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Post by romfordbuses on Aug 10, 2015 20:50:42 GMT
There is another short fall which is the emergency door buttons when pressed dump all the air pressure for the doors when used so you have to reset them and wait a while before the driver buttons actually do anything I might be remembering it wrong, But I'm sure on our's that as soon as you press the emergency door buttons and reset them they go back to normal near enough straight away. It's only when the air is low that you have to wait a while (Scannies are pretty quick building up!) |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 11, 2015 15:04:56 GMT
So today was route learning the 56 (Easy route) for the first rounder we had 12138 but as we got back to Whipps Cross they were back plating due to a TA going mechanical, a lovely scania in the form of 15128 was brought out to us and this was the bus I drove a rounder in, The route itself is very simple, there isn't much traffic and it doesn't get mega busy well not in the morning peak it didn't, I was much more pleased to have a scania turn up than a hybrid (as they aren't anywhere near as forgiving) as I was dreading my first trip in revenue earning service, the nervs soon went away after I picked up my first few passengers. I was overtaken as expected at Barbican but was only 6 late arriving into St Barts, took 5 mins, left "on time" got to the barbican and looked at my headway saying I'm closing in on the bus in front, asked my mentor he said carry on as we are 2 mins late, got to Clapton pond and there was my leader which I overtook, arrived at Whipps Cross "On time" drove to bakers arms and finished, Had lunch followed by the garage induction at Leyton garage. I'm on 56's tomorrow morning from around 7am to around 5pm, Should be route learning the 48 and 215 thursday as they can end up interworking eg if for some reason a 215 won't be leaving Walthamstow Central on time the 48 coming in will become that 215 so the 215 should always get an on time departure  |
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Post by snoggle on Aug 11, 2015 15:53:08 GMT
So today was route learning the 56 (Easy route) for the first rounder we had 12138 but as we got back to Whipps Cross they were back plating due to a TA going mechanical, a lovely scania in the form of 15128 was brought out to us and this was the bus I drove a rounder in, The route itself is very simple, there isn't much traffic and it doesn't get mega busy well not in the morning peak it didn't, I was much more pleased to have a scania turn up than a hybrid (as they aren't anywhere near as forgiving) as I was dreading my first trip in revenue earning service, the nervs soon went away after I picked up my first few passengers. I was overtaken as expected at Barbican but was only 6 late arriving into St Barts, took 5 mins, left "on time" got to the barbican and looked at my headway saying I'm closing in on the bus in front, asked my mentor he said carry on as we are 2 mins late, got to Clapton pond and there was my leader which I overtook, arrived at Whipps Cross "On time" drove to bakers arms and finished, Had lunch followed by the garage induction at Leyton garage. I'm on 56's tomorrow morning from around 7am to around 5pm, Should be route learning the 48 and 215 thursday as they can end up interworking eg if for some reason a 215 won't be leaving Walthamstow Central on time the 48 coming in will become that 215 so the 215 should always get an on time departure Thanks for the update on progress. Nice to see the punters didn't terrify you too much. You're actually starting to drive full time at almost the best time of year - weather not too awful, reduced traffic due to holidays and no schools traffic. It'll be blue murder come first week of September. Time to pack a packed lunch and go "driver spotting" on the 56 tomorrow.  Only joking - not fair to put you off on your first day going "solo".  Oh and I've learnt something about the 48/215 - I've never spotted that they moved buses between routes like that. Clever tactic. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 11, 2015 16:04:46 GMT
So today was route learning the 56 (Easy route) for the first rounder we had 12138 but as we got back to Whipps Cross they were back plating due to a TA going mechanical, a lovely scania in the form of 15128 was brought out to us and this was the bus I drove a rounder in, The route itself is very simple, there isn't much traffic and it doesn't get mega busy well not in the morning peak it didn't, I was much more pleased to have a scania turn up than a hybrid (as they aren't anywhere near as forgiving) as I was dreading my first trip in revenue earning service, the nervs soon went away after I picked up my first few passengers. I was overtaken as expected at Barbican but was only 6 late arriving into St Barts, took 5 mins, left "on time" got to the barbican and looked at my headway saying I'm closing in on the bus in front, asked my mentor he said carry on as we are 2 mins late, got to Clapton pond and there was my leader which I overtook, arrived at Whipps Cross "On time" drove to bakers arms and finished, Had lunch followed by the garage induction at Leyton garage. I'm on 56's tomorrow morning from around 7am to around 5pm, Should be route learning the 48 and 215 thursday as they can end up interworking eg if for some reason a 215 won't be leaving Walthamstow Central on time the 48 coming in will become that 215 so the 215 should always get an on time departure Thanks for the update on progress. Nice to see the punters didn't terrify you too much. You're actually starting to drive full time at almost the best time of year - weather not too awful, reduced traffic due to holidays and no schools traffic. It'll be blue murder come first week of September. Time to pack a packed lunch and go "driver spotting" on the 56 tomorrow. Only joking - not fair to put you off on your first day going "solo". Oh and I've learnt something about the 48/215 - I've never spotted that they moved buses between routes like that. Clever tactic. I should still have my mentor (who really is great) until Friday, not been thrown in the deep end yet, just route learning routes that you already know is quite boring even if I am getting paid for it, was nice to be shown all of the turning points that I'm sure I will execute at some point Everyone has said that it is the best time to start driving but I'm not fussed, traffic happens and you can only go as far as the road allows, more worried about cyclists and the tail swing on a scania at the moment |
