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Post by busoccultation on May 13, 2022 15:48:19 GMT
Anyone know what's the status of SLN 14141, they still fixing it or scrapping it? 14141 is now back in service at RM and it's currently out on the 174 for the first time since last summer.
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Post by bustavane on May 13, 2022 16:27:40 GMT
P.S. Looking at LVF, 15119 (not seen since last week) is out for, I guess, a last hoorah on the 96. [/div][/quote] By chance I rode this today. I still don't undestand what the beef is about the seats. A great ride!
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Post by Busboy105 on May 14, 2022 4:01:57 GMT
Is it known when the Royal Wharf works will be completed so the 241 can go down there?
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 14, 2022 5:36:56 GMT
There has been a lot of chatter over the last two days that Tower Transit’s Lea Interchange has been sold to Stagecoach with either Leyton or West Ham closing. I thought I would have read something like this about 6 weeks ago. I will eat my hat if this materialises, especially in the middle of Stagecoach in the midst of the likely takeover by DWS.
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Post by lb99 on May 14, 2022 5:46:29 GMT
11033 (SN18KTX), 19746 (LX11BBZ) and 19799 (LX11BHW) have transferred to Plumstead, anyone know what these are for? It's there to replace the last remaining Scanias at PD.
A bit of a recap on the Scanias at PD, at the start of this year PD had 12 Scanias, 15114-117 all haven't been used at least since last month and are awaiting open top conversion for the City Sightseeing Service, 15119/120 both aren't out on the road since last week and that leaves 15076/079/086/091/112/118 as the last 6 Scanias still out on the road on the 96 or 472, with the changes to the 180 & 472 this weekend which reduces the PVR at PD by 7 buses and with those Enviro transfers to PD lately, it could be the end for the Plumstead Scanias after 13 years. Will be interesting to see where the buses from the PVR cuts will be going.
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Post by lazy_eye_metaphor on May 14, 2022 6:01:58 GMT
PD Scanias are not quite done yet. 15112 out on the 96.
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Post by greenboy on May 14, 2022 8:39:39 GMT
I agree about the uncomfortable seating but will miss Scanias from the outside they have a striking appearance and sound! They remind me a bit of buses from the 80s and 90s noisy and big! I love the Scania styling as it reminds me of the Optare Spectra's. The suspension is hard, which makes the seat ride seem worse than it is, especially over speed humps. The worst seats still are those hard plastic Fainsa seats that were on some Capital Citybus Palatine 2 and a few Palatine 1 bodywork. I agree that the Scania has a stylish appearance and they are quite interesting buses from an enthusiast perspective and drivers generally seem to like them but I can't disagree with the negative comments about the seating and suspension.
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Post by capitalomnibus on May 14, 2022 10:12:16 GMT
There has been a lot of chatter over the last two days that Tower Transit’s Lea Interchange has been sold to Stagecoach with either Leyton or West Ham closing. I thought I would have read something like this about 6 weeks ago. I will eat my hat if this materialises, especially in the middle of Stagecoach in the midst of the likely takeover by DWS. It was no secret back in 2012 that Stagecoach did want to purchase the garage from First, but was not prepared to pay the selling price, hence it ended up with Tower Transit. The contract prices they had were extremely low and not much wriggle room and the 25 was making a huge loss. I have not heard anything about Tower Transit selling Lea Interchange and feel it is nothing more than canteen cobblers.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on May 14, 2022 10:42:17 GMT
I thought I would have read something like this about 6 weeks ago. I will eat my hat if this materialises, especially in the middle of Stagecoach in the midst of the likely takeover by DWS. It was no secret back in 2012 that Stagecoach did want to purchase the garage from First, but was not prepared to pay the selling price, hence it ended up with Tower Transit. The contract prices they had were extremely low and not much wriggle room and the 25 was making a huge loss. I have not heard anything about Tower Transit selling Lea Interchange and feel it is nothing more than canteen cobblers. It's certainly a lot more than canteen cobblers, it's gone as far as Tower Transit being registered as pretty much a temporary holding company. As has been mentioned elsewhere Kelsian have also said they're well advanced in the "strategic review" of Lea Interchange. Not to mention they'd publicly hoped that a similar deal to LI would be conducted much like in the same fashion one has been done at X. It's no secret at all that Kelsian