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Post by busman on Sept 26, 2019 8:42:45 GMT
I think the failure of Wrightbus probably goes back beyond 2018. They didn’t adapt to the clear and obvious future demand for low emissions vehicles. ADL, Optare and MCV saw the future and responded by developing electric vehicles. Whilst the NB4L contract was a brilliant scoop for them, they didn’t plan ahead. Sadly for Wrightbus, they thought the new routemaster would conquer the world. Whilst Thomas Heatherwick creates really eye catching designs, they seem to completely abandon practicality. So even in its home market, the benefits of 3 door boarding with a customer assistant on board were quickly abandoned. No ventilation without genuine temperature control in a greenhouse design was a ridiculous oversight. The NB4Ls days were numbered once the additional domestic and international orders didn’t materialise. Speaking of design, the Eclipse Gemini is an absolute classic. I’m not sure what happened with the giant pillars and cramped feel of their Street range. Maybe if there Street range was exclusively electric or zero emissions, they wouldn’t be in administration right now.
Anyway, this is all very sad for the people whose jobs are linked to the closure. I hope another bus or auto manufacturer steps in to Northern Irrland and makes use of the highly skilled Ballymena workforce.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Sept 26, 2019 11:57:19 GMT
I think the failure of Wrightbus probably goes back beyond 2018. They didn’t adapt to the clear and obvious future demand for low emissions vehicles. ADL, Optare and MCV saw the future and responded by developing electric vehicles. Whilst the NB4L contract was a brilliant scoop for them, they didn’t plan ahead. Sadly for Wrightbus, they thought the new routemaster would conquer the world. Whilst Thomas Heatherwick creates really eye catching designs, they seem to completely abandon practicality. So even in its home market, the benefits of 3 door boarding with a customer assistant on board were quickly abandoned. No ventilation without genuine temperature control in a greenhouse design was a ridiculous oversight. The NB4Ls days were numbered once the additional domestic and international orders didn’t materialise. Speaking of design, the Eclipse Gemini is an absolute classic. I’m not sure what happened with the giant pillars and cramped feel of their Street range. Maybe if there Street range was exclusively electric or zero emissions, they wouldn’t be in administration right now. Anyway, this is all very sad for the people whose jobs are linked to the closure. I hope another bus or auto manufacturer steps in to Northern Irrland and makes use of the highly skilled Ballymena workforce. I think Wright were heavy reliant on a Volvo electric bus being effectively placed in their hands, they have made a few of their own integrals but in terms of Deckers they seem far more reliant on Volvo. I wonder why Volvo made MCV the sole partner for the electric bus, especially the fact Volvo were quite probably very aware of that fact Wright were probably relying on them to help.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Sept 29, 2019 10:46:47 GMT
I had a daytrip to Sheffield yesterday. It did feel odd riding several Wright buses knowing that this is now an ex bus builder.
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Post by rif153 on Sept 29, 2019 17:31:34 GMT
I had a daytrip to Sheffield yesterday. It did feel odd riding several Wright buses knowing that this is now an ex bus builder. I felt the same way when I was on two Wright buses yesterday. Fittingly I changed from a Mk2 G3 on the 295 to a Mk1 Gemini 3 on the H91. It only feels weird to thing Wright are no more when sat on a Gemini 3 for me though, I don't find it felt weird to use Gemini 2 on the E2 today.
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Post by ServerKing on Sept 29, 2019 18:59:13 GMT
I had a daytrip to Sheffield yesterday. It did feel odd riding several Wright buses knowing that this is now an ex bus builder. I felt the same way when I was on two Wright buses yesterday. Fittingly I changed from a Mk2 G3 on the 295 to a Mk1 Gemini 3 on the H91. It only feels weird to thing Wright are no more when sat on a Gemini 3 for me though, I don't find it felt weird to use Gemini 2 on the E2 today. There's so many, the legacy will go on for some time. I guess the warranty's gone but the main mechanicals can still be looked after by Daimler, Volvo and Cummins for a lot of them. It's sad the way it ended, through sheer greed. Lovely church that the Grandson of the founder built with it's profit, but I wouldn't want to sit inside knowing the build quality. I imagine the air handling is useless in summer and everything creaks or rattles Seeing how much the LT pollutes, I'm sure Sadiq has now found a way out of being saddled with them, to make them bring in conventional buses (also the rampant fare dodging). I liked the StreetDeck for being different (hated the Streetlite though, whenever I see them not in a TfL setting, they are always in Rental White such as the Sky Shuttle buses between Brentford and Northfields, usually with blowing exhaust too). I can see LT's withdrawn in the near future, sat in a field left to rot like the Bendybuses. I wonder of Malta needs to renew it's fleet?