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Post by Paul on Aug 11, 2015 17:57:37 GMT
Interesting that you appear to be route learning as you go. When I transferred to TB after all the relevant training I was given about a week to route learn all the routes. This involved going out on service buses to learn the route and speaking to the driver at either end to find out curtailment points. You're probably well versed in them given your enthusiast background but I would also recommend asking about any regular diversions that can happen. Because they are regular (accident hotspots or football diversions) CentreComm tend to rattle through them on the assumption drivers know them and it can be quite daunting going on diversion if you aren't totally sure where you're going!
Anyway, once I was happy I knew the route, the driver signed a sheet confirming he (or she!) had told me the relevant information and it was off to another route. I was only given my mentor once I had done the route learning and was ready to be let loose on the public. Still remember my first job - a nice little straight through on the 314. My mentor couldn't believe a driver on the spare board had such a good duty let alone one doing his first ever job!
It's been good to read about your progress - I meant to add my congratulations when you passed your test. I can well remember how daunting that was!
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Post by greeny253 on Aug 11, 2015 19:50:10 GMT
So today we had type training, this was done at PD as they (in theory) have the most fit spare buses. Started off the day with 13023, our instructor was adamant that I wouldn’t be able to start it without being shown, she was proved wrong. The Volvo B5LH/Gemini 3 seemed very nice in the cab, it’s a very simple layout with only about 5 or 6 buttons actually on the dash and they are all in clear easy to see places, as I won’t be driving theses we never took it out on the road but I was made familiar with the i-Shift gearbox operation and the fact they do roll back ect. 12295 (Euro 6 Enivro 400) was our next bus, As with all of the Euro 5 (and Euro 6 old shape) Enviro buses they have the same rugby ball dash and start procedure be it Hybrid or not, makes life simple I suppose. These are very fast and it feels like you are driving a toy car almost, it doesn’t give you the feeling that you are driving a 12ton bus what so ever which is another reason why I think quite a few drivers love to throw them about, The Enviro 400H is the type that causes the most GreenRoad events within the whole fleet. The acceleration is lethal on them, slightly torque restricted when they pull away in battery mode and the brakes are very very sharp as there is little to no resistance in the pedals but once you get a feel for the brakes they are easy to operate smoothly, When the engine does cut in and out it’s a bit surreal and it does it at times when you really aren’t expecting it, from the cab even with the window open you don’t hear half as much of the exhaust/sucking sound, something I don’t like is you can’t kneel the bus unless the doors are closed and you can’t pull out the ramp with the bus lowered none of which gives any warning as to why it won’t work ect, The door buttons are already knackered and this was a 14 reg bus which is a shame but there were things ADL could have done differently which they have with the MMC which has rocker switches but all in all a very nice bus, I’m looking forward to driving the ex BW’s ones have at Leyton, You also don’t get a great feel for the speed you are doing and because you are hitting 30 so quickly you can end up doing quite a bit more without even noticing but as I had my eye on the speedo this thankfully never happened. One final thing, buses that have tachographs fitted seem to have it in the worst position possible and at night/low light you have this red light in your face as you are driving with no card 15067 (Euro 5 Scania Omnicity) a bus I’ve always wanted to have a drive of as I’ve heard nothing but good things about them (excluding the ones at BE/SI) we had to beg with the GS to let us have it for a bit (so much for having loads of spare buses…) as he wanted it for the 51’s but he gave in after a while and let us have a play, The bus was fresh from ROTA and had just been cleaned, after carrying out a walk round check and then my instructor doing another to make sure I hadn’t missed anything we left the garage after reversing out of a stupidly tight spot that the bus had been left in. Straight away the brakes feel very firm and nice to use, gentle braking is easy and the downshifts from the ZF gearbox are quite smooth, this one had kickdown disabled but that was fine as you might be aware on N230UD’s you can just pump the throttle to hold gears which is quite a neat feature. This compared to the E400H feels like you are driving a bus, a big heavy one to me anyway it was nice as it gives you more