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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Mar 6, 2021 8:38:50 GMT
I’d say Metroline, and I’m working for them. Poor vehicle maintenance, poor refurbishments for both training and taking on existing vehicles from different operators I really like RATP, Go Ahead. Would like to see more of Abellio & Tower Transit in North West London...Possibly opening a new depot somewhere but unlikely it will happen. I reckon a significant factor in Metroline being relatively unpopular with enthusiasts is that it runs in one such large area with still comparatively little competition. At least other London giants - most notably Arriva, GA and Stagecoach - are a bit better spread out within London. |
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Post by TE920 on Mar 6, 2021 11:05:35 GMT
I’d say Metroline, and I’m working for them. Poor vehicle maintenance, poor refurbishments for both training and taking on existing vehicles from different operators I really like RATP, Go Ahead. Would like to see more of Abellio & Tower Transit in North West London...Possibly opening a new depot somewhere but unlikely it will happen. I reckon a significant factor in Metroline being relatively unpopular with enthusiasts is that it runs in one such large area with still comparatively little competition. At least other London giants - most notably Arriva, GA and Stagecoach - are a bit better spread out within London. (FANTASY) If only Metroline had taken over LI, X (Atlas Road as well) & UX. With TT only taking over WJ, G & ON. Only I could dream lol |
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Post by Quoll662 on Mar 6, 2021 12:08:52 GMT
I reckon a significant factor in Metroline being relatively unpopular with enthusiasts is that it runs in one such large area with still comparatively little competition. At least other London giants - most notably Arriva, GA and Stagecoach - are a bit better spread out within London. (FANTASY) If only Metroline had taken over LI, X (Atlas Road as well) & UX. With TT only taking over WJ, G & ON. Only I could dream lol Metroline probably wouldn't have been interested in LI, not being in North West London. |
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Post by TE920 on Mar 6, 2021 12:12:56 GMT
(FANTASY) If only Metroline had taken over LI, X (Atlas Road as well) & UX. With TT only taking over WJ, G & ON. Only I could dream lol Metroline probably wouldn't have been interested in LI, not being in North West London. I know, just a fantasy, would of been nice for them to expand across London |
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Post by LondonNorthern on Mar 6, 2021 16:24:12 GMT
Tower Transit are my least favourite based on the fact that they can't run the 13 to a good enough standard and this has lead to bunching and severely overcrowded buses - all I'm saying is thank god the 460s there. If the 13 was run to a better standard the frequency decrease may soften the blow a bit but who knows.
WN would be a better candidate for the running the 13 (or PB).
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Post by Quoll662 on Mar 6, 2021 20:41:05 GMT
Tower Transit are my least favourite based on the fact that they can't run the 13 to a good enough standard and this has lead to bunching and severely overcrowded buses - all I'm saying is thank god the 460s there. If the 13 was run to a better standard the frequency decrease may soften the blow a bit but who knows. WN would be a better candidate for the running the 13 (or PB). I think WN would be a great contender to operate the 13. Also the drivers could use Arriva's route 221 to travel between North Finchley and Wood Green. |
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Post by TB123 on Mar 6, 2021 21:06:16 GMT
Tower Transit are my least favourite based on the fact that they can't run the 13 to a good enough standard and this has lead to bunching and severely overcrowded buses - all I'm saying is thank god the 460s there. If the 13 was run to a better standard the frequency decrease may soften the blow a bit but who knows. WN would be a better candidate for the running the 13 (or PB). I think WN would be a great contender to operate the 13. Also the drivers could use Arriva's route 221 to travel between North Finchley and Wood Green. They'd just have remote sign on at North finchley instead. |
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Post by ak121 on Mar 7, 2021 20:37:48 GMT
