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Post by richard on Dec 20, 2019 23:20:24 GMT
LDP206 has been withdrawn. Nice to see it in good hands rather than going to the scrap yard would have been nice for VLA1 to have been preserved but that unfortunately hasn't been the case
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Post by YY13VKP on Dec 21, 2019 0:24:23 GMT
Visited Croydon Garage again today for the final time this year, the album can be found here: The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the garage took me by complete surprise - Three ex East Yorkshire Motor Services Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban's were sitting in the yard at the front! These have now been acquired by Go-Ahead London for the commercial fleet and follows a batch of similar vehicles recently acquired from Wilts and Dorset. These are ex 338 (YX54FWL), 340 (YX54FWN) and 341 (YX54FWO). I believe they are to be used on some upcoming rail jobs, and perhaps these have been acquired due to Go-Ahead's large intake of trainee drivers requiring the MEC's to stay on training duties. Some of you may be pleased to hear that there are currently no plans to replace WVL238 and WVL239 for the foreseeable future . WVL240 was withdrawn due to complaints of the cooling fan being too loud and the parts needed to repair it were too expensive. WVL204 has effectively replaced WVL240, but surely all three will finally be withdrawn in September next year at the latest when the 202 and 405 go to Arriva. Also had a look at newly refurbished E221 which had just returned from Hants and Dorset Trim, it smelt like new again onboard! E222, E223 and WVL509 are currently away being refurbished, and when these return the 127's refurbs should be complete for the time being! It is rather impressive that 10 buses have been turned around within the space of 4 months. What forms the remaining part of the 127's allocation remains to be seen although I suspect these will be spare WHV's off route 202, hence why I've said the three older WVL's should depart in September next year. Also at Hants and Dorset trim is WHV79, however this is being repaired due to an accident it suffered. Another bus involved in an accident was WVL337, which had an argument with a truck in Hatton Cross this morning. There was damage to the nearside with the front three lower deck windows completely taken out, but thankfully the damage wasn't too serious so it should be back on the road sooner rather than later. E50 has also returned from an engine rebuild at BX, this and E38 were both present Also spoke to iBus about what was going on with the 127's and 434's yesterday in Purley, the delays were mainly due to gas works in Mitcham causing disruption. The fact that the 127 and 434's duties are combined didn't help matters. All in all, another great visit and as always I must thank the management team at Croydon for allowing me to visit
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Post by rif153 on Dec 21, 2019 15:52:00 GMT
Why was the 476 cut between Kings Cross & Euston when it's only 2 stops? It's probably down TFL's reasoning of there being 'sufficient' capacity between Euston and King's Cross, if this was the case then reducing capacity along there is negligible due to the distance in between being so short. Although the 476 assisted the 73 to and from Euston, the former pretty much duplicated most of the latter's routing, leaving only the stretch to Oxford Circus for the 73 to traverse. Even after the change there is still a generous overlap, so something more radical could have been done in this regard. TFL could have looked at merging the 73 and 476, but this probably wouldn't be a good idea as the resulting route would require an astronomically large PVR. To give the 73 more of a 'sole purpose' outside the overlap it could be extended to Notting Hill Gate, assisting the 94 in the process. Having said that if you take into account the busy nature of the 73/476 then the overlap is irrelevant. Let's be honest here, the Oxford Circus cutback hasn't done the 73 any favours, in fact, its resulted in a slump in patronage.
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Post by rj131 on Dec 21, 2019 21:13:22 GMT
It's probably down TFL's reasoning of there being 'sufficient' capacity between Euston and King's Cross, if this was the case then reducing capacity along there is negligible due to the distance in between being so short. Although the 476 assisted the 73 to and from Euston, the former pretty much duplicated most of the latter's routing, leaving only the stretch to Oxford Circus for the 73 to traverse. Even after the change there is still a generous overlap, so something more radical could have been done in this regard. TFL could have looked at merging the 73 and 476, but this probably wouldn't be a good idea as the resulting route would require an astronomically large PVR. To give the 73 more of a 'sole purpose' outside the overlap it could be extended to Notting Hill Gate, assisting the 94 in the process. Having said that if you take into account the busy nature of the 73/476 then the overlap is irrelevant. Let's be honest here, the Oxford Circus cutback hasn't done the 73 any favours, in fact, its resulted in a slump in patronage. Not so much a slump, but more like a sky-diving grand piano!!!
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Post by kenmet on Dec 21, 2019 22:15:55 GMT
Let's be honest here, the Oxford Circus cutback hasn't done the 73 any favours, in fact, its resulted in a slump in patronage. Not so much a slump, but more like a sky-diving grand piano!!! The 390 has taken the 73s passengers although I still think the 73 should have been left going to Victoria and the 390 curtailed at Oxford Circus.
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Post by southlondonbus on Dec 21, 2019 22:55:25 GMT
I guess the logic with the 73/390 was that Islington and Essex Road still have the 38 to Hyde Park Corner and Victoria and Islington has the 30 to Marble Arch.
