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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Jan 27, 2018 20:52:02 GMT
Routes 51 & 61 are strong contenders for GAL (MB), and route 75 for GAL (C) or Abellio (BC). I think MG could try for the 54. BX would be a strong contender for the 96. 178 might be interesting to see. I imagine MG will try and nab it, with some existing buses. A surprise twist could be 472 going to GAL! I have never liked route 96 operating from Stagecoach and would be glad to see it back with GAL (BX). MG is indeed ideally situated for GAL to bid for route 472, and not too far from the other routes you mention.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2018 20:58:13 GMT
I think MG could try for the 54. BX would be a strong contender for the 96. 178 might be interesting to see. I imagine MG will try and nab it, with some existing buses. A surprise twist could be 472 going to GAL! I have never liked route 96 operating from Stagecoach and would be glad to see it back with GAL (BX). MG is indeed ideally situated for GAL to bid for route 472, and not too far from the other routes you mention. I did come up with some rather lengthy predictions! I may post them in the speculation thread.
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Post by twobellstogo on Jan 27, 2018 21:10:37 GMT
I'm sorry but your relentless defence of Go Ahead (I assume you have shares in the company?) is getting ridiculous, no other operator puts out unblinded buses on a daily basis. Even when AF had a large fleet of WVL's they were in pristine condition despite their age so having modern buses has got nothing to do with it. Just look at the photos somebody has posted of MG's modern buses. I second that! The condition of older buses really is testament to a garage’s maintenance. I also think Camberwell are pretty good as well, I went on a 16-plate EvoSeti on the 185 and it rode like a NB4L (I’m the world’s biggest hater of NB4L’s but even I’ll admit their build quality is exceptional), and one would have thought a cheaply made EvoSeti would be a wreck after about a year and a half. RR, NX, MG and SI (judging by the state of their EHVs which I’ve already moaned about in another thread) meanwhile are another story. EDIT: I will just put it out there that GAL are one of my favourite operators. I love their philosophy of lots of variety in bus types and allocations. It really helps keep enthusiasts and driver’s days interesting NX's buses are in reasonable shape IMO - and certainly better than in London Transport days when garages like NX, PM, WL and HT were known for the deplorable condition of their buses.
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Post by rj131 on Jan 27, 2018 21:24:11 GMT
I second that! The condition of older buses really is testament to a garage’s maintenance. I also think Camberwell are pretty good as well, I went on a 16-plate EvoSeti on the 185 and it rode like a NB4L (I’m the world’s biggest hater of NB4L’s but even I’ll admit their build quality is exceptional), and one would have thought a cheaply made EvoSeti would be a wreck after about a year and a half. RR, NX, MG and SI (judging by the state of their EHVs which I’ve already moaned about in another thread) meanwhile are another story. EDIT: I will just put it out there that GAL are one of my favourite operators. I love their philosophy of lots of variety in bus types and allocations. It really helps keep enthusiasts and driver’s days interesting NX's buses are in reasonable shape IMO - and certainly better than in London Transport days when garages like NX, PM, WL and HT were known for the deplorable condition of their buses. I agree NX is definitely not the worst, it’s definitely the best of the list of four. The condition of the new EH’s for the 343 after a year of service will tell all! Any garage that can keep an MMC in good nick has definitely got good standards!
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Post by rj131 on Jan 27, 2018 21:27:52 GMT
I think MG could try for the 54. BX would be a strong contender for the 96. 178 might be interesting to see. I imagine MG will try and nab it, with some existing buses. A surprise twist could be 472 going to GAL! I have never liked route 96 operating from Stagecoach and would be glad to see it back with GAL (BX). MG is indeed ideally situated for GAL to bid for route 472, and not too far from the other routes you mention. The 472 will definitely be an interesting one. I’d say both GAL and SLN could put competitive existing bus bids in.
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Post by snowman on Jan 27, 2018 21:30:11 GMT
New Yutong bus blinded for AF route 14 side blind shows Fulham Broadway photo by actrosmp3 I think this bus is going to the opening of the new Pelican building (Pelican are the UK importers of Yutong buses)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2018 21:31:25 GMT
Now that would be a rare working!
