What happened to the National Express new double deckers?

[smjxm09]

Last October National Express brought into service six Boa Vista double deckers. Five were put into service on their London Victoria - Luton Airport service while the sixth went to Edwards Coaches for use on the South Wales-London corridor.

The five coaches on the Luton Airport run has disappeared as I don't think I have seen one since maybe the beginning of March. Does anyone know what has happened to them as they were allegedly bought for the Luton service?

 

[swifty]

Last October National Express brought into service six Boa Vista double deckers. Five were put into service on their London Victoria - Luton Airport service while the sixth went to Edwards Coaches for use on the South Wales-London corridor.

The five coaches on the Luton Airport run has disappeared as I don't think I have seen one since maybe the beginning of March. Does anyone know what has happened to them as they were allegedly bought for the Luton service?

They've been doing the Bristol - London run with Edwards since the start of May.

 

[Bwsbro]

They've been doing the Bristol - London run with Edwards since the start of May.

Edwards Coaches will be purchasing additional of the double deckers for their Bristol depot

 

[Temple Meads]

Ended up on 040 as they were useless for airport work due to luggage capacity issues.

 

[smjxm09]

Thanks for the info. So the coaches didn't have standard luggage accommodation then? Strange that the coaches were built to spec for the airport run.

 

[pitdiver]

Thanks for the info. So the coaches didn't have standard luggage accommodation then? Strange that the coaches were built to spec for the airport run.

It wasn't only a capacity issue It was also a handling issue for the drivers when getting the luggage out apparently.

 

[D2007wsm]

National Express have stopped using the double deckers on the 040. Apparently this is due to problems on the M4.

Yesterday, most departures from Bristol were duped due to more seats being sold than a regular single deck or tri-axle could carry. The dupes are set to continue until the end of the week, with the seat allocations changed from next week to reflect single deck working again.

 

[swifty]

National Express have stopped using the double deckers on the 040. Apparently this is due to problems on the M4.

Yesterday, most departures from Bristol were duped due to more seats being sold than a regular single deck or tri-axle could carry. The dupes are set to continue until the end of the week, with the seat allocations changed from next week to reflect single deck working again.

I thought it was strange that the deckers were around on Wednesday, and there had been one outside Sainsbury's Dingles everyday at 1pm, but a tri axle yesterday and no sign of deckers.

 

[83G/84D]

National Express have stopped using the double deckers on the 040. Apparently this is due to problems on the M4.

Yesterday, most departures from Bristol were duped due to more seats being sold than a regular single deck or tri-axle could carry. The dupes are set to continue until the end of the week, with the seat allocations changed from next week to reflect single deck working again.

What are the issues on the M4 causing coaches to be taken out of service?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why do NatEx have such problems with deckers when Megabus don't?

 

[D2007wsm]

I don't know, a driver said it is too do with the wind as you drop down from the Bath junction.

 

[83G/84D]

Wrong type of wind! Normally the railway would be the "target" of these sort of comments and ridiculed in the papers.
If this I the case wonder if it makes a headline in the "red tops"?

 

[padbus]

Various contractors have used double deckers on NatEx work along the M4 to and from the far South West.

 

[radamfi]

There must be countless double deckers in operation on private hire work all over the UK, including many from the continent. Scheduled coaches presumably form a small proportion of coaches on the roads.

 

[Busaholic]

I don't know, a driver said it is too do with the wind as you drop down from the Bath junction.

In that case surely the answer is for an instruction to drivers to reduce speed on this section.

 

[Lrd]

The coaches were brand new (except being used on the Airport runs initially) weren't they? Maybe they have a new "eco friendly" engine and are underpowered?

Either that or the drivers didn't like them. The driving position is far too low for my liking

 

[D2007wsm]

In that case surely the answer is for an instruction to drivers to reduce speed on this section.

You would have thought so, First take double deckers over the Severn Bridges and Avonmouth bridges in strong winds and it can be very blowey on these with no problems. I

 

[D2007wsm]

The coaches were brand new (except being used on the Airport runs initially) weren't they? Maybe they have a new "eco friendly" engine and are underpowered?

Either that or the drivers didn't like them. The driving position is far too low for my liking

Every driver that I have spoken to like driving them and prefer them to the single deckers

 

[richw]

I don't know, a driver said it is too do with the wind as you drop down from the Bath junction.

Surely a load of rubbish, as megabus run deckers along that corridor without issue (unless megabus drivers adjust their speed accordingly and NatEx don’t?)

 

[D2007wsm]

Who knows, apparently the decision came from up high at NX. The drivers say they are easier to drive than the tri-axles

 

[Martin1988]

If NX don't want to use deckers on the 040 why not shift them to the cross country services (330, 337 and 339)? Particularly on the 330 which from what I understand is a very busy service a decker would be welcome.

 

[BBC]

You would have thought so, First take double deckers over the Severn Bridges and Avonmouth bridges in strong winds and it can be very blowey on these with no problems. I

Far superior drivers at first....

 

[matt_splat]

i have heard several drivers today saying they would rather have a Decker than the tri-axel coaches..... it's very much some love them others hate them, i have heard people say they were lovely to drive and these people use to work driving megabus deckers

 

[Barry K]

The luggage lockers were on the offside, and had a capacity of approx 42 medium size suitcases, yet a passenger capacity of 70-odd. Didn't add up. I addition, Caetano bodies are useless, and they keep stepping down on engine size at Volvo. Add to this that they were still using 12-speed auto boxes when most other operators had realised that 6-8 speeds boxes worked better, and you get a truly inferior product that NX were buy purely because they have a huge stake in Caetano. I was driving 12,000kg (unladen) vehs with a 7-litre engine. The equivalent of expecting a BMW X5 to perform well with a Peugeot 107's engine installed......

 

[Robertj21a]

So, what are the double deckers doing now ?

 

[Bungle965]

The luggage lockers were on the offside, and had a capacity of approx 42 medium size suitcases, yet a passenger capacity of 70-odd. Didn't add up. I addition, Caetano bodies are useless, and they keep stepping down on engine size at Volvo. Add to this that they were still using 12-speed auto boxes when most other operators had realised that 6-8 speeds boxes worked better, and you get a truly inferior product that NX were buy purely because they have a huge stake in Caetano. I was driving 12,000kg (unladen) vehs with a 7-litre engine. The equivalent of expecting a BMW X5 to perform well with a Peugeot 107's engine installed......

I seem to remember that a few contractors for NX have moved away from Volvo engines and instead switched to Scania due to various problems that they have had with them.
Sam

 

[Mwanesh]

If its to do with the wind thats nothing.The worst section were you get blown is between junction 16 and 17.Those Scania deckers are underpowered i think .When you consider that most of the Megabus deckers are getting to 2million kilometres yet they go flying past those Edwards coaches.So what will they use them on now.

 

[Lrd]

If its to do with the wind thats nothing.The worst section were you get blown is between junction 16 and 17.Those Scania deckers are underpowered i think .When you consider that most of the Megabus deckers are getting to 2million kilometres yet they go flying past those Edwards coaches.So what will they use them on now.

I remember driving a Volvo powered Caetano down the M4 and being over taken by a Megabus double decker giving it the beans even though I was doing 62. This was one of the older ones with a semi decent gearbox as well.

 

[wiltshirebloke]

i've noticed that for around the last week or so, the double deckers appear to have returned to the 040 service...

 

[Mwanesh]

The front suspension was wrongly set up .So they all had to be redone before coming back into service.It was a design error by Caetano