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Post by ThinLizzy on Sept 29, 2019 19:41:16 GMT
I felt the same way when I was on two Wright buses yesterday. Fittingly I changed from a Mk2 G3 on the 295 to a Mk1 Gemini 3 on the H91. It only feels weird to thing Wright are no more when sat on a Gemini 3 for me though, I don't find it felt weird to use Gemini 2 on the E2 today. There's so many, the legacy will go on for some time. I guess the warranty's gone but the main mechanicals can still be looked after by Daimler, Volvo and Cummins for a lot of them. It's sad the way it ended, through sheer greed. Lovely church that the Grandson of the founder built with it's profit, but I wouldn't want to sit inside knowing the build quality. I imagine the air handling is useless in summer and everything creaks or rattles Seeing how much the LT pollutes, I'm sure Sadiq has now found a way out of being saddled with them, to make them bring in conventional buses (also the rampant fare dodging). I liked the StreetDeck for being different (hated the Streetlite though, whenever I see them not in a TfL setting, they are always in Rental White such as the Sky Shuttle buses between Brentford and Northfields, usually with blowing exhaust too). I can see LT's withdrawn in the near future, sat in a field left to rot like the Bendybuses. I wonder of Malta needs to renew it's fleet? I was going to say "I'm sure theres an airfield that could be used to store them"
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Post by vjaska on Sept 29, 2019 21:02:27 GMT
There's so many, the legacy will go on for some time. I guess the warranty's gone but the main mechanicals can still be looked after by Daimler, Volvo and Cummins for a lot of them. It's sad the way it ended, through sheer greed. Lovely church that the Grandson of the founder built with it's profit, but I wouldn't want to sit inside knowing the build quality. I imagine the air handling is useless in summer and everything creaks or rattles Seeing how much the LT pollutes, I'm sure Sadiq has now found a way out of being saddled with them, to make them bring in conventional buses (also the rampant fare dodging). I liked the StreetDeck for being different (hated the Streetlite though, whenever I see them not in a TfL setting, they are always in Rental White such as the Sky Shuttle buses between Brentford and Northfields, usually with blowing exhaust too). I can see LT's withdrawn in the near future, sat in a field left to rot like the Bendybuses. I wonder of Malta needs to renew it's fleet? I was going to say "I'm sure theres an airfield that could be used to store them" Interestingly, a good Abellio source has said that apparently, spare parts are being sourced for the LT's so presumably TfL will have a stockpile somewhere to keep them going - that's what I've gathered anyway
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Post by rif153 on Sept 29, 2019 21:36:23 GMT
There's so many, the legacy will go on for some time. I guess the warranty's gone but the main mechanicals can still be looked after by Daimler, Volvo and Cummins for a lot of them. It's sad the way it ended, through sheer greed. Lovely church that the Grandson of the founder built with it's profit, but I wouldn't want to sit inside knowing the build quality. I imagine the air handling is useless in summer and everything creaks or rattles Seeing how much the LT pollutes, I'm sure Sadiq has now found a way out of being saddled with them, to make them bring in conventional buses (also the rampant fare dodging). I liked the StreetDeck for being different (hated the Streetlite though, whenever I see them not in a TfL setting, they are always in Rental White such as the Sky Shuttle buses between Brentford and Northfields, usually with blowing exhaust too). I can see LT's withdrawn in the near future, sat in a field left to rot like the Bendybuses. I wonder of Malta needs to renew it's fleet? I was going to say "I'm sure theres an airfield that could be used to store them" I seem to remember hearing that a bendy bus was rotting in a field somewhere a few years ago
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