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Post by sid on Jan 27, 2018 21:46:35 GMT
I'm sorry but your relentless defence of Go Ahead (I assume you have shares in the company?) is getting ridiculous, no other operator puts out unblinded buses on a daily basis. Even when AF had a large fleet of WVL's they were in pristine condition despite their age so having modern buses has got nothing to do with it. Just look at the photos somebody has posted of MG's modern buses. I second that! The condition of older buses really is testament to a garage’s maintenance. I also think Camberwell are pretty good as well, I went on a 16-plate EvoSeti on the 185 and it rode like a NB4L (I’m the world’s biggest hater of NB4L’s but even I’ll admit their build quality is exceptional), and one would have thought a cheaply made EvoSeti would be a wreck after about a year and a half. RR, NX, MG and SI (judging by the state of their EHVs which I’ve already moaned about in another thread) meanwhile are another story. EDIT: I will just put it out there that GAL are one of my favourite operators. I love their philosophy of lots of variety in bus types and allocations. It really helps keep enthusiasts and driver’s days interesting Absolutely I've got nothing against GAL as such but clearly the performance of some garages leaves much to be desired, I'd say MG,SW,RR and SI are the worst offenders and AL have put a lot of unblinded buses out on the 131 since taking it over and I've also noticed the state of the EHV's on the 135.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2018 21:56:17 GMT
I second that! The condition of older buses really is testament to a garage’s maintenance. I also think Camberwell are pretty good as well, I went on a 16-plate EvoSeti on the 185 and it rode like a NB4L (I’m the world’s biggest hater of NB4L’s but even I’ll admit their build quality is exceptional), and one would have thought a cheaply made EvoSeti would be a wreck after about a year and a half. RR, NX, MG and SI (judging by the state of their EHVs which I’ve already moaned about in another thread) meanwhile are another story. EDIT: I will just put it out there that GAL are one of my favourite operators. I love their philosophy of lots of variety in bus types and allocations. It really helps keep enthusiasts and driver’s days interesting Absolutely I've got nothing against GAL as such but clearly the performance of some garages leaves much to be desired, I'd say MG,SW,RR and SI are the worst offenders and AL have put a lot of unblinded buses out on the 131 since taking it over and I've also noticed the state of the EHV's on the 135. I would say RR are pretty decent with blind banditry (Apart from school routes) I see a report earlier of a 101 being subbed for not having blinds. They do pretty good since certain batches of buses only have certain routes on the blinds so allocations are restricted.
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Post by rj131 on Jan 27, 2018 21:57:24 GMT
I second that! The condition of older buses really is testament to a garage’s maintenance. I also think Camberwell are pretty good as well, I went on a 16-plate EvoSeti on the 185 and it rode like a NB4L (I’m the world’s biggest hater of NB4L’s but even I’ll admit their build quality is exceptional), and one would have thought a cheaply made EvoSeti would be a wreck after about a year and a half. RR, NX, MG and SI (judging by the state of their EHVs which I’ve already moaned about in another thread) meanwhile are another story. EDIT: I will just put it out there that GAL are one of my favourite operators. I love their philosophy of lots of variety in bus types and allocations. It really helps keep enthusiasts and driver’s days interesting Absolutely I've got nothing against GAL as such but clearly the performance of some garages leaves much to be desired, I'd say MG,SW,RR and SI are the worst offenders and AL have put a lot of unblinded buses out on the 131 since taking it over and I've also noticed the state of the EHV's on the 135. To be fair to AL, I think they are one of the better garages. As you can probably tell by my username the 131 is my favourite route and I travel on it a lot, I also noticed last time I went on it that only ONE of the WVN’s was blinded completely correctly (front blind number, front blind destination, side blind, rear blind etc). In their defence though the power blinds on those buses are knackered. I always see them changing the blinds over at Kingston and they scroll incredibly slowly and I’ve even seen them stop completely whilst it tries to change from Kingston to Tooting Broadway. On another one where the back blind was broken, it would scroll from empty to 131, and then back to empty again, he tried it about 3 times and he just couldn’t get it to stay on 131. Those blind boxes definitely do need mending like most things do after about 7 years. Another thing I’d like to point out, every time I’ve been on a 131 under Go-Ahead, the bus has been immaculate, particularly the refurbished ones, and the general punctuality is exceptional. Earlier I put a link in another thread to a video I took on one of the EHVs (EHV14 BL15HCC) on the 135, but I’ll put it here too seeing it’s GAL related. Well watch it and you’ll see why I took the video, quite simply the bus was diabolical. All of the EHV’s are like this one. youtu.be/QHdBxkwwz6c
