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Post by eggmiester on Oct 27, 2011 2:56:18 GMT
A lot of companies are including 'Park and Ride' on thier blindsets, could be something to do with the Olympics next year maybe? And to clarify, contractually the 213 is PVL allocated. In Practice however, it appears Sutton just place any suitable bus on the route!
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 26, 2011 15:21:14 GMT
Later models may employ different steering components. I agree the steering is not as sharp as volvos but you get used to it after about 10 mins.
The new E's may be different, anyway it looks like i may be driving one sooner than i think as ive just realised that BX25 is the bus on the first half of my duty tonight, assuming E202 is still out when i take over.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 26, 2011 13:22:43 GMT
From an official, E202 entered service today as BX25 on the 401. It has been confirmed that WVL's 380 - 385 are the ones to transfer to Q. 385 has already left for its new home on the 12's.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 25, 2011 20:59:35 GMT
the 300 has a temporary PVR increase due to road works, ED's 5 and 6 are covering this.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 25, 2011 3:10:15 GMT
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 24, 2011 13:59:17 GMT
are we talking B7 or B9 WVL's here. Becuase the B9's go up denmark hill fine!! Trust me i've driven one up there on more than one occasion.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 24, 2011 5:24:15 GMT
E202, E203 and E204 all now at BX. E205, E206 and E207 are at BV ready to be collected.
From the horses mouth they 'should' start to enter service this week.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 24, 2011 1:37:50 GMT
It was a bit stupid of Go-Ahead to specify a bus with small fuel tanks that cannot do a whole days work. Maybe somone didn't check specs carefully. They are now stuck with extra costs of substitutions for its whole working life. Not sure of the reason, space or weight probably, but why don't they have a second (if smaller) fuel tank added retrospectively. Surely extra cost will outweigh inconvienience. Much as it is a pain a bit of scheduling brain would get over this. It is quite likely he said 229 buses are going out early in the morning and working into the late night - with on road changeovers so no break either. Scheduling late night buses to work from later out buses (and on Sunday there is likely several that won't start until mid-morning at least) would solve this - I would guess it is in the plans alongside the 89 new contract. I have not heard of Peckham or New Cross having this issue so it is likely the 229 buses do a lot of mileage on a Sunday. Still, am a bit surprised it is happening. As for the 68/468, as a driver, give me a PVL over a WVL any day (esp 468) - 06 WVL's are embarassing on hills! Its got like that purely because the buses are out all day. Before the last schedules change (jan 2011) 2 or 3 night buses would go out on the 229's in the mid-late evenings, relieving the early 229's which would then run in. Thus you didnt get any major fuel issues. But since they stopped the nighters going out on the day routes beforehand, all of the 229's (particularly on a sunday) stay out for the best part of 17-20 hours. Its made worse on a sunday by the fact that the 229's frequency is 15 mins all day (barr the first hour or two, when its 20 mins). Thus if you've need X amount of buses out for a 15 min road, you're gonna have them out all day. On weekdays its not too bad as the frequency is 15-20 mins early monrings, then 8-10 mins throughout the day, before dropping to 15 mins in thevening, so the earlybirds run in early, thus the late starters then saty out for the evening. Plus youve got the 2 spreadover buses as well as the 18th bus in the evening peak from the 401 allocation. Also bear in mind the B9TL WVL's have a bigger engine than the PVL's and E', thus in lamens terms, they will burn more fuel.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 23, 2011 5:40:15 GMT
E204 also now at BX.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 22, 2011 16:53:20 GMT
They are fitting the spare WVL Blinds as well swapping blinds they have in the WVL's so they will feature routes 89, 180, 229, 321, 401, 422, 486, 661, 669, N1, N21 and N89.
Only the later deliveries for the 89/N89 will have the reduced blinds.
This was confirmed as wehn i observed E202 in the yard last night it was showing 'Belvedere Industrial Area' on its destination blind.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 22, 2011 16:47:57 GMT
They could move the commercials to BV, but theres a lot of commercial drivers that live in the sutton, Merton areas etc so that move could cause staffing issues.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 21, 2011 23:31:30 GMT
Get me numbers right next time lol!!
Anyway, E202 was fitted with BX blinds yesterday, it's carrying LG vinyls and it stinks of new bus!!
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 21, 2011 13:20:41 GMT
WVL258 is at Wrightbus undergoing repair.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 21, 2011 12:19:57 GMT
LG have announced a Wrightbus order for the 19/N19 and 249, as follows:
Route 19/N19 15 WVLs - WVL 457-471 15 WHV's - WHV 17-31
Route 249 13 WVLs - WVL472-484.
Final Allocations TBC. These will be LG's first B9TL WVL's.
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Post by eggmiester on Oct 21, 2011 12:10:50 GMT
Blinds will be fitted/swapped in due course.
I beleive they will just swap the blinds from the outgoing WVL's, the blind chassis on the Mobitec units can be removed with the blinds in situ and fitted to another powerblind unit. Then its just the case of updating the software.
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