confidence while driving, the enviro felt more like a toy not a bus, the downside to the Omnicity is the pedals which feel really cheap and that they could snap at any point, I don’t know if that is how they are designed so you don’t get people stamping on them but they feel really plasticity and cheap, There is another short fall which is the emergency door buttons when pressed dump all the air pressure for the doors when used so you have to reset them and wait a while before the driver buttons actually do anything, The dashboard is lovely and clear, the buttons are sensibly placed, do like the raised idle feature and also the halt brake which isn’t all good as sometimes you think it has come on when it hasn’t, the handbrake is slightly awkward to use and I feel it could have been placed more ergonomically. This bus was quite nippy even without pumping the throttle, pleasant to drive and very smooth, you don’t feel half the bumps from the driver’s seat, it was a real shame my drive was brought to an abrupt end as a red warning message appeared on the dash “Hatch open” then checking my O/S mirror and the bus wasn't joking! They are also blinded for the 269Don't rely on that halt brake on the Scania's! It might seem weirdly placed at first but keep that habit of using the handbrake! Also, once you reset the doors on a Scania, the driver controls should come back straight away |
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Post by Steve09 on Aug 11, 2015 22:25:29 GMT
Interesting that you appear to be route learning as you go. When I transferred to TB after all the relevant training I was given about a week to route learn all the routes. This involved going out on service buses to learn the route and speaking to the driver at either end to find out curtailment points. You're probably well versed in them given your enthusiast background but I would also recommend asking about any regular diversions that can happen. Because they are regular (accident hotspots or football diversions) CentreComm tend to rattle through them on the assumption drivers know them and it can be quite daunting going on diversion if you aren't totally sure where you're going! Anyway, once I was happy I knew the route, the driver signed a sheet confirming he (or she!) had told me the relevant information and it was off to another route. I was only given my mentor once I had done the route learning and was ready to be let loose on the public. Still remember my first job - a nice little straight through on the 314. My mentor couldn't believe a driver on the spare board had such a good duty let alone one doing his first ever job! It's been good to read about your progress - I meant to add my congratulations when you passed your test. I can well remember how daunting that was! I agree Paul. Im lucky having local knowledge, I have a friend who lives in Plaistow and he had no idea how to do the light run on the 96s to Bluewater as they only give you a small map on the duty card which isn't very helpful if you're given 30 mins to get to Bluewater at 4am pitch black in the morning! I have yet to have a straight through job! Think there are only about three, one 51, one 53 and one 291 or 386. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 12, 2015 5:03:39 GMT
Interesting that you appear to be route learning as you go. When I transferred to TB after all the relevant training I was given about a week to route learn all the routes. This involved going out on service buses to learn the route and speaking to the driver at either end to find out curtailment points. You're probably well versed in them given your enthusiast background but I would also recommend asking about any regular diversions that can happen. Because they are regular (accident hotspots or football diversions) CentreComm tend to rattle through them on the assumption drivers know them and it can be quite daunting going on diversion if you aren't totally sure where you're going! Anyway, once I was happy I knew the route, the driver signed a sheet confirming he (or she!) had told me the relevant information and it was off to another route. I was only given my mentor once I had done the route learning and was ready to be let loose on the public. Still remember my first job - a nice little straight through on the 314. My mentor couldn't believe a driver on the spare board had such a good duty let alone one doing his first ever job! It's been good to read about your progress - I meant to add my congratulations when you passed your test. I can well remember how daunting that was! Yeah I've been given a sheet about route learning but told I only need to learn the 48's and 56's and 215 at the moment which I'm not bothered about as I'm in love with driving scania's, I was expecting to be told to learn all the routes in the garage but from what I've gathered as my mentor currently has 56 duties I'm just doing his work while he keeps an eye on me, he is off Thursday so not really sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I do actually want to do the route learning as I don't have much idea about the 48 and turning points, no clue about the 215 despite me doing it the other day, The 179 and 275 I know like the back of my hand |
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Post by Nathan on Aug 12, 2015 7:19:44 GMT