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Post by sid on Jan 27, 2018 22:21:07 GMT
Absolutely I've got nothing against GAL as such but clearly the performance of some garages leaves much to be desired, I'd say MG,SW,RR and SI are the worst offenders and AL have put a lot of unblinded buses out on the 131 since taking it over and I've also noticed the state of the EHV's on the 135. To be fair to AL, I think they are one of the better garages. As you can probably tell by my username the 131 is my favourite route and I travel on it a lot, I also noticed last time I went on it that only ONE of the WVN’s was blinded completely correctly (front blind number, front blind destination, side blind, rear blind etc). In their defence though the power blinds on those buses are knackered. I always see them changing the blinds over at Kingston and they scroll incredibly slowly and I’ve even seen them stop completely whilst it tries to change from Kingston to Tooting Broadway. On another one where the back blind was broken, it would scroll from empty to 131, and then back to empty again, he tried it about 3 times and he just couldn’t get it to stay on 131. Those blind boxes definitely do need mending like most things do after about 7 years. Another thing I’d like to point out, every time I’ve been on a 131 under Go-Ahead, the bus has been immaculate, particularly the refurbished ones, and the general punctuality is exceptional. Earlier I put a link in another thread to a video I took on one of the EHVs (EHV14 BL15HCC) on the 135, but I’ll put it here too seeing it’s GAL related. Well watch it and you’ll see why I took the video, quite simply the bus was diabolical. All of the EHV’s are like this one. youtu.be/QHdBxkwwz6cActually I didn't realise the 131 was that bad, you mentioning only one bus being correctly blinded all round. I'm afraid power blinds being knackered is no excuse, it's up to the operator to keep them in good working order as indeed most do. As an aside I don't know why power blinds are still being used when the rest of the country has long since moved onto LED's but that's another issue. I agree that AL are generally one of the better garages and I've only really noticed these problems since they took on the 57 and 131.
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Post by vjaska on Jan 27, 2018 22:23:01 GMT
Absolutely I've got nothing against GAL as such but clearly the performance of some garages leaves much to be desired, I'd say MG,SW,RR and SI are the worst offenders and AL have put a lot of unblinded buses out on the 131 since taking it over and I've also noticed the state of the EHV's on the 135. To be fair to AL, I think they are one of the better garages. As you can probably tell by my username the 131 is my favourite route and I travel on it a lot, I also noticed last time I went on it that only ONE of the WVN’s was blinded completely correctly (front blind number, front blind destination, side blind, rear blind etc). In their defence though the power blinds on those buses are knackered. I always see them changing the blinds over at Kingston and they scroll incredibly slowly and I’ve even seen them stop completely whilst it tries to change from Kingston to Tooting Broadway. On another one where the back blind was broken, it would scroll from empty to 131, and then back to empty again, he tried it about 3 times and he just couldn’t get it to stay on 131. Those blind boxes definitely do need mending like most things do after about 7 years. Another thing I’d like to point out, every time I’ve been on a 131 under Go-Ahead, the bus has been immaculate, particularly the refurbished ones, and the general punctuality is exceptional. Earlier I put a link in another thread to a video I took on one of the EHVs (EHV14 BL15HCC) on the 135, but I’ll put it here too seeing it’s GAL related. Well watch it and you’ll see why I took the video, quite simply the bus was diabolical. All of the EHV’s are like this one. youtu.be/QHdBxkwwz6cSo AL have similar issues to SW but SW gets its reputation unfairly trashed whilst people turn a blind eye to AL. SW gets all the criticism when it’s buses are mentioned but any other garage bar MG gets away with extremely little said. It makes me think that other people (not yourself) have hidden agendas towards certain operators and garages on here - you either lambast them all or you lambast none. SW has some issues with blinds - no one is denying that but it’s being sorted as most of the E’s now have new blinds and as usual, no one bothers mentioning the whole picture like the good things about SW such as it’s good service on its routes or its maintenance - no, that’s not important at all!