This is just my opinion really based on what I see around my area, where all we have are Metroline, Abellio and RATP! My least favourite is Metroline, with one of the reasons being this:  I mean sure I love their interior colours (blue and yellow/gold looks good!) but compared to Abellio and London United their buses are often dirty, with the 117s E200s having poorly fitted blinds (manual as well). Also, a couple of the Gemini 2s (VW1045 and one or two others) have also received the wrong rear brake lights (ones with indicators on them which are usually used for the top). For some reason they never got round to refurbishing VW1069-72 which all look quite tired and in dire need of a respray. VW1830 and 1836 also look very tired, with the moquette inside looking completely worn out (all loose and faded) The last thing I will say is that their resprays look terrible (the ex TT Gemini 3s most notable), probably because painting the whole thing red is cheaper than taking the time to reinstate black highlights (eg the pillars between windows) but then again, I am comparing them to RATP who mostly (not including some of the ADEs or DLE30026) keep all black highlights, for example the SN60 DLEs look amazing as well as the recently refurbed B5LH G2s. (I do know that most operators like to respray their buses fully red) Although I am not trying to justify the state of some of AH's buses exterior-wise, I think this may be more of a garage-by-garage case, rather than Metroline as a whole. I've always found buses at garages such as W, EW, G, UX, HT to be comparable to other operators' buses. W's and UX's DELs are still in good condition, I just feel like whoever is in charge of diesel at AH is doing a rather sloppy job and bringing down the image of Metroline. |
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Post by TE920 on Mar 7, 2021 21:05:31 GMT
This is just my opinion really based on what I see around my area, where all we have are Metroline, Abellio and RATP! My least favourite is Metroline, with one of the reasons being this: I mean sure I love their interior colours (blue and yellow/gold looks good!) but compared to Abellio and London United their buses are often dirty, with the 117s E200s having poorly fitted blinds (manual as well). Also, a couple of the Gemini 2s (VW1045 and one or two others) have also received the wrong rear brake lights (ones with indicators on them which are usually used for the top). For some reason they never got round to refurbishing VW1069-72 which all look quite tired and in dire need of a respray. VW1830 and 1836 also look very tired, with the moquette inside looking completely worn out (all loose and faded) The last thing I will say is that their resprays look terrible (the ex TT Gemini 3s most notable), probably because painting the whole thing red is cheaper than taking the time to reinstate black highlights (eg the pillars between windows) but then again, I am comparing them to RATP who mostly (not including some of the ADEs or DLE30026) keep all black highlights, for example the SN60 DLEs look amazing as well as the recently refurbed B5LH G2s. (I do know that most operators like to respray their buses fully red) Although I am not trying to justify the state of some of AH's buses exterior-wise, I think this may be more of a garage-by-garage case, rather than Metroline as a whole. I've always found buses at garages such as W, EW, G, UX, HT to be comparable to other operators' buses. W's and UX's DELs are still in good condition, I just feel like whoever is in charge of diesel at AH is doing a rather sloppy job and bringing down the image of Metroline. I can agree with UX’s DEL’s but defo not W’s! Some are similar to this example of AH’s. |
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Mar 7, 2021 21:05:48 GMT
This is just my opinion really based on what I see around my area, where all we have are Metroline, Abellio and RATP! My least favourite is Metroline, with one of the reasons being this: I mean sure I love their interior colours (blue and yellow/gold looks good!) but compared to Abellio and London United their buses are often dirty, with the 117s E200s having poorly fitted blinds (manual as well). Also, a couple of the Gemini 2s (VW1045 and one or two others) have also received the wrong rear brake lights (ones with indicators on them which are usually used for the top). For some reason they never got round to refurbishing VW1069-72 which all look quite tired and in dire need of a respray. VW1830 and 1836 also look very tired, with the moquette inside looking completely worn out (all loose and faded) The last thing I will say is that their resprays look terrible (the ex TT Gemini 3s most notable), probably because painting the whole thing red is cheaper than taking the time to reinstate black highlights (eg the pillars between windows) but then again, I am comparing them to RATP who mostly (not including some of the ADEs or DLE30026) keep all black highlights, for example the SN60 DLEs look amazing as well as the recently refurbed B5LH G2s. (I do know that most operators like to respray their buses fully red) Although I am not trying to justify the state of some of AH's buses exterior-wise, I think this may be more of a garage-by-garage case, rather than Metroline as a whole. I've always found buses at garages such as W, EW, G, UX, HT to be comparable to other operators' buses. W's and UX's DELs are still in good condition, I just feel like whoever is in charge of diesel at AH is doing a rather sloppy job and bringing down the image of Metroline. The fact Metroline seem to be popular at er, not being popular I would imagine any issues stretch beyond just AH. Would imagine it just comes down to Metroline being a relatively boring company which has nothing interesting about them, remember this is a forum full of enthusiasts after all. |