Interesting that you appear to be route learning as you go. When I transferred to TB after all the relevant training I was given about a week to route learn all the routes. This involved going out on service buses to learn the route and speaking to the driver at either end to find out curtailment points. You're probably well versed in them given your enthusiast background but I would also recommend asking about any regular diversions that can happen. Because they are regular (accident hotspots or football diversions) CentreComm tend to rattle through them on the assumption drivers know them and it can be quite daunting going on diversion if you aren't totally sure where you're going! Anyway, once I was happy I knew the route, the driver signed a sheet confirming he (or she!) had told me the relevant information and it was off to another route. I was only given my mentor once I had done the route learning and was ready to be let loose on the public. Still remember my first job - a nice little straight through on the 314. My mentor couldn't believe a driver on the spare board had such a good duty let alone one doing his first ever job! It's been good to read about your progress - I meant to add my congratulations when you passed your test. I can well remember how daunting that was! Yeah I've been given a sheet about route learning but told I only need to learn the 48's and 56's and 215 at the moment which I'm not bothered about as I'm in love with driving scania's, I was expecting to be told to learn all the routes in the garage but from what I've gathered as my mentor currently has 56 duties I'm just doing his work while he keeps an eye on me, he is off Thursday so not really sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I do actually want to do the route learning as I don't have much idea about the 48 and turning points, no clue about the 215 despite me doing it the other day, The 179 and 275 I know like the back of my hand What about the 55? Did they plan on type training you on the LT? |
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Post by londonbusboy on Aug 12, 2015 10:00:09 GMT
Yeah I've been given a sheet about route learning but told I only need to learn the 48's and 56's and 215 at the moment which I'm not bothered about as I'm in love with driving scania's, I was expecting to be told to learn all the routes in the garage but from what I've gathered as my mentor currently has 56 duties I'm just doing his work while he keeps an eye on me, he is off Thursday so not really sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I do actually want to do the route learning as I don't have much idea about the 48 and turning points, no clue about the 215 despite me doing it the other day, The 179 and 275 I know like the back of my hand What about the 55? Did they plan on type training you on the LT? I think Dave posted a little while ago that Stagecoach don't allow new drivers on the LT's until after a certain period. |
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Post by vjaska on Aug 12, 2015 11:59:54 GMT
Interesting that you appear to be route learning as you go. When I transferred to TB after all the relevant training I was given about a week to route learn all the routes. This involved going out on service buses to learn the route and speaking to the driver at either end to find out curtailment points. You're probably well versed in them given your enthusiast background but I would also recommend asking about any regular diversions that can happen. Because they are regular (accident hotspots or football diversions) CentreComm tend to rattle through them on the assumption drivers know them and it can be quite daunting going on diversion if you aren't totally sure where you're going! Anyway, once I was happy I knew the route, the driver signed a sheet confirming he (or she!) had told me the relevant information and it was off to another route. I was only given my mentor once I had done the route learning and was ready to be let loose on the public. Still remember my first job - a nice little straight through on the 314. My mentor couldn't believe a driver on the spare board had such a good duty let alone one doing his first ever job! It's been good to read about your progress - I meant to add my congratulations when you passed your test. I can well remember how daunting that was! Yeah I've been given a sheet about route learning but told I only need to learn the 48's and 56's and 215 at the moment which I'm not bothered about as I'm in love with driving scania's, I was expecting to be told to learn all the routes in the garage but from what I've gathered as my mentor currently has 56 duties I'm just doing his work while he keeps an eye on me, he is off Thursday so not really sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I do actually want to do the route learning as I don't have much idea about the 48 and turning points, no clue about the 215 despite me doing it the other day, The 179 and 275 I know like the back of my hand The 48 won't be too hard to learn - it's fairly straightforward from Walthamstow to London Bridge. I reckon you'll be fine. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 12, 2015 13:44:14 GMT
Won't get type trained on the LT's for about 6 months not that I want to anyway, don't like the 55 either
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 12, 2015 19:06:46 GMT