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Post by richard on Dec 22, 2019 0:00:56 GMT
Not so much a slump, but more like a sky-diving grand piano!!! The 390 has taken the 73s passengers although I still think the 73 should have been left going to Victoria and the 390 curtailed at Oxford Circus. They should have kept the 390 at NHG and return the 73 to Victoria those changes was pointless because they was holding at least the same amount of passengers if not one or both had a bit more
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Post by southlondonbus on Dec 22, 2019 7:27:13 GMT
Tbh I don't think the 390 is needed anymore to NHG with the 94 and 148 from Marble Arch and the 274 as far as Lancaster Gate.
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Post by ServerKing on Dec 22, 2019 7:57:02 GMT
Are all of the ex-192 WSs still at NP? A handful of them, such as WS61 have been on the 232 , some go on the 379 and 357, so I think so, more for spares (even though they are too small for the 232, they go out with banditry boards, or A4 sheets at the front )
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Post by TA1 on Dec 22, 2019 8:40:21 GMT
Tbh I don't think the 390 is needed anymore to NHG with the 94 and 148 from Marble Arch and the 274 as far as Lancaster Gate. The 390 now runs to Victoria, so no longer serves NHG.
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Post by southlondonbus on Dec 22, 2019 8:56:05 GMT
Yes I know. I was referring to somebody saying the changes should be reversed. I agree that the 73 could have stayed to Victoria and the 390 cut to Oxo.
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Post by rif153 on Dec 22, 2019 11:18:24 GMT
Not so much a slump, but more like a sky-diving grand piano!!! The 390 has taken the 73s passengers although I still think the 73 should have been left going to Victoria and the 390 curtailed at Oxford Circus. I think there's scope for a Victoria-Oxford Circus link via Mayfair as, in happier times, provided by the 8 or C2. Perhaps the 390 could be diverted via Mayfair to Victoria, there are already plenty of buses from Victoria to Marble Arch, and the 98 would still connect TCR to Marble Arch.
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Post by rif153 on Dec 22, 2019 11:23:03 GMT
Tbh I don't think the 390 is needed anymore to NHG with the 94 and 148 from Marble Arch and the 274 as far as Lancaster Gate. Bayswater Road. It has sufficient bus capacity, but its in the wrong place. The 94 is crush loaded leaving Marble Arch, so from that point of view, it could do with some assistance, however, on the flip side, that would probably overbus Bayswater Road. The 94 really puts a shift in on Bayswater Road and is a really important link for the road. The 148 is also important, but its certainly the less busy of the two. There is enough bus capacity to cope with demand along Bayswater Road, what there isn't is plenty of capacity to deal with buses being swarmed at Marble Arch Station. The deckers on the 274 don't help that much as the 274 isn't very busy on Bayswater Road, and it doesn't go far enough to assist the 94 properly. Perhaps having the 390 back on Bayswater Road would be overkill, but if every other bus continued to Notting Hill Gate I think this would be fine, as would extending the 274 to Notting Hill Gate - I favour the latter as Bayswater Road has enough LTs as it is.
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Post by rmz19 on Dec 22, 2019 12:23:27 GMT
Tbh I don't think the 390 is needed anymore to NHG with the 94 and 148 from Marble Arch and the 274 as far as Lancaster Gate. Bayswater Road. It has sufficient bus capacity, but its in the wrong place. The 94 is crush loaded leaving Marble Arch, so from that point of view, it could do with some assistance, however, on the flip side, that would probably overbus Bayswater Road. The 94 really puts a shift in on Bayswater Road and is a really important link for the road. The 148 is also important, but its certainly the less busy of the two. There is enough bus capacity to cope with demand along Bayswater Road, what there isn't is plenty of capacity to deal with buses being swarmed at Marble Arch Station. The deckers on the 274 don't help that much as the 274 isn't very busy on Bayswater Road, and it doesn't go far enough to assist the 94 properly. Perhaps having the 390 back on Bayswater Road would be overkill, but if every other bus continued to Notting Hill Gate I think this would be fine, as would extending the 274 to Notting Hill Gate - I favour the latter as Bayswater Road has enough LTs as it is. I advocated extending the 274 to NHG before, however in hindsight the 94 becomes overcrowded pretty much from the get go at Piccadilly Circus, hence why it would be logical to extend a route within the vicinity of the West End to assist the 94 to NHG instead. The 274 wouldn't be of much help, perhaps the 73 would be more ideal. the 274 can then be curtailed to Marble Arch to avoid surplus capacity to and from Lancaster Gate. Alternatively the 73 and 390 can be reverted to their former termini, with the latter decreased in frequency.
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Post by 10121ddo on Dec 22, 2019 15:56:05 GMT
Are all of the ex-192 WSs still at NP? A handful of them, such as WS61 have been on the 232 , some go on the 379 and 357, so I think so, more for spares (even though they are too small for the 232, they go out with banditry boards, or A4 sheets at the front ) Looking at the 357 today, interesting mix! Two WSs and two SEes!
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