|
Post by eggmiester on Apr 19, 2019 7:47:18 GMT
Interesting, the 321s night allocation usually starts coming onto the 321 ready to become N321 in a couple of hours yet BXs WVLs have not come into service yet, should be interesting to see how they transition. The BX N321 duties work on route 89 first then onto the 321/N321 for the second half of their duties.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Apr 5, 2019 22:02:15 GMT
I can see the 1 suffering greatly from NSBs after ULEZ kicks in. They are nearly always short of buses. Take today, there are 3 WVLs on the 1 at the moment, however only 1 WHV on the 180, leaving them 2 hybrids short today. The potential for NSB’s on route 1 should be reduced by the transfer of 3 route N1 workings to PM.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Mar 11, 2019 23:38:09 GMT
I believe GAL commercial used to operate the 668 before... either in it current or a previous incarnation of the route.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Feb 14, 2019 20:32:39 GMT
Last night between 7pm and 10:30pm I noticed a 60 reg GAL single decker (possibly an enviro, but looked slightly longer than normal and possibly ex-Metrobus stock) running up and down the B11 route around Long Lane and Brampton Road. It seemed to be stopping along the way too. Was this normal route learning for a driver or something related to timings for the 301? Sorry for the vague vehicle description, but it was dark and I was also driving at the time so didn’t catch the vehicle registration or other details very clearly. Rail replacement? There are no trains on the Bexleyheath line this week due to landslip near Barnehurst. That said, I thought it was only Ensign and Travelmasters covering. It was a engineer on a road test so i’ve been told. Probably trying to replicate a fault that has been reported by a driver of it was stopping it was probably a door issue or something.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Jan 29, 2019 9:29:42 GMT
I checked my (perhaps limited) information, and it seems that route 432 WVLs have not been refurbished. At least some of them are ex-route 12 and, having been only 3 years old when cascaded, were perhaps too modern to refurbish at that stage. In the hopeful scenario that route 432 is retained by GA (SW) they would probably be refurbished then instead. The Commons vote on Theresa's Withdrawal Agreement was 202 votes in favour and 432 against. London bus routes 202 & 432 coincidentally are both the same operator, GA, and both intersect at Crystal Palace! They're indeed not refurbished but are converted to Euro VI as they were upgraded for the Brixton corridor so if retained, it's almost certain they would remain and finally be refurbished. They are all ex 12 examples In fact some are third hand. WVL’s 380-385 were actually ex BX and moved to Q when they were about 6 months old to standardise the route 12 allocation with WVL’s and WHV’s. They were replaced at BX with E’s 202-207.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Jan 21, 2019 20:20:37 GMT
So today I went to catch pvl284 on 132. I went to Greenwich and it got taken out of service at Bexleyheath. As soon as I got home and was busy, guess who shows up in service again! So now, does anyone know if it will be withdrawn in the coming days or a few months? Did you use LVF to figure out what duty it was doing?It might have been scheduled to go out of service at that time which would have been seen on the TFL schedule On Sunday’s the 132 duties all return to BX for meal reliefs so buses do run out of their normal sequence as a result.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Dec 19, 2018 2:28:32 GMT
I never knew the EN's were blinded for the normal routes at RR, I thought it was only school routes but EN23 has made it first appearance on the 147 which is funny because on the 147/104/5 the only E400s from schools they have had go into service on the routes are the refurblished ones, the unrefurblished ones have not been seen. Blinds will feature all routes from the garage respective of vehicle type. Some companies may opt to lock out routes on the smart blind control program to restrict buses to certain routes but I know at go-ahead we generally don’t do this so even though they are meant for school routes the early E’s and EN’s will be blinded for all RR routes (in some cases barr certain routes depending on the age of the blind). However you could say though any RR bus with blinds older then 2 years could be restricted due to route gains and losses etc.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Dec 9, 2018 22:36:20 GMT
Yes, strictly only Es allowed as they’re the shortest DDs available. That hasn't stopped MG before. I do remember reading that the 386 could not take vehicles longer than 9.6m, however a few days ago, WS65 was out on the route. I'm sure that MG will continue the practise of keeping the 291 strictly allocated with Es. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we see buses that are slightly longer, appearing on the route, as it settles into GAL. WS65 is a separate case as that bus is shorter then the other WS’s at MG so was sent around the 386 on a route test and passed. At present its being used as a spare for the 386. As for the 291 it should be strictly E bus however WVL’s have passed a route test so if reblinded could be used. I believe greenwich council have installed some parking restrictions round the Woodlands Estate to overcome any potential issues.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Dec 6, 2018 19:44:08 GMT
Does anyone know what running numbers the 51 and R5/R10 will use from this Saturday? The 51 will be MB171 to 189 and R5/R10 will be MB381
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Nov 9, 2018 15:29:34 GMT
NX’s allocations now seem to have got even stricter still. The 436 is now using strictly its WHVs, old EHs ans its 2 ex-57 Es and the 321 is almost entire sticking to its WVL’s. However now ultracap EHs are almost entirely now on the 36 (bar a few strays), when before they were just on any route. Understandably 171/2 and 343 are all intermixed as they run with identical vehicles. I know they’d tightened up a little bit some time ago, but now they’re becoming really strict. Is there a new allocations person (or whatever title that person has, what the guy did in the SW bus documentary allocating the buses to drivers) who’s decided they need tidying up a little bit? Noting has changed in terms of the people who do the allocation but i believe the engineering hierarchy noted the use of ultracaps on other routes other then the 36 that was their intended route as i believe they are now monitoring the performance of these against the normal battery versions. Obviously during the day buses get substituted for all sorts of reasons so stray appearances will no doubt still occur.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Oct 9, 2018 8:36:20 GMT
178 is going to NX. 180 staying at MG. 244 staying at BX. This is what I've been told now from an official source at MG. He found out yesterday from head office. Don’t know where that info is from but Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, so still speculation or gossip i’m afraid.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Oct 7, 2018 10:39:25 GMT
The "Plymothian Transit" blog reports that 17 06-registration Enviro400s from the batch E17-36 are to be transferred to Plymouth CityBus (also a Go-Ahead company). They will be converted to single-door and will replace older East Lancs-bodied Volvos and Plaxton-bodied Tridents. www.plymothiantransit.com/2018/10/es-are-good.htmlBTW Plymothian Transit is a good blog if you are interested in keeping up with bus developments in Devon and Cornwall. Absolutely chuffed that some of the PM Voiths have had their next few years secured. Absolute beasts right up to the end, well maintained throughout Some of the batch have already made the journey down to Plymouth. In other news the newly acquired ‘ex TT’ EN’s 28 to 40 are reported to be in birmingham being prepped for their new ventures with GAL.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Sept 23, 2018 20:01:12 GMT
BV - now that was effectively an outstation of BX. MG doesn’t have the same relationship with BX - they are independent of each other. OK I rest my case. I reckoned that with MG being part of LC, not LG like BV was, it would have close ties with BX as it were. MG and BX are completely separate garages, if anything MG has closer ties with Camberwell as Camberwell do all the heavy maintenance and MOT’s etc on the MG fleet.
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Sept 20, 2018 8:31:38 GMT
The silence is as eerily dead as the 274’s double decking ... surely they’ve spent too much money on the bus to not enter it into service now. It's a demonstrator so down to BCI/Ensign and Vantage. It went back to Ensign to be checked over for something and i believe its still there
|
|
|
Post by eggmiester on Sept 4, 2018 23:53:06 GMT
I have heard a lot of rumours about allocation changes with the take up of routes 51, 178 abd 291 in December but as of yet i am unable to confirm anything.
|
|