djs76
Conductor
Posts: 109
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Post by djs76 on Aug 2, 2020 11:17:31 GMT
Having observed route 463 on the last few Sundays, it seems that the allocation is Enviros rather than the usual WS. Is there a reason for this? Could it be maintenance or just driver preference, assuming that drivers get to pick and choose their bus that is.
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Post by LondonNorthern on Aug 2, 2020 15:51:04 GMT
Having observed route 463 on the last few Sundays, it seems that the allocation is Enviros rather than the usual WS. Is there a reason for this? Could it be maintenance or just driver preference, assuming that drivers get to pick and choose their bus that is. The WSs have become unreliable and I think the reason they were initially swapped when the 192 was awarded to GAL in 2015. |
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Post by vjaska on Aug 2, 2020 16:11:40 GMT
Having observed route 463 on the last few Sundays, it seems that the allocation is Enviros rather than the usual WS. Is there a reason for this? Could it be maintenance or just driver preference, assuming that drivers get to pick and choose their bus that is. The WSs have become unreliable and I think the reason they were initially swapped when the 192 was awarded to GAL in 2015. I don't believe reliability was the reason why Go-Ahead didn't take these on - don't forget they re-acquired WS46 which was part of the same batch and used it until the 192 was lost. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2020 21:05:24 GMT
Having observed route 463 on the last few Sundays, it seems that the allocation is Enviros rather than the usual WS. Is there a reason for this? Could it be maintenance or just driver preference, assuming that drivers get to pick and choose their bus that is. EB have plenty of spare buses on Sundays. I've also noticed the WSs are not always out on Sundays. |
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Post by YY13VKP on Aug 2, 2020 22:58:43 GMT
The WSs have become unreliable and I think the reason they were initially swapped when the 192 was awarded to GAL in 2015. I don't believe reliability was the reason why Go-Ahead didn't take these on - don't forget they re-acquired WS46 which was part of the same batch and used it until the 192 was lost. Wasn't the reason why Go-Ahead sent these back due to the fact that the engines weren't able to house the (ultimately failed) hybrid flywheels which were in favour at the time as well as some other issues with the batch? The replacement batch had Mercedes engines whilst the 463's WS's used smaller Cummins engines if I'm not mistaken? In response to the original question, I'm not sure if there's a specific reason why the WS's are hardly used on the 463 on a Sunday, could be driver preference at Epsom and/or because the 470 and S3 do not run on Sundays hence the large amount of spare Enviro's available? Metrobus hardly used their Scania's or their older E's on the 405 on a Sunday and used younger buses instead, but that was because the Scania's generally did rail replacement at the weekends. What I am surprised about is the fact they're being retained for another five years in the first place but if its Euro 6 anyway, they don't necessarily need to be replaced. Epsom do seem to rest their WS's when the route is on a Sunday timetable, I remember on New Years Day there was not a single WS on the road, it was all E200's. |
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Post by vjaska on Aug 2, 2020 23:03:23 GMT
I don't believe reliability was the reason why Go-Ahead didn't take these on - don't forget they re-acquired WS46 which was part of the same batch and used it until the 192 was lost. Wasn't the reason why Go-Ahead sent these back due to the fact that the engines weren't able to house the (ultimately failed) hybrid flywheels which were in favour at the time as well as some other issues with the batch? The replacement batch had Mercedes engines whilst the 463's WS's used smaller Cummins engines if I'm not mistaken? In response to the original question, I'm not sure if there's a specific reason why the WS's are hardly used on the 463 on a Sunday, could be driver preference at Epsom and/or because the 470 and S3 do not run on Sundays hence the large amount of spare Enviro's available? Metrobus hardly used their Scania's or their older E's on the 405 on a Sunday and used younger buses instead, but that was because the Scania's generally did rail replacement at the weekends. What I am surprised about is the fact they're being retained for another five years in the first place but if its Euro 6 anyway, they don't necessarily need to be replaced. Epsom do seem to rest their WS's when the route is on a Sunday timetable, I remember on New Years Day there was not a single WS on the road, it was all E200's. That sounds like it could be the reason - the first batch indeed had the Cummins engines whilst the batch that stayed with Go-Ahead were the Daimler ones  |
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Post by 725DYE on Aug 2, 2020 23:09:04 GMT
Driver preference. Although they can't choose I can assure you it would be the passenger preference too. The WS have some truly awful brakes. They're literally like an on/off switch - it's either 0% or 100%.
Still don't understand why the S3 vehicles are used on Sundays when the longer 470 vehicles are free too. I guess in the past low usage on Sundays meant that this probably didn't matter but with the current pandemic, one would have assumed that it would be better to use vehicles which are able to carry more people and better facilitate social distancing.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 15:51:41 GMT
I’m not a fan of WS’s. Especially the really short ones, they are so ugly. Give me an Enviro 200 or 400 anyday.
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