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Post by rj131 on Jan 27, 2018 22:32:46 GMT
To be fair to AL, I think they are one of the better garages. As you can probably tell by my username the 131 is my favourite route and I travel on it a lot, I also noticed last time I went on it that only ONE of the WVN’s was blinded completely correctly (front blind number, front blind destination, side blind, rear blind etc). In their defence though the power blinds on those buses are knackered. I always see them changing the blinds over at Kingston and they scroll incredibly slowly and I’ve even seen them stop completely whilst it tries to change from Kingston to Tooting Broadway. On another one where the back blind was broken, it would scroll from empty to 131, and then back to empty again, he tried it about 3 times and he just couldn’t get it to stay on 131. Those blind boxes definitely do need mending like most things do after about 7 years. Another thing I’d like to point out, every time I’ve been on a 131 under Go-Ahead, the bus has been immaculate, particularly the refurbished ones, and the general punctuality is exceptional. Earlier I put a link in another thread to a video I took on one of the EHVs (EHV14 BL15HCC) on the 135, but I’ll put it here too seeing it’s GAL related. Well watch it and you’ll see why I took the video, quite simply the bus was diabolical. All of the EHV’s are like this one. youtu.be/QHdBxkwwz6cActually I didn't realise the 131 was that bad, you mentioning only one bus being correctly blinded all round. I'm afraid power blinds being knackered is no excuse, it's up to the operator to keep them in good working order as indeed most do. As an aside I don't know why power blinds are still being used when the rest of the country has long since moved onto LED's but that's another issue. I agree that AL are generally one of the better garages and I've only really noticed these problems since they took on the 57 and 131. I’m afraid so. I rode the route from Wimbledon to Kingston, the WVN I was on had its rear blind blank, and no destination on the front, just the number 131. Every single WVN that passed us coming in the other direction direction had some blind error, bar just one, I started counting because I picked up on it pretty quickly. The newer WVLs, the stray WHVs from the 280, and the sole E400 allocated to the 131 were fine and all correct, but the WVNs presentation is atrocious. I have also noticed it on the 57 as well. I went on a 57 (will name and shame the bus, LX09FBN) and I had to get off after one stop, because it was horrible. There was a problem with the air cooling unit and it was making that awful high-pitched noise the air chill makes for a couple of seconds when turned on and off on E400s, constantly. It was deafening, ever since then I’ve had a total hatred of those 09-plated E400s. I see your point on operators needing to keep their blinds in good condition. I like the power blinds though, in many ways I do prefer them to LED screen and I’d be really sad to see them scrapped in London.
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Post by rj131 on Jan 27, 2018 22:42:20 GMT
To be fair to AL, I think they are one of the better garages. As you can probably tell by my username the 131 is my favourite route and I travel on it a lot, I also noticed last time I went on it that only ONE of the WVN’s was blinded completely correctly (front blind number, front blind destination, side blind, rear blind etc). In their defence though the power blinds on those buses are knackered. I always see them changing the blinds over at Kingston and they scroll incredibly slowly and I’ve even seen them stop completely whilst it tries to change from Kingston to Tooting Broadway. On another one where the back blind was broken, it would scroll from empty to 131, and then back to empty again, he tried it about 3 times and he just couldn’t get it to stay on 131. Those blind boxes definitely do need mending like most things do after about 7 years. Another thing I’d like to point out, every time I’ve been on a 131 under Go-Ahead, the bus has been immaculate, particularly the refurbished ones, and the general punctuality is exceptional. Earlier I put a link in another thread to a video I took on one of the EHVs (EHV14 BL15HCC) on the 135, but I’ll put it here too seeing it’s GAL related. Well watch it and you’ll see why I took the video, quite simply the bus was diabolical. All of the EHV’s are like this one. youtu.be/QHdBxkwwz6cSo AL have similar issues to SW but SW gets its reputation unfairly trashed whilst people turn a blind eye to AL. SW gets all the criticism when it’s buses are mentioned but any other garage bar MG gets away with extremely little said. It makes me think that other people (not yourself) have hidden agendas towards certain operators and garages on here - you either lambast them all or you lambast none. SW has some issues with blinds - no one is denying that but it’s being sorted as most of the E’s now have new blinds and as usual, no one bothers mentioning the whole picture like the good things about SW such as it’s good service on its routes or its maintenance - no, that’s not important at all! Oh yeah I definitely don’t have hidden agendas, I don’t work for any London bus company so I’m not biased in any way on that front, I just form opinions from experiences I’ve had on individual routes and the way they operate them. I for one, along with Q, AF and AL, actually really like SW garage. I remember watching the documentary on it on the TV, it seems like the driver that work for that garage really enjoy and value their jobs there. I am also impressed with their punctuality, I think they run the 77 and 87 in particular very well, and I have to say I haven’t actually noticed any blind issues myself from that garage.
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Post by YY13VKP on Jan 27, 2018 23:52:08 GMT
Since 6 or 7 of route 284's Enviro 200's are set to go to route 225 (unless plans have changed), if the remainder of surplus E200's aren't needed at MB and Go-Ahead want to completely eliminate a non-standard type, four of them could transfer to C to replace 713, 718, 721, 214 and 219 on route 359, and the rest of the spares could be used to get rid of the 4 MAN's left at MB. They would be ideal for route 359, as they can use these when the contract is renewed in 2020 for an existing buses bid, since 740-762 will still be 7 years old. Alternatively, they could be used on route 455, releasing SOE31-35 ( a rather non standard type at C) back to A, or even those could move to route 225, although they'll be a little too old. C don't allow anything longer than 10.2m to be used on route 455, having said that, the 433 buses which are the same length as 740-762 often saw use on route 455, so it can be done.
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