised really. There’s a lot of change in the industry anyway with Stagecoach and Go Ahead recently changing hands. There is also the challenge of franchising in GM and in the future parts of Yorkshire. Is Transdev big enough to compete? Not sure.
To be fair, that has been a Transdev depot rumour since Alex Hornby disappeared, so not new.
Is it just one of those 2+2 = 10 rumours - company makes a loss, MD leaves, therefore the logical rumour is that the company is being sold?
I suppose it makes a change as usually Transdev are rumoured to be buying every medium sized bus company who looks like they may be being bought in the North of England
I suppose it makes a change as usually Transdev are rumoured to be buying every medium sized bus company who looks like they may be being bought in the North of England
dodecahedron67
Member
I don’t believe so - there’s a separate rumour about a potential buyer being interested for 1 or 2 depots…
Stan Drews
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Be quite amusing if McGill’s were interested!
And which one or two depots it is rather depends on which one you work in.
On the other hand, could be true. If I had a spare 10 mill, I know which parts of Blazefield I'd buy.
Tweet today confirming the 36 will go electric next year
https://twitter.com/harrogatebus/status/1663948367703965716
https://twitter.com/harrogatebus/status/1663948367703965716
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Who is paying?
Bwsbro
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Wasn’t Transdev awarded money in the last round of dining to fully electrify the Harrogate, Flyer and Shuttle services
I see there are replies questioning the range/charging method for the new buses. Are double deck electric buses now capable of running long, relatively high speed routes like this all day without needing to recharge at some point?
I'm also wondering if they will keep the current buses within the group (it it still exists by then of course). With the likes of Red Express and Pendle Wizz disappearing/downgraded and the timetable reductions across the board is there anywhere that really needs a batch of mid life deckers?
Opportunity charging is enough for a timetable like todays. The main issue is what if they are running late and don't get any opportunity charging. Then, they won't make it through the day.
The other slight issue is the late night running (ie the 2 and 3am journeys) if they were reintroduced would probably need a vehicle change, but there would be enough other vehicles with capacity, so it isn't really a problem.
They won money in the ZEBRA bids, both themselves for North Yorkshire and also as part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority bid which covers The Shuttle and Flyers
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RustySpoons
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..
I'd be very surprised if they dispose of them. Burnley, Blackburn and Keighley especially seem to be stuck with a lot of very tired older deckers - Keighley still has a fleet of the original X43 Y-HRN deckers. The original 05 Witch Way B7s are also in front line service at various depots and are becoming increasingly problematic. I believe two at Blackburn have had to be withdrawn relatively recently because of terminal chassis rot.
I'd be very surprised if they dispose of them. Burnley, Blackburn and Keighley especially seem to be stuck with a lot of very tired older deckers - Keighley still has a fleet of the original X43 Y-HRN deckers. The original 05 Witch Way B7s are also in front line service at various depots and are becoming increasingly problematic. I believe two at Blackburn have had to be withdrawn relatively recently because of terminal chassis rot.
Has anybody heard anything about Flyer? I believe the tender was for 3 years and began in Sept 2020, meaning the 3 years is nearly up.
Also, I read somewhere that Leeds Bradford Airport doesn't allow double deckers on their services. Is that true, and does anybody know why?
Thanks in advance.
Also, I read somewhere that Leeds Bradford Airport doesn't allow double deckers on their services. Is that true, and does anybody know why?
Thanks in advance.
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According to this the tender you refer to has already expired, so presumably they’ve won it again
I wonder how electric buses being introduced affects tenders like this. After a load of funds are spent upgrading Idle depot it’s probably not realistic for the contract to theoretically be lost after a normal amount of time, and be lost possibly to a company that doesn’t have electric charging facilities. This would also apply to the Hebden Bridge and Todmorden tenders that TLC Travel operate.
Rosso at Blackburn depot has a Yutong E12 on loan from Pelican/Newport Bus. Primarily for use on the 464 Rochdale - Accrington route.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bengleeson/52942397797/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bengleeson/52942397797/in/dateposted/
Blazefield had a practice of buying vehilces rather than leasing.It was only when they were looking to sell that vehicles were leased - 3613 YJ06TLU being one of first such leased vehicles and as such replaced by BF62UXZ. Those ex X43 and Witch Way vehicles being owned so they will use them until they become unreliable or have acute maintenance issues.
With the 2 B7 Geminis at Blackburn being withdrawn this has seen an increase use of MMC200s (normally 513 recently de-branded into generic Blackburn Bus Company livery) onto normal services normally on 2s to Chorley although 513 has been on 152 recently aswell.
So that's why single deck 152s seem to have become common recently. According to bustimes in addition to the two withdrawals the Ribble liveried bus has moved to Burnley as well.