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Post by TE920 on Mar 7, 2021 21:07:17 GMT
Although I am not trying to justify the state of some of AH's buses exterior-wise, I think this may be more of a garage-by-garage case, rather than Metroline as a whole. I've always found buses at garages such as W, EW, G, UX, HT to be comparable to other operators' buses. W's and UX's DELs are still in good condition, I just feel like whoever is in charge of diesel at AH is doing a rather sloppy job and bringing down the image of Metroline. The fact Metroline seem to be popular at er, not being popular I would imagine any issues stretch beyond just AH. Would imagine it just comes down to Metroline being a relatively boring company which has nothing interesting about them, remember this is a forum full of enthusiasts after all. Definitely agree 😂 Can’t we just be like Go Ahead... |
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Post by someone on May 20, 2021 18:06:52 GMT
The only reason I nominated Stagecoach (the same reason goes for the branches of Go-Ahead) is because their fleet has just become boring and REPETITIVE in the last few years. Compare the 472 today (Enviro 400, Enviro 400 MMC and the VERY occasional OmniCity) to what it was in 2017 (Enviro 400, Enviro MMC, more OmniCities (having said that, I'm not a huge fan of them, but it's still variety) and ALX400s, with the greatest double-deck engine ever, 2nd place goes to that of the Enviro 400s manufactured from 2005 to 2008). Just bring a bit more variety to your routes, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead  Someone, South East London
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Post by Busboy105 on May 20, 2021 19:19:22 GMT
The only reason I nominated Stagecoach (the same reason goes for the branches of Go-Ahead) is because their fleet has just become boring and REPETITIVE in the last few years. Compare the 472 today (Enviro 400, Enviro 400 MMC and the VERY occasional OmniCity) to what it was in 2017 (Enviro 400, Enviro MMC, more OmniCities (having said that, I'm not a huge fan of them, but it's still variety) and ALX400s, with the greatest double-deck engine ever, 2nd place goes to that of the Enviro 400s manufactured from 2005 to 2008). Just bring a bit more variety to your routes, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead Someone, South East London
I’m afraid every bus operator is going to have boring types of vehicles in the next few years when electrics become the norm. Up north is where it’s at for example in Birmingham even though they have hybrids and electrics they still have 18+ year old double deckers going around still. |
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Post by ThinLizzy on May 20, 2021 23:57:26 GMT
The only reason I nominated Stagecoach (the same reason goes for the branches of Go-Ahead) is because their fleet has just become boring and REPETITIVE in the last few years. Compare the 472 today (Enviro 400, Enviro 400 MMC and the VERY occasional OmniCity) to what it was in 2017 (Enviro 400, Enviro MMC, more OmniCities (having said that, I'm not a huge fan of them, but it's still variety) and ALX400s, with the greatest double-deck engine ever, 2nd place goes to that of the Enviro 400s manufactured from 2005 to 2008). Just bring a bit more variety to your routes, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead Someone, South East London
I can imagine the scene in the Stagecoach board room "So what are we going to order for our recent contract wins?" "Well we could order what we normally order, I mean it would make sense so we can keep costs down a bit, our engineers and drivers know the vehicles, and to be fair we get a good price for them. However, just to give the enthusiasts a bit of excitement, let's order some Volvos, Streetdecks, or even some Yutong electric single deckers" |
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Post by someone on May 21, 2021 8:29:52 GMT
The fact Metroline seem to be popular at er, not being popular I would imagine any issues stretch beyond just AH. Would imagine it just comes down to Metroline being a relatively boring company which has nothing interesting about them, remember this is a forum full of enthusiasts after all. Definitely agree 😂 Can’t we just be like Go Ahead... At least Metroline still has the stock that used to run on the 132/486 (Enviro 400s manufactured from 2005 to 2008). Shame they retired the Presidents... I remember going on them between Willesden Green Station and Willesden Green Library on the 260/460 in around 2018 around once a month... |
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