have no interest in keeping Lea Interchange for the long term at all. They seem to be far happier taking 12% of the dividends of a much larger company that's making money rather than having 100% shares in a company that seems to fluctuate heavily cost wise. It's important not to get baseless rumour mixed up with points that have sufficient facts and evidence. We're all unlikely to know whether LI is directly up for a sale as none of us are bus companies, however it can't be argued that this time around the rumour of Tower Transit selling up has considerable mounting evidence. The statement of Stagecoach buying it I'm unsure where it's come from. But it's known that Tower Transit seem to be selling LI off, or are planning a similar deal to that of which has been done at X. Whatever seems to be happening involves the dissolution of the Tower Transit name considering they've renamed the company into something that's merely a holding name that stands with no meaning. The Tower Transit rumour has come up again and again since around 2016, and while many rumours are baseless, there are some which do have substance as well. It's no secret at all that Tower Transit have been having a torrid time as of late, the 135 win coming up is merely putting a small plaster over a big wound. While many times it has been proven in the past that even the biggest of wounds can be healed, we all know very well that companies are about making money. It's not going to be always the case that investors are going to be happy to wait it out in "hope" things may become better. Many times they are, however many times they may not be either. While the losses Tower Transit have faced are not actually a lot in the grand scheme, I'm sure Stagecoach and Arriva have both lost a lot more over the same time frame, but Tower Transit being a much smaller company are unlikely to make profits while losing major routes. Kelsian can probably afford these losses, however investors aren't likely to see much merit in funding a failing company if there's no long term benefit. Looking into the future it's clear Go Ahead are going to be on the prowl more than ever with DS, not to mention Arriva now have quite a lot of space available at AE and Stagecoach still have a considerable amount of space available at West Ham. Tower Transit could very well have a huge rebound, but there's also an equal chance they could end up losing what they've got left. LI is in a very strategic location, and while surrounded by competition, should a competitor perform a hostile takeover of/buy LI out there's probably going to be a lot to gain there for both parties.
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Post by lazy_eye_metaphor on May 16, 2022 10:10:50 GMT
Still a load of Scanias out on the 96 this morning. They certainly have enough other buses to run the full service. I guess they will be gradually withdrawn like what happened with the few remaining Tridents a couple of years ago.
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Post by vjaska on May 16, 2022 11:29:19 GMT
Still a load of Scanias out on the 96 this morning. They certainly have enough other buses to run the full service. I guess they will be gradually withdrawn like what happened with the few remaining Tridents a couple of years ago. Not sure why PD needs so many buses - even outside of the Scanias, they have a number of spare Enviro 400’s that don’t seem to be needed
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Post by ADH45258 on May 16, 2022 12:04:09 GMT
Still a load of Scanias out on the 96 this morning. They certainly have enough other buses to run the full service. I guess they will be gradually withdrawn like what happened with the few remaining Tridents a couple of years ago. Not sure why PD needs so many buses - even outside of the Scanias, they have a number of spare Enviro 400’s that don’t seem to be needed Assuming all of the Scanias get withdrawn soon, and the Smart Hybrids return to WH, all of the other DDs are needed. Other than the 12reg on the 601/602, all of the E400s are needed for the 422.
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Post by lb99 on May 16, 2022 12:23:40 GMT
Since the 472 and 180 cuts have occurred does anyone know where the spare hybrids are going to?
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Post by wirewiper on May 16, 2022 12:47:41 GMT
Since the 472 and 180 cuts have occurred does anyone know where the spare hybrids are going to? It had been expected that the last Scania Omnicitys at PD would be stood down but that hasn't happened yet ....
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Post by lb99 on May 16, 2022 14:28:35 GMT
Since the 472 and 180 cuts have occurred does anyone know where the spare hybrids are going to? It had been expected that the last Scania Omnicitys at PD would be stood down but that hasn't happened yet .... Yeah would of thought they would be gone by now... wouldn't be surprised if the spare hybrids replaced the Diesel E400s on 422
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