Actually on a wider point, said website says the Blackburn Bus Company has 56 vehicles. Now this is maybe a bit fuzzy because Rosso services operate from the same depot, but one last ran in December, one in April and one on May 4th. So maybe only 53 which are likely to run at the moment. PVR is by my count 50 (and that is assuming some short turnarounds which might take an extra vehicle). Is this a normal level of spare capacity or are they a few short?
RustySpoons
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PVR of 50 with a fleet of 53 doesn't sound enough. As they're inspected/serviced every 28 days at least one will be out of service every day for that, in addition to unplanned maintenance, breakdowns, crash damage, etc.
The discrepancies between the two lists appear to be numbers 100, 1734 and 1735. Bus times has 100 (the decker painted for the 100th anniversary of Ribble) at Burnley and last tracked at Blackburn on May 16th. B7RLEs 1734/5 are listed as Rosso - 1734 appears to be operating on Rosso services, 1735 on a mix of Rosso and Blackburn.
I know bustimes tracking is not foolproof, but only 50 vehicles on their Blackburn list have tracked this week.
RustySpoons
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Been quiet in here recently!
There isn't much to report from my area of Transdevland.
There's a total of 7 ex Keighley Solos at Burnley now - fleet numbers 154 - 160. So along with the Mellor Mercs, E200 MANs (MEN..?), remaining B10BLEs are various B7 and B9 deckers there's a good bit of variety on local services at the moment! I believe there's 5 B10s left for now, although I hear they're becoming increasingly problematic.
Ribble 100 is apparently now based at Queensgate, though it hasn't been out in service yet. Again I'm lead to believe this has/had various mechanical issues, something that seems to be affecting an increasing number of the older B7s now.
The ex Pendle Wizz B7s are mostly restricted to school services, still in the full Wizz branding. Once of a day as a service was withdrawn the branding would have been removed before the bus went out in service again. Bit disappointing that it hasn't.
There are still massive capacity issues on the M5 and M6 services. Surprisingly, and pleasingly, this has been publicly acknowledged that things haven't gone to plan and solutions have been put forward. It's been said that 'two modern double deck buses' are being prepared for use on the busier Mainline journeys, though they won't be here until the summer. Not sure if these are existing vehicles within the fleet or second hand buys from elsewhere.
There isn't much to report from my area of Transdevland.
There's a total of 7 ex Keighley Solos at Burnley now - fleet numbers 154 - 160. So along with the Mellor Mercs, E200 MANs (MEN..?), remaining B10BLEs are various B7 and B9 deckers there's a good bit of variety on local services at the moment! I believe there's 5 B10s left for now, although I hear they're becoming increasingly problematic.
Ribble 100 is apparently now based at Queensgate, though it hasn't been out in service yet. Again I'm lead to believe this has/had various mechanical issues, something that seems to be affecting an increasing number of the older B7s now.
The ex Pendle Wizz B7s are mostly restricted to school services, still in the full Wizz branding. Once of a day as a service was withdrawn the branding would have been removed before the bus went out in service again. Bit disappointing that it hasn't.
There are still massive capacity issues on the M5 and M6 services. Surprisingly, and pleasingly, this has been publicly acknowledged that things haven't gone to plan and solutions have been put forward. It's been said that 'two modern double deck buses' are being prepared for use on the busier Mainline journeys, though they won't be here until the summer. Not sure if these are existing vehicles within the fleet or second hand buys from elsewhere.
northernchris
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Disappointing they didn't learn from Aireline, where Versas replaced deckers only for them to realise there wasn't enough capacity.
One thing that has puzzled me is the exchange of Solos and Mellors between Burnley and Keighley. I believe the breadvans only have 1 less seat than the smaller Solos, so why not leave them at their original depot and save on the repaint costs
The transferred Solos are dual purpose 30 seaters (154 is 34) while the Mellors are bus seated 27.
Bit of a crazy day for the 36 today; the A61 closed over Harewood Bridge until c 4pm and coupled with the First Leeds strike plainly resulting in extra custom meant vehicles arriving back at Harrogate substantially delayed such that the continuation to Ripon was canned / swopped onto a later working, for example the 1145 to Ripon from Leeds left 32 late, lost 10 minutes by Aldwoodly Gates and was over an hour late at Harrogate . The bus then working forward to Ripon in place of the 1345 from Leeds.
Bit of a crazy day for the 36 today; the A61 closed over Harewood Bridge until c 4pm and coupled with the First Leeds strike plainly resulting in extra custom meant vehicles arriving back at Harrogate substantially delayed such that the continuation to Ripon was canned / swopped onto a later working, for example the 1145 to Ripon from Leeds left 32 late, lost 10 minutes by Aldwoodly Gates and was over an hour late at Harrogate . The bus then working forward to Ripon in place of the 1345 from Leeds.