So as I said, I was on the 56's again today and had the joy of Euro 5 diesel Enviro 400, Never did I think I would be saying that. 10180 was very nice to drive, the first diesel enviro 400 I've driven and after getting used to brakes it was very nice to drive, acceleration seems great, can be a bit sluggish at sometimes but with the voith ones anyway if you slow down a little you can force it to kickdown to a lower gear for a few seconds, once they get up to speed they really start to move but you don't get many chances on the 56 with all the 20mph limits, it was really a pleasant bus to drive, there are sometimes where the bus will hunt for gears which is annoying also the ANS doesn't kick in when the halt brake is on which just seems weird. As with all the rugby ball dashboards the door buttons were a bit temperamental sometimes requiring several firm presses before they did anything, another thing I really detest about Enviro's is the fact you can't lower the bus with the doors open, this not only increases stop dwell time but also can be embarrassing for passengers that have asked for the step to be lowered and even after you have explained what you are doing they never look happy when you close the doors on them to lower bus  Anyway I was happy driving this bus on the route, all was good util I had to come back from my break to be met with 12142, I don't know what it was about this bus but I couldn't get comfortable, it just didn't feel right, the bus it self drove fine but I just didn't feel right driving it and because of this I was taking everything cautiously , no idea why, probably just me, the bus just didn't fill me with confidence. Anyway I'm route learning the 48/215/179 and 275 tomorrow, On the 48 Friday and Saturday then I'm on my own on Sunday with a long job on the 56 and hopefully a scania (If you hadn't guessed I really like them) |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2015 19:28:44 GMT
So as I said, I was on the 56's again today and had the joy of Euro 5 diesel Enviro 400, Never did I think I would be saying that. 10180 was very nice to drive, the first diesel enviro 400 I've driven and after getting used to brakes it was very nice to drive, acceleration seems great, can be a bit sluggish at sometimes but with the voith ones anyway if you slow down a little you can force it to kickdown to a lower gear for a few seconds, once they get up to speed they really start to move but you don't get many chances on the 56 with all the 20mph limits, it was really a pleasant bus to drive, there are sometimes where the bus will hunt for gears which is annoying also the ANS doesn't kick in when the halt brake is on which just seems weird. As with all the rugby ball dashboards the door buttons were a bit temperamental sometimes requiring several firm presses before they did anything, another thing I really detest about Enviro's is the fact you can't lower the bus with the doors open, this not only increases stop dwell time but also can be embarrassing for passengers that have asked for the step to be lowered and even after you have explained what you are doing they never look happy when you close the doors on them to lower bus Anyway I was happy driving this bus on the route, all was good util I had to come back from my break to be met with 12142, I don't know what it was about this bus but I couldn't get comfortable, it just didn't feel right, the bus it self drove fine but I just didn't feel right driving it and because of this I was taking everything cautiously , no idea why, probably just me, the bus just didn't fill me with confidence. Anyway I'm route learning the 48/215/179 and 275 tomorrow, On the 48 Friday and Saturday then I'm on my own on Sunday with a long job on the 56 and hopefully a scania (If you hadn't guessed I really like them) I see the allocations on the 56 are becoming a bit more relaxed again after the Ex 15 Hybrids moved onto the route - Is this because refurbishments are gathering pace? a fair number of Scania on the route. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 12, 2015 19:43:28 GMT
So as I said, I was on the 56's again today and had the joy of Euro 5 diesel Enviro 400, Never did I think I would be saying that. 10180 was very nice to drive, the first diesel enviro 400 I've driven and after getting used to brakes it was very nice to drive, acceleration seems great, can be a bit sluggish at sometimes but with the voith ones anyway if you slow down a little you can force it to kickdown to a lower gear for a few seconds, once they get up to speed they really start to move but you don't get many chances on the 56 with all the 20mph limits, it was really a pleasant bus to drive, there are sometimes where the bus will hunt for gears which is annoying also the ANS doesn't kick in when the halt brake is on which just seems weird. As with all the rugby ball dashboards the door buttons were a bit temperamental sometimes requiring several firm presses before they did anything, another thing I really detest about Enviro's is the fact you can't lower the bus with the doors open, this not only increases stop dwell time but also can be embarrassing for passengers that have asked for the step to be lowered and even after you have explained what you are doing they never look happy when you close the doors on them to lower bus Anyway I was happy driving this bus on the route, all was good util I had to come back from my break to be met with 12142, I don't know what it was about this bus but I couldn't get comfortable, it just didn't feel right, the bus it self drove fine but I just didn't feel right driving it and because of this I was taking everything cautiously , no idea why, probably just me, the bus just didn't fill me with confidence. Anyway I'm route learning the 48/215/179 and 275 tomorrow, On the 48 Friday and Saturday then I'm on my own on Sunday with a long job on the 56 and hopefully a scania (If you hadn't guessed I really like them) I see the allocations on the 56 are becoming a bit more relaxed again after the Ex 15 Hybrids moved onto the route - Is this because refurbishments are gathering pace? a fair number of Scania on the route. Leyton are quite short of fit buses and drivers, it's all good warranty work being taken out but they don't give you a spare bus while yours is being fixed, the allocations are only slack because of this, but then again I don't know when it will improve, it is nice to have something different I suppose, a hybird even made the 215 this morning! |
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Only joking - not fair to put you off on your first day going "solo". 
